Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023 to initiate high street rental auctions; and what steps he has taken to support local authorities to use these powers.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The framework of the High Street Rental Auction policy is set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, which is now law, however many aspects need to be defined by secondary legislation before local authorities can begin to use the power. The Government is working to introduce the associated statutory instruments.
We recognise the resource constraints faced by local authorities and have considered how the burden on local authorities can be reduced. We are providing up to £2 million of financial support to make sure that areas which need this the most are not priced out by prohibitive refurbishment costs to bring the properties up to standard. We will also publish guidance for local authorities and relevant stakeholders to support them in implementing High Street Rental Auctions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the job titles are of people working in her Department's Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The job titles for everyone working in the Human Resources & Transformation Directorate are as follows:
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the data to be provided to the Migration Advisory Committee as part of the review of the graduate route.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes a range of migration statistics, including statistics relating to the Graduate route, in its quarterly statistics releases.
The Migration Advisory Committee will publish their findings of the Graduate route review in May.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people (a) received and (b) repaid a refugee integration loans since 2007.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Refugee Integration Loans were introduced in 2007 following a public consultation and are intended to help people with the costs of integrating into UK society. They are funded by the Home Office, who make the initial decisions on applications. They are then administered and recouped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Refugee integration loans are interest-free loans with favourable repayment terms for individuals who are over 18 and meet the following eligibility criteria:
Individuals are currently able to borrow between £100 and £500. Between £100 to £780 can be borrowed if submitting a joint application with a partner.
The specific data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help prevent drones being used to bring drugs and other illicit goods into prisons.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones to deliver contraband into prisons. We conduct vulnerability assessments across the estate to understand the risk and develop and implement plans to manage and mitigate the threat, including physical countermeasures.
The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021 established powers for prisons to authorise the use of counter-drone technology. This Act also enables the police to stop and search those suspected of committing drone-related crimes.
In January this year, we strengthened the legislative framework by introducing Restricted Fly Zones around prisons to disrupt illegal drone use. This strengthens our ability to intercept illicit items being smuggled via drones, and enables the police to fine or prosecute those seeking to undermine prison security.
Recent joint operations with the police and HMPPS have resulted in a number of drone related arrests and disruptions to the activity of serious and organised crime networks. Since June 2016 we have secured over 70 convictions, and those convicted have been sentenced to more than a total of 240 years in prison.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people work in her Department's (a) Human Resources and Transformation Directorate and (b) Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) team; and whether the PSED team is part of the Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Every department across government has a responsibility for equalities. Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), all public authorities, including government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. The government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers.
The Minister for the Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course. As at the end of February 2024 there were 156 people working in the department’s Human Resources and Transformation Directorate. The PSED team is not part of the department’s Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.
The ‘general duty’ of the PSED is in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and requires public authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to give due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.The department's PSED team sits within the department's central Strategy Group and ensures that the department is compliant with Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The PSED team is resourced by 0.8 FTE. In addition, the department, through the PSED team, has a model of maintaining dispersed capacity across the department to comply with its duties.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claimed (a) PIP and (b) DLA for ADHD since 2013.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by condition, including ADHD, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Data on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) clearances by condition is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claimed PIP for ADHD in each year since 2010.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by condition, including ADHD, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many research projects have started work in the HMRC datalab in each year since 2013.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC Datalab have provided 106 projects access to de-identified HMRC data for research purposes, since 2012.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which unit in her Department is responsible for equalities.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Every department across government has a responsibility for equalities. The Human Resources and Transformation Directorate is responsible for equalities in the Department for Education. The department also has a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) team who can provide colleagues with advice on equalities-related issues. Under the PSED, all public authorities, including government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.
The government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers. The Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.