Tag: Tulip Siddiq

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for paper-based reviews for employment and support allowance were submitted in each year since 2009-10; and how many of those claims were (a) accepted and (b) rejected.

Priti Patel

The information you have requested is not available.

The decision as to whether a paper-based review is appropriate is made by the Healthcare Professional. Their decision on whether to do so is based on evidence provided by the claimant to support their claim including all medical evidence from the claimant’s GP, hospital doctor or other appropriate clinicians.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when steps have been taken to enact the provisions within section 165 of the Equality Act 2010.

Andrew Jones

Government is committed to building transport networks that work for everyone, including ensuring that disabled people have the same travel choices as other members of society.

I am committed to commencing Sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act, making it unlawful for drivers of wheelchair accessible taxis and Private Hire Vehicles to refuse to provide assistance to passengers in wheelchairs or to charge them extra.

We will shortly be consulting on Regulations regarding the exemption certificates for drivers unable to provide such assistance, and on relevant guidance. We will commence the Sections once the Regulations and guidance are ready for issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made in implementing (a) all the recommendations and (b) the recommendations that seek to achieve fairer energy tariffs for disabled people in the report by the Extra Costs Commission, Driving down the extra costs face disabled people.

Jesse Norman

We welcome the Extra Costs Commission’s report ‘Driving down the extra costs disabled people face’, and in particular the Commission’s recommendation that disability organisations should consider setting up price comparison and collective switching schemes to assist disabled consumers to compare and switch tariffs so as to achieve better energy deals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what position the UK’s representatives at the (a) Trade Policy Committee and (b) Foreign Affairs Council have taken on the replacement of the Investor State Dispute Settlements mechanism with an Investment Court System in the negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Anna Soubry

On 16 September, the European Commission published a draft of its proposed text for the investment protection provisions in the EU-US free trade agreement, also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

In discussions on these proposals with the European Commission and Member States, UK representatives have expressed support for the European Commission’s ongoing initiative to reform the investment provisions used in its trade and investment agreements. UK representatives have also raised questions of detail on how the proposed text will continue to safeguard governments’ right to regulate lawfully and in the public interest, while ensuring that UK investors are treated fairly overseas by foreign governments.

The final content of the investment protection provisions in the EU-US free trade agreement will be subject to the outcome of negotiations between the EU and the US. The inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not threaten the right of the UK or Devolved Administrations to regulate or determine public policy. The Commission has published a proposal for reforms to investment protections in this agreement, which includes a clause setting out governments’ right to regulate.

The UK will work with the Commission on this proposal to ensure that UK investors are treated fairly overseas by foreign governments while allowing governments to regulate lawfully and in the public interest.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many inspections were carried out by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) inspectorate into possible breaches of employment agency regulations in each of the last five years; how many breaches of regulations were identified in those inspections; how many people the EAS barred from operating employment agencies following those inspections; and how many of each of those cases related to employment agencies for supply teachers.

Nick Boles

The table below sets out the total number of cases completed by the EAS in the last five years. These figures relate to both complaints and inspections as we do not differentiate between cases which arise as a result of a complaint or an inspection.

Year	Total number of cases (both complaints and inspections)
2010/11	1,201
2011/12	1,050
2012/13	1,057
2013/14	760
2014/15	626

The table below sets out the total number of breaches of regulations identified by EAS in the past five years, both as a result of complaints and inspections.

Year	Total number of breaches (found as a result of complaints or inspections)
2010/11	2,065
2011/12	2,146
2012/13	1,479
2013/14	320
2014/15	186

The Employment Agencies Act 1973, as amended in 1994, makes provision for the Secretary of State, on application to an Employment Tribunal, to be able to seek to prohibit persons from carrying on, or being concerned with carrying on of any employment agency or employment business. The current list of prohibited persons can be found on www.gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/403653/employment-agency-standards-inspectorate_prohibited_people_list__4_.pdf

The table below sets out the number of people the EAS prohibited following inspections in the past five years:

Year	Total number of prohibitions
2010/11	8
2011/12	0
2012/13	2
2013/14	0
2014/15	1

One of the prohibitions above relates to a person who operated a supply teachers agency.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times claimants of working age on unemployment benefits have been interviewed under caution by staff of his Department in each of the last five years.

Priti Patel

We do not hold official statistics to the National Statistical Authority and so we are unable to provide this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the number of additional claimants of (a) working tax credit (WTC) and (b) the universal credit version of WTC who will have to report a change of circumstances to HM Revenue and Customs year-on-year after the in-year income rise disregard for both benefits is reduced from April 2016; and how many such claimants will see their entitlement (i) reduced and (ii) increased.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2015 to Question 19955, whether the figures relating to (a) cases and (b) breaches in the tables are a measurement of the number of (i) employment agencies or (ii) agency workers.

Nick Boles

a) The figures for the number of cases are measurements of the total number of different complaints and investigations into employment agencies in each year. In some instances, there are a number of complaints against a single agency, or branches of a larger agency, which are recorded as separate cases for the purposes of these figures.

In some instances, a case will be an investigation into an employment agency which leads to the identification of numerous breaches relating to several agency workers, and this would be recorded as a single case for the purposes of these figures.

b) The number of breaches relates, in all cases, to the total number of breaches found during contact with employment agencies. For example, when investigating a complaint, the issue which prompted the complaint may not be the only breach that is discovered. In the case of an inspection, the whole of the agency’s relevant documents and procedures will be examined, which may lead to a higher number of breaches being identified and recorded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21501, how much of the Operational Plan budget relates to funding to assist with the effect of the refugee situation in Syria.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID’s entire £47 million Operational Plan budget for Jordan in the financial year 2015/16 has been allocated to respond to the effects of the Syria crisis. Around £37 million of this funding will provide humanitarian assistance and services to refugees in camps and living in host communities. The remaining £10 millionwill support the delivery of basic services in those municipalities with most refugees, and support basic education services to support the integration of Syrian refugee children into the education system.

As a result of Daesh’s brutality, a separate humanitarian crisis has also emerged in Iraq. To date, the UK has committed £79.5 million to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. DFID’s operational budget for Iraq in 2015-16 is provided on the basis of need and does not differentiate between internally displaced people and refugees.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 24387, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of changing the route used by lorries involved in the High Speed 2 construction away from the hedgehog population in the Regent’s Park area as an alternative to establishing replacement habitats; and whether such a change would require an amendment to the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The identified impact on the Regent’s Park hedgehog population is from the provision of replacement car parking for the Zoological Society of London rather than from lorries accessing the proposed lorry holding area. Therefore, no assessment has been made of changing the route used by HS2 construction vehicles in the Regent’s Park area for the purpose of mitigating the impact on hedgehogs. Such a change would require an Additional Provision to the Bill.