Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many outstanding Carer’s Allowance Verify Earnings and Pension service alerts there were at the end of the financial year 2023-24.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP is currently developing recommendations focused on helping claimants understand their responsibilities to report a change of circumstances and how DWP can help prevent the accumulation of debts amongst Carer’s Allowance claimants.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2024 to Question 24566 on UNRWA: Finance, when he plans to complete his careful consideration of Catherine Colonna's final report, UNRWA's response and the ongoing UN Office for Internal Oversight Services investigation.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
As set out in the answer to Question 24566, the UK will set out its position on future funding to UNRWA following careful consideration of Catherine Colonna's final report, UNRWA's response and the ongoing UN Office for Internal Oversight Services investigation.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she last held discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on the sale of arms to Israel.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
To support her decisions on export licensing to Israel, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade regularly receives advice from the Foreign Secretary and FCDO.
We continue to monitor the situation in Israel and Gaza closely, and all of our export licences are kept under careful and continual review.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to uprate the income threshold for eligibility for free school meals.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has extended free school meal (FSM) support several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. As a result, the greatest ever proportion of children are now receiving free lunches. Over one third of children are now eligible for FSM, compared to one in six in 2010.
However, a threshold must be set somewhere. The department believes that the current eligibility threshold level, which enables children in low-income households to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the correct decision.
The department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions Ministers in his Department have had with their Egyptian counterparts on Alaa Abd El-Fattah.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ministers and officials continue to raise Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian government. They have been consistently clear in calling for his release and continue to press for urgent consular access.
The Foreign Secretary raised this case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry on 29 April 2024 and previously on 22 February 2024. The Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon raised this case with Foreign Minister Shoukry on 28 March 2024 and with the Egyptian Ambassador on 20 February 2024. The Prime Minister also spoke to President Sisi about Mr El-Fattah on 1 December 2023.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 who claimed Carer's Allowance also claimed a Personal Independence Payment in the past 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work & Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 who claimed Carer's Allowance were caring for someone in receipt of a Personal Independence Payment in the past 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work & Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 impact of his Department's proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments on unpaid carers.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper looks at different options to reshape the current welfare system so that we can provide better targeted support to those who need it most. We are considering these options through our 12-week consultation which was published on Monday 29 April and will close on Monday 22 July at 11:59pm. Any possible impacts on unpaid carers will be considered as necessary.
There will be no immediate changes to PIP, or to health assessments. All scheduled PIP assessments and payments will proceed as normal, and claimants should continue to engage as usual and provide any necessary information or updates regarding their circumstances.
We encourage everyone to respond to the consultation which can be found here, so that we are able to hear from as many disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives, and local stakeholders as possible on these important issues.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if NHS England will (a) fund and (b) publish a data dashboard to help integrated care boards commission children and young people’s palliative and end of life care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has developed an all-age palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place in an easily accessible format. The dashboard is accessible to integrated care boards (ICBs) and their commissioners and helps them understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, including children and young people. This supports commissioners in their statutory duty for palliative and end of life care, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly based on prevalence.
Funding has been confirmed to ensure continued maintenance of the dashboard for 2024/25, with discussions ongoing regarding further development and use. There is, however, existing publicly available data, such as the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities ‘Fingertips’ data on palliative and end of life care.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 18955 on Family Conciliation Services, whether his Department monitors the number of therapists offering reunification therapy services in England and Wales who help with cases of family breakdown.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the number of therapists offering reunification therapy in England and Wales.