Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if she will hold discussions with the Electoral Commission on the reasons for which it rejected the application from (a) Kingston Independent Residents Group and (b) Workers Party Britain on registering a description that included the leaders of those parties.
Answered by Cat Smith
Parties have the option to register descriptions which can appear on the ballot paper, instead of the party name. As the registrar for political parties, electoral law requires the Commission to assess whether a party’s description meets the requirements set out in law. If it does not, the description cannot be registered.
If a person, other than the candidate, is named in a description and thus appeared on the ballot paper, it is likely to mislead a voter about the candidate standing in their area. It would not therefore meet the legal requirements for a description, and the Commission would be required to refuse it.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of mould in the (a) owner-occupied, (b) private rented and (c) social rented sector.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As set out in my answer to Question UIN 24168 on 3 May 2024, the English Housing Survey sets out levels of damp and mould in all tenures of residential accommodation. Details are available online.
For more information on the health impacts of damp and mould in homes, please see our consolidated guidance developed with the Department of Health and Social Care. It can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/damp-and-mould-understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-for-rented-housing-providers.
Following the tragic death of the two-year-old Awaab Ishak, due to the appalling housing conditions that Awaab Ishak and his family had to live in, the Secretary of State summoned the leadership of their landlord, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, to explain why such catastrophic failures had been allowed to happen. The Government has also legislated for ‘Awaab’s law’, introduced via the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.
In his written statement of 9 January 2024 (HCWS174) the Secretary of State launched a consultation on how ‘Awaab’s law’ will operate in practice, including the specific requirements on social landlords. The consultation closed on 5 March 2024 and we are analysing the responses. Once this has been completed, we will bring forward secondary legislation as soon as possible.
The department, last year, provided £15 million of funding to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to tackle the worst cases of damp and mould. They have now completed improvements to around 4,000 homes.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will meet the hon. Member for Rochdale to discuss (a) maternity and (b) accident and emergency services at Rochdale Infirmary.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I would be happy to meet with the hon. Member for Rochdale to discuss maternity services at Rochdale Infirmary.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet representatives of Women Against State Pension Inequality to discuss the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman's findings and recommendations in its report entitled Women’s State Pension Age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will have discussions with Royal Mail on the allocation of the RO postcode to Rochdale.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The allocation of postcodes is an operational matter for Royal Mail as an independent business. The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s operational decisions.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, of which country's intelligence agencies the official arrested in Turkey in connection with the British girls who ran away from home to join ISIS is a member; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
We are grateful to Turkey for the close cooperation on all aspects of counter-terrorism work. We continue to work closely with the Turkish National Police Force and Turkish Embassy on this case. It is the long-standing policy of successive governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) the UK and (b) Bradford West constituency have had jobseeker's allowance removed since June 2011.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The information requested in respect of JSA sanctions data is published at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm
Information for Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department for Social
Development. Northern Ireland statistics can be found at:
http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/stats_and_research/benefit_publications.htm
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission research on the effects of removing benefits from people and undertake to report the outcome of such work to the House.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department does not remove benefits. A claimant may incur a sanction or become disentitled to their benefit if they do not meet their conditionality requirements.
As with all our policies, we will continue to keep the operation of the sanctions system under review to ensure that it continues to operate effectively and as fairly as possible. We also continue to make improvements as committed to in the Oakley Review, which goes further than the scope of the Review, to include all jobseekers allowance and all employment and support allowance.
We will continue to publish sanctions statistics on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have claimed jobseeker's allowance since June 2011 in (a) the UK and (b) Bradford West constituency have not found work and are no longer claiming benefits.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish details of any complicity or involvement by the UK Government while Tony Blair was Prime Minister over rendition, interrogation and detention by the Central Intelligence Agency which have been redacted from the report by the US Senate intelligence committee.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The US gave UK Agencies limited sight of some sections of the executive summary prior to its publication.
Our Agencies highlighted a small number of issues in the proposed text where changes would be necessary solely to protect UK national security and intelligence operations. None of these redactions related to allegations of UK involvement in detainee mistreatment.
We did not lobby, at any level, to have information removed or redacted in relation to UK involvement in rendition or mistreatment of detainees. The UK Government did not receive an advance copy of the report before publication.
In July 2010, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the member for Witney (Mr Cameron) asked Sir Peter Gibson to lead an inquiry into whether Britain was implicated in the improper treatment, or rendition, of detainees held by other countries in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. In December 2013 the Detainee Inquiry published a report on its preparatory work setting out a series of questions which the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament is now considering. This Committee will report to Parliament and to the public on the completion of its work.