Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have applied to extend their use of CHIEF and have yet to register for the Customs Declaration Service.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
4,727 businesses made import declarations on CHIEF in 2021. As of week, commencing 7 November 2022, 3,440 businesses are using the full service on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), with over 86% of import declarations now being made on CDS. 1,287 businesses have yet to subscribe to CDS. 1,231 businesses are in the Trader Dress Rehearsal, which allows businesses to practice making declarations in CDS.
Out of 1,653 businesses that applied for an extension to use CHIEF until 31 October 2022, 263 are yet to subscribe to CDS.
Out of 2,485 businesses that applied for an extension to use CHIEF beyond 31 October 2022, 470 are yet to subscribe to CDS.
As of 16 November 2022, c600 businesses have a valid extension to use CHIEF to allow them to complete training or because of issues with their third-party software. HMRC is working with these third-party software providers to resolve their issues and is tracking their progress.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses registered for CHIEF have yet to register for the Customs Declaration Service.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
4,727 businesses made import declarations on CHIEF in 2021. As of week, commencing 7 November 2022, 3,440 businesses are using the full service on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), with over 86% of import declarations now being made on CDS. 1,287 businesses have yet to subscribe to CDS. 1,231 businesses are in the Trader Dress Rehearsal, which allows businesses to practice making declarations in CDS.
Out of 1,653 businesses that applied for an extension to use CHIEF until 31 October 2022, 263 are yet to subscribe to CDS.
Out of 2,485 businesses that applied for an extension to use CHIEF beyond 31 October 2022, 470 are yet to subscribe to CDS.
As of 16 November 2022, c600 businesses have a valid extension to use CHIEF to allow them to complete training or because of issues with their third-party software. HMRC is working with these third-party software providers to resolve their issues and is tracking their progress.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP practices were open in Hackney South and Shoreditch constituency on (a) 20 October 2022 and (b) in 2013.
Answered by Will Quince
In September 2013, there were 20 practices registered in Hackney South and Shoreditch, with 18 practices registered in October 2022.
Practices close for a variety of reasons, including practice mergers or retirement. A reduction in practice numbers does not indicate a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice closes, patients are informed and advised to register at another local practice of their choice. Practices and commissioners must put in place appropriate measures to ensure that affected patients have access to general practitioner services.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of local authorities in north London on agreeing a new jury venue to help clear the backlog in jury inquests.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Chief Coroner is engaging with the local coroner service and Camden Council, as lead local authority for the Inner North London coroner area, on the issue of accommodation for jury inquests.
More generally, the Chief Coroner continues to monitor carefully the national position on inquest backlogs, and has issued guidance to coroners on developing Covid-19 recovery plans. He is currently undertaking a tour of all coroner areas in England and Wales to better understand local needs.
The Government recognises that pandemic pressures have affected the ability to hold jury and other large and complex inquests. We have provided £6.15 billion in grant funding to local authorities in England to support the cost of pandemic pressures, which could include additional costs incurred in the administration of coroner services. Additional funding has also been allocated to the Devolved Administrations under the Barnett Formula.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of trade and biosecurity controls at the ports of Cairnryan and Stranraer.
Answered by David Duguid
Through the Port Infrastructure Fund, the UK Government has provided over £600,000 to Cairnryan and Loch Ryan to build the infrastructure needed for customs and biosecurity checks.
And while biosecurity is the responsibility of the Scottish Government, our two Governments work together to ensure that biosecurity is maintained.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to reopen the Building Safety Fund for applications in 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is providing £5.1 billion, including £4.5 billion through the Building Safety Fund, to address the fire safety risks caused by unsafe cladding on high-rise residential buildings. This will be used where the original developer and/or the building owner are not funding the works. We will be opening the next phase of the Building Safety Fund at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will undertake an audit of the UK assets owned by Hong Kong and Chinese officials who have been linked to human rights violations.
Answered by Amanda Milling
We are deeply concerned about the appalling human rights violations in China and the deterioration of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. We keep all evidence and potential designations under close review, guided by the objectives of the relevant sanctions regime. It is not appropriate to speculate about future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) biometric residence cards, (b) biometric residence permits and (c) frontier working permits were issued in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The information requested is not available in a reportable format.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking with Ofgem to help support residents with communal heating systems not subject to the energy price cap.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is aware of the steep increases that some consumers on communal networks are facing. For this reason, the Government is taking action worth more than £9.1billion supporting households through initiatives such as the Energy Bills Rebate, the Household Support Fund, Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments. These measures are intended to cover heat network consumers and the government is engaging closely with industry and consumer groups to understand the specific impacts in the heat network sector.
In order to further ensure that heat networks consumers continue to receive fair pricing in the future, the Government will appoint Ofgem as the regulator for heat networks on the introduction of market regulation, which the Government aims to introduce in this parliament. Regulation will provide Ofgem with powers to ensure fair pricing across all UK wide heat networks. This will enable equivalent protection for domestic heat network customers as well as ensuring heat network operators are securing good purchasing deals for their consumers. This will mean that consumers are charged a fair rate for heating whilst encouraging further investment in heat networks.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the council tax rebate scheme, what steps he is taking to help support local authorities with residents who pay council tax in cash.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
My Department will shortly issue FAQs to help local authorities administer the council tax rebate. This will include information on flexible payment options for households, balancing administrative ease and accessibility with the need to manage fraud risk.