Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of trade and biosecurity controls at the ports of Cairnryan and Stranraer.
Answered by David Duguid
Through the Port Infrastructure Fund, the UK Government has provided over £600,000 to Cairnryan and Loch Ryan to build the infrastructure needed for customs and biosecurity checks.
And while biosecurity is the responsibility of the Scottish Government, our two Governments work together to ensure that biosecurity is maintained.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to reopen the Building Safety Fund for applications in 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is providing £5.1 billion, including £4.5 billion through the Building Safety Fund, to address the fire safety risks caused by unsafe cladding on high-rise residential buildings. This will be used where the original developer and/or the building owner are not funding the works. We will be opening the next phase of the Building Safety Fund at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will undertake an audit of the UK assets owned by Hong Kong and Chinese officials who have been linked to human rights violations.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are deeply concerned about the appalling human rights violations in China and the deterioration of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. We keep all evidence and potential designations under close review, guided by the objectives of the relevant sanctions regime. It is not appropriate to speculate about future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) biometric residence cards, (b) biometric residence permits and (c) frontier working permits were issued in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The information requested is not available in a reportable format.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking with Ofgem to help support residents with communal heating systems not subject to the energy price cap.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is aware of the steep increases that some consumers on communal networks are facing. For this reason, the Government is taking action worth more than £9.1billion supporting households through initiatives such as the Energy Bills Rebate, the Household Support Fund, Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments. These measures are intended to cover heat network consumers and the government is engaging closely with industry and consumer groups to understand the specific impacts in the heat network sector.
In order to further ensure that heat networks consumers continue to receive fair pricing in the future, the Government will appoint Ofgem as the regulator for heat networks on the introduction of market regulation, which the Government aims to introduce in this parliament. Regulation will provide Ofgem with powers to ensure fair pricing across all UK wide heat networks. This will enable equivalent protection for domestic heat network customers as well as ensuring heat network operators are securing good purchasing deals for their consumers. This will mean that consumers are charged a fair rate for heating whilst encouraging further investment in heat networks.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the council tax rebate scheme, what steps he is taking to help support local authorities with residents who pay council tax in cash.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
My Department will shortly issue FAQs to help local authorities administer the council tax rebate. This will include information on flexible payment options for households, balancing administrative ease and accessibility with the need to manage fraud risk.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to whom the council tax rebate will be paid in cases where tenants pay rent with all bills included, including council tax; and in cases where the landlord receives the rebate, whether there will be a requirement for the landlord to pass it on to the tenant.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
My Department will provide guidance to billing authorities on administering the council tax rebate scheme, including on the eligibility criteria. The associated discretionary fund will allow councils to support people that may need help with their energy bills but who are not eligible for the main scheme.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether local authorities will receive central Government funding for the additional administrative costs incurred in the rollout of the £144 million discretionary fund for vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes that do not pay council tax or that pay council tax for properties in Bands E-H.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government will provide new burdens funding to local authorities to cover reasonable administrative costs incurred in delivering the council tax rebate scheme and the associated discretionary fund.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether additional administrative costs incurred by local authorities in the implementation of the £150 council tax rebate will be a new burdens requirement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government will provide new burdens funding to local authorities to cover reasonable administrative costs incurred in delivering the council tax rebate scheme and the associated discretionary fund.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to include butter knives in the exemptions in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Exemption) Order 1996.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.
Section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 created the offence of selling any knife, knife blade, razor blade, axe or any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, to a person under the age of 18. In Scotland, the word ‘axe’ has been added to this list of prohibited items. Originally the age limit was 16 and this was raised to 18 by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006