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1202419

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2020
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Intestacy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, whether she has made a recent assessment of levels of compliance among local authorities with the guidance issued by the Government Legal Department on the referral to the Bona Vacantia Division of estates of people who have died without (a) known entitled relatives and (b) leaving a will and instead passing the details directly to a single heir hunting firm.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Wera Hobhouse
	uin	58045
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2020 answer text <p>The Bona Vacantia Division (BVD) of the Government Legal Department (GLD) deals with the estates of people domiciled in England &amp; Wales who appear to have died without leaving a valid will or relatives entitled to share in their estates in priority to the Crown. Estates which potentially fall to be dealt with as bona vacantia may be referred to BVD by a variety of routes, for example, banks, other financial institutions, solicitors or members of the public.</p><p> </p><p>There is no statutory obligation to refer estates to BVD but guidance on the referral process and the circumstances in which a referral will be accepted are published on BVD’s website (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/bona-vacantia" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/bona-vacantia</a>). It is for local authorities to determine whether an estate should be referred to BVD.</p><p> </p><p>In 2017-2018, 2768 estates were referred to BVD of which 909 were referred by local authorities. In 2018-2019, 1971 estates were referred to BVD of which 575 were referred by local authorities.</p><p>In 2019-2020, 2336 estates were referred to BVD of which 561 were referred by local authorities</p><p> </p><p>GLD has no responsibility for overseeing local authorities or their compliance with guidance issued by GLD about the handling of estates. Such information – including whether an estate has been referred to the Bona Vacantia Division of GLD, or whether the local authority has instructed an heir hunter – will be held by the particular local authority concerned.</p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 24/06/2020 16:20:38 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Sir Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4602 label Biography information for Wera Hobhouse

1202420

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2020
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Intestacy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, if she will make it her policy to strengthen the guidance issued by the Government Legal Department to local authorities on handling the estates of people who have died without (a) known entitled relatives and (b) leaving a will to ensure that they refer all eligible estates as soon as possible after death to the Bona Vacantia Division and do not pass the details directly to a single heir hunting firm.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Wera Hobhouse
	uin	58046
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2020 answer text <p>The Bona Vacantia Division of the Government Legal Department (GLD) handles the estates of people who die without known entitled relatives, and without leaving a will. There is no statutory obligation to refer estates to GLD. However, GLD publishes guidance on the matter. In addition, local authorities can and do seek advice from GLD about the referral of specific cases.</p><p> </p><p>GLD does not provide advice to local authorities on the use of heir hunters.</p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 24/06/2020 16:23:59 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Sir Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4602 label Biography information for Wera Hobhouse

1220624

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2020
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Administration of Estates
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, how many estates of people who died without known entitled relatives and left a will were referred to the Bona Vacant Division of the Government Legal Department in (a) March, (b) April and (c) May in (i) 2019 and (ii) 2020.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Wera Hobhouse
	uin	68760
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2020 answer text <p>The Bona Vacantia Division (BVD) of the Government Legal Department (GLD) deals with the solvent estates of people domiciled in England &amp; Wales who appear to have died <strong>without</strong> leaving a valid will or relatives entitled to share in their estates in priority to the Crown. It therefore does not generally deal with estates where there is a valid will.</p><p> </p><p>If the referral contains information which suggests the deceased has left a valid will disposing of their entire estate, it will be returned to the person who referred it. The Division does not keep a record of these estates.</p><p> </p><p>If the deceased does not appear to have left a valid will or entitled relatives, the estate will be advertised on the Division’s website.</p><p> </p><p>Occasionally the Division determines that the deceased has left a valid will which disposes of the entire estate after it has been advertised. There were two such estates referred in March 2019; two in April 2019; none in May 2019; one in March 2020; one in April 2020 and one in May 2020.</p><p> </p><p>Estates where the deceased has left a valid will but it does not dispose of the entire estate are sometimes referred to the Division because the undisposed residue passes by intestacy to the Crown. One such estate was referred to the Division in March 2019 and one in April 2019. There have been no other referrals in the months concerned.</p><p> </p><p>During the corresponding period, the number of estates referred to the Division where there was no will or no will has subsequently come to light were: March 2019 = 296; April 2019 = 187; May 2019 = 160; March 2020 = 192; April 2020 = 204; May 2020 = 81.</p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 10/07/2020 12:47:20 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Sir Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4602 label Biography information for Wera Hobhouse

1489212

	registered interest
	date	14/07/2022
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Aviation: Security
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the length of time it takes a baggage handler to complete counter terrorism checks.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Wera Hobhouse
	uin	36843
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2022 answer text <p>The Cabinet Office acknowledges the pressures that the aviation sector is under and has been working with the industry to offer support and speed up the security processes for prospective airport staff. UK Security Vetting (UKSV) has prioritised applications from the aviation sector since April of this year.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>UKSV can only provide overall statistics for the aviation industry and are unable to separate out statistics for baggage handlers. On average, Accreditation Checks are being completed in five days or less. Counter Terrorist Checks (CTC) in the Aviation sector are being processed in under ten days on average.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.</p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 22/07/2022 13:55:12 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Sir Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4602 label Biography information for Wera Hobhouse

1379010

	registered interest
	date	16/11/2021
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Government Departments: Land
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress has been made on the Government’s review of central Government land.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Wera Hobhouse
	uin	75961
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/11/2021 answer text <p>Following the Spending Review 2021, we plan to update the Government Estate Strategy to reflect our vision and objectives for the government estate. We expect the strategy will continue to focus on disposal of government land and property and on reducing the size of the estate - albeit with more focus on divesting of property with high operating costs and maintenance liabilities than capital receipts. Work is already underway and we anticipate that this work will be completed by spring/summer 2022.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 24/11/2021 16:53:51 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Sir Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4602 label Biography information for Wera Hobhouse

896289

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2018
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Tourism
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of promoting the UK's visit economy by providing (a) financial and (b) other support to destination marketing organisations.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Wera Hobhouse
	uin	140841
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/05/2018 answer text <p>DCMS are sponsors of VisitBritain(VB) and VisitEngland(VE) who provide a wide range of support for Destination Marketing Organisations or Destination Management Organisations (DMO) across the UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 09/05/2018 15:43:07 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Sir Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4602 label Biography information for Wera Hobhouse