Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to prevent the illegal sale of knives and other offensive weapons online.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government continues to work with the police and partners, including retailers to ensure we have strong controls in place to prevent sales of knives to under 18s. In March 2016 we agreed a set of commitments with major retailers including Amazon UK and Ebay UK to prevent the underage sales of knives more generally in their stores and online. The commitments include a requirement to have robust measures in place to ensure age verification for sales, in-store and online.
In addition, on 14 October 2017, the Government launched a consultation on new laws on offensive weapons which included proposals to restrict the online sales of knives to further prevent sales to under 18s. The consultation was closed on 9 December and we are now considering the responses.
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to prevent the sale of illegal drugs online.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online. Anything that is illegal offline should be illegal online.
The Government and law enforcement agencies take the unlawful advertising and sales of drugs on the internet very seriously. Tough enforcement is a fundamental part of the Government’s drug strategy and we are taking coordinated action to tackle illegal drugs alongside other criminal activity.
Law enforcement agencies continue to work with internet providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be committing offences, building on work already underway to tackle the sale and supply of illegal drugs in the UK and overseas and tackle associated organised crime.
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of UK Home Civil Servants there will be in December 2018.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office constantly reviews its workforce capacity and capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s agenda and meet operational demands. We continue to assess how our priorities will impact on the workforce and capabilities required beyond the 2017/18 financial year.
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people had personal independence payment decisions overturned because of (a) mandatory reconsideration and (b) an appeal hearing in Aberdeen South constituency in each year since April 2013.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions and the number and proportion of mandatory reconsideration decisions and appeal decisions where the award was changed, by financial year of the initial PIP decision since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituency of Aberdeen South.
Number of PIP decisions, and number and proportion of mandatory reconsiderations decisions and appeal decisions where the award changed, by financial year of initial PIP decision.
Financial year of initial PIP decision | Number of PIP decisions | Number of awards changed at MR | Proportion of PIP decisions changed at MR | Number of awards changed at appeal | Proportion of PIP decisions where award changed at appeal |
2013/14 | 100 | # | # | # | # |
2014/ 15 | 560 | 10 | 1% | # | # |
2015/ 16 | 680 | 20 | 2% | 30 | 5% |
2016/ 17 | 1,030 | 50 | 5% | 40 | 4% |
2017/18 (April 17 to Oct 17) | 580 | 30 | 5% | 10 | 2% |
Total | 2,950 | 110 | 4% | 90 | 3% |
Data has been rounded to the nearest 10 and nearest percent.
‘#’ means fewer than 5 in this category.
There will be some degree of retrospection in these figures over time due to changes in individual case outcomes, particularly with appeals. It is expected that there will be lower numbers of completed appeals in recent months due to the time lag in appeal completion.
Latest available data to October 2017
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to raise awareness of the Blue Belt programme during the International Year of the Reef.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Blue Belt Programme supports the delivery of the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to provide long-term protection to the waters around the UK and its Overseas Territories. We are currently on course to deliver over four million square kilometres of marine protection by 2020.
As the waters around the UK Overseas Territories hold substantial tropical reefs, the UK Government has re-engaged with the International Coral Reef Initiative as a founding member. This re-engagement has been welcomed by all parties. In addition, the UK Government has highlighted the importance of coral reefs in its 25 Year Environmental Plan where its ambition is to champion and support coral reef conservation and biodiversity in the UK and its Overseas Territories.
This year is the Third International Year of the Reef. We are seeking ways to promote the importance of coral reef conservation, together with the Blue Belt programme, through the course of the year as well as during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Palestinian Authority on accepting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's invitation to return to direct peace negotiations without preconditions.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is committed to making progress towards a two-state solution. We regularly press both the Israelis and Palestinians to engage in direct negotiations that will lead to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. The Foreign Secretary and I reiterated our support for a negotiated two-state solution when we met Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki in London on 8 January.
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of military museums on relations between the armed forces and local communities.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
In February 2017, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) published its review of the three Service Museums: The National Museum of the Royal Navy, the National Army Museum and the RAF Museum.
The review recognised the value of the focus of the three Service Museums on maintaining the heritage of the Services, as well as being the custodians of key heritage assets for the Nation. This supports broader defence and cultural objectives through outreach and community engagement.
The MOD Service Museums review can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-armed-forces-service-museums
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) Scottish local authorities on maximising the value of the 2015 Aberdeen city deal for the local and regional economy.
Answered by Margot James
UK Government, Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Region agreed the full Aberdeen City Region Deal in November 2016. The Government continues to work closely with all partners to ensure the deal drives growth and builds economic resilience, helping to diversify the wider economy of the North East of Scotland. The Deal provides £250 million for the City Region including investment in the establishment of the new Oil and Gas Technology Centre to exploit remaining oil and gas reserves and drive innovation in decommissioning technology.
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
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 economic effect on Scotland of the increase in statutory minimum employee pension contributions in 2018 and 2019; and what estimate he has made of the number of people in Scotland who will be affected by those changes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment was designed to increase the number of people saving for their retirement, and has been a great success to date. By the end of September 2017, over 8.7 million people had been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension – this included 523,000 people in Scotland
We do want to encourage people to save more than the minimum, but we need to balance this with the fact that many people are not saving anything and contributing to a pension will be new to them. We also recognise that employers needed time to adjust so as to implement the reforms, and to help manage their costs. As such, our focus is on increasing the number of people saving and increasing contributions gradually over the next two years. For an individual, these are currently at 1 per cent, rising to 3 per cent in April 2018 and 5 per cent in April 2019
We are currently undertaking a review of the policy and operation of automatic enrolment. This includes looking at the existing coverage of the policy; strengthening the evidence base concerning future contributions and how to improve individuals’ engagement with workplace pension saving so as to maximise saving for their retirement. The review work is led by a DWP team and supported by an external advisory group. We will report to Parliament by the end of 2017.
Asked by: Ross Thomson (Conservative - Aberdeen South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of proposed closure of all HM Revenue and Customs offices in Scotland outside Glasgow and Edinburgh on the distribution of public sector resources between the (a) central belt and (b) rest of Scotland.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HMRC will have two regional centres which will serve the whole of Scotland. They will be located in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the locations which most comprehensively met HMRC’s selection criteria. The spread of HMRC‘s regional centres around the UK supports the Government’s strategy of jobs in every region and nation of the UK.