Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will reconsider its decision to withdraw Volunteer Gliding Squadrons provision for Air Cadets in Wales.
Answered by Julian Brazier
No. Cadets from all Welsh cadet units will still have the opportunity to fly gliders.
Volunteer Gliding Squadrons (VGS) due to disband are 634 Squadron currently based at St Athan and 636 Squadron currently based at Swansea. The intention is that these will be offset by an expansion of 1 Air Experience Flight at St Athan and that VGS in the West of England will become regional hubs.
The reduced VGS footprint will allow resources to be focused on the remaining Squadrons. This will enable more suitable infrastructure to be built and maintained that supports the Air Cadet Organisation more fully. The key development across the estate over time will be to provide new overnight accommodation and training facilities that safely allows cadets and adult instructors, over full residential weekends, to carry out gliding alongside flying related ground training including gliding simulators, funded by the RAF Charitable Trust. This should improve access to such activities for those that are located further from VGS sites.
Volunteers at affected Volunteer Gliding Squadrons will be offered opportunities to fill other posts within the Air Cadet Organisation dependent upon their own transferable skills and their personal preferences.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to take forward talks on reaching an intergovernmental agreement with Ireland on expanding electricity interconnection capacity in response to the conclusions of the National Infrastructure Commission's report on Smart Power, published in March 2016.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government is ambitious for the market to deliver an increase in electricity interconnection capacity where projects demonstrate value for money and provide benefits to consumers. We are primarily focused on facilitating developer-led delivery. Already one interconnection project to Ireland, Greenlink, has been approved by Ofgem in the first round of cap and floor applications. More projects, including to Ireland, can apply to Ofgem’s second cap and floor application window which opens this month.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Memorandum of Understanding on renewable energy trade agreed between the UK and Ireland in January 2013, what progress has been made on reaching an intergovernmental agreement with Ireland.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
We recognise the benefits of cooperation mechanisms and of opening our renewable support schemes to foreign generation in principle. This is why we signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Ireland. Whilst we have yet to agree with Ireland on any particular project, we remain open to new proposals.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of personal independence payment appeals were successful in (a) Ogmore and (b) Wales in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The First-tier Tribunal – Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ decisions on a range of benefits including Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
The majority of appellants living in the Ogmore area have their SSCS appeals heard in the Cardiff venues though some may be heard in Port Talbot.
The following table provides information on the proportion of PIP appeals which were decided in favour of the appellant in Cardiff and Port Talbot venues and in Wales between July and September 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available).
Percentage of PIP appeals found in favour of the appellant | |||
| Cardiff | Port Talbot | Wales |
July – September 2015 | 75% | 75% | 73% |
Note: SSCS data are recorded by the office that dealt with the case, and if the case went to oral hearing, the location of the Tribunal hearing is normally the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. Data cannot be retrieved based on the appellant’s actual address but can be produced detailing the numbers of cases that were dealt with at one of our Regional centres or heard at a specific venue.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time to wait is for a reconsideration of a benefit decision by (a) his Department and (b) a tribunal hearing in (i) Ogmore and (ii) Wales in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The published statistics in relation to Employment and Support Allowance reconsideration clearance times in the Great Britain are in the link below:
The information requested in relation to other benefit reconsiderations is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The latest information from Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for appeal clearance times for the areas that cover Ogmore, Wales and the UK in the period April – September 2015, is as follows:
Area1 | Waiting Time (Weeks) |
|
Cardiff | 16.6 |
|
Port Talbot | 18.5 |
|
Wales | 17.7 |
|
UK | 18 |
|
Source: HMCTS MI System Feb 16 Note: The data is normally registered to the venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service cannot retrieve data based on the appellant’s actual address, but can produce reports detailing the numbers of cases that were dealt with at one of its Regional centres. The majority of appellants living in the Ogmore area have their appeals heard in the Cardiff venues, though some may be heard in Port Talbot. | ||
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22432, by what measure the Director of the Serious Fraud Office judges whether there is a significant public interest element in a case.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Criminal Justice Act 1987 provides that “The Director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud.”
Each case is assessed on its own facts and merits.
The Statement of Principle sets out some of the factors that the Director will take into account when considering the matter for investigation. All of these will be considered, and there is no minimum requirement or measure in respect of the different factors.
Each on its own or taken in combination can establish sufficient grounds for the Director to decide that the case is sufficiently large, complex or of wide public interest that it should be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22432, what measure the Director of the Serious Fraud Office uses to judge actual or potential economic harm.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Criminal Justice Act 1987 provides that “The Director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud.”
Each case is assessed on its own facts and merits.
The Statement of Principle sets out some of the factors that the Director will take into account when considering the matter for investigation. All of these will be considered, and there is no minimum requirement or measure in respect of the different factors.
Each on its own or taken in combination can establish sufficient grounds for the Director to decide that the case is sufficiently large, complex or of wide public interest that it should be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22432, how the Director of the Serious Fraud Office measures the undermining of UK PLC commercial or financial interests in the (a) City of London and (b) UK.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Criminal Justice Act 1987 provides that “The Director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud.”
Each case is assessed on its own facts and merits.
The Statement of Principle sets out some of the factors that the Director will take into account when considering the matter for investigation. All of these will be considered, and there is no minimum requirement or measure in respect of the different factors.
Each on its own or taken in combination can establish sufficient grounds for the Director to decide that the case is sufficiently large, complex or of wide public interest that it should be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22432, what the figure is for high actual or potential loss listed in the Statement of Principle.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Criminal Justice Act 1987 provides that “The Director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud.”
Each case is assessed on its own facts and merits.
The Statement of Principle sets out some of the factors that the Director will take into account when considering the matter for investigation. All of these will be considered, and there is no minimum requirement or measure in respect of the different factors.
Each on its own or taken in combination can establish sufficient grounds for the Director to decide that the case is sufficiently large, complex or of wide public interest that it should be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22432, whether a case considered by the Serious Fraud Office must meet all Statement of Principle considerations.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Criminal Justice Act 1987 provides that “The Director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud.”
Each case is assessed on its own facts and merits.
The Statement of Principle sets out some of the factors that the Director will take into account when considering the matter for investigation. All of these will be considered, and there is no minimum requirement or measure in respect of the different factors.
Each on its own or taken in combination can establish sufficient grounds for the Director to decide that the case is sufficiently large, complex or of wide public interest that it should be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office.