Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the length of waiting times for decisions on visa applications for (a) visitors, (b) students, (c) families and (d) spouses.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Published data on entry clearance visa processing times, including the percentage of visas processed within published service standards by category, is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-operations-transparency-data-february-2018 The large majority of cases are straightforward and are dealt with within Service standards
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the affordability of fees for visa applications.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
An assessment of the impact of all border, immigration and citizenship (BIC) fees was published as an associated document to the Immigration and Nationality Fees (Regulations) 2018. The fees are set at a level that reflects the benefit of a successful application to those who use the service.
The relevant information can be found via the following link: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2018/59/pdfs/ukia_20180059_en.pdf
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the sum accruing to the public purse from failed visa applications in each of the last three years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not hold the information in the format requested. In order to provide the total income received from only rejected visa applications, would involve sifting through all applications data which would exceed the £850 cost limit.
Amount received from Visa applications are not differentiated between successful and unsuccessful applications. Our ledger will not allow us to provide this level of detail.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he had made of the effectiveness of non-vocational funding for post-16 year olds in rural communities.
Answered by Anne Milton
The same funding arrangements apply to 16 to 19-year olds education in different types of institutions and for different programmes, including academic and vocational. The Department for Education and its agencies have previously considered using a sparsity factor for 16 to 19-year olds education (given a factor of this kind is used in 5 to 16-year olds school funding). However, a sparsity factor was not introduced into the 16 to 19-year olds funding system.
16 to 19-year olds education is different in nature to 5 to 16-year olds education. There is a more diverse set of education and training providers to consider, offering a wider choice of programmes. Post-16 students often travel further to access these education options. We recognise that the cost and availability of transport can be an issue for students. Local authorities have a duty to publish a transport policy statement each year that sets out the travel arrangements they will make to support young people to access 16 to 19-year olds education, together with a duty to encourage and support young people to participate in education and training.
The 16-19 Bursary Fund enables disadvantaged students to access funding to meet the costs of participating in education and training, and can be used to contribute to transport costs.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a sparsity factor for rural schools in post-16 education.
Answered by Anne Milton
The same funding arrangements apply to 16 to 19-year olds education in different types of institutions and for different programmes, including academic and vocational. The Department for Education and its agencies have previously considered using a sparsity factor for 16 to 19-year olds education (given a factor of this kind is used in 5 to 16-year olds school funding). However, a sparsity factor was not introduced into the 16 to 19-year olds funding system.
16 to 19-year olds education is different in nature to 5 to 16-year olds education. There is a more diverse set of education and training providers to consider, offering a wider choice of programmes. Post-16 students often travel further to access these education options. We recognise that the cost and availability of transport can be an issue for students. Local authorities have a duty to publish a transport policy statement each year that sets out the travel arrangements they will make to support young people to access 16 to 19-year olds education, together with a duty to encourage and support young people to participate in education and training.
The 16-19 Bursary Fund enables disadvantaged students to access funding to meet the costs of participating in education and training, and can be used to contribute to transport costs.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent work-related mental illness in the police force.
Answered by Nick Hurd
It is the responsibility of Chief Officers supported by the College of Policing to ensure the welfare of their employees which includes supporting officers with specific welfare needs by signposting to relevant services and additional support.
The Government also takes the issue of police welfare very seriously and has invested in programmes which offer help directly to officers.
In July 2017, the Home Secretary awarded £7.5 million from the Police Transformation Fund over three years to pilot and, if it is successful, fund a dedicated national service to help provide enhanced welfare support. The Government has also awarded £7 million since 2014, using funds from the LIBOR fines imposed on banks, to the mental health charity Mind, which has funded targeted support and programmes for emergency services via their Blue Light Wellbeing Programme.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions have been brought for the use of illegal car registration plates in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Department for Transport are responsible for the policy and legislation governing vehicle registration numbers, which must be displayed in accordance with the legal requirements contained in the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001.
Data on offences committed under the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 are not reported centrally to the Ministry of Justice. Such information may be held by the individual courts in England and Wales but could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the use of illegal car registration plates.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The law requires anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK to be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied.
The DVLA visits number plate suppliers to monitor compliance with the legal requirements. The DVLA also works closely with both the police and trading standards to share intelligence and to support investigations and prosecutions of suppliers who do not comply with the legal requirements.
Enforcement of the law relating to the display of number plates is a matter for the police. The police can issue a fixed penalty if a vehicle is displaying an illegal number plate. When notified by the police that an offence has been committed, the DVLA will write to the registered keeper of the vehicle concerned. This letter will notify the keeper that the registration number must be correctly displayed or it will be permanently withdrawn.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of rural crime on farmers in (a) the North East and (b) North West Durham.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government has not undertaken an assessment of the effect of rural crime on farmers in the North East or North West Durham. However, the 2015 Commercial Victimisation Survey found that 24 per cent of agriculture, forestry and fishing premises in England and Wales had experienced at least one incident of crime (excluding online crime) which represented a statistically significant fall of six percentage points compared with the 2013 Survey. Vandalism, theft and burglary were the most common crime types experienced by this sector.
On average there were 330 incidents of online crime per 1,000 premises in this sector, which is around a third of the incidence rate for ‘traditional’ crimes against this sector. The majority of online crime incidents involved computer viruses.
Findings from the 2017 Commercial Victimisation Survey will be published later this year and this will include more up-to-date findings.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
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 adequacy of funding for Abbot-Diabetes monitors; and if his Department will extend the availability of free Abbot-Diabetes monitors.
Answered by Steve Brine
Within its financial constraint, the National Health Service is committed to providing access to new drugs and medical technologies. Ultimately it is for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), who are primarily responsible for commissioning diabetes services, to meet the requirements of their population. In doing so, CCGs need to ensure that the services they provide are fit for purpose, reflect the needs of the local population and are based on the available evidence and take into account national guidelines.
Freestyle Libre, the flash glucose monitoring system manufactured by Abbot was included in Part IX of the England and Wales Drug Tariff from November 2017. People with diabetes insipidus or diabetes mellitus (except where treatment is by diet alone) - which includes type 1 and type 2 diabetes - are eligible for free NHS prescriptions if they hold a valid medical exemption certificate. However, patients will need to discuss the ongoing management of their condition with their healthcare professional and consider what is most suitable for them.