Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to reduce the time taken to make payments of universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
From February 2018, the seven-day waiting period will be removed for all new Universal Credit claimants. This means that no claimant should wait longer than five weeks to receive their first Universal Credit payment.
DWP has also improved the Universal Credit advances process. Claimants who require support can now get an advance of up to 100 per cent of their expected monthly entitlement while they wait for their first payment. This effectively removes the wait until their first payment altogether.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the IMF's revision of the UK's growth outlook from 1.6 to 1.5 per cent for 2019.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an independent international organisation. The official economy and fiscal forecasts produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility are used to inform policy decisions.
The IMF recently concluded their Article IV assessment of the UK economy and judge that “The fiscal framework adopted by the authorities prudently aims to reduce the deficit (after accounting for the impact of the economic cycle) to below 2 percent of GDP by 2020/21, and to balance the budget by the middle of the next decade.”
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent representations she has received from the Mayor of Greater Manchester on changes (a) in the number of police officers and (b) to police funding.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office is in regular correspondence with Police and Crime Commissioners on a range of topics, including funding and resources.
I recently announced the proposed police funding settlement for 2018/19 which would see an additional £450m invested in the policing system, around £270m direct to PCCs. Should the Mayor choose to use increased precept flexibility, this could mean an additional £10.4m for Greater Manchester Police. It is a matter for police leaders to determine locally how to use these resources.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent representations she has received from the Mayor of Greater Manchester on changes (a) in the number of police officers and (b) to police funding.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office is in regular correspondence with Police and Crime Commissioners on a range of topics, including funding and resources.
I recently announced the proposed police funding settlement for 2018/19 which would see an additional £450m invested in the policing system, around £270m direct to PCCs. Should the Mayor choose to use increased precept flexibility, this could mean an additional £10.4m for Greater Manchester Police. It is a matter for police leaders to determine locally how to use these resources.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether funds from the planned £700 million empowerment fund will be depressed through a competitive tendering process.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Empowerment Fund, which is expected to consist entirely of Official Development Assistance funding, is currently under development. Details of the Fund, including governance and oversight arrangements, will be announced to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether funds from the planned £700 million empowerment fund will be subject to oversight by the National Security Council.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Empowerment Fund, which is expected to consist entirely of Official Development Assistance funding, is currently under development. Details of the Fund, including governance and oversight arrangements, will be announced to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, from which budget the planned £700 million empowerment fund will be allocated; and whether those funds will be counted as Official Development Assistance.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Empowerment Fund, which is expected to consist entirely of Official Development Assistance funding, is currently under development. Details of the Fund, including governance and oversight arrangements, will be announced to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that secondary schools are not in deficit.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has protected the core schools budget in real terms. That means that in 2017-18 schools will have more funding than ever before for children’s education, totalling over £40 billion.
The most reliable way of looking at schools’ financial health is to look at their cumulative deficits. The number of maintained schools reporting cumulative deficits has fallen since 2010-11. Fewer than 4% of academies reported cumulative deficits in their latest financial accounts (2014/15).
To support schools to improve their financial health and efficiency we have produced a collection of tools, information and guidance, including benchmarking tools and workforce planning guidance to support schools to make savings.
Most recently, we published the Schools’ Buying Strategy to help schools make significant savings, over £1bn a year by 2019-20, in non-pay and procurement costs.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding of the National Audit Office in its report entitled, Financial Sustainability of Schools, published in December 2016, that schools are ill-equipped to implement the planned £3 billion in savings by the end of the current Parliament.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has protected the core schools budget in real terms. That means that in 2017-18 schools will have more funding than ever before for children’s education, totalling over £40 billion.
The National Audit Office (NAO) report is clear that it is reasonable to look to schools to make efficiencies, and that – based on variations in spending across schools with similar levels of challenge and achieving similar outcomes – the necessary savings are achievable without affecting educational outcomes.
To support this we have produced tools, information and guidance for schools. Most recently, we published the Schools’ Buying Strategy, to help schools make significant savings, over £1bn a year by 2019-20, in non-pay and procurement costs.
We have also launched Workforce Planning Guidance, which contains links to advice and case studies, as well as lists of options and questions for school leaders to consider when reviewing their staff structures.
We will continue to update and improve the package of support we offer to schools.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2016 to Question 58565, on overseas aid, what discussions her Department has had with multilateral agencies on the co-ordination of the withdrawal of aid from middle-income countries.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID has argued that countries must graduate out of access to the most concessional funds as they become more able to finance their own development. This will enable aid to be more focused on the poorest countries. However, we are conscious of the need to avoid suddenly and simultaneously changing the access that countries have to key sources of funding. DFID has used our engagement in the replenishments in 2017 of the African and Asian Development Funds and the International Development Association (IDA, of the World Bank) to ensure closer coordination on this issue.