Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential contribution of Great British Nuclear to the Government’s domestic nuclear energy targets.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave to my hon Friend the Member for Hendon (Dr Matthew Offord) on 15 September to Question UIN 198081.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of criminal court cases.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court and have introduced a series of measures since the start of the pandemic to increase capacity of the courts, and to improve the experience of court users and delivery of swift justice.
Steps taken to maximise court capacity and optimise efficiency include: extending unlimited sitting days in the Crown Court for the last two financial years; opening two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough; extending the use of 24 Nightingale courtrooms beyond March 2023 to provide additional capacity for all jurisdictions; passing the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act so that remote hearings can be used in criminal proceedings; recruiting up to 1,000 judges across jurisdictions in 2022/23; retaining an extra 400 judges and tribunal members (per year) by raising the statutory mandatory retirement age; and increasing spending on criminal legal aid by £141 million a year.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department’s plan on Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System, published on 19 May 2022.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Fraud Plan set out our ambitions in three key areas. We are making good progress in delivering our investment in frontline services and bringing together the full force of the private and public sectors. Decisions on legislation are for the King’s Speech.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to use technological innovations to (a) find and (b) prevent fraud in the welfare system.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The department continues to explore the application of cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning to prevent, detect and deter those who would try to cheat the system, whilst also supporting genuine and vulnerable claimants.
Details of our work in this area are set out in the DWP annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people with disabilities and long-term health conditions into work.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government delivers an extensive programme of initiatives to support disabled people, and people with health conditions, including people with long-term health conditions, to start, stay, and succeed in work. These include:
o Employment Advice in NHS Talking Therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions; and
o The Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market.
Building on our existing programme, we announced a wide-reaching package at the Spring Budget to support disabled people and people with health conditions to work.
New investment broadens access to additional Work Coach support for disabled people and people with health conditions, introduces a new supported employment programme (Universal Support) and focuses on providing faster access to joined-up work and health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two leading causes of economic inactivity due to long term sickness.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania came into force in May 2022.
In May 2023, we announced a complementary arrangement whereby the UK Government has agreed to provide support to modernise and expand the Albanian prison system and in return Albania has agreed to accept the return of up to 200 Albanian Nationals currently serving sentences of 4 years or more in the UK.
The arrangement will save taxpayers’ money, as it is cheaper to house prisoners in Albania than in England and Wales, and will also free up capacity in our prisons.
We expect to see the first transfers under this agreement later this year. The deal builds on the prisoner transfer agreement signed between the UK and Albania in 2021, which came into force in May 2022. This implementation package will ensure Albania has the right processes and prison capacity in place, meaning transfers can now proceed at pace.
Albanians are the most common nationality in the Foreign National Offender population, making up approximately 14% of the total Foreign National Offender prison population. Between January 2021 and December 2022, 1,484 Albanian FNOs were removed from the UK (from custody and the community).
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people in employment six months after release from prison.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
I am pleased to say that the proportion of prisoners released from custody who were employed at six months from their release has more than doubled between April 2021 and March 2023, from 14% to over 30%. In March 2023, 715 people released 6 months previously were in the workforce and contributing to the economy, an increase from 394 in April 2021.
We know that employment reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. That is why we are determined to increase the number of prison leavers securing employment on release to cut their chances of reoffending and so we can keep the public safe.
We are offering more offenders the chance to work in prison and on release from custody, supported by our new, dedicated Prison Employment Leads, who are now in post at 92 prisons. They provide case-level employment support, match prisoners to roles on release, and head up our new Employment Hubs, where prisoners can access support with job applications and CVs.
We are building stronger links with employers, including through our prison Employment Advisory Boards, which are chaired by local business leaders. They will provide challenge and advice on how to align the skills delivered in prisons with labour market demand. Chairs have now been appointed to 92 Employment Advisory Boards.
Data on the number and proportion of people in employment after release from prison is published regularly and can be found on the Gov website at Employment Rates following Release from Custody - Ad Hoc - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to increase the uptake of Pension Credit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Our extensive communications campaign has been running since April 2022 and there is a strong indication that it is having a positive effect. The number of Pension Credit applications is up by around 75% in the 12 months to May compared to the same period last year.
Earlier this year we boosted our campaign with extensive television adverts which highlight that Pension Credit is worth £3,500 a year on average – as well as up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. For the Pension Credit ‘Week of Action’ in June, DWP joined forces with a whole range of partners to raise awareness and promote take-up of Pension Credit. I held an event to raise awareness of Pension Credit in my constituency and wrote to all MPs encouraging them to hold their own community event.
Today [Monday 17 June] I am pleased to announce the launch of an innovative “Invitation to Claim” trial across 10 local areas in Great Britain. Approximately 2,500 pensioner households already in receipt of Housing Benefit, but who are not claiming Pension Credit are being targeted during the trial. The first letters and ‘call to action’ leaflets will start landing on doorsteps this week inviting pensioners to apply for Pension Credit. Evaluation of the trial will help show whether targeting households in this way can be an effective way of reaching these households and increasing take-up.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support parents on Universal Credit into work.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Spring Budget included transformative childcare plans for parents, children and the economy. By 2027-28, the government expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
The reforms announced build on our current entitlements and childcare offers, which includes the universal 15-hour offer for all 3- and 4-year-olds, a 15-hour offer for the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds, the existing 30 hours offer for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to expand the support available through Jobcentres.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for getting people into work and making work pay. We want everyone to be able to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market. In addition to our core regime of job centre support we also announced a wide-ranging package of measures at Spring Budget designed to support people to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives. We also announced specific support targeted on those with disabilities or health issues, and together the package represents an investment of £3.5bn over 5 years.