Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Environment Agency on the risk of environmental damage caused by HS2 construction work; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Department for Transport officials, HS2 Ltd and its contractors meet regularly with officials at the Environment Agency in relation to delivery of the HS2 works, and to ensure that any environmental risks are suitably mitigated. I also recently met with the Chair of the Environment Agency, as part of my regular engagement with the project’s key stakeholders.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost is of the (a) policing of and (b) damage and delays to the works caused by the environmental protests along the route of Phase 1 of HS2 to date.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The costs for construction sites to operate safely, including, where necessary, the safe removal of trespassers, form part of existing contracts between HS2 Ltd and its supply chain. Due to the levels of protestor activity experienced, an additional £49 million of security costs across the HS2 project has been expended up to December 2020. The impact to the schedule of trespassers and in some cases concerted vandalism has not yet been fully assessed but we expect this to be within the overall estimated cost range of the project.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the backlog of cases being investigated by Action Fraud.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold information requested in question 146731 on the proportion of cases awaiting investigation. Reports submitted to Action Fraud are evaluated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and allocated to local forces. As neither Action Fraud or NFIB possess investigatory powers, the decision on whether to investigate a crime rests solely with local force.
However, data on the number of fraud cases disseminated by the NFIB to police forces are published annually as part of the Home Office’s ‘Crime Outcomes in England and Wales’ publication. The latest data can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2020.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether potential home owners who have had their Help to Buy application approved under the previous scheme are allowed to use that loan until their property purchase is completed.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government recognises that there have been delays caused by COVID-19. Following the initial effects of COVID-19 with the hiatus to construction during the first national lockdown, on 31 July we announced changes to the scheme’s contractual deadlines which provided developers using Help to Buy an extra two months build time. Since then Homes England announced on 15 January that it will not enforce the practical completion deadline of 28 February 2021 for the current scheme, so maximising the remaining time available time for developers to build out.
Further to this, reservations agreed before 30 June 2020, have been granted additional flexibility allowing such reservations to practically complete by 30 April and legally complete by 31 May 2021.
Moreover, working in line with sector guidance, the construction industry has been allowed to continue during the subsequent covid-19 restrictions. Reservations for the current scheme were closed on 15 December providing builders sufficient time to complete their orders.
These measures provide relief for developers to build out homes delayed by COVID-19. We nevertheless continue to monitor the situation closely.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Help to Buy scheme by a further six months.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government recognises that there have been delays caused by COVID-19. Following the initial effects of COVID-19 with the hiatus to construction during the first national lockdown, on 31 July we announced changes to the scheme’s contractual deadlines which provided developers using Help to Buy an extra two months build time. Since then Homes England announced on 15 January that it will not enforce the practical completion deadline of 28 February 2021 for the current scheme, so maximising the remaining time available time for developers to build out.
Further to this, reservations agreed before 30 June 2020, have been granted additional flexibility allowing such reservations to practically complete by 30 April and legally complete by 31 May 2021.
Moreover, working in line with sector guidance, the construction industry has been allowed to continue during the subsequent covid-19 restrictions. Reservations for the current scheme were closed on 15 December providing builders sufficient time to complete their orders.
These measures provide relief for developers to build out homes delayed by COVID-19. We nevertheless continue to monitor the situation closely.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people working on the Crossrail project have left that project to take up positions with HS2 Ltd.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Crossrail Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London. Crossrail Ltd are responsible for holding the data on how many people working on the Crossrail project have left to take up positions with HS2 Ltd.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases are awaiting investigation by Action Fraud.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold information requested in question 146731 on the proportion of cases awaiting investigation. Reports submitted to Action Fraud are evaluated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and allocated to local forces. As neither Action Fraud or NFIB possess investigatory powers, the decision on whether to investigate a crime rests solely with local force.
However, data on the number of fraud cases disseminated by the NFIB to police forces are published annually as part of the Home Office’s ‘Crime Outcomes in England and Wales’ publication. The latest data can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2020.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether service personnel returning from overseas postings will (a) have to quarantine for 14 days or (b) be subject to test and release.
Answered by James Heappey
All Service personnel arriving in the UK from a non-exempt country are required to self-isolate for a 10 day period. In addition, the MOD will by default comply with the requirement for pre-departure COVID-19 testing.
Although exemptions may be available under exceptional circumstances, the Test to Release scheme, where it is in operation, is the primary option for managing the delivery of Defence tasks against a self-isolation requirement. The scheme is available to personnel and can be accessed via gov.uk.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for grant of probate his Department has outstanding at the most recent date for which that information is available.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Data showing the volume of applications for Grant of Probate that are outstanding includes both cases that have not yet been issued and also all cases which could not be processed by HMCTS, on initial receipt, due to missing or inaccurate information (cases which are ‘stopped’):
Outstanding1 Grant of Probate Application at 27 December 2020, England and Wales 1,2, 3, 4 | |||
Probate | |||
| Volume of outstanding applications | Volume of stopped applications |
|
27-Dec-20 | 20,759 | 18,824 |
|
The overall volume of outstanding cases has been steadily reducing in recent months.
The most recently published information regarding waiting times for a grant of probate covers July 2020 to September 2020 and is published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 26):
Average time to grant issue for probate grants, England and Wales 1,2, 3 | ||||
| Application submission to grant issue | Document receipt to grant issue3 | ||
| Mean weeks | Median weeks | Mean weeks | Median weeks |
July 2020 to September 2020 | 6.7 | 4.9 | 6 | 4.4 |
Source HMCTS Core Case Data |
|
|
| |
In 2020 the level of applications being made increased and the service faced unprecedented challenges due to the impact of Covid 19.
Despite this, and as a result of HMCTS increasing resources to meet demand, the average length of time taken for a Grant of Probate to be issued improved quarter on quarter throughout the year.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what average time has been taken by his Department to issue a grant of probate after receipt of an application in the most recent period for which that information is available.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Data showing the volume of applications for Grant of Probate that are outstanding includes both cases that have not yet been issued and also all cases which could not be processed by HMCTS, on initial receipt, due to missing or inaccurate information (cases which are ‘stopped’):
Outstanding1 Grant of Probate Application at 27 December 2020, England and Wales 1,2, 3, 4 | |||
Probate | |||
| Volume of outstanding applications | Volume of stopped applications |
|
27-Dec-20 | 20,759 | 18,824 |
|
The overall volume of outstanding cases has been steadily reducing in recent months.
The most recently published information regarding waiting times for a grant of probate covers July 2020 to September 2020 and is published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 26):
Average time to grant issue for probate grants, England and Wales 1,2, 3 | ||||
| Application submission to grant issue | Document receipt to grant issue3 | ||
| Mean weeks | Median weeks | Mean weeks | Median weeks |
July 2020 to September 2020 | 6.7 | 4.9 | 6 | 4.4 |
Source HMCTS Core Case Data |
|
|
| |
In 2020 the level of applications being made increased and the service faced unprecedented challenges due to the impact of Covid 19.
Despite this, and as a result of HMCTS increasing resources to meet demand, the average length of time taken for a Grant of Probate to be issued improved quarter on quarter throughout the year.