Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent improvements her Department has made to the online system for universal credit applications.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are building an agile, adaptable system, fit for the 21st century, to help people to transform their lives through work - while supporting those who cannot work and are most in need.
Using feedback from stakeholders and claimants we have had more than 100 releases to the system since it was introduced, all resulting in improvements to the claimant’s experience.
Most recently these include:
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with representatives from Post Office Ltd on expanding the provision of banking services in post offices in rural communities.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Post Office agreed a three-year, industry-wide agreement known as the Banking Framework in January 2017. This agreement allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to access their account at post offices and marked the largest expansion of face-to-face banking in a generation, allowing communities and businesses to withdraw money, deposit cash and cheques and check balances at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK. The volume of basic banking transactions undertaken at Post Offices has steadily increased since the introduction of the Banking Framework, with close to 130 million transactions in 2018.
The Post Office has recently renegotiated the commercial terms and service enhancements for Banking Framework 2, which will take effect from January 2020. Under the new agreement, there will be a significant increase to the fees that the Post Office will receive from the banks for processing transactions. The Post Office’s overall income through Banking Framework 2 will only increase further as transaction volumes continue to grow.
HM Treasury is very supportive of the agreement and recognises fully its role in providing continued access to over-the-counter banking services for customers across the country, particularly when a bank branch closes. However, these are commercial matters for the banks and the Post Office and they require full commercial freedom to consider what, if any, further banking services might be feasible to offer through the Post Office network.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect on (a) high streets, (b) businesses and (c) communities of the closure of local bank branches.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Treasury does not make assessments of the bank branch network. The decision to close a branch is a commercial issue for the management team of the bank. However, Government believes it is important the impact on communities must be understood, considered and mitigated where possible. That is why the Government continues to be very supportive of the Access to Banking Standard and the commitment it places on banks to minimise the impact of branch closures, including by ensuring that customers are aware of the alternative ways they can continue to access banking services.
The Financial Conduct Authority undertook an analysis of branch closures as part of their Strategic Review of Retail Banking Business Models. This analysis can be found in Annex 1 of the final report (https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/multi-firm-reviews/strategic-review-retail-banking-business-models-final-report.pdf)
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the outcomes for people suffering with eating disorders following the reduction in the waiting time target from 18 weeks to four weeks in England.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The waiting time standard for children and young people to start treatment for a routine eating disorder within four weeks is not currently applicable for adults.
The Government is aware of the importance of early intervention when treating people with an eating disorder and we recognise that the earlier treatment is provided, the greater the chance of recovery.
The Government set up the first ever waiting time standards to improve access to eating disorder services for children and young people, supported by £30 million a year to develop 70 new or extended community eating disorder services across the country. These have improved access to effective eating disorder treatment in the community, with the number of children and young people accessing treatment increasing from 5,243 in 2016/17 to 6,867 in 2017/18.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applications from (a) Scotland and (b) Angus have been made for grant funding from the Coastal Revival Fund.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Coastal Revival Fund was open to applications from English coastal towns. It would be for the Scottish Government to decide whether to administer the Coastal Revival Fund in Scotland.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Emergency Service Network sites are planned to be deployed in (a) Angus and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Emergency Services Network is being provided primarily to deliver world class critical voice and data to the emergency services to replace the aging and expensive Airwave network.
To provide the necessary coverage for ESN, mobile network operator EE is building over 400 new sites across the UK and upgrading its entire existing network to 4G.
Across the whole of Scotland, EE is initially deploying 355 sites with additional sites to follow, although some locations have still to be confirmed. Of these, 284 having been activated to date. The new 4G coverage these sites deliver, in addition to the upgrading of existing masts, will be available to EE’s commercial customers in addition to the emergency services wherever possible. In Angus, EE has deployed and activated one new site.
In addition to the new sites being provided by EE, the ESN programme is responsible for providing approximately 300 sites in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain as part of the Extended Area Service (EAS) project
Other Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) can share all new sites being built by EE through a clear and well-understood industry process, in line with our State Aid requirements. It is a matter for those mobile network operators if they wish to share this infrastructure.
For the EAS sites all MNOs can apply to site share if the necessary planning permissions regarding a mast capable of hosting multiple operators are granted by the local planning authority. 98% of structures planned are designed to accommodate additional MNOs.
Twelve of these EAS sites are planned in Angus and these are composed of nine greenfield sites and three sites shared with the existing Airwave service. Construction has completed on one site.
Across the whole of Scotland 123 EAS sites are planned, including 76 greenfield sites, 30 sites shared with the existing Airwave service, and 17 sites shared with other mobile network operators. Of these 18 shared sites, 11 are proposed as shared sites with the Scottish Government 4G infill programme.
Of the 76 greenfield sites across Scotland, 10 have now completed construction, and construction is underway on a further 14 sites. The remainder are at various different stages of the necessary planning and legal processes before construction can begin
Currently there is one EAS site active in Scotland which is located in Lockerbie.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mobile providers have access to the Emergency Service Network critical communications system in (a) Angus, (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Emergency Services Network is being provided primarily to deliver world class critical voice and data to the emergency services to replace the aging and expensive Airwave network.
To provide the necessary coverage for ESN, mobile network operator EE is building over 400 new sites across the UK and upgrading its entire existing network to 4G.
Across the whole of Scotland, EE is initially deploying 355 sites with additional sites to follow, although some locations have still to be confirmed. Of these, 284 having been activated to date. The new 4G coverage these sites deliver, in addition to the upgrading of existing masts, will be available to EE’s commercial customers in addition to the emergency services wherever possible. In Angus, EE has deployed and activated one new site.
In addition to the new sites being provided by EE, the ESN programme is responsible for providing approximately 300 sites in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain as part of the Extended Area Service (EAS) project
Other Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) can share all new sites being built by EE through a clear and well-understood industry process, in line with our State Aid requirements. It is a matter for those mobile network operators if they wish to share this infrastructure.
For the EAS sites all MNOs can apply to site share if the necessary planning permissions regarding a mast capable of hosting multiple operators are granted by the local planning authority. 98% of structures planned are designed to accommodate additional MNOs.
Twelve of these EAS sites are planned in Angus and these are composed of nine greenfield sites and three sites shared with the existing Airwave service. Construction has completed on one site.
Across the whole of Scotland 123 EAS sites are planned, including 76 greenfield sites, 30 sites shared with the existing Airwave service, and 17 sites shared with other mobile network operators. Of these 18 shared sites, 11 are proposed as shared sites with the Scottish Government 4G infill programme.
Of the 76 greenfield sites across Scotland, 10 have now completed construction, and construction is underway on a further 14 sites. The remainder are at various different stages of the necessary planning and legal processes before construction can begin
Currently there is one EAS site active in Scotland which is located in Lockerbie.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Emergency Service Network critical communications system sites are active in (a) Angus and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Emergency Services Network is being provided primarily to deliver world class critical voice and data to the emergency services to replace the aging and expensive Airwave network.
To provide the necessary coverage for ESN, mobile network operator EE is building over 400 new sites across the UK and upgrading its entire existing network to 4G.
Across the whole of Scotland, EE is initially deploying 355 sites with additional sites to follow, although some locations have still to be confirmed. Of these, 284 having been activated to date. The new 4G coverage these sites deliver, in addition to the upgrading of existing masts, will be available to EE’s commercial customers in addition to the emergency services wherever possible. In Angus, EE has deployed and activated one new site.
In addition to the new sites being provided by EE, the ESN programme is responsible for providing approximately 300 sites in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain as part of the Extended Area Service (EAS) project
Other Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) can share all new sites being built by EE through a clear and well-understood industry process, in line with our State Aid requirements. It is a matter for those mobile network operators if they wish to share this infrastructure.
For the EAS sites all MNOs can apply to site share if the necessary planning permissions regarding a mast capable of hosting multiple operators are granted by the local planning authority. 98% of structures planned are designed to accommodate additional MNOs.
Twelve of these EAS sites are planned in Angus and these are composed of nine greenfield sites and three sites shared with the existing Airwave service. Construction has completed on one site.
Across the whole of Scotland 123 EAS sites are planned, including 76 greenfield sites, 30 sites shared with the existing Airwave service, and 17 sites shared with other mobile network operators. Of these 18 shared sites, 11 are proposed as shared sites with the Scottish Government 4G infill programme.
Of the 76 greenfield sites across Scotland, 10 have now completed construction, and construction is underway on a further 14 sites. The remainder are at various different stages of the necessary planning and legal processes before construction can begin
Currently there is one EAS site active in Scotland which is located in Lockerbie.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What progress his Department has made on recruiting 2,500 new prison officers.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We have met our target to recruit an additional 2,500 prison officers ahead of schedule; at the end of December 2018 we had a net increase of 4,767 FTE Band 3 to 5 prison officers since we began at the end of October 2016.
It is the highest number of officers in post since 31 March 2012.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on the cross-government programme to deliver the Emergency Service Network critical communications system in (a) Angus and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Emergency Services Network is being provided primarily to deliver world class critical voice and data to the emergency services to replace the aging and expensive Airwave network.
To provide the necessary coverage for ESN, mobile network operator EE is building over 400 new sites and upgrading its entire existing network to 4G.
Across the whole of Scotland, EE is deploying over 350 sites for the ESN programme, with 277 having been activated to date. The new 4G coverage these sites deliver, in addition to the upgrading of existing masts, will be available to EE’s commercial customers in addition to the emergency services. In Angus, EE has deployed and activated one new site.
For all new sites being built by EE, they are encouraging sharing with the other MNOs through a clear and well-understood industry process, in line with our State Aid requirements. In addition to the new sites being provided by EE, the ESN programme is responsible for providing approximately 300 sites in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain as part of the Extended Area Service (EAS) project.
Twelve of these EAS sites are planned in Angus and these are composed of nine greenfield sites and three sites shared with the existing Airwave service. Construction is forecast to start on the first greenfield site this month, with a second site in May, followed by three sites beginning construction in June, one in July, two in August and the final one in November.
Across the whole of Scotland 123 EAS sites are planned, including 75 greenfield sites, 30 sites shared with the existing Airwave service, and 18 sites shared with other mobile network operators. Of these 18 shared sites, 11 are proposed as shared sites with the Scottish Government 4G infill programme.
Of the 75 greenfield sites across Scotland, six have now completed construction, and construction is underway on a further 11 sites. The remainder are at various different stages of the necessary planning and legal processes before construction can begin.