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1123659

registered interest
date	29/04/2019
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, if she publish guidance on what triggers a natural migration to universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	248643
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2019 answer text <p>Currently people only move to Universal Credit (UC) because they have had a significant change in their circumstances which would previously have led them to make a new claim to a legacy benefit. It has always been the case that in such circumstances, new claims would be assessed based upon their new circumstances and under the rules of the new benefit.</p><p> </p><p>Claimant circumstances within the legacy system are diverse and interact with a range of benefits in different ways. Eligibility for UC is dependent on individuals’ circumstances, the specific nature of the change and rules for access to legacy benefits.</p><p> </p><p>During oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee (WPSC) on Wednesday, 1 May 2019, the Minister of State for Employment confirmed that the Department will write to the Committee to provide, a list of examples which may prompt a move to UC after circumstances have changed.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 02/05/2019 10:03:27 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1123662

registered interest
date	29/04/2019
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	Press Freedom: Northern Ireland
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s 2019 Media Freedom Campaign, what steps he is taking to address Amnesty International concerns about press freedom in Northern Ireland.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	248644
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2019 answer text <p>​We are committed to building a global environment in which a free and vibrant media can flourish. As part of our leadership on this international agenda, the UK will continue to maintain the highest standards of press freedom, while retaining the right to take lawful and proportionate action to prevent and investigate crime, in accordance with human rights treaties and the Human Rights Act 1998. We are consulting Amnesty International and other civil society organisations on the design of the media freedom campaign.</p> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 02/05/2019 16:19:11 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1123671

registered interest
date	29/04/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Social Security and Child Support Tribunal appeals have taken longer than 52 weeks for a determination, in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	248645
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is provided in the table below:</p><p>SOCIAL SECURITY &amp; CHILD SUPPORT CLEARANCES 1<br>Period Number of clearances that exceeded 52 weeks from receipt<br>1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014 16,161<br>1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015 12,350<br>1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016 3,100<br>1 April 2016 - 31 March 2017 4,084<br>1 April 2017 - 31 March 2018 7,330<br>1 April 2018 - 31 December 2018 2 13,162</p><p>1. Data include hearings cleared with and without a Tribunal hearing</p><p>2. The latest period for which data are available. Provisional data and subject to further change</p><p>Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available.</p><p> </p><p><br>It is important that appeals are heard as quickly as possible. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) recognises there are delays in the system and it is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. This includes 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and up to 230 medical members.</p><p>In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals. Information on the new digital service can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal</p><p>We are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to understand what could be done to reduce the number of appeals being submitted to the Tribunal, through their focus on improving decision-making and the mandatory reconsideration process.</p><p>These measures will increase the capacity of the Tribunal. As a result, the number of appeals outstanding in the Tribunal is starting to fall as the number of cases heard by the Tribunal outweigh those sent to the Tribunal. If this continues, over time, we expect the time it takes for the Tribunal to hear, and the age of, appeals to reduce.</p><p>The time taken for the Tribunal to hear an appeal is mainly driven by the number of appeals sent to the Tribunal and the capacity of the Tribunal to deal with them. The number of appeals sent to the Tribunal is directly affected by changes in welfare policy.</p><p>The time it takes the Tribunal to hear an appeal is calculated from the time it is sent to the Tribunal to its final disposal. An appeal is not necessarily disposed of at its first hearing. The final disposal decision on the appeal may be reached after an earlier hearing has been adjourned (which may be directed by the judge for a variety of reasons, such as to seek further evidence), or after an earlier hearing date had been postponed (again, for a variety of reasons, often at the request of the appellant). An appeal may also have been decided at an earlier date by the First-tier Tribunal, only for the case to have gone on to the Upper Tribunal, to be returned once again to the First-tier for its final disposal.</p><p>HMCTS is very sensitive to the needs of people who may be affected by waiting times for Tribunal hearings. Tribunal staff and judicial office-holders, are trained accordingly, with HMCTS’s reasonable adjustments policy and practice applied where appropriate. Guidance on the policy is published on GOV.UK. If an expedited hearing is sought, or where the Tribunal identifies a case which might benefit from an expedited hearing, a judge or caseworker will make a decision on the issue, taking all the circumstances of the case into account.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 16/05/2019 16:26:11 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1123676

registered interest
date	29/04/2019
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Public Transport: Carbon Emissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase passenger journeys on public transport in the regions to reduce CO2 emissions.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	248646
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2019 answer text <p>Since 2010 the Government has invested nearly three quarters of a billion pounds to improve bus services through investment in bus-based infrastructure schemes and in greener buses, which is in addition to the continuing financial support provided through the Bus Service Operators Grant.</p><p>The Government has also introduced the Bus Services Act 2017 that provides local authorities with the tools to improve local services and increase passenger numbers.</p><p>The Government is also investing record levels in the U.K. rail network, as part of the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century, to accommodate greater passenger traffic while reducing its impact on the environment.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 02/05/2019 14:11:27 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1122672

registered interest
date	24/04/2019
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	Housing: Construction
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the quantity of land suitable for housing being left undeveloped due to land banking by private developers.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	247002
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2019 answer text <p>The Review of Build Out Rates chaired by the Rt Hon Sir Oliver Letwin MP reported on 29 October 2018. It found no evidence that speculative land banking is part of the business model for major house-builders, or that it explains slow build-out rates. The review concluded that greater differentiation in types and tenures of new homes would increase market absorption and stimulate an increase in build-out rates. This Government has put in place extensive incentives and assistance to encourage house-building, especially on brownfield land, to support the housing policies in our revised National Planning Policy Framework.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 01/05/2019 15:46:05 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1122713

registered interest
date	24/04/2019
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	NHS: Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to recognise Humanist marriages for the purpose of paying an NHS survivors pension to spouses of deceased pension holders.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	247003
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>Whilst Humanist marriage ceremonies do not have legal force in England and Wales, the NHS Pension Schemes do provide generous survivor benefits for cohabiting couples who are not legally married. The Department routinely considers making changes to NHS Pension Scheme rules to take account of developments in the law governing marriage and civil partnerships.</p> answering member constituency Wimbledon answering member printed Stephen Hammond question first answered 29/04/2019 14:23:27 answering member 1585 label Biography information for Stephen Hammond
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1122511

registered interest
date	23/04/2019
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	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential for non-resident parents with irregular variable income to abuse the Child Maintenance Service dispute system and avoid paying children maintenance.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	246497
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>Having access to income information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) allows the Child Maintenance Service to capture a much wider range of income types received by paying parents. In addition to a parent’s gross annual income, we can capture income derived from property, savings and investments (including dividends) and other miscellaneous income. This unearned income can be included in the calculation if a request is made to vary the calculation. In December 2018 we introduced new powers which also enable us to target complex earners by a calculation of notional income based on their assets.</p><p> </p><p>Cases involving complex income or suspected fraudulent behaviour can be looked into by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU). This is a specialist team which can request information from financial institutions to check the accuracy of information the Child Maintenance Service is given. When an investigation finds evidence of criminality, the FIU will seek to prosecute or forward to HMRC for consideration of fraud action.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/04/2019 12:30:01 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1122512

registered interest
date	23/04/2019
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Durham Coast Line
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 241019, how long the refurbished Sprinter trains destined for the Durham Coast line will have been in service prior to being sent for refurbishment.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	246498
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>The Sprinter fleets of trains for the Durham Coast line are being thoroughly refurbished to modern day standards. They were introduced between 1985 and 1992 and this will be the first significant refurbishment since then. Every route on Northern will be receiving either brand new trains or trains refurbished as new.</p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 29/04/2019 14:08:08 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1122513

registered interest
date	23/04/2019
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Durham Coast Line
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 241019, what service the refurbished Sprinter trains destined for the Durham Coast line have been taken from.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	246499
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>This will be an operational decision for the Northern franchisee which will be redeploying its own fleet as well as some trains cascaded in from other franchises.</p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 29/04/2019 11:07:50 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1122514

registered interest
date	23/04/2019
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Durham Coast Line
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 241019, what trains will replace the refurbished Sprinter trains destined for the Durham Coast line.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	246500
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>The trains that will replace the refurbished Sprinter trains destined for the Durham Coast line will be a matter for a future franchisee responding to the specification issued at the time.</p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 29/04/2019 10:12:43 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris