Tag: Steve McCabe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2016 to Question 37683, on child maintenance arrears, on how many occasions his Department has used each of the enforcement powers referred to in that Answer in each of the last five years.

Priti Patel

For the 1993 and 2003 Schemes the information you requested is set out on Page 40 of the Child Support Agency quarterly summary of statistics which can be accessed online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-march-2016

Information on enforcement for the 2012 scheme could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July 2016 to Question 905825, whether he has received reports on which formal charges have been levelled against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have not received further information about the charges faced by Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe despite raising with the Iranians repeatedly at the highest levels. Although the Iranians do not recognise dual nationality, we continue to push for consular access to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Most recently, the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) raised Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case with Iranian President Rouhani on 9 August and the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) raised Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif on 4 August.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the findings of the Centre for Cities report, entitled 10 years of tax, published on 7 July 2016, what steps his Department has taken since 2010 to address regional variations in tax generation.

Mr David Gauke

We have gone further than any other government in devolving significant powers and funding from central government to city regions through devolution deals – which will result in high quality jobs, local growth, and reduce regional variations in tax generation. We are breaking with decades of centralisation, handing real powers away from Whitehall and closer to local people.

The government has made several commitments which will boost high quality job creation across the regions. £200m has been committed to Transport for the North, strategic investments have been made in science (including £235m for the Sir Henry Royce Institute in Manchester,) Hull has been backed as the 2017 City of Culture, and we are creating a Midlands Engine Investment Fund of over £250m.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications to the NHS Low Income Scheme were granted in each year from 2008 to 2016; and how many apprentices are currently on the NHS Low Income Scheme.

David Mowat

The table below shows the number of applications to the NHS Low Income Scheme, and the certificates which were granted, in each year from 2008 to 2016:

Year	HC1s Received	HC2s Issued	HC3s Issued
2007/08	422,652	240,288	140,501
2008/09	445,608	252,037	148,018
2009/10	431,129	243,350	142,135
2010/11	433,075	249,193	139,375
2011/12	422,591	246,808	134,276
2012/13	399,375	229,618	122,580
2013/14	389,324	225,275	120,391
2014/15	385,131	214,975	113,964
2015/16	383,487	225,239	112,414

A HC2 certificate entitles the person (and their family) to full remission of the charge, whereas a HC3 certificate provides partial remission and indicates how much of the charge the person must pay.

Figures for apprentices who hold NHS Low Income Scheme certificates are not available, as information on who is an apprentice is not collected.

The overall cost to administer the NHS Low Income Scheme in the last three financial years are set out below. These figures represent the direct costs of the NHS Low Income Scheme service in England, Scotland and Wales. The figures do not include overheads associated with the wider infrastructure of the NHS Business Services Authority:

Year	Cost (£)
2015/16	1,469,034
2014/15	1,566,587
2013/14	1,594,957

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2016 to Question 43316, which elements of the EU Nature Directive transposed into UK law her Department is considering for repeal.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

The Government is considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU including for existing legislation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the capacity of Pension Wise to meet the volume of over the telephone and face-to-face appointment requests it receives; and what plans he has to increase Pension Wise’s capacity after the introduction of the proposed secondary market for annuities.

Richard Harrington

Pension Wise regularly reviews capacity within the service with its delivery partners to ensure it has the right number of guidance specialists in the right places. Since launch there have been over 82,000 Pension Wise appointments and customer satisfaction has been consistently high.

The service is confident that it will be able to meet the demand of those seeking guidance on selling their annuity on the secondary market.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the staff employed by her Department are non-UK nationals.

Sarah Newton

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by his Department are non-UK nationals.

Ben Gummer

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2016 to Question 44488, what the implications for councils are of failure to determine planning applications in a timely and efficient manner; and what plans he has to provide extra funding to councils to assist them with implementing his Department’s plans to tighten the Planning Guarantee for minor planning applications.

Gavin Barwell

Councils are at risk of being designated as underperforming where they persistently fail to determine planning applications for major development within statutory timescales or an agreed extended period with the applicant. In an area where the council has been designated as underperforming, applicants can choose to submit their application directly to the Planning Inspectorate for determination, instead of the council. We are extending this regime to applications for non-major development. Where applications are not determined within 26 weeks, councils have to refund the application fee under the Planning Guarantee.

We do not intend to provide any additional funding to local authorities with regard to tightening the Planning Guarantee. Earlier this year we consulted on proposals to increase planning fees and will publish our response in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44308, on primary education, where the information requested is held.

Nick Gibb

The information requested is not held, because the data supplied by the consultation does not provide a breakdown by profession of respondents to question 1 of the consultation.

As set out in answers 44308 and 35933, the Department’s analysis of the consultation responses is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/new-national-curriculum-primary-assessment-and-accountability.

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