Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average length of time taken to process an application for a Power of Attorney.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
As of 23/2/2021 the average time taken to process and dispatch a lasting power of attorney (LPA) was 57 days against the target of 40 days. The target includes a statutory four week waiting period. As a comparison, the October average came in at 61 days. The 40-day target was achieved in 2019/20.
The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) has seen an increase in the time taken to process an LPA since COVID-19 began impacting the workplace.
LPAs are paper documents that require a physical staff presence in an office to process and register. The number of staff available to attend the office to carry out the physical activities is significantly reduced due to COVID-19 and the need to maintain a COVID secure office through social distancing. Measures were introduced to focus on enabling as much remote working as possible and increasing the number of staff hours available in the office through overtime payments and weekend working.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Education:
What support his Department is providing to help safeguard (a) staff and (b) children in early years settings during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department has worked collaboratively with Public Health England to develop a system of controls, which when implemented in line with a revised risk assessment, create an inherently safer environment where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced for children and staff.
Settings must comply with health and safety law, which requires them to assess risks and put in place proportionate control measures. Settings should thoroughly review their health and safety risk assessment and draw up plans on re-opening, in the event that they have to close. Settings should have active arrangements in place to monitor that the controls are effective, working as planned, and updated appropriately, for example when any issues are identified, or when there are changes in public health advice.
When conducting risk assessments, settings should ensure consideration is given to staff and children with protected characteristics from groups where a disparity has been shown by the review of disparities in risks and outcomes (for example, age and sex, where someone lives, deprivation, ethnicity and/or people’s occupation).
The department has published the ‘Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’ guidance, which provides details on the system of controls and how they work in practice. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.
We are continuing to work closely with other government departments and local authorities to secure the most effective approach to asymptomatic testing for the whole of the early years sector. This includes ongoing discussions about providing testing via the education testing programme as well as strongly encouraging local authorities to prioritise appropriate testing for early years staff via Community Testing programmes, which now covers all local authorities. The fastest way testing can currently be delivered is through the community rapid asymptomatic testing being run by local authorities.
We are rolling out our asymptomatic testing programme to primary schools, schools-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools. The asymptomatic testing programme will offer all primary school, schools-based nursery and maintained nursery school staff home Lateral Flow Device test kits for twice weekly testing. This will help to break the chains of transmission of COVID-19 in education settings by identifying asymptomatic positive cases. Those who test positive will then self-isolate, helping to reduce transmission of the virus.
Furthermore, with regard to vaccinations, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age.
Under the priority groups for the first phase of vaccine rollout, those over 50 years of age, and all those 16 years of age and over in a risk group, would be eligible for vaccination within the first phase of the programme. This prioritisation captures almost all preventable deaths from COVID-19.
Regarding the next phase of vaccine rollout, the JCVI have asked that the Department of Health and Social Care consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other Government departments. The department is inputting into this cross governmental exercise.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal immigrants have been apprehended while entering the UK in each of the 12 months from September (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.
Information about enforcement operations is not available in our published data.
Our published data is available at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-august-2020
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2020
Details on the number of people who have crossed the Channel in small boats between January 2018 and June 2020 was published, via a letter from the Home Secretary to the Home Affairs Select Committee, in September 2020.
The information is available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/2333/documents/22962/default/
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what average length of time is taken by her Department to process the mandatory reconsideration of a personal independence payment claim.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Statistics on the average clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MR) for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found in the data tables of the quarterly statistical publication ‘Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to July 2020” published by the Department for Work and Pensions and available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-july-2020
Figures for Great Britain can be found in Table 4A by month the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) was cleared in calendar days.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish final guidance on the implementation of the Job Support Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
On 22 October the Government published further details on the Job Support Scheme, increasing the scale of support available to employers through JSS-Open, above that which was initially announced. Further guidance on the Job Support Scheme will be available by the end of October.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether GB issued EORI numbers will be valid in Europe after 31 December 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman
After 31 December 2020 when the transition period ends, GB prefixed EORI numbers will no longer be valid in Europe.
Businesses exporting goods from, or importing goods into, the UK will need an EORI number from the UK in order to submit a customs declaration to UK customs.
UK businesses which currently trade with non-EU countries will already have an EORI number. If this number starts with “GB” then it was issued by the UK and will continue to be valid for the purposes of submitting customs declarations in the UK from January 2021.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Smart Freight system will be available for testing by road haulage drivers.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Further to the statement by my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 23 September, details of external ministerial meetings are published on gov.uk
Regarding the 'Check an HGV is ready to cross the border' service (formerly known as 'Smart Freight'), I refer to the answer given to PQ 92707.
It is vital businesses, including those who rely on seasonal work, and workers prepare for the end of the Transition Period. That is why the Government has launched a public information campaign to ensure those affected are ready for the changes this will bring.The campaign uses a range of communication channels and events to help employers understand and prepare. Guidance for businesses is available on gov.uk/transition.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information the Government holds on the number of deaths from covid-19 occurring within twenty-eight days of receipt of a covid-19 negative test result.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Public Health England (PHE) does not collect the data requested.
The PHE weekly COVID-19 surveillance report publishes mortality surveillance for England.
The most recent weekly COVID-19 surveillance report can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-covid-19-surveillance-reports
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans for the Kent Access Permit to be (a) ready for trialling and (b) operational.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Further to my answer given to PQ92705 on 2 October 2020, the ‘Check an HGV is ready to cross the border’ service will be the mechanism for issuing Kent Access Permits. Government will soon publish its response to the consultation exercise regarding necessary legislative changes.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans for the Smart Freight facility to be (a) trialled and (b) operational.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Further to my answer given to PQ92705 on 2 October 2020, the ‘Check an HGV is ready to cross the border’ service will be the mechanism for issuing Kent Access Permits. Government will soon publish its response to the consultation exercise regarding necessary legislative changes.