Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1135485

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	European Parliament: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Electoral Commission on the potential disenfranchisement of EU citizens resident in the UK in the European Parliament elections.
	tabling member constituency	Bedford
	tabling member printed	Mohammad Yasin
	uin	270809
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>Ministers and officials meet frequently with external officials to discuss a wide range of electoral issues.</p><p>Details of external meetings by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are published quarterly and are available on gov.uk.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster grouped question UIN 270810 question first answered 02/07/2019 14:50:29 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4598 label Biography information for Mohammad Yasin

1135486

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	European Parliament: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the European Commission about the potential disenfranchisement of EU citizens resident in the UK in the European Parliament elections.
	tabling member constituency	Bedford
	tabling member printed	Mohammad Yasin
	uin	270810
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>Ministers and officials meet frequently with external officials to discuss a wide range of electoral issues.</p><p>Details of external meetings by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are published quarterly and are available on gov.uk.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster grouped question UIN 270809 question first answered 02/07/2019 14:50:29 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	4598 label Biography information for Mohammad Yasin

1135580

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it Government policy to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 in accordance with the recommendations of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South
	tabling member printed	Stewart Malcolm McDonald
	uin	270793
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>This Government has significant concerns about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and we continue to raise this important issue in discussions with key partners. We judge that it is not necessary to meet future European demand for gas and could harm European energy security and the interests of Ukraine. This is one of the reasons why we supported amendments to the EU Gas Directive that will require the pipeline to be fully compliant with EU rules. While we are an EU member state, the UK will continue to be bound by EU sanctions, which do not currently encompass Nord Stream 2.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 03/07/2019 07:54:52 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4461 label Biography information for Stewart Malcolm McDonald

1135527

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Pension Funds: Investment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she is taking steps to ensure that pension companies declare investments in the fossil-fuel industry; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	270720
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that climate change is a key national and international issue we have made sure that pension schemes understand their role responding to its effects. In September 2018, following extensive consultation with the pensions industry, this Government laid regulations (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/pension-trustees-clarifying-and-strengthening-investment-duties) to clarify and strengthen trustees’ investment duties, including taking account of the financial risks of climate change when developing their investment strategies. There has been extensive stakeholder engagement since. The regulations come into force from October this year.</p><p> </p><p>Defined contribution occupational pension schemes will be required to publish their policy on consideration of climate risks by October 2019, with most defined benefit schemes being required to follow suit by October 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The FCA are consulting on corresponding provisions for workplace personal pension schemes. As the Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion I have spoken extensively about the new requirements and the Government expectations of pension schemes, including at the Westminster Hall debate regarding Pension Funds: Financial and Ethical Investments on the 22 May 2019:</p><p> </p><p>“For too long there has been a perception by too many trustees -I am happy to clarify this as a Government Minister- that the environmental practices of the firms they invest in are purely ethical concerns, which they do not need to worry about: that is utterly wrong. Aside from the ethical considerations, there are real financial risks resulting from climate change. With the long-term horizons of pension investing, trustees must now consider that when they set out their investment strategies. Trustees who do not consider those matters will be breaching their statutory and potentially their fiduciary duties not only to current but future members.”</p><p> </p><p>The full debate can be viewed here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2019-05-22/debates/D3194408-7581-4635-AEDC-6D22AD6F0EBC/PensionFundsFinancialAndEthicalInvestments" target="_blank">https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2019-05-22/debates/D3194408-7581-4635-AEDC-6D22AD6F0EBC/PensionFundsFinancialAndEthicalInvestments</a></p><p> </p><p>The Government is very keen to support trustees in making responsible investment decisions.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 03/07/2019 10:10:15 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1135543

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Pension Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the (a) number of people in (i) Ashfield, (ii) Nottinghamshire, (iii) the East Midlands and (iv) England who are eligible for pension credit but not claiming it and (b) value of that unclaimed pension credit.
	tabling member constituency	Ashfield
	tabling member printed	Gloria De Piero
	uin	270780
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested on the (a) number of people in (i) Ashfield, (ii) Nottinghamshire, (iii) East Midlands and (iv) England who are eligible for pension credit but are not claiming it, and (b) value of that unclaimed pension credit is not available at constituency, regional or country level.</p><p> </p><p>Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up 2016 to 2017’ publication.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 03/07/2019 10:20:28 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3915 label Biography information for Gloria De Piero

1135596

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Gambling: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to safeguard children against exposure to gambling opportunities associated with (a) in-app and (b) in-game purchases on gaming consoles and mobile devices.
	tabling member constituency	Easington
	tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
	uin	270805
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>Protecting children and the vulnerable from being harmed or exploited by gambling is a core objective of the Gambling Commission, as the regulator for gambling in Great Britain, and a priority for the government. There are also strong protections in place for children who play video games.</p><p> </p><p>The Pan European Game Information (PEGI) ratings system used to classify video games, will not award ratings to products that allow gambling, significantly restricting their ability to be sold in the UK. Where a game contains elements that could teach or encourage gambling like behaviour, it will be awarded a minimum PEGI 12 rating and will also have a gambling pictogram label applied to alert parents to the content.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, most video games and mobile platforms come with a range of parental control tools that can include allowing parents to block games based on PEGI age ratings, disable in-game purchases and monitor and place limits on use. PEGI provides more information here https://pegi.info/parental-controls.</p><p> </p><p>Where licensed online gambling is offered, operators are required to verify the age of a consumer before they can deposit money and gamble, or access free-to-play demo games.</p><p> </p><p>The Gambling Commission has strong powers and has shown it will take action where there are breaches of the rules - in 2017, it successfully prosecuted the FutGalaxy website for offering illegal gambling with in-game items – known as skins gambling.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 03/07/2019 11:23:55 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1135497

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the childcare element of universal credit is not an economic barrier to work.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	270813
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours. We are committed to helping parents into work.</p><p> </p><p>To overcome this barrier to employment, Universal Credit claimants are able to claim up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, compared to 70% on the legacy system. This can be claimed up to a month before starting a job, and can be worth up to £13,000 a year for families with two children.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the difficulty that some claimants might have in paying upfront childcare costs. Where the initial month’s childcare costs may prevent a claimant from starting work, Jobcentres will use the Flexible Support Fund to help claimants in the first instance. This is a non-repayable award, which can be used to meet the upfront childcare costs to help support a claimant into work. For claimants who are in work and need help with upfront childcare costs, budgeting advances are available that can be used to cover the cost of paying upfront childcare costs or a deposit.</p><p> </p><p>We have piloted a more flexible approach to claimants reporting childcare costs, which will allow people, including lone parents, to be reimbursed for childcare when, with good reason, they are not able to provide evidence within their assessment period. We are now looking to implement this nationally.</p><p> </p><p>We have undertaken significant work to increase work coach awareness and understanding of the Universal Credit childcare offer through improved training and guidance and communications.</p><p> </p><p>The Universal Credit childcare policy also aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 270814 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:18:32 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1135498

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to find a long-term solution for upfront costs in childcare under universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	270814
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours. We are committed to helping parents into work.</p><p> </p><p>To overcome this barrier to employment, Universal Credit claimants are able to claim up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, compared to 70% on the legacy system. This can be claimed up to a month before starting a job, and can be worth up to £13,000 a year for families with two children.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the difficulty that some claimants might have in paying upfront childcare costs. Where the initial month’s childcare costs may prevent a claimant from starting work, Jobcentres will use the Flexible Support Fund to help claimants in the first instance. This is a non-repayable award, which can be used to meet the upfront childcare costs to help support a claimant into work. For claimants who are in work and need help with upfront childcare costs, budgeting advances are available that can be used to cover the cost of paying upfront childcare costs or a deposit.</p><p> </p><p>We have piloted a more flexible approach to claimants reporting childcare costs, which will allow people, including lone parents, to be reimbursed for childcare when, with good reason, they are not able to provide evidence within their assessment period. We are now looking to implement this nationally.</p><p> </p><p>We have undertaken significant work to increase work coach awareness and understanding of the Universal Credit childcare offer through improved training and guidance and communications.</p><p> </p><p>The Universal Credit childcare policy also aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 270813 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:18:32 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1135595

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the universal credit managed migration pilot is planned to begin in Harrogate.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	270819
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>On 3 May 2019, the High Court handed down a judgment in relation to Universal Credit and the Severe Disability Premium (SDP). The judgment quashed the SDP related parts of the draft Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.The Department is currently considering the options open to us and will respond in due course.</p><p> </p><p>We plan to begin the “Move to UC” pilot in July 2019.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 270820 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:35:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1135597

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Severe Disability Premium
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the letter from the Leader of the House to the hon. Member for High Peak on 7 June 2019 on universal credit managed migration regulations, when she plans to make an announcement on her Department's policies on the migration of people who received severe disability premium from legacy benefits to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	270820
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>On 3 May 2019, the High Court handed down a judgment in relation to Universal Credit and the Severe Disability Premium (SDP). The judgment quashed the SDP related parts of the draft Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.The Department is currently considering the options open to us and will respond in due course.</p><p> </p><p>We plan to begin the “Move to UC” pilot in July 2019.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 270819 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:35:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George