Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of whether railways require modernisation.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Last month my Right hon. Friend Mark Harper MP, Secretary of State for Transport, delivered his vision for rail and set out his plans to modernise the rail industry and progress vital reforms to ensure the railways are fit for purpose.
He confirmed his ambition for a customer-focussed, commercially led industry, with the creation of Great British Railways as the new guiding mind for the sector.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the uptake of Higher Technical Qualifications.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department believes that increasing uptake in Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) is key to helping people climb the ladder of opportunity.
HTQs began teaching from September 2022, starting with Digital HTQs. 106 qualifications have now been approved as HTQs across Digital, Construction and Health and Science routes, available for teaching from September this year. All occupational routes are due to be rolled out by 2025 where relevant occupational standards are available.
To support more people studying HTQs:
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications have been made for British National (Overseas) visas by people aged between 18 and 25 in the period since that scheme was extended in November 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not hold published data on the number of applications that have been made to the British National (Overseas) route by18–25-year-olds since the route was expanded on 30 November 2022.
The Home Office releases data on the BN(O) route as part of the quarterly migration statistics.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time was for asylum applications made by people from Hong Kong from the initial claim to the outcome in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This data for average processing times is not held in a reportable format, not routinely published, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it requires a manual search through individual records.
The Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main applicants only. This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics:
List of tables - GOV.UK
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118222/asylum-summary-sep-2022-tables.ods
Further detailed asylum and resettlement data sets, filtered by nationality can be found:
List of tables - GOV.UK
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help protect the safety of British National (Overseas) visa holders who are required to renew their Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports at the Chinese Embassy or Consulate.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government cannot assist with the renewal of other countries' passports in the UK. As outlined in the UK Government's Six-monthly Report on Hong Kong, the UK has an unwavering commitment to Hong Kong and its people and the Government will continue to take very seriously the safety of our valued Hong Kong community in the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HM Revenue and Customs' policy paper ‘Multinational top-up tax: UK adoption of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Pillar 2, published on 20 July 2022, if he will publish the calculations behind the estimate of £8.2m annual costs to businesses affected by the measure.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The £8.2 million average reoccurring annual impact cost was calculated based on HMRC’s Standard Cost Model methodology for determining the administrative impacts of compliant, efficient businesses complying with new measures.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help protect people from Hong Kong who want to protest near the Chinese Embassy and Consulate in the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, assembly and association. This government will support these rights, including the right of individuals to engage in peaceful protest.
It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather together and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law.
The management of demonstrations is an operational matter for the police. In certain circumstances, the police have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect those who want to exercise their rights peacefully.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the implications for her policies of the finding in the Centre for Financial Capacity’s report entitled 1 Year On July 2021 – July 2022, published in July 2022, that one-fifth of children have access to financial education at primary school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government wants all young people to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.
The Department works closely with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) and HM Treasury to consider the wide range of evidence for financial education, including reports from the Centre for Financial Capability, and to explore the opportunities to improve access for all pupils to high quality financial education.
MaPS has a statutory duty to develop and co-ordinate a national strategy to improve people’s financial capabilities and their ten-year strategy, published in 2020, set out their national goal that two million more children and young people will receive a meaningful financial education by 2030. The strategy is supported by Delivery Plans for each nation of the UK, which are available here: https://www.maps.org.uk/uk-strategy-for-financial-wellbeing/.
The Department has introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum which provides young people with the arithmetic that pupils should be taught to make important financial decisions. In the primary mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic that pupils should be taught. This is vital, as a strong grasp of mathematics will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some specific content on financial education, such as calculations with money. Primary schools can also choose to teach financial education content within their citizenship curriculum, using the non-statutory citizenship curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/citizenship-programmes-of-study-for-key-stages-1-and-2.
MaPS published guidance for primary and secondary schools in England, to support headteachers to enhance the financial education currently delivered in their schools. The guidance can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.
The Department and MaPS will deliver a series of joint financial education webinars this academic year, aimed at promoting the importance of financial education for all pupils and improving teacher confidence and knowledge, as well as providing a launchpad for further engagement with training and resources to support continuous improvement.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether international agreement on Pillar 1 of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s base erosion and profit shifting 2.0 proposals is necessary for Pillar 2 to become operational in the UK..
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government confirmed that Pillar 2 will be implemented in the UK from 31 December 2023. This can be viewed on page 51 of the Autumn Statement document on gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2022-documents
Alongside this the Government remains focused on delivering a Multilateral Convention on Pillar 1 by mid-2023, in line with the aim set out in the OECD’s Progress Report on Pillar 1 in July 2022, with the aim of that agreement then coming into force as soon as possible.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.6 of the consultation on implementation of OECD Pillar 2 published on11 January 2022, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the progress towards the consistent implementation of the rules in the United States; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The international group representing more than 135 countries that are collaborating to tackle tax avoidance (known as the ‘Inclusive Framework’) have agreed that Pillar 2 implementation is subject to a ‘common approach’. This means that countries that implement Pillar 2 must do so in line with the intended outcomes of the rules, ensuring consistency in implementation. A qualification process for each country that implements Pillar 2 is under discussion by the Inclusive Framework.
The United States have already implemented a tax on low taxed foreign profits called Global Intangible Low Taxed Income (GILTI). The Government recognises that the US has committed to reforming the GILTI rules so that they align with the Pillar 2 rules. How GILTI and Pillar 2 will interact, pending such reform, is being agreed internationally.