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997493

registered interest
date	30/10/2018
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	EU Countries: Brexit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	Whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the processes for enabling member states to leave the EU.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	907366
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2018 answer text <p>We remain committed to following the Article 50 process enabling Member States to leave the EU. We are continuing to work closely with the Commission in Brussels to achieve this. We have made real progress in on-going negotiations. We believe it is in the interests of both sides to strike a deal.</p> answering member constituency Rutland and Melton answering member printed Sir Alan Duncan question first answered 30/10/2018 16:47:34 answering member 343 label Biography information for Sir Alan Duncan
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990312

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment (PIP) claimants who have been sent an AR1 form before the end of their entitlement period to PIP go on to lose their entitlement to that benefit before the originally agreed time period.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181299
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p>Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment, which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will be reviewed. Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. A review date is set before the end of the award date to ensure enough time for a full review of the case to be carried out without the claimant being left without money because their award has come to an end.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 181300 question first answered 23/10/2018 16:45:09 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990313

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
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: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many tribunal decisions to award personal independence payment for a defined period subsequently have had that entitlement ended as a result of the AR1 review process in each year for which information is available.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181300
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p>Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment, which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will be reviewed. Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. A review date is set before the end of the award date to ensure enough time for a full review of the case to be carried out without the claimant being left without money because their award has come to an end.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 181299 question first answered 23/10/2018 16:45:09 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990314

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	UK Border Force: Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent reductions in the number of staff in Border Force on its ability to carry out operations to tackle illegal workers and people trafficking in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181301
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2018 answer text <p>We have always been clear that Border Force has the resources it needs to secure the border.</p><p>Border Force staffing figures are published in the Home Office Annual Report. This information can be found at:<br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018</a></p><p>Border Force also recently launched a nationwide recruitment campaign for officers across many of its ports and airport locations campaign to develop a recruitment pipeline of up to 1,000 officers, which will support Border Force to respond flexibly to any emerging requirements including backfilling promptly against BAU attrition.</p><p>This is in addition to the recruitment of a further 300 frontline officers to allow existing staff to be trained in new requirements ahead of EU Exit</p><p>This campaign will develop a pipeline for ongoing recruitment across various port locations as part of Border Force’s multi-year workforce plan.</p><p>All frontline officers undertake training in keeping children safe, Section 55 safeguarding responsibilities, trafficking indicators, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), FGM and Modern Slavery. <br> <br>Border Force also has a network of specially trained Safeguarding and Modern Slavery officers who receive a minimum of 3 days specialist training. <br>BF internal performance data shows a consistent increase in identification of potential victims of Modern Slavery year on year. This is attributable to a mixture of training and raised awareness levels due to periods of intensification with other law enforcement partners to target exploitation.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes question first answered 26/10/2018 13:06:01 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990315

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Human Trafficking: Undocumented Workers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the ability of UK Border Force to identify and punish people who regularly exploit and traffick illegal workers into the UK.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181302
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2018 answer text <p>The Government is committed to protecting the vulnerable. At the primary checkpoint, Border Force Officers have the unique advantage of being the first point of contact with UK authorities for many vulnerable children and adults as well as the criminals who traffic them.</p><p>All Border Force staff receive training in how to spot indicators of modern slavery for both victims and traffickers. In addition to this specialist safeguarding teams with enhanced skills provide advice to colleagues on this area of work.</p><p>Intelligence-led operations to disrupt traffickers and protect victims is the key to Border Force’s response to the threat of Modern Slavery. Through the Modern Slavery Threat Group, Border Force work alongside UKVI, IE and other law enforcement agencies to identify and disrupt modern slavery offenders.”</p><p>If a suspected trafficker is encountered by Border Force staff this is referred to colleagues in Immigration Enforcement, NCA or the police for further investigation and prosecution.</p><p>The responsibility for investigation and prosecution does not sit with Border Force.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes question first answered 26/10/2018 13:08:06 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990322

registered interest
date	18/10/2018
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	Department for Work and Pensions: Staff
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 offer more hours to employees of her Department who are in receipt of universal credit; and how many employees of her Department in receipt of universal credit have secured such extra hours in order to comply with conditionality requirements.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	181309
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>DWP employees claiming Universal Credit have no obligation to inform DWP they are on any benefit and DWP policy is clear that employees claiming benefits will not be treated more or less favourably than other staff.</p><p> </p><p>All requests for an increase in working hours are considered and agreed at a local level. Such requests will be handled in the same way regardless of the fact the employee is a Universal Credit claimant. Similarly, we keep no separate data as to whether requests for increase in hours are from employees on benefits or not. The fact that employees claim benefits has no bearing on the business decisions of DWP at organisational or individual level.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants who are in work with earnings above the Administrative Earnings Threshold are not currently expected to undertake any mandatory activity. Therefore there is currently no conditionality requirement.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 12:08:32 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 80410 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

984765

registered interest
date	10/10/2018
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	Support for Mortgage Interest
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 occasions the time taken to authorise payment following an application for a Support for Mortgage Interest loan has exceeded her Departmental expectation of two weeks.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	177818
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2018 answer text <p>Where a claimant expresses an interest in taking up the offer of an SMI loan they will be sent a loan agreement and charge form to complete and return. They also receive detailed guidance on how to complete these documents.</p><p> </p><p>The Department determines that 6 weeks is a sufficient time period for claimants to make a decision whether to take up the offer of an SMI loan. The Department ask that the loan agreement and charge form are returned as soon reasonably possible to enable them to be processed efficiently. A reminder is sent out after six weeks if the documents have not been received. Claimants may change their mind whether to take or decline a loan at any time.</p><p> </p><p>Returned forms are checked for accuracy, and if correctly completed we would expect that, in the majority of cases, SMI Loan payments would be authorised within two weeks but this is dependent upon claimants benefit pay cycle.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not hold the data requested regarding how often payments are authorised within two weeks.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/10/2018 13:52:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

931521

registered interest
date	26/06/2018
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	Social Rented Housing: Mental Illness
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 plans the Government has to estimate the number of people with mental health problems on social housing waiting lists.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	157861
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2018 answer text <p>Local authorities are required by law to ensure that ‘reasonable preference’ (ie priority) for social housing is given to those who need to move on medical and welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability. Statutory allocations guidance makes clear that this would include a mental illness or disorder.</p><p>The annual Local Authority Housing Statistical return collects data on households on the waiting list for each of the reasonable preference criteria: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/local-authority-housing-statistics-data-returns-for-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/local-authority-housing-statistics-data-returns-for-2016-to-2017</a></p><p>In 2016/17, there were 108,858 households that met medical and welfare reasonable preference criteria.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Selby and Ainsty answering member printed Nigel Adams question first answered 02/07/2018 16:27:49 answering member 4057 label Biography information for Nigel Adams
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

931522

registered interest
date	26/06/2018
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	Dental Services: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of public opinion towards the NHS Business Services Authority’s penalty charge scheme for dentistry.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	157862
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2018 answer text <p>No such assessment has been carried out by the Department. Many patients are exempt from National Health Service patient charges. The dentist, when collecting the charge on behalf of the NHS, is dependent if evidence is not provided on the patient’s statement that he or she is exempt. Retrospective checks on eligibility are undertaken to protect the overall NHS budget to which patient charges make an important contribution.</p><p> </p><p>The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) carries this checking and penalty service out on behalf of NHS England. It includes an appeals process.</p><p> </p><p>The NHS BSA and NHS England however recognise there is concern that some patients may not be clear on whether they are exempt from charges. The NHS BSA is working to further improve information available. This includes steps to promote easy read patient information amongst vulnerable patient groups, creating an online eligibility checker and developing a national awareness campaign.</p> answering member constituency Winchester answering member printed Steve Brine question first answered 02/07/2018 14:17:17 answering member 4067 label Biography information for Steve Brine
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

931524

registered interest
date	26/06/2018
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	Dental Services: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the effectiveness of the NHS Business Services Authority’s approach to issuing penalty charges, (b) trends in the number of appeals against those charges which are upheld; and how lessons are learned from such upheld appeals.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	157863
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department has made no such assessment. The attached table shows a breakdown of successful and unsuccessful appeals against the Benefit Exemption Checking Service (BECS) only.</p><p> </p><p>A table showing the total number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) issued for the BECS, the Prescription Exemption Checking Service and the Dental Exemption Checking Service (DECS) is attached.</p><p> </p><p>The NHS Business Services Authority continuously review contact from patients who feel they have incorrectly received a PCN. This allows valuable insight and understanding into customer behaviour including exceptional circumstances provided by patients.</p> answering member constituency Winchester answering member printed Steve Brine question first answered 02/07/2018 14:16:06 answering member 4067 label Biography information for Steve Brine attachment 1 file name PQ157863 attached tables.docx title PQ157863 attached document
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury