Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on enabling access to student finance for people with leave to remain in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State meets with my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary and other Cabinet secretaries regularly to discuss the Department for Education agenda.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, to which South American countries the UK provides military training.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The UK has deep and enduring interests in Latin America and the Caribbean. We have a long historical association with the continent which endures in the form of strong bilateral relationships, various treaties and alliances. During 2018 the UK provided military training to the following South American countries: Argentina; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Guyana; Uruguay; Paraguay and Peru.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2018 to Question 199286 on Overseas Students: Immigration, what criteria are used to assess whether a student has a recognised connection with the UK.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Generally, to meet the eligibility requirements for student support, a student should be resident in England and have ‘settled’ status. 'Settled' means being ordinarily resident in the UK without any immigration restriction on the length of stay in the UK. An exception to this rule is made for Refugees, Stateless Persons, Persons Granted Humanitarian Protection and those who can demonstrate Long Residence in the UK.
To qualify for student support, individuals should normally have been a resident of the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for the 3 years prior to the start of the course. Refugees are exempt from the three year residence requirement.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2019 to Question 206815 on Independent Case Examiner, of the 2,514 cases closed following the High Court decision, how many of those cases related to complaints made on the grounds of maladministration.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The role of the Independent Case Examiner’s Office (ICE) is to investigate complaints of maladministration (service failure). All of the 2,514 cases closed following the High Court decision to grant permission for a Judicial Review, were complaints of maladministration associated with the way in which changes to women’s State Pension age were communicated.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals have been affected by the erroneous payment of employment and support allowance and jobseekers allowance in December 2018 and January 2019; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Over the New Year period, some JSA and ESA claimants who expected to receive payments fortnightly, actually received two individual weekly payments, rather than a single fortnightly payment. All claimants received the correct amount of benefit and no payments were late (the first part of these ‘split’ payments were paid early).
In total there were 798,211 ESA claimants and 51,977 JSA claimants who received these ‘split’ payments (England, Scotland and Wales). The NI figures were 47,751 ESA and 3,059 JSA.
Operational colleagues were notified how best to support claimants and we also provided a link to key information on gov.uk.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2019 to Question 204482 on Independent Case Examiner, what the reasons were for the complaints that were closed for other reasons in December 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Independent Case Examiner’s Office (ICE) closed 2,521 cases in December 2018 for other reasons as detailed in the response to PQ 204482. The specific categories were:
2,514 cases were closed following a High Court decision to grant permission for a Judicial Review of the Department’s handling of the change to women’s State Pension age.
5 cases were withdrawn as the need for the complaint was removed.
1 case was withdrawn following the complainant’s satisfaction with action taken by the
1 case was withdrawn due to the complainant’s failure to respond to ICE enquiries.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases the Independent Case Examiner has closed (a) after investigation and (b) without investigation; and for what reason those cases were closed in each month since September 2017.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The table below provides information on the cases closed by the Independent Case Examiner’s (ICE) Office and the reason they were closed, for each month since September 2017.
Month | Closed following issue of ICE Investigation Report | Closed following resolution or settlement agreed with the complainant (without the need for an ICE Investigation Report) | Rejected (complaint failed to meet ICE acceptance criteria) | Closed for other reasons (includes withdrawn complaints and those closed following a High Court decision to grant permission for a Judicial Review of the Department’s handling of the change to women’s State Pension age) |
September 2017 | 46 | 25 | 168 | 1 |
October 2017 | 55 | 26 | 182 | 6 |
November 2017 | 64 | 12 | 202 | 2 |
December 2017 | 50 | 15 | 119 | 1 |
January 2018 | 67 | 18 | 213 | 2 |
February 2018 | 70 | 12 | 247 | 4 |
March 2018 | 58 | 25 | 296 | 4 |
April 2018 | 53 | 21 | 172 | 0 |
May 2018 | 69 | 18 | 210 | 2 |
June 2018 | 85 | 23 | 192 | 2 |
July 2018 | 61 | 30 | 222 | 3 |
August 2018 | 79 | 25 | 181 | 1 |
September 2018 | 61 | 30 | 227 | 6 |
October 2018 | 87 | 53 | 201 | 6 |
November 2018 | 82 | 42 | 251 | 6 |
December 2018 | 49 | 26 | 1102 | 2521* |
*Figure is related to the High Court decisions
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made any payments to The Bulldog Trust in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office has no record of any payments made to The Bulldog Trust in each financial year from 2015-16 up to and including 2017-18 only.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant the Answer of 10 December 2018 to Question 198814 on Ministry of Defence: Integrity Initiative and with reference to the (a) invoice of 22 November 2017 to the Ministry of Defence from The Institute of Statecraft asking for payment into a bank account entitled The Integrity Initiative Programme, invoice number II 22 11 17UKR and (b) remittance advice of 4 December 2017 from the Ministry of Defence to the Institute of Statecraft, reference number 277966, contractor code K0584 / 00 for £6,788.52, what information his Department holds on that (i) invoice and (ii) remittance advice; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
This payment was made by the Ministry of Defence to the Institute of Statecraft on 29 November 2017. It was included in my earlier answer on this issue (Question 200608) and was for specialist training for the Army. This payment was not identified in the Department's search in response to Question 198814 as the payment was made to The Institute of Statecraft, rather than its Integrity Initiative programme.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made any payments to The Bulldog Trust in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Ministry of Defence has made no payments to the Bulldog Trust in these financial years.