Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have applied for but not yet received a Lasting Power of Attorney..
Answered by Mike Freer
At 3 March 2023, a total of 401,196 applications for a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) were being processed by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). This included 163,279 applications that were in the statutory four-week waiting period for any objections to be lodged prior to registration. At 3 March 2023, the OPG had already registered 809,675 applications for an LPA in 2022/23. These figures exclude the registration of Enduring Powers of Attorney which, while valid, have been replaced by LPAs since the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into effect.
Customers are currently advised to allow up to 20 weeks for an LPA application to be processed, including the four-week waiting period. The OPG target to register LPAs is within an average of eight weeks. OPG staff are working day and night to register LPAs and extra staff have been hired, which is increasing the number of LPAs being registered each month.
The government is also supporting the Powers of Attorney Bill which will enable a digitalised LPA application process, leading to a faster and simpler service for applicants in future.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the staff of the Office of the Public Guardian are working in the office.
Answered by Mike Freer
Hybrid working is available at OPG as a modern employer, subject to business area requirements and line manager’s discretion. A third of the roles in OPG (c. 600 out of 1,700) are not suitable for hybrid working. These roles are required to be undertaken full-time in the office. For example, in the operational unit responsible for the processing of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA), there is a requirement for many of the core manual processes to be conducted from an office and space is prioritised in the office for these roles to be undertaken.
Where OPG business areas are not directly involved in LPA processing activities, staff are required to attend an office for a minimum of two days each per week and have an obligation to attend the office when requested to do so by their line management unless a formal exemption is in place. At 7 February 2023, 1.4% of OPG staff had a formal exemption and the remaining 98.6% were required to work from the office at least two days a week.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the working from home guidelines are for staff of the Office of the Public Guardian.
Answered by Mike Freer
Hybrid working is available at OPG as a modern employer, subject to business area requirements and line manager’s discretion. A third of the roles in OPG (c. 600 out of 1,700) are not suitable for hybrid working. These roles are required to be undertaken full-time in the office. For example, in the operational unit responsible for the processing of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA), there is a requirement for many of the core manual processes to be conducted from an office and space is prioritised in the office for these roles to be undertaken.
Where OPG business areas are not directly involved in LPA processing activities, staff are required to attend an office for a minimum of two days each per week and have an obligation to attend the office when requested to do so by their line management unless a formal exemption is in place. At 7 February 2023, 1.4% of OPG staff had a formal exemption and the remaining 98.6% were required to work from the office at least two days a week.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will will make an estimate of the number of parents who are unable to access their entitlement to free childcare because the only available places are at nurseries that require the purchase of additional hours as a condition of accessing the free hours.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The department’s statutory guidance for local authorities advises that providers can charge for additional hours or services outside of the free entitlement hours, but this cannot be a condition for a parent to access a place. The guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718179/Early_education_and_childcare-statutory_guidance.pdf.
The department does not collect data on parents who choose not to take up a place due to additional charges.
Parents who want to access their free hours entitlement without paying for additional costs should contact their local authority if they are having difficulty finding a place. Local authorities have a statutory duty to secure sufficient 30 hours free childcare places under the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022. The regulations are available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/1134/made/data.pdf.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that parents are able to access 30 hours of free childcare without having to purchase extra hours.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The department’s statutory guidance for local authorities advises that providers can charge for additional hours or services outside of the free entitlement hours, but this cannot be a condition for a parent to access a place. The guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718179/Early_education_and_childcare-statutory_guidance.pdf.
The department does not collect data on parents who choose not to take up a place due to additional charges.
Parents who want to access their free hours entitlement without paying for additional costs should contact their local authority if they are having difficulty finding a place. Local authorities have a statutory duty to secure sufficient 30 hours free childcare places under the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022. The regulations are available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/1134/made/data.pdf.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help ensure that motorists who dispose of a vehicle are not subject to repeated police enquiries when the buyer has not returned a V5 form; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The person disposing of a vehicle is legally required to inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that they no longer have the vehicle. They are also required to provide the details of the person or company who has taken possession of the vehicle. If the person disposing of the vehicle does not inform the DVLA, their details will remain on the vehicle record and they may receive enquiries related to the vehicle.
The easiest way to inform the DVLA is to use the online service available on GOV.UK. Where a person has been contacted by the police or other authority about a vehicle for which they are no longer the keeper, they should inform the DVLA. I would be delighted to meet with you to discuss the V5 form and the transfer of vehicle ownership further.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of supply of the drug Actavis Propranolol in pharmacies in (a) North East Somerset and (b) Somerset.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department is assured the supply of Actavis immediate release propranolol tablets is sufficient to meet normal demand. Actavis modified release propranolol capsules are currently unavailable. However, they are expected to be back in stock by the end of July and supplies of generic propranolol capsules are currently available from an alternative manufacturer. The Department does not have information on stock holding of propranolol at a local level.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total amount is of arrears owed to the parent with care that has been written-off by the Child Support Agency since March 2012.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Information on cases written off since 13th December 2018, when the write off process began, will be published in June 2019 (number of cases) and September 2019 (amounts). Information on the planned changes to the Child Support Agency Quarterly Statistical Summary to incorporate this information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-support-agency-statistics-publication-strategy
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the 1,193,200 cases with no current liability from the 1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance Schemes that there were at March 2012 have been written-off by the Child Support Agency.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Information on cases written off since 13th December 2018, when the write off process began, will be published in June 2019 (number of cases) and September 2019 (amounts). Information on the planned changes to the Child Support Agency Quarterly Statistical Summary to incorporate this information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-support-agency-statistics-publication-strategy
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases with no current liability where no money has flowed in the last quarter have been transferred from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service since March 2012.
Answered by Will Quince
Since June 2014, when the Case Closure process began, there have been 222,300 cases transition from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service. This information can be found on table 8 of the Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-case-closure-statistics-june-2014-to-december-2018
Information on whether money has flowed on these cases in the last quarter is not readily available.