Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of universal credit claimants received their full payment on time in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We plan to publish regular national statistics on Universal Credit, including payment timeliness, in the future. This data is currently going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with the National Statistics and Official Statistics publication standard.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to reduce (a) energy consumption and (b) energy production from biomass fuel after the UK leaves the EU; and what steps his Department is taking to encourage other forms of renewable energy through subsidies.
Answered by Claire Perry
For business energy consumption we outlined in the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, published in 2017, our goal to enable businesses and industry to improve energy efficiency by at least 20 per cent by 2030. This will contribute to overall economic growth by reducing the amount of energy required per unit of output.
Sustainable, low carbon bioenergy has helped the UK move to a low-carbon energy mix, increase our energy security and keep costs down for consumers. We see the use of biomass as a transitional technology and have announced that support for all coal to biomass conversions will end in 2027.
The Contracts for Difference scheme is our main mechanism for supporting new renewable energy generation projects. The Clean Growth Strategy announced up to £557m of annual support for future Contracts for Difference auctions, providing developers with the confidence they need to invest in bringing forward new projects.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to apply in England provisions equivalent to those of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 .
Answered by Sarah Newton
Existing equality legislation already means employers, service providers and public bodies have to provide services in BSL and other formats when it is reasonable to do so. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies to have due regard to the needs of all those with protected characteristics, We don’t think new legislation would add to that. However, we are looking at developments in Scotland and will learn lessons in order to inform our thinking for England and Wales.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Universal Credit split payment arrangement related to domestic violence cases, whether non-requesting partners are able to reverse a request via (a) their online account or (b) Jobcentre Plus.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
A non-requesting partner cannot reverse a split payment arrangement. The arrangement can be reviewed if the applicant and/or their partner provide further information via their online account, face to face with a Work Coach or over the phone. However, the arrangement will only be reversed if the Secretary of State is satisfied that it is in the best interest of the household.
To help ensure people requesting reviews are acting in the interests of their household, Universal Credit agents will collect as much information as possible from the claimants. This information will include details of the mismanagement of welfare support, its effect on individual members of the household and reasons for no longer making split payments.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date his Department plans to publish the application criteria for the construction skills fund announced in the Autumn Budget 2017.
Answered by Anne Milton
We plan that the construction skills fund will open for bids next month.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish the (a) details of what constitutes high affordability and (b) criteria used in determining how support will be allocated under the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap announced in Autumn Budget 2017.
Answered by Dominic Raab
At Autumn Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that we will raise the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap by a total of up to £1 billion in areas of high affordability pressure, for local authorities that are ready to start building new homes. Local authorities will be able to bid for increases in their caps from 2019/20, up to a total of £1 billion by the end of 2021/22. We will set out more details shortly.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of whether there is a need to review current immigration policy on extended family reunification applications which are rejected because they do not meet financial or accommodation thresholds.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There are no financial or accommodation requirements for family reunion applications to join immediate family members who are refugees in the UK. You can find guidance on Family Reunion for refugees on GOV.UK.https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/541818/Family_reunion_guidance_v2.pdf
Extended family members can also sponsor refugee children to join them in the UK under the Immigration Rules. Those applying must show that they can provide adequate maintenance and accommodation that is suitable for the child’s care. This is set out in the Immigration Directorate Instructions on GOV.UK:
Where an application fails under the Immigration Rules, including where an applicant is unable to meet financial or accommodation thresholds, our policy requires caseworker to consider whether there are any exceptional circumstances for granting a visa outside the Rules.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to increase funding for continuous professional development funding for nurses in the NHS.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Different organisations have a range of responsibilities for training and development. Individual employers have responsibility for supporting staff with courses which are required to fulfil duties to work in their organisation and core employment requirements.
National funding through Health Education England (HEE) has historically been used to support development of the National Health Service workforce. HEE invests up to £300 million per year on supporting individuals in NHS employment achieve registered qualifications and a further £80 million on workforce transformation projects agreed locally, some of which has prioritised training courses for ongoing development.
HEE is considering alternative models for traditional continual professional development funding; for example, exploring routes for apprenticeships for post graduate qualifications that previously may have been funded directly at a national level.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to allow local authorities operating joint committees, parish councils and combined authorities to hold meetings using video conferencing facilities.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government consulted last year on a proposal to give local authorities operating joint committees, and combined authorities, but not councils as a whole, the freedom to hold formal meetings using video conferencing facilities. We will respond in due course.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people seeking family reunion with extended family members in the UK have (a) applied for and (b) been granted asylum in exceptional circumstances in each of the last three years.
Answered by Amber Rudd
The Home Office does not record information in such a way to be able to report on the number of people seeking family reunion with extended family members in the UK and an individual cannot apply to be considered for family reunion under the exceptional circumstance arrangements. Instead, they would apply for Family Reunion under the Immigration Rules but, if they are refused under the Rules, the Home Office would then go on to consider whether there are exceptional circumstances.
As such, the figures for applications and visas issued under the Rules and under the exceptional circumstances arrangements are as follows:
| Total number of Family Reunion applications – age at the date of application -under 18 | Total number of Family Reunion applications – age at date of application - over 18 | Total number of Family Reunion visas issued (‘Family Other’ category) | Total number of Family Reunion visas issued under exceptional circumstances arrangements |
2015 | 4,980 | 3,220 | 4,887 | 21 |
2016 | 4,811 | 3,701 | 6,098 | 49 |
2017 (up to 30 September 2017) | 2,625 | 2,821 | 3,801 | 49 |
All those issued a family reunion visa are granted leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, not asylum. The family reunion application process does not require an assessment of the applicant’s international protection needs. It is the family member in the UK that is required to have been granted refugee status or Humanitarian Protection.