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802223

	registered interest
	date	06/12/2017
	answering body	Scotland Office
	answering dept id	2
	answering dept short name	Scotland
	answering dept sort name	Scotland
	hansard heading	Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Scheme: Scotland
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will meet with the National Farmers Union Scotland to discuss a specific Agricultural Labour Scheme to meet labour shortages in the agricultural sector in Scotland.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	117910
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2017 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>I have regular discussions with the National Farmers Union Scotland on a range of matters of importance to the agriculture sector in Scotland.</p><p> </p><p>The precise nature of the UK’s seasonal labour needs, and how they might best be met post-EU exit, have yet to be determined. The Home Secretary has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to undertake a detailed assessment of the impact of EU migration across all parts of the UK’s economy and society, and to gather evidence on patterns of EU migration ahead of our exit from the European Union.</p><p> </p><p>I do, of course, recognise that it is crucial that we secure a strong agricultural workforce as we develop a new approach to farming outside the EU, and I will continue to work closely with our food and farming industry in Scotland to consider their specific needs.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale answering member printed David Mundell question first answered 12/12/2017 12:37:32 answering member 1512 label Biography information for David Mundell
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

802744

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Skilled Workers: Foreign Nationals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing regional variations in the salary thresholds for tier two visas for skilled non-EU migrants.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	118293
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2017 answer text <p>The Government is committed to developing an immigration system that serves the national interest and are clear that applying different immigration rules to different parts of the UK would complicate the immigration system, harm its integrity, and cause difficulties for employers who need the flexibility to deploy their staff to other parts of the UK.</p><p>The Government commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to undertake a comprehensive review of the Tier 2 route in June 2015.</p><p>The MAC concluded and has repeatedly recommended that we should not operate different salary thresholds for different regions and countries in the UK. More information about the MAC and its report on Tier 2 can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-mac-review-tier-2-migration" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-mac-review-tier-2-migration</a></p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 12/12/2017 17:49:27 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

802743

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Intelligence Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions has she had with (a) WhatsApp and (b) other technology companies on access by the security services to encrypted messages sent by a person of interest.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	118292
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2017 answer text <p>The Government is in favour of strong encryption: it is critical to protect UK citizens from harm online, and billions of people use it every day for a range of services including banking, commerce and communications.</p><p>However, like many powerful technologies, encrypted services are abused by a small minority of people. There is a particular problem with end-to-end encryption where certain providers have deliberately designed their systems so that even they cannot see the content of the message.</p><p>The Secretary of State meets with a range of stakeholders to discuss various issues as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings. However, we are committed to working with service providers to fulfil our collective responsibility to protect us from terrorists and those who commit serious crimes, while allowing providers to protect privacy. We are quite clear that it is essential for law enforcement to access content when there is a clear need and when properly warranted. The Government will continue to press for that ability.</p><p>A mature dialogue between government and industry on this issue is crucial, and we expect them to live up to their responsibilities: working with law enforcement where there is a warrant authorised by a Secretary of State and approved by a senior judge under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.</p> answering member constituency Wyre and Preston North answering member printed Mr Ben Wallace question first answered 14/12/2017 15:25:59 answering member 1539 label Biography information for Mr Ben Wallace
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

802740

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2017
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Jagtar Singh Johal
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the alleged torture of Jagtar Singh Johal in Punjab.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	118289
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2017 answer text <p>​Consular staff in India were made aware of allegations of mistreatment through Mr Johal's legal representation. Consular staff have visited Mr Johal on several occasions since early November and are in contact with his lawyer. Our priority is to inquire about these specific allegations with Mr Johal in private. With his consent we will then raise any allegations made with the relevant authorities. When considering how to act, we will avoid any action that might put the individual in question or any other person that may be affected at risk.</p> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 15/12/2017 14:24:02 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

805419

	registered interest
	date	12/12/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a maximum time limit of eight days for the registration of deaths in England.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	119090
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2017 answer text <p>Section 16(3) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 requires deaths to be registered by a qualified informant within five days for England and Wales. There are no current plans to amend this legislation.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 19/12/2017 15:04:58 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

804376

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Bank of England and (b) the Financial Conduct Authority about introducing powers to prevent the development of areas where there are no free-to-use ATMs.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	118573
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2017 answer text <p>The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK, and will continue to work with industry to ensure continued free access to cash. Since 1998, the number of free to use ATMs has more than doubled, from 24,600 to over 53,000.</p><p>Government has not made an assessment of the relative poverty of areas where there are no free to use ATMs. However LINK, the organisation behind the ATM network in the UK, carries out an assessment of areas where there are no free to use ATMs as part of the financial inclusion programme it runs, in collaboration with Toynbee Hall, to ensure the provision of ATMs in areas of deprivation, where demand would not otherwise make one viable. LINK is intending to strengthen its financial inclusion programme even further to ensure that the need for ATMs continue to be met.</p><p>HM Treasury has not had discussions with the Bank of England or the Financial Conduct Authority about imposing a cap on charges to customers for ATMs which are not free to use or introducing powers to prevent the development of areas where there are no free-to-use ATMs. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is monitoring developments within ATM provision, and is conducting ongoing internal work on the impact that changes to interchange fees may have. The Government set the PSR up in 2015 with the statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users. Government is confident that the PSR will use its powers to act should any of the firms it regulates behave in a way that conflicts with its statutory objectives.</p> answering member constituency North East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Stephen Barclay grouped question UIN 118580 118586 question first answered 19/12/2017 15:39:48 answering member 4095 label Biography information for Steve Barclay
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

804373

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Bank of England and (b) the Financial Conduct Authority about imposing a maximum cap on charges to customers using ATMs.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	118580
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2017 answer text <p>The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK, and will continue to work with industry to ensure continued free access to cash. Since 1998, the number of free to use ATMs has more than doubled, from 24,600 to over 53,000.</p><p>Government has not made an assessment of the relative poverty of areas where there are no free to use ATMs. However LINK, the organisation behind the ATM network in the UK, carries out an assessment of areas where there are no free to use ATMs as part of the financial inclusion programme it runs, in collaboration with Toynbee Hall, to ensure the provision of ATMs in areas of deprivation, where demand would not otherwise make one viable. LINK is intending to strengthen its financial inclusion programme even further to ensure that the need for ATMs continue to be met.</p><p>HM Treasury has not had discussions with the Bank of England or the Financial Conduct Authority about imposing a cap on charges to customers for ATMs which are not free to use or introducing powers to prevent the development of areas where there are no free-to-use ATMs. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is monitoring developments within ATM provision, and is conducting ongoing internal work on the impact that changes to interchange fees may have. The Government set the PSR up in 2015 with the statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users. Government is confident that the PSR will use its powers to act should any of the firms it regulates behave in a way that conflicts with its statutory objectives.</p> answering member constituency North East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Stephen Barclay grouped question UIN 118573 118586 question first answered 19/12/2017 15:39:48 answering member 4095 label Biography information for Steve Barclay
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

804370

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of relative poverty of areas where ATMs which are not free to use are located.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	118586
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2017 answer text <p>The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK, and will continue to work with industry to ensure continued free access to cash. Since 1998, the number of free to use ATMs has more than doubled, from 24,600 to over 53,000.</p><p>Government has not made an assessment of the relative poverty of areas where there are no free to use ATMs. However LINK, the organisation behind the ATM network in the UK, carries out an assessment of areas where there are no free to use ATMs as part of the financial inclusion programme it runs, in collaboration with Toynbee Hall, to ensure the provision of ATMs in areas of deprivation, where demand would not otherwise make one viable. LINK is intending to strengthen its financial inclusion programme even further to ensure that the need for ATMs continue to be met.</p><p>HM Treasury has not had discussions with the Bank of England or the Financial Conduct Authority about imposing a cap on charges to customers for ATMs which are not free to use or introducing powers to prevent the development of areas where there are no free-to-use ATMs. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is monitoring developments within ATM provision, and is conducting ongoing internal work on the impact that changes to interchange fees may have. The Government set the PSR up in 2015 with the statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users. Government is confident that the PSR will use its powers to act should any of the firms it regulates behave in a way that conflicts with its statutory objectives.</p> answering member constituency North East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Stephen Barclay grouped question UIN 118573 118580 question first answered 19/12/2017 15:39:48 answering member 4095 label Biography information for Steve Barclay
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

806670

	registered interest
	date	14/12/2017
	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	Social Security Benefits: Uprating
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the change in the real terms value of the maximum amount of benefit entitlement as a result of inflation since the introduction of the benefit cap in November 2016.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	119746
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2017 answer text <p>The Work and Pensions Secretary of State has a duty to review the Lower Benefit Cap levels once in each Parliament with regard to the national economic situation and any other matters he considers relevant, as set out in the 2016 Welfare Reform and Work Act. New lower and tiered Benefit Cap rates were introduced from November 2016 prior to the election in June 2017. We intend to review the Lower Benefit Cap during this Parliament.</p><p> </p><p>For context, outside of London, around 4 in 10 households have net earnings less than the £20,000 cap level. In London around 4 in 10 households have net earnings of less than the £23,000 cap level.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 19/12/2017 16:39:48 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

806662

	registered interest
	date	14/12/2017
	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, whether he has received any representations on technical and administration problems regarding the transfer of claimants from employment and support allowance to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Ged Killen
	uin	119738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2017 answer text <p>Our Ministerial Correspondence Team has not received any letters relating to claimants facing technical or administrative problems when transferring from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit.</p><p>However, Universal Credit Programme colleagues have received representations from various customer support groups seeking clarification of the ESA to UC journey for their service users. These concerns have been raised informally at engagement events as well as through more formal routes into the Programme.</p><p> </p><p>As a result, the Department has worked to produce a set of communications, to help local partnership managers better explain the ESA to UC journey to our stakeholders.</p><p>In addition we are improving the learning for work coaches and case managers to better understand the process and how to support claimants effectively.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 20/12/2017 15:41:04 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen