Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many of the working-age population in (a) St Helens, (b) Liverpool City Region and (c) the North West do not qualify for Statutory Sick Pay.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, on which occasions she has attended meetings of the British-Irish Council since taking office.
Answered by Theresa May
A list of Ministerial delegates at each Summit are included in the official communiques published following a Summit meeting. These can be found on the British-Irish Council website https://www.britishirishcouncil.org/publications
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Government Ministers have attended which plenaries of the British Irish Council since 2010.
Answered by David Lidington
The UK Government Ministers in attendance at each of the British-Irish Council Summits that have taken place since 2010 are listed below.
Date / location of Summit | UK Government Ministers in attendance |
25 June 2010, Guernsey | Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Charles Hendry MP |
13 December 2010, Isle of Man | Deputy Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP |
20 June 2011, London | Deputy Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Charles Hendry MP Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Mr. David Gauke MP |
13 January 2012, Dublin | Deputy Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP |
22 June 2012, Stirling Castle, Scotland | Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt. Hon Michael Moore MP Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Rt. Hon. Edward Davey MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP |
26 November 2012, Cardiff | Secretary of State for Wales, Rt. Hon David Jones MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP |
21 June 2013, Derry~ Londonderry | Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Baroness Sandip Verma |
15 November 2013, Jersey | Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP Minister of Justice, Rt Hon Lord McNally |
13 June 2014, Guernsey | Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Robert Goodwill MP |
28 November 2014, Isle of Man | Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, Rt Hon Francis Maude MP |
19 June 2015, Dublin | Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP Minister of State for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims, Rt Hon Mike Penning MP |
27 November 2015, London | Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Lord Gardiner of Kimble |
17 June 2016, Glasgow | Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon David Mundell MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP Minister of State for Community and Social Care, Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP |
22 July 2016, Cardiff | Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP Minister of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Rt Hon David Jones MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Lord Dunlop |
25 November 2016, Cardiff | Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, Mr Robin Walker MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities and Early Years Ms Caroline Dinenage MP |
10 November 2017, Jersey | Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union Robin Walker MP Parliamentary Secretary and Minister for Government Resilience and Efficiency Caroline Nokes MP |
22 June 2018, Guernsey | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Rt Hon David Lidington MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, Robin Walker MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity, Lord Gardiner of Kimble |
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the news release entitled Thousands of voters turned away from polling stations in mandatory ID trials, published by the Electoral Reform Society on 4 May 2018, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the estimate by the Electoral Reform Society that 3,981 people were turned away from polling stations across the five pilot areas; and if he will make an estimate of what that figure would be in the event that the scheme was rolled out nationally.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Requiring some form of identification to vote was successfully tested at the local elections on 3 May by five local authorities: Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking. The overwhelming majority of people cast their vote without a problem and the success of the pilots proves that this is a reasonable and proportionate measure to take, and there was no notable adverse effect on turnout.
The estimate by the political lobby group the Electoral Reform Society is exaggerated and inaccurate. Data from Returning Officers across all five participating local authorities shows that there were 340 electors asked to return to the polling station with the correct identification who did not subsequently return. This represents 0.16% of the votes cast.
This reflects that such identification was a brand new requirement, and a few electors may not have read the publicity that they were sent about the pilots.
However, the experience of Northern Ireland, where paper ID has been required since 1985 and photo ID since 2003, illustrates that there should be no issue with voters not knowing - once the requirement has become established.
The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings in the summer of 2018; this will be an opportunity to review how the publicity arrangements operated and could be improved. This is one of the benefits of piloting the policy.
Requiring some form of identification to vote was successfully tested at the local elections on 3 May by five local authorities: Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking. The overwhelming majority of people cast their vote without a problem and the success of the pilots proves that this is a reasonable and proportionate measure to take, and there was no notable adverse effect on turnout.
The estimate by the political lobby group the Electoral Reform Society is exaggerated and inaccurate. Data from Returning Officers across all five participating local authorities shows that there were 340 electors asked to return to the polling station with the correct identification who did not subsequently return. This represents 0.14% of the votes cast.
This reflects that such identification was a brand new requirement, and a few electors may not have read the publicity that they were sent about the pilots.
However, the experience of Northern Ireland, where paper ID has been required since 1985 and photo ID since 2003, illustrates that there should be no issue with voters not knowing - once the requirement has become established.
The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings in the summer of 2018; this will be an opportunity to review how the publicity arrangements operated and could be improved. This is one of the benefits of piloting the policy.
There was an error in the data previously presented. Whilst the individual totals of votes cast in each local authority were correct, the overall total was incorrectly summed. The previously quoted total of votes cast of 206,741 should have been 234,506. As a result, the percentage of people who did not return as a proportion of number of votes cast was overstated, incorrectly given as 0.16%. The correct figure is 0.14%. The attached table contains the correct data.
As part of its planned evaluation, the Electoral Commission will continue to collect and analyse a wide range of data and information about the pilots, including public opinion surveys, data from polling stations, turnout and postal voting data, and polling station staff surveys. We will continue to work with the Electoral Commission and other partners to ensure that the emerging data gives an accurate picture of how ID pilots were delivered.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of people in work in (a) St Helens North, (b) St Helens and (c) the North West earn less than the full-time equivalent of the national living wage.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average weekly earnings in (a) St Helens North, (b) St Helens and (c) the North West were in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in St Helens North constituency are employed on zero-hours contracts; and how many of those people are (a) aged between 16 and 24 and (b) women.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many teenage pregnancies there have been in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) the UK in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average annual pay for (a) men and (b) women in (i) St Helens North constituency, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) the UK was in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's policy is on ministerial attendance at events at which the Irish national anthem is played in (a) the UK, (b) Ireland and (c) the rest of the world.
Answered by Ben Gummer
There is no Government policy on this, it is at the discretion of individual Ministers.