Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the rail industry is accountable to Government.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department works closely with the rail industry to ensure it is held accountable, with regular meetings between industry and Ministers and officials. A number of robust reporting and risk management processes are in place to support this work. The Williams Rail Review will also consider the role of the Department as part of its thinking on wider reform.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the humanitarian situation on the US-Mexico border.
Answered by Rory Stewart
I share the hon Gentleman’s concerns about the reports of poor conditions and overcrowding in US detention facilities on the border with Mexico.
I very much welcome the steps already taken by the Administration and Congress to address these issues, including the emergency funding signed off by the President on 1 July.
These are difficult issues, and the UK has also struggled sometimes to get this right.
But we very much encourage our US friends to continue to work to improve the conditions in these facilities.
I have seen the excellent work the US has done around the world to promote human rights, and so it is important that they uphold these standards as they continue to tackle the situation at the US-Mexico border.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to increase (a) funding and (b) staffing of the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Will Quince
Child Maintenance Service funding and staffing is determined as part of the funding settlement that DWP receives to provide the range of services that it provides. DWP, along with all other Government Departments, is currently agreeing its budgets for the approaching Spending Review period with HM Treasury. No decisions on the level of future budgets has been agreed at this point but is expected to be resolved in the latter part of 2019.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will allocate more funding to the fire service in the 2019-20 financial year.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work and will receive around £2.3 billion in 2019/20.
Fire and Rescue Services funding requirements from 2020/21 will be considered as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to allow the Northern Rail franchise to be publicly run.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Alongside Transport for the North, who co-manage the franchise, our absolute priority is delivering the services that passengers expect. At a time when performance is improving and brand-new trains have been successfully introduced onto the network only this week to replace the unpopular and dated Pacers, major change could result in significant disruption. We see no reason at this stage to consider making changes to the franchise.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he bring forward a new protection of civilians strategy to help safeguard children in conflict zones throughout the world.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Government is currently reviewing its strategy on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, and is committed to ensuring that its approach benefits all civilians, including children and other vulnerable groups, and that it reflects the changing international landscape and the complexity of many conflicts. The Government welcomes recent research carried out by academics and NGOs in this field and is taking their work into account as it undertakes its review. The Government aims to complete the review by the end of 2019.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Brazilian counterpart on protecting the Amazon rainforest.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Our posts in Brazil frequently engage with the Brazilian Government on a number of environmental issues including deforestation. We have been having positive discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and work closely with them on our International Climate Fund programmes.
We are working with Brazil to help ensure it continues to protect the Amazon and have invested nearly £120 million through the International Climate Fund on projects to limit deforestation, prevent forest fires and implement the Forestry Code in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her Department's policy to process mandatory reconsiderations for personal independence payment claims within 15 working days.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Mandatory reconsideration (MR) decisions are made without delay, but the focus is on making sure that the decision under dispute is thoroughly reviewed not on how long it takes to review it.
We are engaging with stakeholders to explore how we can improve the MR process. We have recently implemented a new approach in PIP which includes contacting claimants, where appropriate, to see if there is information that would enable us to change the decision ourselves. To support this, we are investing additional time for communication, evidence gather and review – including providing time for claimants to provide more information - which means that some cases can take longer. However, this approach supports our aim - to make the right decision as early as possible - so claimants don’t need to progress to the appeal stage.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HMRC takes in responding to complaints on online VAT fraud; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of HMRC's response to such complaints.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC take all complaints seriously. When complaints are received, HMRC aim to deal with them effectively and learn from them to improve services and operations for the benefit of all customers. HMRC have complete operational independence from Treasury Ministers, and therefore the Chancellor of the Exchequer will not be privy to the results of how HMRC has responded to specific complaints.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what safeguards his Department has put in place to prevent online VAT fraud.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has led the way in tackling this complex and international problem. A package of measures was announced at Budget 2016 to tackle abuse by overseas businesses selling goods to UK customers through online marketplaces. This included holding online marketplaces jointly liable for the future unpaid VAT of non-compliant overseas businesses and the introduction of the Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme which went live in April 2019. At Budget 2017 the Government strengthened the joint and several liability rules for online marketplaces to include UK businesses, where they either knew or should have known that an overseas business should have been registered for VAT and required them to display a valid VAT number where provided with one. Taken together, these measures are expected to deliver just under £1bn by 2023.