Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse would be to not claim back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year after the upfront payment.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the hon member to the answer given on 24 January to UIN 25010 regarding estimated costs of not claiming back Child Benefit overpayments.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her Department's policy is on claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year after the upfront payment.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the hon member to the answer given on 23 January to UIN 25009 regarding the policy on Child Benefit overpayments.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support and (b) help secure the early release of Marcus Fakana.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Supporting the welfare of British nationals detained overseas is a priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The FCDO cannot interfere in the judicial affairs of other countries, however where there are concerns that an individual's welfare needs are not being met, with their consent, we will raise this with the relevant authorities. We are unable to provide comment on the detail of individual consular cases in line with relevant UK data protection legislation: [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office/about/personal-information-charter].
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the cost to her Department of not claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year since the original payment.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated cost of not claiming back Child Benefit payments from parents who have lost a child in the year since the payment was made is not readily available and could only be produced at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her Department's policy is on claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year since the payment was made.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Entitlement to Child Benefit continues for eight weeks after the date of a child’s death. This recognises that the period following such a traumatic event is particularly difficult and avoids causing additional distress from the immediate removal of financial support. After this point, where a death of a child is not made known to HMRC, any overpayments of Child Benefit are ordinarily recoverable. However, HMRC has processes in place designed to limit overpayments in these circumstances. This includes using regular data from the registry of births marriages and deaths to sensitively contact customers where they have suffered the loss of a child. Similarly, where a customer informs DWP through their 'Tell Us Once Service', this information is passed to HMRC and used to end the Child Benefit claim.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to increase economic productivity.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
Boosting productivity growth across the country is a key aim of this government’s growth mission. By reforming the economy and increasing productivity, we will drive up prosperity and living standards across the UK. Our Budget showed that this government has a robust, comprehensive strategy for boosting productivity, and we are taking the steps needed to make up for fourteen years of stagnant productivity growth, including introducing planning reforms, protecting record R&D funding and launching Skills England.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the money raised from the Immigration Skills Charge has been spent over the last five years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Immigration Skills Charge is administered by the Home Office and is classified as Trust Statement income. Government departments are required to surrender all Trust Statement income to the Consolidated Fund (CF).
Receipts surrendered to the CF are not ring-fenced for any specific area of government spending but will be used towards general government expenditure, which includes funding for departments’ budgetary Supply Estimates approved by Parliament.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many Government services have moved to the GOV.UK One Login system; and what his planned timetable is for moving all Government services to this system.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As of November 2024, users can access 50 government services within GOV.UK One Login. Approximately 100 services are expected to be onboarded in 2025, with more to follow thereafter. Government departments are actively developing delivery plans to onboard their services to GOV.UK One Login.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress she has made on the introduction of digital drivers licences.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In September, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) introduced a digital representation of the photocard driving licence as the latest enhancement to its Driver and Vehicle Account.
The DVLA is in the process of introducing functionality which will enable customers to obtain a QR code to allow them to share information from their driving licence with third parties within the Driver and Vehicle Account in addition to the Share Driving Licence service.
Discussions continue on future developments in the area of digital driving licences.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the Immigration Skills Charge raised in (a) the last 12 months and (b) each of the last five years; and how the money raised has been spent so far.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office reports income for the Immigration Skills Charge on a financial year basis (April to March), in the Annual Reports and Accounts (ARA). Please refer to the links and references provided in the table below.
Year | Where to find | Link |
2019/20 | 2019/20 ARA, note 2.1, page 195 | Home Office annual report and accounts: 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) |
2020/21 | 2020/21 ARA, note 2.1, page 199 | HO annual report and accounts 2020-21 (publishing.service.gov.uk) |
2021/22 | 2021/22 ARA, note 2.1, page 216 | Home Office annual report and accounts: 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) |
2022/23 | 2022/23 ARA, note 2.1, page 292 | Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk) |
2023/24 | 2023/24 ARA, note 2.1, pages 298-299 (pages 302-303 on the pdf reader) | Home Office annual report and accounts: 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) |
Data for financial year 2024-25 will be published following the end of the financial year and once the accounts have been laid before Parliament.
The Home Office does not hold information on how the money raised has been spent so far as this income is not retained by the Home Office and is remitted to HM Treasury as Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts.