Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including housing associations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to increasing transparency in the social rented sector. We intend to direct the Regulator of Social Housing to introduce new Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs) for private providers of social housing, including housing associations, to enable residents to request information about their housing management.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress she has made following her Department's closed consultation on improving moped and motorcycle training.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is considering plans to review existing requirements for motorcycle training, testing and licensing, and wants to take account of the long-standing plans in the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, alongside recent information and proposals from the motorcycle sector. These include a desire to make things simpler for riders whilst recognising the importance of maintaining our safety record.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of motorcycle compulsory basic training.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is considering plans to review existing requirements for motorcycle training, testing and licensing, and wants to take account of the long-standing plans in the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, alongside recent information and proposals from the motorcycle sector. These include a desire to make things simpler for riders whilst recognising the importance of maintaining our safety record.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will take steps to improve the training required for motorcycle drivers.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is considering plans to review existing requirements for motorcycle training, testing and licensing, and wants to take account of the long-standing plans in the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, alongside recent information and proposals from the motorcycle sector. These include a desire to make things simpler for riders whilst recognising the importance of maintaining our safety record.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of altering the income change threshold on child maintenance allowance reviews.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a paying parent's income is at least 25 per cent different than the figure obtained from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the last available full tax year, or no figure is available, the Child Maintenance Service will consider whether the liability should be based on the parent's current income. A change will not be considered unless it breaches the 25 per cent tolerance.
The 25 per cent threshold ensures that both parents can continue to budget with certainty and therefore provide ongoing stability for the child. Most people's income does not change to this degree over the course of one year. This approach ensures that minor changes to income do not interfere with the efficiency of the system, increasing costs for the taxpayer.
The Department has been conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose and reflects today’s social trends. The review will also consider income change thresholds including their potential impact on both the paying and receiving parents.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the income change threshold on child maintenance allowance on both the (a) paying and (b) receiving parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a paying parent's income is at least 25 per cent different than the figure obtained from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the last available full tax year, or no figure is available, the Child Maintenance Service will consider whether the liability should be based on the parent's current income. A change will not be considered unless it breaches the 25 per cent tolerance.
The 25 per cent threshold ensures that both parents can continue to budget with certainty and therefore provide ongoing stability for the child. Most people's income does not change to this degree over the course of one year. This approach ensures that minor changes to income do not interfere with the efficiency of the system, increasing costs for the taxpayer.
The Department has been conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose and reflects today’s social trends. The review will also consider income change thresholds including their potential impact on both the paying and receiving parents.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available to people waiting for a Personal Independence Payment tribunal.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 November 2024 to Question 11735.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessments her Department has made of the adequacy of Personal Independence Payment tribunal wait times; and what steps she is taking to reduce them.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. Reducing the outstanding caseload is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology as appropriate. If an expedited hearing is requested, a Judge or Legal Officer will make a decision on that issue, taking all the circumstances into account.
Data on Tribunals performance is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of including long covid as an industrial illness for people working the NHS during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) can be paid. IIAC's advice is limited to entitlement to benefits under the Industrial Injuries Scheme and does not cover the classification of ‘an industrial illness’ more widely.
In November 2022, IIAC published a Command Paper which recommended five severe post-COVID-19 complications should bring entitlement to IIDB for certain health and social care workers. In November 2024, IIAC published a further command paper which concluded that the 2022 recommendation should be extended to cover certain transport workers.
The Department is carrying out a detailed assessment of the recommendations in both reports and will respond in due course.
In its most recent command paper, IIAC concluded that there is currently insufficient evidence available to recommend prescription for further complications following COVID-19 infection, or for further occupations. IIAC will continue to keep the situation under review and monitor the evidence and available data.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many estates were subject to inheritance tax in Monmouthshire constituency in each tax year between 2019-20 and 2022-23.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government publishes the latest Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-liabilities-statistics. Table 12.9 of the Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics has the estimated numbers of estates liable to tax on death by UK (Westminster) Parliamentary Constituency, for the latest available tax year, which is currently 2021-22. The statistics for 2022-23 has not yet been published.
In that year, 58 estates were liable for inheritance tax in the Monmouth Parliamentary constituency. The equivalent number of estates in 2020-21 and 2019-20 were 47 and 39 respectively.