Tag: Steve McCabe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 April 2016 to Question 32506, what proportion of asylum claims made by unaccompanied children of refugees who had already been granted asylum in the UK were granted in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 15 March 2015 to his question 30647. The Home Office publishes quarterly figures on asylum claims from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) in the Immigration Statistics release. This includes information on applications received, decisions made by sex, age and country of nationality.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether questions about the armed forces community will be included in the next national census; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much Child Support Agency scheme arrears were being dealt with by the child maintenance service at 31 March 2016; and how many cases those arrears relate to.

Priti Patel

As at 31 March 2016 the total amount of 1993 and 2003 Child Support Agency scheme arrears held on the 2012 system and currently being handled by the Child Maintenance Service stood at £153.3 million. Figures for 31 March 2016 are draft and subject to audit.

Information on related case groups and break downs by scheme are not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

We have at our disposal a range of strong enforcement powers, intended to ensure as many parents as possible fulfil their financial responsibilities towards their children. We are using all of the powers available to us where it is appropriate to do so. These include deducting maintenance directly from earnings, deduction directly from bank accounts, instructing bailiffs to collect arrears or seize goods, forcing the sale of property, commitment to prison and disqualification from driving.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35936, on blood: contamination, when he plans to publish a formal response to the public consultation.

Jane Ellison

The consultation on the infected blood payment scheme closed on 15 April 2016. Officials are currently analysing the replies and a formal response will be published as soon as possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35884, on Bees: Pesticides, if she will make it her policy to exercise her powers to lift the temporary ban on neonicotinoids in the future; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

EU restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids have been fully implemented in the UK. Member States can authorise limited and controlled use of a pesticide on an exceptional basis in emergency situations to “control a danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means”. Emergency authorisations are not granted automatically and applications must be based on evidence relating to the need for the pesticide and possible harmful effects.

Decisions on whether or not to grant authorisations for restricted neonicotinoids will be made on the basis of an examination of the technical and scientific information submitted by the applicant, by the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides and the Health and Safety Executive. Two applications are currently under consideration and will be assessed using the above regulatory criteria.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 1 December 2015 to Question 17582, what his Department’s timetable is for the closure of the remaining arrears-only Child Support Agency cases after the three-year cases closure programme involving cases with an on-going liability is completed.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department’s timetable for the closure of Child Support Agency arrears only cases is currently under consideration.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many special educational needs and disability tribunals there have been in each year since 2010; and what the total cost to the public purse of defending the refusal to issue special educational statements was in each year since 2010.

Sir Oliver Heald

Information about the numbers of special educational needs and disability tribunals is published by the Ministry of Justice in the Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly on gov.uk

Information about the total cost to the public purse of defending the refusal to issue special educational statements each year since 2010 is not held centrally.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies on the provision of mental health services for young people in (a) the community and (b) school of the recent 10 per cent increase in instances of depression and anxiety among school-aged girls.

Edward Timpson

Children and young people’s mental health is a priority for this Government, supported by an additional £1.4 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament. Each clinical commissioning group has worked with partners, including schools and colleges, to develop a Local Transformation Plan setting out how they will provide support for the full spectrum of mental health conditions, including early intervention measures.

Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the mental health of children and young people, and we will continue to invest in this. We have provided them with a range of information, support, advice and guidance to help them develop ‘whole-school’ approaches to best suit the needs of their pupils. This includes guidance on: teaching about such issues as depression and anxiety within their personal, social, health and economic education curriculum, and providing effective school-based counselling. Teachers can also access free online support for pupils with a range of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, through the MindEd website.

We want to support schools and colleges further, and to help us to know where to best direct this support we are currently conducting a large-scale survey asking them what approaches they use, as well as what they find to be the most effective. The results should be available next spring.

The Department of Health has also commissioned a new prevalence survey that should provide updated information on a range of specific mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. This is due to report in 2018.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of total spending on High Speed 2 has been on (a) wages and (b) performance bonuses.

Andrew Jones

From 2009-10 to 2015-16, the Government spent £1.4bn on the HS2 programme. The total payroll costs for HS2 Ltd permanent staff for the same period were £94.6m, out of which £113.5k was spent on performance related pay.

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

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

Mr David Jones

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.