Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on local authority payments to the DVLA.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Local authorities cover the administrative cost for dealing with requests for vehicle keeper and driver licensing information held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
In the financial year 2015-16, the DVLA received £166,704 directly from local authorities. This includes £14,352 for vehicle related requests, £101,600 for driver related requests and £50,752 for the initial set up costs to enable local authorities to make driver licensing checks electronically.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent hostile foreign takeovers of UK firms.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government’s statutory powers to intervene in mergers are set out in the Enterprise Act 2002. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State may intervene on specified public interest grounds, currently national security, financial stability and media plurality.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of foreign company takeovers on the UK economy.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK is one of the world’s top destinations for inward investment. As part of that, mergers can bring real benefits to consumers and the economy through higher growth, greater innovation and increased productivity.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) protect businesses subject to CEO fraud and (b) hold accountable banks which have not followed money-laundering check procedures in opening accounts.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The threat posed by frauds enabled by social engineering, such as in CEO fraud, is one this Government takes very seriously. Through the Joint Fraud Taskforce, a truly innovative collaboration between the financial sector, law enforcement and Government, we are driving system-wide improvements to remove vulnerabilities which fraudster exploit to commit this type of crime. The Taskforce is investing in a nationwide fraud prevention campaign ‘Take 5’, funded by the financial sector and Government, so that individuals know how to act when faced by a fraudster to avoid being scammed. The Taskforce is also developing a funds repatriation scheme, so that stolen money can be tracked across the payment network, frozen, then repatriated back to the victim of the crime also stopping the money from getting into the hands of the criminal.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has the objective of protecting and enhancing the integrity of the UK financial system. The FCA’s rules require that firms must maintain effective systems and controls to prevent the risk that they might be exploited by criminals. These systems and controls should enable the firm to identify, assess, monitor and manage money laundering risk. A firm’s systems and controls must be comprehensive and proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of its activities. Where a firm’s systems and controls are not adequate, the FCA can and does take enforcement action. On 31 January, the FCA fined Deutsche Bank £163,076,224 for failing to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (AML) control framework during the period between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2015. This is the largest financial penalty for AML controls failings ever imposed by the FCA.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to commence the appointment process for the second Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner was appointed by Government on a three year fixed term contract, which ends on 26 November 2017
Any future appointment process, later this year, will comply with the New Public Appointments Governance Code which was published on 16 December 2016.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many contracts (a) his Department and (b) its non-departmental public bodies and agencies have awarded to Louise Guss Consulting Ltd since 2013.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department can confirm following a detailed search of its Business Management Services database, that “Louise Guss Consulting Ltd” are not a registered supplier and consequently there are no records of any spend or contracts being held with this company.
Responses from all of the Department’s Non-Departmental Public Bodies and its agencies, including Special Health Authorities, have confirmed that no contracts are or have been held with Louise Guss Consulting Ltd since 2013.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the need to record people as having been made intentionally homeless on their ability to find new homes.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Where a local housing authority finds an applicant to be intentionally homeless, or intentionally threatened with homelessness, they have a duty to ensure the applicant is provided with advice and assistance in any attempts the applicant may make to secure, or maintain the availability of, accommodation. Where an applicant has a priority need for accommodation the authority also has a duty to secure accommodation for a period that will give the applicant a reasonable opportunity of securing accommodation for their occupation.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to establish a postcode for people made homeless which may be used for job applications and registration with GPs.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Day centres and hostels will frequently operate as a care of address when required. For those people who are homeless and receive support under the main homelessness duty they are provided with temporary accommodation and can use that address.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of proposals by the Anti-Slavery Commissioners to establish a central repository for modern slavery statements; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We have not received a proposal from the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner regarding the establishment of a central repository for modern slavery statements. We have not endorsed a particular repository for such statements. So far, two repository websites have been set up to collect the ‘slavery and human trafficking statements’ published by businesses in one place. These are being run by Semantrica and the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to establish a time-limit on the housing records of people made intentionally homeless.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
We have no plans to set out a time limit. Where a person becomes homeless intentionally, that condition may persist until the link between the deliberate act or omission that caused them to become intentionally homeless and the intentional homelessness itself has been broken. Whether that has happened will depend on the circumstances of the particular case and can be best judged by the local housing authority.