Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people who are in receipt of support under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 are able to pay (a) travel costs that can only be paid in cash and (b) other travel costs in order to attend Home Office reporting centres.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The assistance available to people supported under section 4 of the 1999 Act consists of accommodation (with gas, electricity and water provided free) and provision of a debit card (the “Aspen Card”) which can be used to buy food and other essential items. The Aspen card cannot be used to withdraw cash, but it bears the visa logo and can be used at retail outlets that accept visa transactions.
If the supported person is required to report as a condition of their immigration bail their travel costs are also covered if they are accommodated more than 3 miles away from the reporting centre or in certain other circumstances, for example if they are unable to walk because of a disability.
In practical terms the travel costs are covered by issuing tickets or by uploading further funds on to the person’s Aspen card.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 15 May 2003 to Question 113237 on rail strikes, whether (a) he or (b) his Department has had any correspondence with West Midlands Trains on reimbursement for potential industrial action.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
There has been no correspondence between the Department and West Midlands Trains on this subject.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 15 May 2003 to Question 113237 on rail strikes, whether West Midlands Trains has an indemnification clause in its franchise agreement with the Department for Transport allowing it to apply for reimbursement for revenues lost as a consequence of official industrial action.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In common with other rail franchises, the West Midlands Trains Franchise Agreement includes a standard provision whereby the Secretary of State is able to, at his discretion, reimburse net losses arising from Industrial Action. This can be viewed at Clause 5 of Schedule 8.1 of Franchise Agreement which is on the Department’s web site at:
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the frequency of requirements for asylum claimants to attend a Home Office centre are not excessively (a) burdensome and (b) expensive for people more than five miles away from such a centre.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Asylum seekers in receipt of section 95 asylum support are provided with a weekly allowance which can be used to cover expenses such as travel costs.
The assistance available to people supported under section 4 of the 1999 Act consists of accommodation (with gas, electricity and water provided free) and provision of a debit card (the “Aspen Card”) which can be used to buy food and other essential items. The Aspen card cannot be used to withdraw cash, but it bears the visa logo and can be used at retail outlets that accept visa transactions.
If the supported person is required to report as a condition of their immigration bail their travel costs are also covered if they are accommodated more than 3 miles away from the reporting centre or in certain other circumstances, for example if they are unable to walk because of a disability.
In practical terms the travel costs are covered by issuing tickets or by uploading further funds on to the person’s Aspen card.
The Home Office keeps these arrangements under regular review.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people who are in receipt of Section 4 support are able to pay (a) travel fares which can only be purchased with cash and (b) other upfront travel costs in order to report at Home Office reporting centres.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure reporting frequencies are not excessively (a) burdensome and (b) expensive for people who live in places where the journey to a Home Office reporting centre is significant.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Stoke-on-Trent North constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as of August 2019:
In the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency, since 2012, approximately 6,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,250 employers have met their duties.
Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink:
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with representatives of Paypoint UK to ensure that universal credit claimants without access to a bank account receive their entitlement without delay.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department’s standard method of payment for pensions and benefits is to pay into a bank account, building society account, credit union account, internet based account or a basic bank account of the customer’s choice. For claimants who cannot open or manage one of these accounts, or provide the details for their own account to access their payment, the Department can offer two payment exception methods: The Post Office Card Account (POca) and HM Government Payment Exception Service (HMG PES). These payment exception methods ensure that claimants can receive their entitlement on time via the Post Office network (POca) or PayPoint outlet.
The HMG PES provider is I-movo Limited. I-movo subcontracts the delivery of its counter services to Paypoint UK which operates a contact centre and a complaints process. These provisions enable complaints to be logged and monitored should anyone have cause to complain about the service received at a PayPoint location. All complaints are recorded and monitored through to successful resolution.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he will announce the procurement timetable for the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle programme; and what proportion of the build will be undertaken domestically.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Mechanised Infantry Vehicle programme is currently under review and a decision is expected this year. If a contract is placed, it is anticipated that circa 60% by value of the contract spend will be with UK suppliers.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assurances he has received from Lockhead Martin on the (a) quality of the canopy adhesive used on the F35 and (b) effect on its stealth capability of that adhesive.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Investigations into F-35 production, maintenance and repair procedures have resulted in a change of adhesive to address incidents of canopy transparency delamination. Any impact on aircraft capability caused by the delamination is restored by repair or replacement of the canopy transparency.