Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the level of uptake of workplace pensions since that scheme's inception; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since 2012 in Bolton North East constituency, approximately 13,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled.
Automatic enrolment is a great success story. Over 9.8 million employees have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension, and more than 1.3 million employers have met their duties as at the end of July 2018.
Nationally in 2012, the percentage of eligible private sector workers participating in a workplace pension hit a low of 42 per cent. This figure has now risen to 81 per cent. This marks a 39 percentage point increase in pension participation of this group since the introduction of Automatic Enrolment.
Young people have embraced pension saving, with 77 per cent of eligible 22 to 29 year olds working in the private sector now enrolled in a workplace pension. For context, only 24 per cent of this group were enrolled into a workplace pension in 2012, before the introduction of Automatic Enrolment. And the proportion of people earning between £10,000 and £20,000 participating in a workplace pension has grown dramatically, from a low of under 20 per cent in 2012 to over 70 per cent today.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many homes have been purchased using Help To Buy in the borough of Bolton; and how many of those homes were sold with a lease.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Department’s statistics on the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme are published and available at the following link.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2018 to Question 142766 on Bangladesh: Elections, whether he has received a request from the Bangladeshi Government to scrutinise that country's forthcoming elections; and what assessment he has made of the potential implications for the safety of such monitors of scrutinising those elections.
Answered by Mark Field
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not received a request from the Government of Bangladesh to scrutinise the forthcoming general election. As previously answered, the UK does support election monitoring through a Department for International Development project that funds domestic observers to monitor the political environment around the election, including observation of sub-national elections. This project will also provide local observers to monitor conduct on the day of the general election.
No specific assessment of the environment for potential UK based election monitors has been made. Domestic observers are experienced and have mitigation measures and systems in place to manage their own safety, something that is paramount for the HMG. So far they have conducted their activities with little hindrance, but DFID and partners continue to monitor the situation.
In addition, I have been clear with Government of Bangladesh and opposition parties that elections in Bangladesh must be free, fair and pluralistic, this includes ensuring that conditions for voting are safe. I delivered these messages to Government of Bangladesh interlocutors including Foreign Minister Ali, during my visit to Bangladesh from 29 June to 1 July.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to restore the ecosystems on the moors in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Lancashire after the recent fires in those areas.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government is closely monitoring the environmental impact on the moors but it is too early to have a clear picture in terms of the severity or extent of the damage caused at this stage. Natural England is in contact with local landowners and land managers affected by both incidents and will work closely with them and the National Park Authority once the fires are out. We are on standby to arrange site visits and to begin assessing the damage and help with recovery.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the National Retail Crime Steering Group plans to consider new ways to tackle the root cause of shop theft in its upcoming work plan.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As co-chair of the National Retail Crime Steering Group with the British Retail Consortium, it is part of my role to ensure that the Steering Group’s work plan reflects the retail sector’s crime priorities and that the required activity is in place to deliver it.
This includes work to reduce shoplifting alongside other crimes that impact on the retail sector. We have discussed different approaches to preventing and tackling shoplifting as part of the work of the Steering Group and this will continue to be a priority.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment they have made of the level of shop theft in England and Wales; and what assessment he has made of the role (a) the Government, (b) Police and Crime Commissioners and City Mayors and (c) local police forces can play in tackling the root cause of shop theft offending.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Statistics on shoplifting offences reported to the police are recorded in the crime statistics published by the Office for National Statistics. The statistics can be accessed via their website at www.ons.gov.uk.
We encourage all retailers to report shoplifting to the police whenever it occurs, so that these crimes can be investigated and, where appropriate, the offenders brought to justice. It must, however, remain a matter for chief constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, as operational leaders and elected local representatives, to decide how best to deploy resources to respond to these crimes, alongside other local priorities.
At the national level, the police, Police and Crime Commissioners, relevant government departments and the retail sector are all represented on the National Retail Crime Steering Group, which ensures a collaborative response to all the crimes that affect the retail sector. Within the Steering Group we have discussed different approaches to preventing and tackling shoplifting and this will continue to be a priority.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much compensation Northern Rail has paid to passengers for delays and cancellations since the start of the current franchise.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
This government has made it easier than ever before for rail passengers to claim compensation if their train is late or cancelled. 2016/17 figures have been published and I can confirm Northern’s compensation figure was £326k; an 88% increase on the previous year’s figure. Passenger compensation figures are published each year and can be found on the Department’s website. 2017/18 figures will be published in due course.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance and training is provided to staff determining sanctions for (a) jobseekers allowance and (b) universal credit to help them understand mental health problems which may legitimately account for claimants missing appointments with little or no notice.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
DWP provides learning and guidance for staff administering Jobseeker’s Allowance to determine if a referral to a Decision Maker is appropriate when determining a sanction. Foundation learning is provided and undertaken to build capability and to recognise when a claimant is vulnerable, has a known mental health condition or other complex needs exists.
Decision makers and work coaches are also supported by material which covers identifying circumstances when a claimant can be treated as having good reason for failure to attend.
Universal Credit staff receive further learning about complex needs and supporting a claimant, such as guidance for decision makers to prompt them to take all of a claimant’s circumstances into account, including known mental health problems, when assessing whether a sanction is appropriate.
Staff are supported to consider ‘good reason’ for failing to attend an appointment and determine if a mental health problem contributed to the missed appointment. The learning and guidance for jobcentre staff explains that when referring cases they must record whether the claimant has complex needs so the decision maker can consider that as part of the decision making process.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the amount of money spent by local authorities in the North West on sports and leisure in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Over the course of this spending period the Government has made available over £200 billion of funding for local government, for councils to spend on locally determined priorities, including sports facilities.
Sport England works with a wide range of local authorities, providing expert advice and funding to sustain and increase the number of people playing sport regularly.
It invests in local authority facilities projects through its range of funding programmes to make sure that facilities are modern, accessible and in the right places to have the most impact.
Full details of the local government finance settlement are here:
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans the Government has to improve access to financial education.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Government policy on financial education and capability focuses on ensuring that people have the confidence and skills they need to successfully engage with their finances. To this end the Government established the Money Advice Service (MAS), which provides free-to-use financial guidance and coordinates the UK’s Financial Capability Strategy. This is a 10-year strategy which aims to gather evidence and support financial education and capability initiatives that are proven to work.
Moving forward, the Government has legislated to merge the functions of MAS with those of The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and Pension Wise, to create a Single Financial Guidance Body, which will simplify the existing public financial guidance landscape. The Government’s commitment to improve people’s financial capability and the provision of financial education is reflected in the new body’s strategic function to develop and coordinate a national strategy which will build on and further progress MAS’s work on financial capability.
It is also particularly important that children and young people receive financial education to help them shape their financial habits later in life. This is why financial literacy was made statutory within the national curriculum in England in 2014, as part of the curriculum for citizenship education for 11-16 year olds.