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 question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1138693

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps he is taking to tackle universal credit fraud.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276511
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes its obligation to prevent, detect and investigate fraud very seriously and will investigate all claims where fraud may have been committed. We have recently set up a dedicated team to investigate a specific type of emergent fraud, and we are also committed to the use of penalties such as prosecutions and tough financial penalties to discourage fraudulent behaviour.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has also recently been working to further improve knowledge and awareness of Universal Credit (UC) fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff. Guidance has also been issued to ensure that all staff are aware how to quickly refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p><p> </p><p>Most welfare losses, across Government, arise from claimants failing to report changes of circumstances. UC provides a single, digital interface through which claimants can more easily report these changes. UC also allows us to adjust benefit entitlement in line with changing circumstances in real time. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping to inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances. Once UC is fully rolled out, we expect cross-welfare losses to fraud, error and overpayments to be reduced by around £1 billion per year</p><p> </p><p>As of June 2019, potential fraudulent advance claims equate to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 12:58:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138694

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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: Proof of Identity
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure accurate verification of universal credit claimants who request an advance.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276512
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>As of June 2019, potential fraudulent advance claims equate to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been working to improve knowledge and awareness of advances fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff. Guidance has also been issued to ensure that staff are aware how to refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p><p> </p><p>We are developing our service iteratively and improving any areas in the service that may currently be presenting issues, to minimise the risk of fraud while ensuring that we can continue to provide financial support to those claimants who need it.</p><p>We cannot share advance detail of the specific security improvements we are making but this includes improving our process for verifying a claimant’s circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 12:46:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138699

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support victims of universal credit scams.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276513
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes benefit fraud very seriously and is committed to taking appropriate action when it is detected.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant has been the victim of fraud, and has not benefitted financially in any way, they will not be asked to repay the money. The Department considers all cases on their individual merits and decisions are made on the strength of the evidence provided.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been working to improve knowledge and awareness of advances fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff. Guidance has also been issued to ensure that staff are aware how to refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p><p> </p><p>Most welfare losses, across Government, arise from claimants failing to report changes of circumstances, Universal Credit (UC) provides a single, digital interface through which claimants can more easily report these changes. As such, once UC is fully rolled out, we expect cross-welfare losses to fraud, error and overpayments to be reduced by around £1 billion per year.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 13:47:42 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138671

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Social Services and Transport: Expenditure
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much money has been spent in each English local authority area on (a) social care, and (b) transport in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Hitchin and Harpenden
	tabling member printed	Bim Afolami
	uin	276597
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>Expenditure data on all services delivered by local authorities, including social care and transport, are published at <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fcollections%2Flocal-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing&amp;data=02%7C01%7CGavin.Sayer%40communities.gov.uk%7C82acc677b92d4b09136608d709c86783%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C636988628641876445&amp;sdata=fGmgFVM20qwAQu7J7v5H9afT90Zi4nJpCcyhauJTKXc%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing</a>.</p><p>Further detail on expenditure on adults’ and children’s social care are available at <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-social-care-activity-and-finance-report" target="_blank">https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-social-care-activity-and-finance-report</a> and <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fcollections%2Fsection-251-materials&amp;data=02%7C01%7CGavin.Sayer%40communities.gov.uk%7C82acc677b92d4b09136608d709c86783%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C636988628641886437&amp;sdata=Y2g01QhUR78K3ou27RPUcloqrqOOTP4hxJwwkMywhCA%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/section-251-materials</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 17/07/2019 10:51:35 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
	tabling member	4639 label Biography information for Bim Afolami

1138607

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Academies: Multi-academy Trusts
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure that schools take the leading role in deciding whether to (a) form and (b) join a multi-academy trust.
	tabling member constituency	Walsall North
	tabling member printed	Eddie Hughes
	uin	276587
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The process to become an academy is school led, with schools’ Local Governing Bodies taking the initiative to apply to their Regional School Commissioners’ office on whether to join an existing academy trust, or form one with partner schools. The only exception to this, where the department takes a leading role, is where a school is judged as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, as the law requires the Secretary of State to make an order enabling the school to become an academy.</p><p> </p><p>The department aims to ensure that all schools considering becoming academies are able to join strong academy trusts, and this has historically been supported through trust capacity funding. Ultimately, our ambition is for every school that wants to, to benefit from the autonomy and freedom to innovate that academy status offers, and for schools to collaborate through strong academy trusts.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 17/07/2019 14:43:33 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4635 label Biography information for Eddie Hughes

1138615

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	High Speed Two: Freedom of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of freedom of information requests received by HS2 Limited were resolvable requests withheld in full for (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) the first quarter of 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
	tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
	uin	276515
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>From 2015 up to the end of first quarter of 2019, HS2 Ltd received 1,224 Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) requests. Where an exemption (FOI) or an exception (EIR) applied, all of the requested information was withheld on 239 occasions. The proportion of resolvable requests withheld in full for each period is as follows: (a) 2015, 12% (b) 2016, 19% (c) 2017, 25% (d) 2018, 19% and (e) first quarter of 2019, 24%.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wealden answering member printed Ms Nusrat Ghani question first answered 17/07/2019 13:18:11 answering member 4460 label Biography information for Ms Nusrat Ghani
	tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

1138624

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Fire and Rescue Services: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will allocate more funding to the fire service in the 2019-20 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington South
	tabling member printed	Faisal Rashid
	uin	276608
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work and will receive around £2.3 billion in 2019/20.</p><p>Fire and Rescue Services funding requirements from 2020/21 will be considered as part of the Spending Review.</p> answering member constituency Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner answering member printed Mr Nick Hurd question first answered 16/07/2019 16:02:37 answering member 1561 label Biography information for Mr Nick Hurd
	tabling member	4670 label Biography information for Faisal Rashid

1138626

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Department for International Trade
	answering dept id	202
	answering dept short name	International Trade
	answering dept sort name	International Trade
	hansard heading	Surveillance: Human Rights
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to comply with the recommendation of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression to impose an immediate moratorium on the export, sale, transfer, use or servicing of privately developed surveillance tools until a human rights-compliant safeguards regime is in place.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	276582
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework for considering licence applications, and take into account the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the country of final destination.</p><p> </p><p>Licensing decisions are based on the most up-to-date information and analysis available at the time, including reports from NGOs and our overseas network.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Beverley and Holderness answering member printed Graham Stuart question first answered 17/07/2019 11:36:26 answering member 1482 label Biography information for Graham Stuart
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1138629

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Department for International Trade
	answering dept id	202
	answering dept short name	International Trade
	answering dept sort name	International Trade
	hansard heading	Surveillance: Philippines
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the UK exported surveillance equipment to the Philippines in 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	276583
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) about export licences granted, refused and revoked on GOV.UK. These reports contain detailed information by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. These can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data." target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.</a></p><p>The data currently provides details of licences up to 31 March 2019. Information about the period 1 April to 30 June will be published in October 2019 and data covering the period 1 July 2019 to 30 September 2019 will be published in January 2020.</p><p>All export licences are issued in strict accordance with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.</p> answering member constituency Beverley and Holderness answering member printed Graham Stuart question first answered 17/07/2019 11:43:38 answering member 1482 label Biography information for Graham Stuart
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1138696

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Japanese Knotweed: Weed Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that homeowners are aware of Japanese knotweed, and what guidance his Department provides to homeowners who are affected by that invasive species.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	276522
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>Gov.uk contains a guidance page that provides information on the identification and treatment of Japanese Knotweed as well as providing links to The Invasive Non-Native Specialists Association and Property Care Association website for further advice.</p><p> </p><p>The Non-Native Species Secretariat website includes general information on Japanese knotweed and has also made a good practice management guide for Japanese knotweed freely available for download.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 17/07/2019 14:32:32 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly