Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department invited representations from stakeholders before introducing the proposed changes to the minimum income requirement threshold for (a) skilled worker and (b) spousal visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
From 11 April 2024, we will raise the minimum income threshold for Family visas to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for Skilled Worker visas. We will incrementally increase the threshold, moving to the 40th percentile (currently £34,500), and finally to the 50th percentile (currently £38,700, and the level at which the General Skilled Worker threshold is set) by early 2025.
The Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change in due course.
A fact sheet and an impact assessment can be found on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail
and
The Government engages regularly with business sectors, including through a number of its advisory groups, when developing its policies and which will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help reduce court backlogs.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have taken your question to mean what steps are being taken to tackle the outstanding caseload across all jurisdictions.
At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload at the Crown Court and have introduced a raft of measures to achieve this aim. We funded over 100,000 sitting days last financial year and plan to deliver the same again this financial year. Thanks to our investment in judicial recruitment, we expect to have recruited more than 1,000 judges by the end of this financial year.
We are also investing more in our courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings across the next two years, up to March 2025.
In the Family Court, we are working closely with the President of the Family Division, the Department for Education, HMCTS and the cross-system Family Justice Board to drive forward a cross-cutting programme of work to address delays and inefficiencies in the system and to ensure cases are ready to be heard when they reach court.
We are committed to meeting the 26-week statutory requirement for public law cases, and the Government is investing an extra £10m to develop new initiatives to support this.
In addition, we remain committed to supporting more families to reach agreement on their children and finance arrangements earlier and without court involvement and are continuing delivery of the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme. As of December 2023, over 24,000 families have successfully used the scheme to attempt to resolve their disputes outside of court. We are investing up to £23.6m in the scheme, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025
With regards to civil cases, we are taking action to ensure those that do need to go to trial are dealt with quickly. We have launched the biggest ever judicial recruitment drive for District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation.
We announced in July that we would introduce a requirement for small claims in the county court to attend a mediation session with the Small Claims Mediation Service, starting with specified money claims. This requirement will start in the spring and is expected to help parties resolve their dispute swiftly and consensually without the need for a judicial hearing.
With regards to tribunals, we continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade on further measures to address caseloads in the Employment Tribunal, where the deployment of legal officers, recruitment of additional judges and a new electronic case management system have already contributed to the caseload falling and remaining below its pandemic peak.
We are working on completing the programme of reform in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal and the judiciary have recently introduced a virtual region pilot to provide additional judicial capacity and flexibility in how appeals are heard and disposed of.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prepare for potential flooding in homes and business across the UK.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over 6 years in around 2,000 flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. This has already resulted in more than 35,000 properties being better protected since April 2021. This investment will also avoid wider economic damages, better protect transport infrastructure, and create or improve natural habitats.
The Environment Agency (EA) launched its annual Flood Action Campaign on 20 November 2023 to encourage people to prepare for flooding. This promotes the steps that people can take to protect themselves, their family and homes. In July 2022, the Government announced a £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance to support communities that have experienced repeated flooding.
The Environment Agency is prepared to act wherever and whenever it is needed this winter and has 5,000 trained staff across the country ready to respond to flooding.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to regulation 13 of the draft Carer's Leave Regulations 2024 laid on 11 December 2023, for what reason the average rate of remuneration is calculated over a period of 12 weeks.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The calculation for establishing a week’s pay in the Employment Rights Act 1996 is set out in Part 14 Chapter II and the relevant period provided for the calculation is 12 weeks. Regulation 13 of the Carer’s Leave Regulations ensures that when making this calculation, weeks which include unpaid Carer’s Leave are discounted when it comes to calculating a week’s pay, as is the case with other forms of family leave, including unpaid Parental Leave.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when her Department plans to table secondary legislation to implement the Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government was pleased to support the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act, which received Royal Assent on 24th May 2023. Regulations under this Act to deliver additional redundancy protection for pregnant women and new parents were laid on 11th December.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2024/9780348254846/pdfs/ukdsi_9780348254846_en.pdf
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her planned timetable is for publishing guidance on the implementation of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As part of our efforts to communicate the changes which are being introduced under the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, the Government will be producing guidance. The guidance will be published in the New Year to support the commencement of the regulations.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the impact of children (a) not eating breakfast and (b) having access to a school breakfast club on educational outcomes.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfasts. The department is investing up to £30 million in its national school breakfast programme until the end of the summer term in 2024. This funding will support up to 2,700 schools in disadvantaged areas and is currently supporting approximately 350,000 children a day from low-income families with free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.
Alongside the department’s national programme, there are a number of organisations such as FareShare, Magic Breakfast, Kellogg’s and Greggs providing valuable support to schools with a breakfast provision.
The 2019 breakfast evaluation report conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation found that Year 2 children in breakfast club schools made the equivalent of two months’ additional progress compared to Year 2 children in the business-as-usual control group. Additionally, pupil behaviour improved in breakfast club schools, therefore enhancing their readiness to learn and improving classroom environments.
At the end of this iteration of the programme the department will be working with its delivery partner Family Action to produce and publish an impact report which will include analysis such as how a school breakfast club has impacted children’s educational outcomes.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will include scope and fees in the review of civil legal aid.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is currently undertaking a Review of Civil Legal Aid to identify evidence-based options for moving to a more effective, efficient, and sustainable system for legal aid providers and the people who rely on legal aid.
The Review will consider the civil legal aid system in its entirety: how services are procured, how well the current system works for users, how civil legal aid impacts the wider justice system, and whether the civil legal aid system offers a financially viable business option for legal aid providers. It will also consider the overall fee structures of the civil legal aid system. The scope of legal aid is not within the Review’s remit.
In the interim, we are continuing to make improvements across the sector to ensure legal aid is available to those who need it. From 1 August 2023, the scope of legal aid was expanded, enabling people facing the loss of their home to receive early legal advice on housing, debt, and welfare benefits issues as well as representation in court. This means an increase in funding of up to £10m each year.
In addition, we recently laid secondary legislation to bring Special Guardianship Orders brought in private law proceedings within scope of legal aid, injecting a further £13m into family legal aid per year. We have also broadened the evidence requirements for victims of domestic abuse applying for legal aid, making it easier for victims to evidence their claims. This will deliver on our commitments to support victims of domestic abuse and allow special guardians to access legal aid.
Eligibility for legal aid was considered in the Legal Aid Means Test Review. The Ministry of Justice published the Government Response to the Review’s consultation exercise in May 2023, which set out the detailed policy decisions underpinning the new means-testing arrangements. When implemented, we estimate that spending on legal aid will rise by circa £25 million. This will increase the number of people eligible for civil legal aid in England and Wales by an additional 2.5 million.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his decision not to include (a) eligibility and (b) fees as part of his review of civil legal aid.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is currently undertaking a Review of Civil Legal Aid to identify evidence-based options for moving to a more effective, efficient, and sustainable system for legal aid providers and the people who rely on legal aid.
The Review will consider the civil legal aid system in its entirety: how services are procured, how well the current system works for users, how civil legal aid impacts the wider justice system, and whether the civil legal aid system offers a financially viable business option for legal aid providers. It will also consider the overall fee structures of the civil legal aid system. The scope of legal aid is not within the Review’s remit.
In the interim, we are continuing to make improvements across the sector to ensure legal aid is available to those who need it. From 1 August 2023, the scope of legal aid was expanded, enabling people facing the loss of their home to receive early legal advice on housing, debt, and welfare benefits issues as well as representation in court. This means an increase in funding of up to £10m each year.
In addition, we recently laid secondary legislation to bring Special Guardianship Orders brought in private law proceedings within scope of legal aid, injecting a further £13m into family legal aid per year. We have also broadened the evidence requirements for victims of domestic abuse applying for legal aid, making it easier for victims to evidence their claims. This will deliver on our commitments to support victims of domestic abuse and allow special guardians to access legal aid.
Eligibility for legal aid was considered in the Legal Aid Means Test Review. The Ministry of Justice published the Government Response to the Review’s consultation exercise in May 2023, which set out the detailed policy decisions underpinning the new means-testing arrangements. When implemented, we estimate that spending on legal aid will rise by circa £25 million. This will increase the number of people eligible for civil legal aid in England and Wales by an additional 2.5 million.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on how many people are listed as Politically Exposed Persons.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require businesses within the regulated sector (such as banks) to treat individuals who are entrusted with prominent public functions as PEPs. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) provides guidance to businesses within the regulated sector on which customers should be regarded as PEPs under the Money Laundering Regulations, and how a proportionate risk-based based approach to these customers (and their known close associates and family members) should be applied. It is for each business within the regulated sector to decide which of its customers are PEPs, in accordance with this guidance. The Government does not maintain a register of PEPs, and does not hold information on the number of people designated by regulated businesses as PEPs.
The FCA guidance on the treatment of politically exposed persons for anti-money laundering purposes is available at https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/finalised-guidance/fg17-6-treatment-politically-exposed-persons-peps-money-laundering The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 committed the FCA to conduct a review into financial institutions’ adherence to its guidance on PEPs, and the appropriateness of that guidance. This review is currently underway.