Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what further measures his Department plans to introduce to ensure that Ukrainian children arriving in the UK receive adequate housing, education, and psychosocial support.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
I refer my Hon Friend to the answers given to Question UIN 145857 on 28 March 2022 and Question UIN 144955 on 29 March 2022, which include links to published guidance and information at Gov.uk.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to allow individuals to exit their annuity plans.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government announced in October 2016 that it would not be continuing with proposals to remove the restrictions on the sale of existing annuities.
As these proposals progressed it became increasingly clear that the conditions required for a competitive market to emerge, with multiple buyers and sellers of annuities, could not be balanced with sufficient consumer protections. This could have led to consumers receiving poor value for their annuity income streams and suffering higher costs in the sales process. Consumer protection is a top priority for the government and it would not have been acceptable to allow a market to develop which could produce poor outcomes for consumers.
There are no plans to review the decision not to continue with proposals for a secondary market in annuities at this time.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support grassroots sport.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sport and physical activity are vital for our physical and mental health, and should be front and centre as we build back better from the pandemic, which is why Sport England has invested over £1.5 billion of funding in developing grassroots sport since April 2016. This includes £120,535 of support in the Honourable Gentleman’s constituency since March 2020.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to improve skills in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Conor Burns
While responsibility for skills is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive, we are also investing in Northern Ireland’s skills as we level up the UK. Made possible through £15 million of Government funding from the New Deal for Northern Ireland, the ‘Skill Up’ initiative will fully fund further education colleges and universities to deliver approximately 15,000 training places to support key growth sectors. The Government has also committed £617 million through City & Growth Deals, with skills a key part of the Belfast Region City deal.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support grassroots sports initiatives.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sport and physical activity are vital for our physical and mental health, and should be front and centre as we build back better from the pandemic.
That’s why Sport England has invested over £1.5 billion of funding in developing grassroots sport since April 2016, including £120,535 of support in his constituency since March 2020.
At the recent Spending Review, the government set out our commitment to grassroots sports, investing £205 million to build or transform up to 8,000 multi-use sports facilities; £21.9 million to refurbish park tennis courts; and up to £30 million per year to increase access to school facilities and improve PE teacher training.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the continued provision of free school meals to children whose families are subject to the no recourse to public funds condition.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.
Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. The department's current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the annual saving to the public purse of the no recourse to public funds policy.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The NRPF condition applies to most temporary migrants in the UK who are here lawfully, such as those on work and study visas, and to migrants in the UK unlawfully. The Home Office does not hold data on the total population present in the UK who are subject to NRPF and the Home Office’s Chief Statistician wrote to the Office for Statistics Regulation last July to explain the reasons for this in more detail. His letter can be found at:
It is not feasible for the Home Office to collect data on whether a migrant with the NRPF condition would have applied for public funds should the condition not have been applied to them; it is therefore not possible to reliably estimate the annual saving to the public purse of the policy as a whole. Savings to the public purse are broadly achieved by only facilitating access to public funds for those with indefinite leave to remain (i.e. settled or permanent residence), refugees and protected persons, and those granted discretionary leave.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the potential effect on the economy of granting asylum seekers the right to work.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We allow asylum seekers to work if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).
A review of the policy is ongoing.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of applications received for endorsement letters under the HGV fuel tanker driver concession have been issued with endorsement letters.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Hauliers within the fuel sector, and those companies that employ transporters of road fuels, were required to identify to BEIS non-visa nationals who were fully licenced and qualified drivers available to start immediately within the fuel haulage sector. The sector applied for nine endorsement letters from BEIS and all nine were provided.
The UK Government is working with the haulage sector to promote jobs, training and a range of other initiatives to get more people into HGV driving.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the status of the relationship is between the UK and Frontex as at 18 October 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
As at 18 October 2021, the UK is not currently participating in any formal or informal cooperation with Frontex and has no relationship with Frontex.
Furthermore, the UK does not make any financial contribution to Frontex.