Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many appeals against Personal Independence Payment decisions were lapsed by her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A lapsed appeal is where DWP changed the decision in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at a tribunal hearing.
The table below provides information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeal registrations and lapsed appeals. Data provided is for the last five financial years.
Table 1: Appeals registered for each financial year and how many were subsequently lapsed
Financial year | Appeals registered | Appeals subsequently lapsed |
2018-19 | 94,000 | 18,000 |
2019-20 | 82,000 | 27,000 |
2020-21 | 55,000 | 23,000 |
2021-22 | 50,000 | 17,000 |
2022-23 | 81,000 | 18,000 |
Notes:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Answer of 8 July 2002 to Question 67534 on Export Licences, whether the guidance on incorporation of British weaponry components is still current; whether that guidance has been (a) updated or (b) modified; and whether it was consulted during the review of (i) extant and (ii) pending licence applications to Israel since October 2023.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government takes its defence export responsibilities extremely seriously and operates some of the most robust export controls in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (the Criteria).
The Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework, and the Export Control Joint Unit will not issue an export licence to any destination where to do so would be inconsistent with the Criteria, including where there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). This includes licences where UK components are sent to a third country for incorporation into another product which is then supplied to the final destination.
All our export licences are kept under careful and continual review, and we are able to amend, suspend or revoke extant licences, as well as refuse new licence applications, where they are inconsistent with the Criteria.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help support older people in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government has stressed to Israeli leaders that they must take every effort to protect civilians. We recognise that there are certain groups who are uniquely exposed to risks, including the elderly. We are supporting trusted partners to address the needs of these vulnerable groups.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has received legal advice on the Israeli Government's (a) evacuation order issued on 12 October 2023 to civilians and (b) recent military operations in Gaza.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary and his ministerial team receive legal advice on all matters related to foreign policy, including the unfolding situation Israel and Gaza. The UK Government is closely following the security situation in the Middle East and maintains a regular dialogue with international counterparts. We will continue to use all the tools of British diplomacy to sustain the prospects of peace and stability in the region.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) discharge patients from hospitals and (b) reduce the number of patients in hospital who do not meet residency criteria.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is investing £600 million this year and £1 billion next year through the Discharge Fund for local authorities and National Health Service integrated care boards to spend flexibly based on their local needs. This will include the purchase of short-term packages of care, community-based reablement capacity and building the workforce capacity needed to continue to support care users.
We are also supporting all systems to improve their care transfer hubs through the support offer set out in the 'Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care', which includes webinars, actions learning sets and sharing best practice. Care transfer hubs link across health, social care, the voluntary sector and housing partners to coordinate complex discharges. This will help to ensure patients are discharged safely and to the right setting as soon as possible.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the average ambulance response time to category two incidents is at least 30 minutes by the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services’ aims to reduce Category 2 response times to 30 minutes on average this year with further improvements towards pre-pandemic levels next year.
To grow capacity and improve response times, ambulance services are receiving £200 million of additional funding this year. This is alongside over 800 new dual-crewed ambulances and specialist mental health vehicles.
The delivery plan will also add 5,000 more permanent hospital beds this winter, supported by £1 billion of dedicated funding. This is alongside £1.6 billion of funding for social care to reduce the numbers of beds occupied by patients ready to be discharged. These measures will improve patient flow through hospitals, reducing crowding in accident and emergency and cutting down on delays in ambulances handing over patients so they can quickly get back on the roads.
We have seen significant improvements in performance, with average Category 2 response times in September over 10 minutes faster than the same month last year.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of closing train station ticket offices in Leeds East on the (a) safety and (b) accessibility of passenger rail travel in Yorkshire.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours, including closures, operators are required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of all passengers; and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups. We would also expect operators to consider other equality related needs and make this clear in the notice sent to other operators and passenger groups.
Together with industry, we want to improve and modernise the passenger experience by moving staff out from ticket offices to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles. No currently staffed station will be unstaffed as a result of industry changes, and train operators will ensure staff are well located to meet passenger needs in future.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people worked in HMRC's Wealthy Team in (a) 2022-23 and (b) each year since its founding.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC’s Wealthy teams were formed in April 2017, a merger of the previous High Net Worth Unit and Affluent teams.
The tax affairs of Wealthy customers can be complex and the staff in HMRC’s Wealthy unit work with teams across HMRC to tackle non- compliance.
The below table provides the correct number of FTE staff within the WMBC Wealthy Unit broken down by tax year:
FTE staff as at:
31 March 2016 to 2017 | 1,007 |
2017 to 2018 | 1,046 |
2018 to 2019 | 996 |
2019 to 2020 | 953 |
2020 to 2021 | 866 |
2021 to 2022 | 887 |
2022 to 2023 | 1,014 |
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people worked in HMRC's High Net Worth Unit in (a) 2022-23 and (b) each year since 2009.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC’s Wealthy teams were formed in April 2017, a merger of the previous High Net Worth Unit and Affluent teams.
The tax affairs of Wealthy customers can be complex and the staff in HMRC’s Wealthy unit work with teams across HMRC to tackle non- compliance.
The below table provides the correct number of FTE staff within the WMBC Wealthy Unit broken down by tax year:
FTE staff as at:
31 March 2016 to 2017 | 1,007 |
2017 to 2018 | 1,046 |
2018 to 2019 | 996 |
2019 to 2020 | 953 |
2020 to 2021 | 866 |
2021 to 2022 | 887 |
2022 to 2023 | 1,014 |
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an estimate of the total number of years' experience held by all state (a) primary, and (b) secondary teachers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the school workforce in England is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. Information is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
This publication includes information on teacher retention by length in service. Information on the total number of years of experience of teachers is not currently available. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.