Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure myalgic encephalomyelitis receives a proportionate share of National Institute for Health and Care Research funding.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health including myalgic encephalomyelitis. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will instruct the National Institute for Health and Care Research to increase the level of funding available for myalgic encephalomyelitis research.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health including myalgic encephalomyelitis. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she is taking steps in the negotiations on the UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement to ensure that any such agreement includes a clear definition of the territory to which it applies.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK’s position on settlements within the Occupied Palestinian Territories is clear: they are illegal under international law and undermine the prospect of a two-state solution.
Under the existing UK-Israel trade agreement, goods originating from illegal Israeli settlements are not entitled to tariff and trade preferences under either the agreement between the UK and Israel, or the agreement between the UK and the Palestinian Authority.
This will not change in the Israel FTA. The UK will maintain its long-standing foreign policy positions throughout this negotiation, including with respect to settlements.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is providing additional support to carers to help with rising costs of living.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The current rate of Carer’s Allowance is £81.90. Since 2010 it has increased from £53.90 to £81.90 a week, providing just under an additional £1500 a year for carers through Carer’s Allowance.
In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week.
Since 2022, the Government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable by providing one of the largest support packages in Europe. The Government has provided support from 2022-23 to 2024-2025 to help households with the cost of living totalling £108 billion.
This includes up-rating working age benefits by 6.7% and raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
Since October 2022, CPI has already more than halved. This is stabilising the financial situation for many families, and the OBR expects that by Quarter 4 2024 (October-December) CPI will have fallen to 1.4%.
In the meantime, some people will need further, targeted help to get back to a stable financial position.
The Government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund. The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for Carer’s Allowance to a larger number of unpaid carers; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of unpaid care work on the (a) physical and (b) mental health of women.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government keeps Carer’s Allowance under review to see whether it is meeting its objectives. It has no current plans to extend the eligibility criteria.
Questions on the impact of unpaid care work on individuals are matters for the Department of Health and Social Care in England and for the Devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for Carers Allowance for carers with overlapping benefits.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to question UIN 21151 given on 22 April 2024.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the weekly earning limits for Carer’s Allowance.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to question UIN 21148 given on 22 April 2024.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for Carers Allowance for carers with overpayments of National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Entitlement to Carer’s Allowance is not based on having paid, or been credited with, National Insurance contributions, or on passing a means test. Rather, the basic entitlement conditions largely relate to the care being provided; whether the carer is in gainful employment or studying full-time; and residency tests.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the cost to the public purse has been of maintenance work on the Estate in each financial year since 2019-20; and whether the Commission has made an estimate of maintenance costs for the next two financial years.
Answered by Charles Walker
The costs of maintenance work on the Estate in each financial year since 2019–20, and the estimate of maintenance costs for the next two financial years are as follows:
2019/20 (Actual Cost): £89m
2020/21 (Actual Cost): £76.5m
2021/22 (Actual Cost): £63.2m
2022/23 (Actual Cost): £96m
2023/24 (Forecast Cost): £79.6m
2024/25 (Forecast Cost): £78.7m
2025/26 (Forecast Cost): £95.1m
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many potential cases of overpayments of carer’s allowance were flagged by the Verified Earnings and Pensions service system in each of the last five financial years; and how many such cases were investigated in each of those years.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Rounded | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
The number of cases flagged as potentially in need of investigation by the VEPs system | 91,000 | 73,000 | 96,000 | 107,000 | 67,000 |
The number of cases investigated | 35,000 | 38,000 | 46,000 | 50,000 | 35,000 |