Tag: Steve McCabe

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44480, through what mechanisms devolution deals will reduce regional variations in tax generation.

Mr David Gauke

The government has devolved significant powers and funding from central government to city regions through devolution deals, including powers over transport, skills and planning. Devolution is about bringing together key levers at the right functional economic geography to drive economic growth. This will empower local leaders to invest money where it is most needed, to create high-quality jobs and boost local economic growth.

The government has also announced that it will pilot the move to 100% business rate retention with Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region, and that this offer is open to other mayoral combined authorities, ensuring local areas and communities see the benefits of supporting businesses and jobs through increased local tax receipts.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many foreign workers her Department employs.

Caroline Dinenage

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. However, 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 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2015 to Question 10566, what recent steps he has taken to encourage all parties in the conflict in Yemen to allow freedom of access for humanitarian and commercial supplies.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

During his visit to Saudi Arabia on 28 October, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) made clear the need for all sides to take all reasonable steps to facilitate access for humanitarian aid, and the importance of the non-politicisation of aid, as well as the need to facilitate access for commercial goods. We welcome the commitments of the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister and Yemeni President Hadi in recent weeks that all of Yemen’s ports are open and that commercial ships, including fuel tankers, are now arriving in Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah. We are using diplomatic channels to urge the Saudi and Yemeni Governments to ensure commercial access is sustained. The Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) have expressed the UK’s readiness to support the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) and DFID has committed £1.4 million to the UN to support its establishment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will update his Department’s travel advice on visiting the US to give specific advice to British Muslims travelling to that country.

Mr Hugo Swire

Our travel advice applies to all British nationals. We advise all British nationals to read our travel advice before travelling to the US.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to increase investment in home insulation.

Andrea Leadsom

We have made a commitment to insulate 1 million more homes this Parliament.

We are providing support for households to improve their energy efficiency through a reformed domestic supplier obligation (ECO) from April 2017. This will run for five years, with a value of £640 million per year.

Additionally, our Private Rented Sector Energy Efficiency Regulations made law from March 2015, will help up to 1 million domestic tenants in the private rented sector. This is expected to grow over time as people move from property to property.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the provision of mental health care services for children in the care system.

Alistair Burt

The Government has made no such central assessment. It is for local areas to consider and commission services based on the needs of their local population. Local transformation plans produced in each area of the country set out how they plan to meet the full spectrum of needs of children and young people with mental health problems including the needs of the most vulnerable, such as children in the care system.

At the Education Select Committee hearing on the mental health and wellbeing of looked-after children held on 3 February 2016, it was announced that the Department of Health and Department for Education will set up an Expert Group, working with NHS England, Health Education England, and sector partners, to develop care pathways to support an integrated approach to meeting the needs of looked-after children with mental health difficulties. By summer 2016 the expert group will be established to lead the development of models of care for looked-after children’s mental health. Members of this expert group will be drawn from across the health, social care and education sectors, with input from children, young people, carers and families with experience of the care system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2015 to Question 6494, whether he has made any representations to the government of China on accusations of the harvesting of organs in that country; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of legislation to prevent UK nationals from going to China for transplants.

Mr Hugo Swire

As I said in my reply to Question 6494, I remain concerned by reports of organ harvesting. We continue to raise this issue, and the full range of our human rights concerns, with the Chinese authorities at the annual UK-China Human Rights Dialogue. The next round of the Dialogue is scheduled to be held in the UK in April.

The Department of Health is making constant efforts to ensure that any British citizen requiring replacement organs is able to benefit from organ transplants in the UK. It is however very difficult to prevent UK citizens travelling to less well-regulated countries to seek an organ transplant, although physicians always advise patients against this. Although numbers are not known, it is thought that very few patients in the UK choose to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to continue to permit civil society organisations to submit complaints to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator.

Nick Gibb

On 25 January 2016, we announced our intention to limit who may refer objections to the Schools Adjudicator to local parents and local authorities. This intention has not changed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who claim employment and support allowance in (a) England and (b) Wales have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease.

Priti Patel

The number of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants with Inflammatory Bowel Disease as their main disabling condition, in England is 9,130 and the number for Wales is 730.

Source: DWP 100% data.

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
2. The data is at August 2015 which is the latest available information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that consumers have adequate advice and information about the benefits and risks of investing in a lifetime ISA.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government is committed to ensuring that people have access to affordable financial advice and guidance, at all stages of their lives. As announced at Budget 2016, the Government will take forward all the recommendations of the Financial Advice Market Review for which it is responsible, to support the development of a market which provides affordable, high-quality advice.