Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people pay the full child maintenance costs for which they are liable.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a range of enforcement powers at its disposal to ensure parents meet their financial obligations to their children.
These include deductions directly from earnings and bank accounts, using Enforcement Agents (previously known as bailiffs) to take control of goods, forcing the sale of property, removal of driving licence or UK passport or even commitment to prison.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act received Royal Assent in 2023. This creates a primary power to replace court-based liability orders with administrative orders, which should significantly speed up this key enforcement process.
We have concluded a public consultation to support regulations to implement administrative liability orders. The Government published their response on 12 February 2024.
Secondary legislation is now being developed, which, once implemented, will reduce the process from 22 weeks to as low as 6 weeks. This will be brought forward as soon as possible.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete have had remedial work completed in the last 12 months.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A list of education settings with confirmed RAAC and the funding route to remove RAAC was published on 8 February. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The government is funding the removal of RAAC either through grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP). The longer-term requirements of each school or college will vary depending on the extent of the issue and nature and design of the buildings. Permanently removing RAAC may involve refurbishment of existing buildings or rebuilding affected buildings.
Schools joining the SRP will be prioritised for delivery according to the condition need of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The department will also take into account the suitability and longevity of the temporary accommodation they are using. The department has committed to responsible bodies that it will confirm when works are expected to start by the end of the summer term.
For schools and colleges receiving grants, the department is working with responsible bodies to support them to agree the scope of works they are procuring. In some cases, this may involve undertaking technical assessments to inform the design of building works and in other cases the removal of RAAC is already underway and will be completed in the coming months.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's Inward investment results 2022 to 2023, published on 27 June 2023, what the value of the 67 foreign direct investments into renewable energy were, by technology type.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade does not publish value and type information in the annual foreign direct investment publication at sector level due to data availability and confidentiality issues.
As there are gaps in the completeness of the value information across projects across sectors, DBT excludes value information to the publication. The impact of these gaps is greater when the data is divided into specific sector areas. However, at an aggregate level it is possible to add value related data.
Additional breakdowns describing the type or nature of an investment increase the opportunity to identify individual companies, to which DBT offer full confidentiality.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's statistics entitled DBT inward investment results 2022 to 2023, published on 27 June 2023, if she will list the 67 Foreign Direct Investment renewable energy projects by value.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade does not publish value and type information in the annual foreign direct investment publication at sector level due to data availability and confidentiality issues.
As there are gaps in the completeness of the value information across projects across sectors, DBT excludes value information to the publication. The impact of these gaps is greater when the data is divided into specific sector areas. However, at an aggregate level it is possible to add value related data.
Additional breakdowns describing the type or nature of an investment increase the opportunity to identify individual companies, to which DBT offer full confidentiality.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's statistics entitled DBT inward investment results 2022 to 2023, published on 27 June 2023, if she will publish a breakdown by technology of the 67 Foreign Direct Investment renewable energy projects.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade does not publish value and type information in the annual foreign direct investment publication at sector level due to data availability and confidentiality issues.
As there are gaps in the completeness of the value information across projects across sectors, DBT excludes value information to the publication. The impact of these gaps is greater when the data is divided into specific sector areas. However, at an aggregate level it is possible to add value related data.
Additional breakdowns describing the type or nature of an investment increase the opportunity to identify individual companies, to which DBT offer full confidentiality.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress the Insolvency Service has made on its civil investigation of P&O Ferries' dismissal of 786 employees on 17 March 2022.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Insolvency Service’s civil investigation into the circumstances surrounding the redundancies made by P&O Ferries remains ongoing. As such no further comment or information can be provided at this time.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of pharmacies in Northumberland that were contracted to be open for 100 hours a week on 23 January 2024.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 68 pharmacies in Northumberland, including five that were contracted to be open for at least 72 hours. On 31 December 2019, there were 71 pharmacies in Northumberland, including six that were contracted to be open for at least 100 hours.
In May 2023 new legislation came into force which enabled 100-hour pharmacies to reduce their minimum number of opening hours to 72, to support the viability of those pharmacies and prevent them from closing.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of pharmacies contracted to be open for 100 hours a week in Northumberland in 2019.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 68 pharmacies in Northumberland, including five that were contracted to be open for at least 72 hours. On 31 December 2019, there were 71 pharmacies in Northumberland, including six that were contracted to be open for at least 100 hours.
In May 2023 new legislation came into force which enabled 100-hour pharmacies to reduce their minimum number of opening hours to 72, to support the viability of those pharmacies and prevent them from closing.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of pharmacies open in Northumberland in 2019.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 68 pharmacies in Northumberland, including five that were contracted to be open for at least 72 hours. On 31 December 2019, there were 71 pharmacies in Northumberland, including six that were contracted to be open for at least 100 hours.
In May 2023 new legislation came into force which enabled 100-hour pharmacies to reduce their minimum number of opening hours to 72, to support the viability of those pharmacies and prevent them from closing.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of pharmacies in Northumberland.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 68 pharmacies in Northumberland, including five that were contracted to be open for at least 72 hours. On 31 December 2019, there were 71 pharmacies in Northumberland, including six that were contracted to be open for at least 100 hours.
In May 2023 new legislation came into force which enabled 100-hour pharmacies to reduce their minimum number of opening hours to 72, to support the viability of those pharmacies and prevent them from closing.