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947274

registered interest
date	24/07/2018
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	Retail Trade: Urban Areas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses on UK high streets that have closed in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	168077
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2018 answer text <p>High streets are a crucial part of our communities. The Government is determined to see our high streets thriving, both now and in the future. We want to see vibrant hubs where people live, shop, use services, and spend their leisure time.</p><p>This is why we have announced that the Department will launch a call for evidence over the summer looking at the future of our high streets. We are establishing an expert panel of industry leaders to draw on their experience and expertise to diagnose the issues currently affecting our high streets, and advise on the best long-term approach to help their revival.</p><p>In the last 12 months, 51,504 businesses on UK high street closed. Over the same period, 42,166 new business units opened. This is based on Local Data Company Data, which looks at openings and closures of individual units rather than businesses. We do not currently hold data on business closures.</p> answering member constituency Rossendale and Darwen answering member printed Jake Berry question first answered 04/09/2018 14:39:17 answering member 4060 label Biography information for Sir Jake Berry
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

947275

registered interest
date	24/07/2018
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	Personal Independence Payment: Glasgow
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 causes of unsuccessful transfers from disability living allowance to personal independence payments in the Glasgow area, and if will she make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	168078
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has different eligibility criteria and takes a more holistic view of a person’s health condition or disability and the impact it has on their ability to live an independent life, compared to Disability Living Allowance (DLA).</p><p> </p><p>Therefore, when someone on DLA is invited to claim PIP and is reassessed, the level of their award may stay the same, go up, down or cease altogether depending on the claimants assessed level of needs.</p><p> </p><p>Source: Stat-Xplore – www.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 168079 question first answered 10/09/2018 16:41:54 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

947276

registered interest
date	24/07/2018
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	Personal Independence Payment: Glasgow
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 has taken to investigate the causes of the high proportion of unsuccessful transfers of disability living allowance claiminats to personal independence payments in the Glasgow area.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	168079
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has different eligibility criteria and takes a more holistic view of a person’s health condition or disability and the impact it has on their ability to live an independent life, compared to Disability Living Allowance (DLA).</p><p> </p><p>Therefore, when someone on DLA is invited to claim PIP and is reassessed, the level of their award may stay the same, go up, down or cease altogether depending on the claimants assessed level of needs.</p><p> </p><p>Source: Stat-Xplore – www.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 168078 question first answered 10/09/2018 16:41:54 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

947277

registered interest
date	24/07/2018
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	Pensions: Plumbing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effect of section 75 rules on debt calculations for multi-Employer Pension Schemes on directors of plumbing companies.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	168080
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2018 answer text <p>There are nearly 1,000 multi-employer schemes. The legislation requiring employers to pay debts applies to all. This legislation helps ensure employees receive the pension they have been promised and worked for.</p><p> </p><p>The Green Paper “Protecting Defined Benefit Pensions” specifically discussed Multi Employer Schemes. The government looked closely at evidence submitted from employers and representatives from the Plumbing &amp; Mechanical Services (UK) Industry Pension Scheme regarding this legislation. After careful consideration the government concluded that it cannot consider amending an important area of legislation further, which would disadvantage scheme members, just to address one particular scheme’s problems.</p><p>Summaries of the responses to the Green Paper can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/defined-benefit-pension-schemes-security-and-sustainability" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/defined-benefit-pension-schemes-security-and-sustainability</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 05/09/2018 14:25:21 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

947278

registered interest
date	24/07/2018
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, what assessment she has made of the implications are for her policies of the finding in the June 2018 NAO report Rolling Out Universal Credit which questioned her expectation that most claimants would have enough money to manage over the initial waiting period.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	168081
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/09/2018 answer text <p>Some claimants at the start of their Universal Credit claim an income, such as final earnings, to help them manage until their first payment. However, for Universal Credit claimants not in this position, advance payments have always been available in order to prevent financial hardship.</p><p> </p><p>The Department had previously estimated 49% of Universal Credit claimants would apply for a new claims/benefit transfer advance (what the NAO report refers to as “most claimants not needing support”); however as the NAO report showed the actual figure is 60%. This clearly shows that claimants are being made aware of advances, that our advance system is being utilised and is working, and consequently that people are getting help when they need it.</p><p> </p><p>Personal Budgeting Support (PBS) is also offered to Universal Credit claimants from the outset of their claim. PBS helps claimants as they transition to Universal Credit and adapt to the financial changes that Universal Credit brings. PBS can be online, telephone or face to face support. Face to face support is delivered through local authorities via Universal Support.</p><p> </p><p>We constantly review the working of Universal Credit in line with our test and learn approach, and we have already implemented policy changes to address many of the concerns raised in the report. This includes the package of measures announced at the Autumn Budget 2017, such as making advances of up to 100% of the indicative award available and increasing the repayment period to 12 months, removing the 7 waiting days, providing an additional payment of 2 weeks of Housing Benefit to support claimants when they transition to Universal Credit, and changing how claimants in temporary accommodation receive support for their housing costs. People can claim advances as soon as they make their claim, so no-one needs to experience hardship when claiming Universal Credit or waiting for their first payment.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/09/2018 16:55:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

946908

registered interest
date	23/07/2018
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	Retail Trade: Closures
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the level of business rates on the number retail businesses closing.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	167405
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2018 answer text <p>The majority of businesses saw no change or a fall in their business rates liability following the 2017 revaluation. In addition to the £3.6 billion transitional relief scheme to support those facing increases, the Government has introduced a range of business rates reforms and measures worth over £10 billion to 2023 to support all businesses, including the retail sector.</p><p>High streets are a crucial part of our communities, and the Government recognises the sector faces challenges. That’s why we recently announced a call for evidence looking at the future of our high streets. We are establishing a panel of industry leaders to diagnose the issues currently affecting our high streets, and advise on the best long-term approach to help their revival.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 04/09/2018 14:59:02 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

946919

registered interest
date	23/07/2018
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
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 4 June 2018 to Question 146980 on State Retirement Pensions: Females, what the average length of time taken was for a complaint in relation to the equalisation of the state pension age to be (a) received and referred to be Independent Case Examiners Office, (b) allocated to a case manager and (c) investigated by the case manager and a response issued to the complainant.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	167406
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2018 answer text <p>The Independent Case Examiner’s Office can only accept a complaint for examination once the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaint process has been exhausted. Final complaint responses from DWP signpost complainants to the ICE Office if they remain dissatisfied with the response to their complaint and tell them they have six months in which to do so.</p><p> </p><p>In response to: (a) we do not collect information about the average time taken by complainants to escalate their complaint to the Independent Case Examiner’s Office, following receipt of DWPs final complaint response; (b) to date, the average time take to allocate complaints about the equalisation of state pension age to an investigation case manager is 47 weeks; and (c) following allocation to an investigation case manager the average time taken to conclude an investigation into this group of complaints is 9 weeks (against a target of 20 weeks).</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/09/2018 11:15:41 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

946920

registered interest
date	23/07/2018
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate has she made of the number of women who have seen an increase in the age threshold at which they can claim their state pension as a result of the Government's reforms to the equalisation of the state pension age.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	167407
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2018 answer text <p>The decision to equalise the State Pension age for men and women dates back to 1995 and has been supported by Coalition, Labour and Conservative governments since then.</p><p>The Office for National Statistics publishes annual mid-year population estimates for the UK and its constituent countries. These detail persons by single year of age and sex. The most recent data is for mid-2017 and was released in June 2018. It can be found at the below link:</p><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland</a></p><p> </p><p>The State Pension age is currently 64 years and 9 months for women and 65 for men. Female State Pension age will reach 65 in November 2018. State Pension age for women and men will then start to increase to reach 66 by September 2020.</p><p>The State Pension age timetable, showing when people with different dates of birth reach State Pension age, is available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 04/09/2018 11:24:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

946926

registered interest
date	23/07/2018
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Debts
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) average level and (b) total value of personal debt in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	167408
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2018 answer text <p>The household debt-to-income ratio was 140% in Q1 2018, significantly below its pre-crisis high of 160% in Q1 2008.</p><p> </p><p>The independent Financial Policy Committee was set up by the government to assess and mitigate financial stability risks, including from household debt. The FPC has taken action to ensure against a significant rise in highly indebted households.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 10/09/2018 12:52:07 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

946927

registered interest
date	23/07/2018
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Prostitution
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has undertaken a recent review of international best practice in relation to the criminalisation of prostitution; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	167409
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2018 answer text <p>The Home Office has examined different legislative approaches to prostitution around the world, however, we have not yet seen unequivocal evidence that any approach is better at tackling harm and exploitation – and that remains our priority.</p><p>The Government recognises the strong arguments for commissioning a research project into the prevalence and nature of prostitution in England and Wales and believes that such an evidence base is vital prior to considering any further changes to policy and legislation.</p><p>The University of Bristol has been granted £150,000 to carry out this research.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 04/09/2018 16:31:51 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen