Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What progress his Department has made on increasing the supply of social housing.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This Government understands the importance of social housing and are clear that more homes must be built.
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver tens of thousands of high-quality social homes right across the country, ensuring that hard working families and individuals can live in safety and security in the communities they call home.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have moved into employment since the roll out-of universal credit in each year for which figures are available.
Answered by Will Quince
The latest caseload data shows Universal Credit is supporting 2.8 million claimants across the country to more easily start work and access smoother incentives, such as the work allowance and taper, to increase hours. We have scrapped the cliff edges and complicated hours’ rules of the legacy benefit system to ensure claimants have flexibility to access the opportunities offered in the labour market.
There are a record number of people in work at 32.9 million – up by over 3.8 million since 2010. During August 2019 and September 2019, the latest information available, just over 200,000 Universal Credit claimants have succeeded in getting into jobs.
Monthly information surrounding the volumes of Universal Credit claimants who have moved into work is shown in the table below.
- | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 |
April | 320 | 5,150 | 25,000 | 79,900 |
May | 550 | 5,900 | 26,800 | 87,400 |
June | 650 | 6,310 | 29,200 | 81,600 |
July | 1,010 | 6,500 | 31,600 | 87,800 |
August | 1,290 | 7,630 | 38,900 | 94,200 |
September | 1,890 | 10,100 | 47,300 | 106,300 |
October | 2,150 | 10,800 | 52,600 | N/A |
November | 2,600 | 11,700 | 59,900 | N/A |
December | 2,320 | 9,600 | 44,300 | N/A |
January | 3,230 | 14,700 | 61,400 | N/A |
February | 3,940 | 16,600 | 68,800 | N/A |
March | 5,070 | 22,100 | 84,200 | N/A |
Notes:
1. Figures are for Universal Credit Full Service only
2. Figures are at household level. In some cases both members of a household may have entered work in the same month, but only one job entry would be counted in our response.
3. Figures are based upon situations when a household reports no earnings in one Assessment Period but then has earnings in the next.
4. Self-employed jobs are not included in the table.
5. Figures also include instances of a household moving out of work and at a later date moving back into work.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what funding his Department has made available to (a) local authorities and (b) councils to comply with website content accessibility guidelines.
Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
The Government Digital Service (“GDS”) introduced and leads on implementation of the Public Sector (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations (“the Regulations”).
GDS has been providing an ongoing range of guidance and awareness raising to public sector bodies, including local authorities on implementing the accessibility requirements, but is not responsible for funding to local authorities. Guidance can be located on our accessibility regulations campaign here https://accessibility.campaign.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on fair competition of the five Gov.UK Verify providers being able to re-use Gov.Verify profiles for a period before other market participants are given access to that service.
Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
What outcome he is seeking in his negotiations with the EU.
Answered by James Duddridge
Any deal must abolish the backstop. Our future ambition is for a best in class FTA and wider provisions covering economic, security and cross-cutting cooperation.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What progress he has made on opening new stations on the rail network.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Since 2010, some 42 new stations have been opened across the rail network.
The Government supports proposals for new stations that help provide a solution to local traffic congestion or fulfill a new opportunity such as a housing development, business/retail park or airport.
Good progress is made on proposals that provide a robust business case, a sponsor and funding.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what measures are available to landowners and leaseholders with rights over land to enforce reasonable parking charges when a vehicle is left on their land contrary to the terms displayed.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 grants keeper liability for vehicles, allowing landowners and parking operators to pursue the registered keeper of a vehicle for breaches of contract related to parking. Private parking companies must be a member of a trade association if they wish to access DVLA data in order to issue parking charges to vehicle owners. The two parking trade associations, the British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC), have their own codes of practice and appeal procedures to which they expect their members to adhere. If a private parking company does not follow these codes responsibly, they risk being banned from accessing DVLA data and will be unable to issue parking charges.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether EU citizens enrolling on UK higher education courses in the 2020-21 academic year will be eligible for home fee status and financial support.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
We recognise how important it is that students and institutions have information on eligibility for student support before applications for courses open.
Applications for courses starting in academic year 2020/21 do not open until September 2019. We will ensure students and institutions have the information they need well in advance of that date.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he will confirm the (a) fee status and (b) loan eligibility of EU citizens commencing courses at UK higher education providers in the 2020-21 academic year.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
We recognise how important it is that students and institutions have information on eligibility for student support before applications for courses open.
Applications for courses starting in academic year 2020/21 do not open until September 2019. We will ensure students and institutions have the information they need well in advance of that date.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps his Department is taking to reduce homelessness.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is a key priority for this Government. We are spending over £1.2 billion through to 2020, we have implemented the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, and have just published our plan to deliver the Rough Sleeping Strategy.