Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the timeliness of the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals in responding to correspondence from hon. and Rt hon. members.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Honours and Appointments Secretariat in the Cabinet Office provides administrative support to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) including processing correspondence to the Committee from members of the public and Hon. and Rt Hon. members.
The department has guidelines on dealing with correspondence and endeavours to process correspondence as promptly as possible within these guidelines.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enable the Pension Protection Fund to provide inflation protection for the Guaranteed Minimum Pension element of pensions in the schemes within its remit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review the Pension Protection Fund legislation in relation to inflation protection on Guaranteed Minimum Pensions. The Secretary of State therefore does not intend to make such an assessment at this time.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of recent increases in inflation, what recent assessment he has made of the impact on the value of pensions received by members of the Pension Protection Fund of the provisions of the Pensions Act 2005 on the non-indexation of defined benefits pension rights accrued prior to 6 April 2007.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review legislation relating to the indexation of payments from the Pension Protection Fund and the Secretary of State has made no such assessment at this time.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of proposed reductions in levies charged by the Pension Protection Fund, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of maintaining levies and allocating any surplus to provide inflation protection to defined benefits pension rights accrued prior to 6 April 2007.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Operational decisions about the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) levy are a matter for the Board of the PPF. The Secretary of State has made no assessment of potential merits to maintain the levies raised by the PPF, and re-allocating any surplus to provide inflation protection.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enable the Pension Protection Fund to provide inflation protection for pensionable service prior to 6 April 1997 for pensions in the schemes within its remit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review the PPF indexation rules, or indeed the wider legislation to which they relate. The Secretary of State has therefore made no such assessment and does not intend to do so at this time.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on reviewing the responses to the call for evidence on local authority remote meetings, published on 25 March 2021; and when he plans to publish the Government's response.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government issued a call for evidence on remote meetings last year. We are considering the responses and will be issuing a response in due course.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the extended delivery hours for supermarkets and other food retailers implemented during the covid-19 pandemic are still in place; and whether his Department plans to reinstate the overnight delivery restrictions which were in place before 9 March 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government issued a series of Written Ministerial Statements encouraging local planning authorities to take a measured approach to enforcement against breaches of certain planning conditions, including those governing delivery times. The latest of these expired in September 2022. We will keep the issue under review and my hon. Friend is welcome to write to me with information he considers relevant on this matter.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10 Year Cancer Plan will include a strategy to improve pancreatic cancer survival rates; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure improved survival rates from pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Holly Mumby-Croft MP) on 24 May 2022 to Question 3800.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing (a) free and (b) subsidised bus travel to Ukrainian refugees who have settled in rural areas.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Bus travel schemes are administered by the local councils and bus companies.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to take steps help ensure that claimants in civil debt recovery cases are kept informed of the progress of court bailiff action on their behalf.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In October 2021, following a review of the communications sent by HMCTS to claimants regarding the progress of their warrant, improvements to our case management system were made. This introduced improved communications to give claimants more focussed details on the progress of a warrant.
The HMCTS Reform Programme will provide the opportunity to review and deliver improvements to the service. The aspect of the Civil Reform Project focused on the enforcement of judgments commenced in April 2022 and is due to conclude by March 2023.