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1128290

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
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	Department for Work and Pensions: Metro Newspaper
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 cost to the public purse of her Department's advertising in the 22 May 2019 edition of the Metro newspaper.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	257471
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department provides services to around 22 million people, and has a responsibility to communicate policy and essential information to claimants and other key audiences, in a similar way to other government departments. Newspaper advertising contributes to our routine communications activity that has been running alongside the rollout of Universal Credit since 2013.</p><p> </p><p>The Universal Credit Uncovered media partnership with the Metro is currently underway and running for a further six weeks so we are unable to provide accurate spend to date figures for the partnership. However, we can commit to publish final full spend on the partnership at the end of July once all activity has concluded.</p><p> </p><p>The information used for the partnership was sourced by DWP officials. The content features actual claimant case studies and interviews from Jobcentre work coaches, and the advertorials have been developed in partnership with the Metro.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 257404 257542 257563 257573 question first answered 11/06/2019 16:36:52 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128310

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Loneliness
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness in the armed forces community.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	257477
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>The Ministry of Defence (MOD) values the work of the Royal British Legion (RBL) and its report &quot;Loneliness and Social Isolation in the Armed Forces Community&quot;. Officials have engaged with the RBL on the recommendations of this report which is assisting us shape our work on the Strategy for our Veterans and the development of a new transition policy to better prepare our Service leavers for life after leaving the Armed Forces. This includes work on developing resilience for the future and identifying those who may need additional help.</p><p>The MOD continues to engage with the Service Families Federations and is actively engaged with the welfare and issues of families in isolated locations. A question on loneliness has been introduced into the annual Families Continuous Attitude Survey. This will give the Department a better understanding of the prevalence of loneliness, and whether there are any factors associated with the risk of loneliness. The data will also contribute to cross-Government understanding of the prevalence of loneliness across society.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood grouped question UIN 257478 question first answered 05/06/2019 14:56:00 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128318

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Loneliness
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether her Department plans to respond to the recommendations made by the Royal British Legion in their report entitled Loneliness and social isolation in the armed forces community.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	257478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>The Ministry of Defence (MOD) values the work of the Royal British Legion (RBL) and its report &quot;Loneliness and Social Isolation in the Armed Forces Community&quot;. Officials have engaged with the RBL on the recommendations of this report which is assisting us shape our work on the Strategy for our Veterans and the development of a new transition policy to better prepare our Service leavers for life after leaving the Armed Forces. This includes work on developing resilience for the future and identifying those who may need additional help.</p><p>The MOD continues to engage with the Service Families Federations and is actively engaged with the welfare and issues of families in isolated locations. A question on loneliness has been introduced into the annual Families Continuous Attitude Survey. This will give the Department a better understanding of the prevalence of loneliness, and whether there are any factors associated with the risk of loneliness. The data will also contribute to cross-Government understanding of the prevalence of loneliness across society.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood grouped question UIN 257477 question first answered 05/06/2019 14:56:00 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128412

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
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	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria her Department uses to assess whether people are (a) destitute and (b) living in destitution.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	257500
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>There is no official definition of destitution. The Department for Work and Pensions annually publishes Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics, based on the Family Resources Survey, which sets out four official measures of relative and absolute low income before and after housing costs. The closest measure in HBAI to a measure of destitution is the number of children in “severe low income” (50% of median before housing costs). HBAI also provides measures of material deprivation based on questions to parents and pensioners about their ability to afford the basics in life such as heating homes and paying bills. In addition, new questions have been added to the Family Resources Survey to develop a food insecurity measure from 2021.</p><p>New experimental statistics to measure poverty will be developed, and published by DWP in 2020. The new analysis will be based on the work undertaken by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) which was presented in the SMC’s ‘A New Measure of Poverty’ report last year.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/06/2019 13:33:57 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127891

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
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	Energy: Consumers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to promote awareness of Ofgem's priority services register.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256956
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Ofgem requires energy companies to promote and maintain a Priority Services Register (PSR), to provide non-financial help to certain groups of vulnerable consumers. Ofgem is responsible for ensuring compliance with these requirements.</p><p>In 2016, Ofgem introduced new requirements that companies take all reasonable steps to identify customers who may benefit from PSR services and introduced a broad “Vulnerability Principle” in 2017, which clarifies that suppliers need to make an extra effort to identify and respond to the needs of consumers in vulnerable situations, which can help identify those who could benefit from PSR services.</p><p>The number of consumers on PSRs has risen from 1.7 million electricity and 1.4 million gas consumers in 2010, to nearly 6 million electricity and 4.8 million gas consumers in 2017. Ofgem publish information on energy company performance, available online at:</p><p><a href="https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2018/11/vulnerability_report_2018.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2018/11/vulnerability_report_2018.pdf</a></p><p>Ofgem is also working to promote PSR data sharing between energy and water companies in England and Wales (with the customer’s consent) following a successful pilot in Spring 2018.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/06/2019 07:56:07 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127906

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
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	Natural Gas: Prices
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the cost of gas to British consumers relative to the cost to consumers in each of the other member states of the EU.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256957
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to regular and transparent reporting on the price of gas for UK consumers and currently publishes a price comparison with EU member states on a bi-annual basis. The latest statistical reports from this series are available here: <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistical-data-sets%2Finternational-domestic-energy-prices&amp;data=02%7C01%7CThomas.Lane%40beis.gov.uk%7Cb4196cc03ed84ca5ef4b08d6e36b7d91%7Ccbac700502c143ebb497e6492d1b2dd8%7C0%7C0%7C636946448136868794&amp;sdata=IDLG6f8mx8LSfW2pAo35UIjF3cPP%2FRahNB1X8F4%2FgGg%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/international-domestic-energy-prices</a></p><p>The UK has some of the lowest domestic gas prices in the EU. Average prices paid by consumers for the period January to June 2018 were the second lowest in the EU15 and were 31 per cent lower than the median average price.</p><p>Recent figures also show that gas prices for UK consumers has been consistently cheaper than the median average for all EU member states (EU28) since 2016 currently peaking at 15.5% cheaper in the first half of 2018.</p><p>These figures are for average domestic gas prices including taxes paid for by UK domestic consumers, with a consumption level of the EU’s definition of a ‘medium’ amount of gas per annum (5,557 – 55,557 kWh).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/06/2019 07:56:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127931

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
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	Poverty: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2019 to Question 254154 on Poverty: Children, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the decline in the number of children in absolute low-income households between 2004-5 and 2009-10.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256959
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Absolute low income takes the 60 per cent of median income threshold from 2010/11 and moves this in line with inflation. This is designed to assess how low incomes are faring with reference to inflation. The percentage of individuals in absolute low income will decrease if individuals with lower incomes see their real incomes rising (increasing by more than inflation).</p><p> </p><p>Trends in the number of children in absolute poverty can be found using the link below, in table 4.4tr, in the file “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Between 2004/05 and 2009/10 the number of children in absolute low income households before housing costs fell, indicating that children in lower income households saw their real incomes rise by more than inflation. However, the number of children in absolute low income households after housing costs was 3.8m in both 2004/05 and 2009/10. This suggests that for low income households with children, these real rises in income were offset by increasing housing costs during this period.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2019 14:38:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127958

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
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	Poverty: Children
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 number of children in absolute poverty in each year between 1989 and 1997.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256960
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>National statistics on the number of children living in absolute low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication.</p><p> </p><p>HBAI data is unavailable before 1994/95 and are for the United Kingdom from 2002/03 onwards. Earlier years are for Great Britain only. The number of children in absolute poverty from 1994/95 can be found using the link below, in table 4.4tr, in the file “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2019 14:27:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127961

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Health Services: Autism and Learning Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Written Statement of 21 May 2019, Care Quality Commission Thematic Review of Restrictive Practices, Seclusion and Segregation, HCWS 1569, what additional resources his Department plans to allocate to scrutinise cases of exclusion and long term segregation; and what assessment he has made of the timeframe required to review each such case.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256961
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>On 21 May 2019, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its ‘Interim Report: Review of restraint, prolonged seclusion and segregation for people with a mental health problem, a learning disability and or autism.’ The Government has accepted all five of the recommendations in the CQC’s interim report including the recommendation that over the next 12 months, there should be an independent and an in-depth review of the care provided to, and the discharge plan for, each person who is in segregation on a ward for children and young people or on a ward for people with a learning disability and/or autism.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is committed to working with partners across the health, education and care system to ensure that all of the recommendations are implemented effectively.</p><p> </p><p>We will ensure the care of each and every person detained in seclusion or long term segregation is thoroughly scrutinised. The timeframe required to review each case will be case-specific but each review will be conducted efficiently. We are working with the CQC, NHS England and other partner organisations on the arrangements for the reviews and their oversight and will publish further details shortly.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 04/06/2019 16:16:20 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127469

registered interest
date	20/05/2019
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	Horses: Animal Welfare
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 he is taking to ensure horse owners comply with his Department's tethering guidelines.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256224
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2019 answer text <p>Following representations from some equine bodies, I will be meeting a number of groups, including the British Horse Council who coordinate the views of the sector, to discuss the issue of tethering. Information on how to tether a horse is contained within the statutory <em>Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids</em>, which sets out guidance to keepers on how to provide for the welfare needs of their equidae, as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The RSPCA, World Horse Welfare and local authority inspectors carry copies of the Code of Practice with them when called out to investigate complaints about the welfare of horses. They inform owners, by referring to the relevant part of the code, how to care for their animals including in relation to tethering.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 23/05/2019 11:12:16 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane