Tag: Stewart Jackson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of recipients of working tax credits in Peterborough constituency are citizens of non-UK EU member states; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds

The information requested is not available. The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. It means Britain moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society.

A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

An illustrative renting family with two children, where one parent works full-time on the minimum wage, will be over £2,400 better off in cash terms by 2020.

The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20^th July 2015. Taken together, the introduction of the National Living Wage, increases in the personal allowance and welfare changes mean that 8 out of 10 working households will be better off as a result of the Summer Budget.

In response to a request from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, the government has chosen to produce and release an impact assessment on the tax credit changes to the Committee. The impact assessment shows that 60% of the tax credit savings come from the half of tax credit claimants with the highest income.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce barriers preventing tenants in shared ownership properties from staircasing up to increase the share of the property they own; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

This Government is determined to extend home ownership to anyone who aspires to own their own home.

Shared ownership has proven to be extremely popular and has played an important role in helping families who are otherwise priced out of the market. This is why between April 2010 and March 2015 we have delivered 41,000 new shared ownership homes through the Affordable Homes Programme.

The Government is committed to ensuring that shared ownership continues to be effective at helping hard working families meet their aspiration to own their own home. This is why earlier this year we consulted on a range of possible proposals to streamline the process for selling on shared ownership properties.

As a result we have simplified the process for resale of shared ownership properties by removing the pre-emption right, or right of first refusal for housing providers, from those former shared ownership homes where the owner has ‘staircased’ to 100% ownership.

But there is more that can be done and the Government is currently looking at how we can make shared ownership even more accessible as a route to full home ownership.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to assist local authorities to safeguard the residential amenity of urban residential locales with high numbers of private sector lettings; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

A local housing authority can, through licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation and other privately rented properties (selective licensing), impose conditions relating to the management of the premises so its use does not adversely impact upon its vicinity. Since 27 March 2015 an authority can make a selective licensing scheme in an area where (a) it has recently, or is experiencing, a high level of migration into the private rented sector and (b) the scheme will help preserve or improve the social or economic well-being of that area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with armed forces charities on the payment of lump sum compensation payments to veterans with mesothelioma; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

The Government has continuously made compensation available under the War Pensions Scheme (WPS) for injuries, illness or disease caused by service before 6 April 2005, including mesothelioma. The scheme provides veterans who have mesothelioma with the maximum income stream and additional supplementary allowances, and, where appropriate, entitlement to dependent’s benefits.

During the last Central Advisory Committee on Compensation (CAC) Meeting on 17 June ex-Service organisations were updated on our consideration of whether any flexibility could be provided for future mesothelioma claimants under the WPS. Detailed consideration has continued, including discussion with other Government Departments, and we expect to update the charities at the forthcoming CAC Meeting in December.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made towards full disregard of military compensation payments for veterans in respect of their care costs; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

Armed forces veterans receive payments either through the War Disablement Pension (WDP) or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). The AFCS applies to veterans injured from April 2005. It has always been the case that personal injury compensation payments have been disregarded in when assessing how much a person can contribute towards the cost of local authority arranged care and support. Since October 2012 Guaranteed Income Payments made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme have also been disregarded. The Department of Health has been in discussion with the Royal British Legion about how WDP payments are currently treated.

The Government is in the process of considering the future funding of social care as part of the current spending review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to encourage prisons in the (a) public and (b) private estate to enable offenders to take part in meaningful paid work and training; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright

We want to see more prisoners engaged in meaningful work and training and, since this Government came to power, the number of hours worked in public sector prisons workshops has risen from 10.6 million to 13.1 million, with a further 1.5 million hours delivered in private prisons.

We are committed to delivering still more, including through commercial contracts, and we expect prisoners to engage in purposeful activity if they want to earn their privileges.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to issue further guidance on ecological focus areas; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, made a Statement to the House on 10 June covering a range of Common Agricultural Policy Reform implementation decisions. A number of subsequent decisions have to be made in relation to the greening Ecological Focus Area requirements, and we plan to issue further guidance to claimants within the next two months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to improve skill levels in the construction industry.

Michael Fallon

Under the auspices of the Construction Leadership Council, the house building industry is developing an action plan to address three immediate priorities: improving the image of house building; attracting back experienced workers who left during the recession; and attracting other workers with relevant skills.

More widely, the Government is making a number of reforms to the skills system to improve skills supply; putting employers in the driving seat and making providers more responsive to their needs.

The Government is also currently undertaking a triennial review of the way the Construction Industry Training Board operates and challenging it on the service it delivers to the sector.

In addition, the Government believes that a more robust and more visible government construction procurement pipeline is key to improving investment decisions in construction. We are working to enhance the pipeline to give construction businesses the confidence to upskill staff, to recruit, and to commit to apprenticeships.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what his policy is on future public subsidies to onshore solar energy projects; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker

The UK has seen a remarkable transformation in solar PV deployment under the Coalition Government; we now have over 3GW of installed capacity. The measures that we set out in our Solar Strategy will ensure that solar PV continues to be a vital part of the UK’s renewable energy mix for many years to come.

Alongside those measures, we are consulting on proposals to change the small-scale feed-in tariff scheme to enable more communities to benefit from ownership of renewable electricity generation, as well as proposals to encourage more deployment of solar PV on buildings.

We are also consulting on changes to the renewables obligation in relation to support for large-scale solar projects, and are working closely with industry to ensure that transition to the new contracts for difference mechanism supports the on-going development of the solar sector in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many deaths related to respiratory disease there were in (a) Peterborough constituency and (b) the UK in each year since 2001.

Mr Nick Hurd

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