Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made on introducing a Europe-wide groceries adjudicator.
Answered by Anna Soubry
On 29 January, the European Commission published its report on the existing regulatory and voluntary frameworks for tackling unfair trading practices in the food supply chain. The Commission concluded that there would be no added value in a specific harmonised regulatory approach at EU level at this stage.
The Commission will continue to monitor the situation and, before the end of its mandate, it will re-assess its position on harmonised regulation.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the financial implications of caring for people with cancer and their families.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Government recognises the invaluable contribution made by unpaid carers and the importance of supporting them in their caring roles. We are also aware that caring for people with cancer and other illnesses or disabilities can have significant financial implications both for those involved and wider society, for example, the Government, Carers UK and business representatives worked together to produce the Supporting Working Carers report of 2013, which estimated the costs to the exchequer of carers being unable to continue working at £1.3 billion a year.
That is why we continue to support implementation of the improved rights for carers that were enshrined in The Care Act 2014. On the appearance of needs for support, carers have a right to an assessment that will look at a carer’s wellbeing and what support they may need in their caring role. The Department has provided £104 million of funding to local authorities for these rights in 2015/16.
We also made an additional £400 million available to the National Health Service between 2011 and 2015 to provide carers with breaks from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The Better Care Fund includes £130 million of funding for carers’ breaks in 2015/16.
In 2015 the Government extended to carers a right to request flexible working arrangements, and this helps those carers who wish to balance work and care. We are also funding a £1.6 million pilot project to explore how technology can be combined with professional support from the local authority and the assistance of informal networks to ease the pressure of caring.
The Department is also leading the development of a new cross-Government National Carers Strategy that will look at what more we can do to support existing carers and future carers.
We are also aware that the right support for the person they care for is crucial to improving outcomes for carers. The Independent Cancer Taskforce published its report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes, in July 2015. It recommended improvements across the cancer pathway, including on patient experience, support, and quality of life. NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward these recommendations.
As part of our approach to support people living with and beyond cancer, we announced in September 2015 that, by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. These recovery packages, developed in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, will be individually designed to help each person live well beyond cancer, including elements such as physical activity programmes, psychological support and practical advice about returning to work.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what charges the Government plans to levy for connection to the National Grid on the proposed interconnector cable from Iceland.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced a UK/Iceland taskforce to consider the potential for interconnection between the two countries. The taskforce is considering a high-level assessment of the costs and benefits and will make recommendations to Government in May as to whether to continue with a more detailed stage of discussions. This will include an assessment of the impact of the interconnector on system costs.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions have taken place with the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development on the situation in the dairy industry since the early support payments were made in November 2015.
Answered by George Eustice
Difficulties with low prices in the dairy sector were discussed with Commissioner Hogan at Agriculture Council on 15 February. Member States have been invited to present their initial suggestions for how to deal with the ongoing pressure on EU farmers ahead of further talks at Council on 14 March.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments are (i) undergoing treatment for and (ii) recovering from cancer.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested is not available as information on treatment is not recorded centrally.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has target times for responding to written correspondence from members of the public; and what change there has been in the volume of written correspondence to HMRC from the public seeking information or assistance over the last three years.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) targets for responding to written correspondence received via post are to reply to 80% within 15 working days and 95% within 40 working days.
The volume of written correspondence received by HMRC has decreased over the past three years, and is currently at around one million items per month. HMRC regularly publishes general performance reports on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many letters to HM Revenue and Customs from members of the public remained unanswered after (a) four, (b) eight and (c) 12 weeks in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold this data. However, they regularly publish general performance reports at Gov.uk.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many cheques sent to HM Revenue and Customs from members of the public remained uncashed for (a) four, (b) eight and (c) 12 weeks in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs contracts the supplier BancTec to process cheques received from customers. Cheques are passed to BancTec on the day they are received, 99% of the cheques received are banked on the day of receipt. Over the last 12 months there was only one occasion when the cheques were not banked on the day of receipt. In one percent of cases further information is required, usually from the customer, to enable the cheque to be processed. Generally, all cases that require investigation are resolved within four working days.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the incidence of members of the public receiving multiple letters from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) conveying conflicting information; and what steps HMRC is taking to reduce such occurrences.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold this data. However, they regularly publish general performance reports at Gov.uk.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to improve HM Revenue and Customs' response times to written correspondence from members of the public.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has taken major steps to improve their customer service, including recruiting 3,000 new staff into customer service roles and undertaking their biggest-ever training programme to enable them to build customer support teams that can move across a wide range of work according to customer demand. HMRC have also introduced digital mail scanning to help manage the more than 1million items of post they receive every month.