Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will have discussions with his Irish counterpart on the number of asylum seekers who arrived in Northern Ireland who have subsequently relocated to the Republic of Ireland in 2022-23.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There is a high level of cooperation on migration and border security between the UK and Irish governments. In particular, the Home Office regularly discuss asylum trends and work to respond to these trends with our counterparts in the Department of Justice. The Home Secretary will hold discussions with his Irish counterpart in due course.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with the World Bank Group on its commitment to fully align its non-sovereign operations since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
At the recent World Bank Spring Meetings on 17-19 April, the Deputy Foreign Secretary discussed the World Bank commitment to scale up financing for climate change with Bank management. For its non-sovereign operations, the World Bank is on track to achieve its commitment to ensure all new financial flows are aligned with the Paris Agreement by July 2025. At the end of 2023, this figure stood at 95 per cent, well ahead of the 85 per cent target.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an estimate of expected liver cancer mortality rates by the end of 2025.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No estimate has been made of expected liver cancer mortality rates by the end of 2025. The care of and treatment for patients with cancer, including liver cancer, is a priority for the Government. Early diagnosis of liver cancer is critical to improving rates of survival. NHS England’s Early Diagnosis of Liver Cancer Programme is contributing to the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitment to diagnose 75% of all cancers at stage one or two by 2028. This programme includes three workstreams: improving liver surveillance programmes; community liver health checks pilots; and primary care pilots. Identifying those at risk and ensuring patients are tested and referred to a surveillance programme, where necessary, will lead to improved patient outcomes.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions a person (a) was interviewed and (b) had charges brought against them in connection with controlling drones above an ongoing crime scene in 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of interviews or charges in connection with controlling drones above ongoing crime scenes.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with insurance companies on trends in the level of car insurance premia.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury Ministers and officials have regular meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, including financial services firms, on an ongoing basis.
The Government does not prescribe the terms, conditions or price that insurance companies set when offering insurance. Insurers make commercial decisions about the pricing of insurance following their assessment of the relevant risks. The Government does not intervene in these decisions as this could damage competition in the market.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the independent regulator responsible for supervising the insurance industry. The FCA requires firms to ensure their products offer fair value (i.e. if the price a consumer pays for a product or service is reasonable compared to the overall benefits they can expect to receive). The FCA has been clear that it will be monitoring firms to ensure they are providing products that are fair value, and, where necessary, it will take action.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will take steps to ensure that the public are aware of the deadline for backdating an application to the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme is due to close for new applications in August 2026. The Scheme is a devolved matter and communications are the responsibility of the Victims Payments Board.
The Board have recently conducted a communications campaign to raise awareness of the scheme, including key milestones such as the closing date for new applications.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many and what proportion of householders declined the installation of a smart meter in 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department does not hold information on households declining a smart meter installation.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an estimate of the number of people paying basic rate income tax in the financial years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This data is published in Table 2.1 Number of individual Income Tax payers in the Income Tax statistics and distributions publication.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that most zero-emission buses for use in the UK are built in the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
UK bus manufacturing is an area of strength for the UK, with 80% of buses operating in urban areas produced in the UK.
As part of the application process for the ZEBRA programmes, bidders were asked to highlight any community benefits from their proposals. This included local economic development in the area, the creation and/or retention of jobs and apprenticeships related to the maintenance of zero emission vehicles, including batteries and fuel cells, and supporting infrastructure.
The UK Government has no role in the procurement of buses, this is the responsibility of the LTA and the bus operator. During the procurement process for ZEBs, LTAs and bus operators tend to consider criteria such as value for money and route suitability, rather than geographical origins. Their priority is to procure the right vehicle, for the right location, based on quality and value for money.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will hold discussions with the Public Sector Fraud Authority on the setting of longer term targets for savings.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Minister Neville Rolfe, who leads on the counter fraud portfolio, regularly meet with the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) CEO and Senior Leadership Team to discuss their progress - target setting forms part of those discussions.
It is the government’s stated ambition to continue to increase the impact from counter fraud activity. The PSFA exceeded its target of achieving £180 million of savings in its first 12 months by preventing and recovering £311 million of audited savings.
The PSFA CEO works with the PSFA data and analytics delivery teams and Ministers to set the PSFA delivery target on an annual basis. The PSFA’s second year target is to deliver £185m of savings and will report performance against it when the independent audit of savings is complete. The PSFA is working with Ministers to set a financial target for its third year as part of routine business planning.
As the centre of the Government Counter Fraud Function (GCFF), the PSFA also requires, and supports departments to set financial impact targets for their counter fraud work and progress against this is published in the annual Fraud landscape Reports.
Government policy is that setting targets not only improves the transparency of counter fraud spending, but also ensures that we deliver a serious message to fraudsters that the government is making a concerted effort to tackle their ever-evolving crimes.