Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria are employed to assess applicants for personal independent payments (PIPs); and what steps are being taken to ensure that those in need do not lose access to the payment following the switchover from disability living allowance to PIPs.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to focus support on those individuals who experience the greatest barriers to living an independent life. Entitlement to PIP is primarily assessed by reference to a claimant’s ability to carry out daily living activities or mobility activities. The PIP Handbook (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/348736/pip-handbook-aug-14.pdf) provides greater detail on the entitlement conditions and the assessment criteria.
Existing claimants of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) who were aged 16 to 64 on 8 April 2013, or who reach age 16 after that date, will be asked to claim PIP under programmes of natural and managed reassessment.
Such claimants will continue to receive DLA throughout the period their claim to PIP is being assessed so long as they comply with the claiming conditions. On determination of the PIP claim the claimant’s DLA will continue for a period of 4 weeks before the PIP decision takes effect.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to raise awareness of mesothelioma and its cause by (a) exposure to asbestos and (b) other causes.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has run a number of asbestos related awareness raising campaigns including the ‘Hidden Killer’ campaign in 2008-09; the asbestos ‘Training Pledge’ in 2010; and the current ‘Beware Asbestos’ campaign.
The ‘Beware Asbestos’ campaign was launched in October 2014 and is aimed at trades in which people who may disturb asbestos-containing materials in their day to day work. It includes information on identifying asbestos-containing materials and simple, easy to understand advice on how to avoid exposure to asbestos when carrying out a range of common work activities on such materials. It features a smartphone ‘app’ as a means of delivering this information to.
HSE has guidance on the health risks from asbestos, including mesothelioma on its dedicated asbestos related web pages, together with comprehensive information on how to comply with the legal controls covering work with asbestos. This is available at
Information about causes and symptoms of mesothelioma and advice on seeking help is also available on NHS Choices at
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Lungcancer/Pages/Asbestosandlungcancer.aspx
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what comparative assessment she has made of the drug-induced mortality rate in (a) Sweden, (b) Portugal and (c) the UK.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The Home Office has not directly compared the drug-induced mortality rates in Portugal, Sweden and the UK. Such a direct comparison would be problematic, as data collection methods and definitions of a drug-related death vary
markedly between countries.
However, a wide range of data, including health outcomes such as drug-related deaths, was reviewed as part of the drugs International Comparators Study. The report demonstrated that health outcomes are affected by a range of complex
cultural, social and political factors as well as legislation, policing and health care policies. The report did not make recommendations for UK policy.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has plans to set up an alternative to the EU Internal Security fund to facilitate cross-border crime prevention for the period 2014-20.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Government is still considering its position in regard to the policing element of the Internal Security Fund.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time is that the Home Office Visas and Immigration section is taking to respond to decisions taken by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in the last 12 months; and in how many cases a response is outstanding.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The information requested covers a broad range of case types and is not held centrally for in country cases. It could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. For international appeals the average time for allowed appeals to be
implemented from October 2013 to September 2014 was 45 calendar days. Information relating to how many international appeals remain outstanding could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
The Home Office has 14 calendar days to consider whether to appeal an allowed First-tier or Upper Tribunal decision (although this can be longer in some Upper Tribunal decisions where the last avenue to appeal is direct to the Court
of Appeal) for in country cases and 28 calendar days for out of country cases. The relevant unit responsible for implementation will be notified once a decision has been made not to appeal.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to protect the independence of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Officials in the UK Intellectual Property Office are closely and actively involved in discussions relating to the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO), including the Enlarged Board. It is the UK Government position that the Boards of Appeal should be independent of the executive of the EPO, and be seen to be so. This view is shared by other EPO member states and we expect proposals to make this clearer to be considered by the Administrative Council, the Office’s supervisory body, in March 2015.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what controls there are on the sale of crossbows.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The sale of crossbows is subject to the Crossbows Act 1987, as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. Under this legislation, it is an offence to sell or hire a crossbow, with a draw weight of 1.4 kilogrammes or greater, to
persons under the age of 17, and it prohibits persons aged under 17 from possessing a crossbow unless supervised by someone aged 21 or over. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is six months imprisonment or a £5,000 fine or
both.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to ensure that individual voter registration does not make it harder for transgender people to register to vote.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
We've launched the new online system to make voter registration as accessible and accurate as possible.
The service has been extensively tested with a wide range of users to ensure the data the service collects allows the verification of an individual's identity. The website consistently achieves a very high satisfaction score.
We will continue to improve the service based on user feedback.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Yazidis still trapped on Mount Sinai in Iraq; and what steps the Government is taking to support those people.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Government is in close contact with partner agencies, including the UN, on the humanitarian situation in Iraq. We have not received any information or requests that would suggest that humanitarian assistance is required on Mount Sinjar but we continue to monitor the situation closely. The Government is providing £39.5 million of humanitarian assistance in response to the crisis in Iraq. All UK aid is distributed on the basis of need to ensure that civilians are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion or ethnicity.Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of planned changes in EU VAT on digital sales on the level of exporting to other EU member states by small businesses.
Answered by David Gauke
I refer the honourable member to my reply to his question number 217568 - PQN/14-15/2014/06232