Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Vale of Clwyd constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates1.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as at end of September 20192:
In the Vale of Clwyd constituency since 2012, approximately 6,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,410 employers have met their duties.
1Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.
2The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink:
https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 453 on Chemicals: Regulation, whether the IT system for UK REACH will be fully operational on day one of the UK's exit from the EU. .
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK REACH IT system ‘Comply with UK-REACH’ will be ready to launch on Day 1 of the UK’s exit from the EU.
‘Comply with UK-REACH’ is being built in a phased approach, so that all features necessary for Day 1 are ready. This will include the ability to register existing UK-held registrations (‘grandfathering’), submit downstream user import notifications (DUIN) for those currently benefitting from EU held registrations, and submit new substance registrations and product and process-oriented research and development (PPORD) notifications.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 903 on 22 October 2019 on Department for Work and Pensions: Health, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recording well-being measures for each claimant of a benefit delivered by her Department.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
No assessment has been made.
DWP has over 100m transactions with customers each year. We do not record well-being measures against each of these transactions, however our case managers are trained to take action in the case of customers discussing suicide or self-harm, alongside being able to signpost customers to additional support such as bereavement assistance where appropriate.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 1587 on Sleeping Rough, what assessment he has made of the effect of increasing the Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge on non-UK residents buying residential property to three per cent on the prevalence of rough sleeping in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) England.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has previously announced that the non-resident Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) surcharge will be set at 1%. A costing for how much the surcharge will raise will be produced at a future fiscal event once the final design of the surcharge has been confirmed. This costing will follow the usual process for analysing the revenue impacts of new tax measures, including being subject to scrutiny from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of claimants of personal independence payment who made journeys by public transport to be assessed for those payments of (a) 15 minutes or less, (b) 16-30 minutes, (c) 31-45 minutes, (d) 46-60 minutes, (e) 61-75 minutes and (f) 76-90 minutes in each year for which figures are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested is not held.
DWP has set clear requirements in terms of geography and travel time to a PIP assessment and continues to ensure assessment providers adhere to this requirement. This limit of 90 minutes is an absolute maximum and DWP expects that only a small minority of claimants will have to make a journey of this duration.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 1588 on Crewe-Holyhead Railway Line, what recommendations were made on the strategic outline business case for delivering journey time improvements on the North Wales main line; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In light of the SOBC findings indicating a promising business case, the Government is progressing a ‘Decision to Develop’ through the governance of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline to take the development of a scheme to the next stage.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of her Department's policies have been formulated with reference to research from the Behavioural Insights Team since 2010.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy has commissioned research from the Behavioural Insights Team since 2014 across a wide range of issues which have added to the evidence base in formulating the department’s policies.
Since January 2011, details of central government contracts awarded above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at:
https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive.
Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 1587 on Sleeping Rough, if he will make an estimate of the funding that would be raised for tackling rough sleeping under a Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge of (a) 1 and (b) 3 per cent on non-UK residents buying residential property in England and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has previously announced that the non-resident Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) surcharge will be set at 1%. A costing for how much the surcharge will raise will be produced at a future fiscal event once the final design of the surcharge has been confirmed. This costing will follow the usual process for analysing the revenue impacts of new tax measures, including being subject to scrutiny from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 903 on Department for Work and Pensions: Health, on how many occasions her Department's staff have flagged claimants as being suicidal; and what estimate she has made of the number of claimants who have died by suicide in each of the last six years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department does not hold centralised records that will enable it to answer these questions.
The Department takes the issue of suicide extremely seriously. Guidance is available to staff that helps them work with customers who are vulnerable and indicate they may harm themselves.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of rates of hate crime recorded by each territorial police force in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Police recorded hate crime has increased since these figures were first collected by the Home Office in 2011-12. This is largely due to improvements in police recording practices and more victims coming forward to report, but also recognising spikes following incidents like terrorist attacks. Increased reporting is a key theme of the Hate Crime Action Plan, to help ensure that victims receive the support they need, and offenders are brought to justice.
Information on hate crime offences recorded by the police forces in England and Wales can be found in Appendix Table 1 of the Hate Crime, England and Wales, 2018/19 statistical bulletin available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2018-to-2019
In contrast, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (published last year) shows a downward trend in hate crime, which has fallen by 40% over the past decade.
We do however recognise that this might not be the experience within some communities, and that is why this Government remains committed to tackling all forms of hate crime.
The cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan (Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s plan for tackling hate crime) was published in 2016 and refreshed in October last year. This plan has improved the response to all forms of hate crime and the refreshed publication ensures a renewed commitment that victims remain at the heart of our work.
Some commitments within the Action Plan include just over £1.5 million for projects to tackle racially and religiously motivated hatred, launch of a public awareness campaign and asking the Law Commission to review hate crime legislation, among other important initiatives.
Following the attacks in Christchurch, the former Home Secretary increased the funding for the Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme to £1.6m for 2019/20, double the amount awarded last year, announced a new £5m security training scheme for places of worship and committed to a public consultation to understand what more could be done to protect faith institutions. In September, the Chancellor announced a further £3.2m for the fifth year of the Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme for 2020/21.