Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many assaults against disabled people were recorded in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) the area covered by West Midlands Police in each year since 2010.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects data on the number of burglaries recorded by the police in England and Wales and these data are published quarterly. It is not possible to separately identify the number of burglaries that involved a violent assault in the information that we hold centrally. However, data is available on the number of aggravated burglary offences. These includes burglaries in which an offender is in possession of any firearm or imitation firearm, other weapon or explosive at the time of committing the offence.
Data for West Midlands Police Force Area and for Wolverhampton Community Safety Partnership (CSP) area can be found in open data tables here back to the financial year 2002/03:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
Information on the number of assaults against disabled people recorded by the police is not held centrally.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of offences where disability hate crime was a factor in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions and convictions by detailed offence. There is no specific offence under legislation for crimes involving disability hate crime, rather it is an aggravating factor in offences. This information may be held on court record, however, identifying these cases would require a manual search of court records, which would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the number of empty homes in (a) the West Midlands region, (b) City of Wolverhampton local authority area and (c) Wolverhampton North East constituency in each year since 2010; and what steps he is taking the reduce the number of empty homes.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The most recent estimate of the number of long-term empty homes shows that at October 2018 there were 10,084 homes that had been empty for more than six months in the West Midlands Metropolitan County, and 1,401 that had been empty for more than six months in the City of Wolverhampton. Statistics on vacant dwellings in England and in each local authority district, from which regional totals may be calculated, are published in the Department's live table 615 which is available at the link below. This table shows the annual total numbers of empty homes, those vacant for longer than six months and also vacant properties in the local authority, housing association and other public sector tenures. Statistics on vacant dwellings at parliamentary constituency level are not centrally collected
Local authorities are equipped with powers and have strong incentives to tackle empty homes. Since 1 April 2019, via the Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Act 2018, local authorities have the discretion to increase the maximum level of premium charged on properties that have been empty for more than two years from 50 per cent to 100 per cent extra council tax. Through the New Homes Bonus, local authorities earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. In certain circumstances, local authorities can apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) to temporarily take over the management of a property that has been empty for more than two years in order to bring it back into use.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending provision of genetic testing to all people diagnosed with breast cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out the ambition to extend the use of molecular diagnostics and, over the next 10 years, to routinely offer genomic testing to all people with cancer for whom it would be of clinical benefit.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of smart meters that have been replaced as a result of customers switching energy suppliers in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Smart meters continue to record energy consumption accurately when a consumer switches energy supplier, even when the new energy supplier is temporarily unable to operate the meter in smart mode. Smart meters are rarely replaced when a consumer switches energy supplier. Of the total number of smart meters installed in Great Britain as of the end of 2018, less than 0.4% were replaced in the preceding 12 months following a consumer switch.
Smart meters will give households the information to allow them to be more active consumers and more easily act upon poor service or expensive tariffs, and in time make switching suppliers easier and faster.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the call for evidence on bailiff enforcement launched in 2018, entitled Review of the 2014 enforcement agent reforms introduced by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in the Secretary of State for Justice’s Written Statement on bailiff reform made on 22 July, we’ve been continuing to engage with stakeholders before finalising our response. We will respond in full to the call for evidence as soon as possible.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing British National (Overseas) passport holders to live and work in the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The UK continues to support the one country, two systems model underpinned by the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The immigration status of BN(O)s is part of this agreement; there is no right to work or live in the UK under the BN(O) passport.
I refer the Hon Lady to the answers given by my Rt. Hon Friend, the Foreign Secretary, when responding to an urgent question on 26 September 2019.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of detainees abroad who hold a British National (Overseas) passport who have been provided with consular assistance in each year since 2010.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2010 the FCO have responded to 139 requests for assistance from British Nationals (Overseas) who were arrested or detained. As of September 2019 the FCO is providing ongoing assistance to 45 British Nationals (Overseas) who remain in detention.
Category | New Detention Cases |
2010 | 15 |
2011 | 17 |
2012 | 13 |
2013 | 14 |
2014 | 20 |
2015 | 10 |
2016 | 15 |
2017 | 15 |
2018 | 10 |
2019 | 10 |
Grand total | 139 |
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on access to cash of NoteMachine's plans to convert approximately 3,000 of its 7,000 free-to-use machines to pay-to-use; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers in the UK. However, it is not appropriate for the Government to comment on individual contracts relating to ATM charges.
The Government is engaging, and will continue to engage, with the regulators and industry on this important topic. The Government-established Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is closely monitoring developments in ATM provision. The PSR regulates LINK, the scheme which runs the UK’s ATM network, and has used its powers to hold LINK to account over LINK’s commitments to preserve the broad geographic spread of the ATM network.
LINK has put in place specific arrangements to protect free-to-use ATMs more than 1 kilometre away from the next nearest free-to-use ATM and has also enhanced its Financial Inclusion Programme. More recently, LINK has committed to protecting free access to cash on high streets – where there is a cluster of five or more retailers – that don’t have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within 1 kilometre.
UK Finance has also launched a Community Access to Cash Initiative, offering grants to local communities to improve cash access.
In addition, the Government has invested heavily in maintaining a stable network of Post Office branches, with investment of around £2 billion since 2010. Currently, 99% of personal customers and 95% of small business customers can carry out their everyday banking locally at one of the Post Office’s 11,500 branches.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government provides ring-fenced funding to local authorities to spend on supporting women's refuges.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
MHCLG does not currently provide ring-fenced funding to local authorities to spend on supporting women's refuges. Through the local government settlement, funding is provided to local authorities which they can spend on local domestic abuse services in line with their local priorities.
Since 2014 the Department has additionally invested £55.5 million in services to support victims of domestic abuse, including refuges.
MHCLG has recently consulted on a new statutory duty which would require local authorities to assess the need for and commission support for victims and their children in safe accommodation.
The consultation closed on 2 August. We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation on support within safe accommodation and will be publishing a full government response in due course.