Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Vehicle Excise Duty was raised from vehicles registered to addresses in the municipal area of Essex County Council in the last two financial years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost, as each relevant vehicle record would need to be manually interrogated to calculate the vehicle excise duty paid in the last two financial years.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to consult with the local community before any changes to the cap on the number of asylum seekers at the Asylum Reception Centre at the former RAF Wethersfield are made.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Occupancy at the Wethersfield site is currently capped at 580 as part of the Special Development Order. This means that during current operation of the site, the population will not exceed 580.
Once the relevant Special Development Order conditions have been discharged, regular occupancy will be capped at 800. The number of residents on the site at any one time is likely to vary due to a number of factors, including individuals having moved to onward dispersed accommodation while their claims are being considered.
In addition to verbal updates given at various engagement forums with key stakeholders and partners the Wethersfield: Factsheet is revised regularly and updated to provide relevant information to the community.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to maintain the cap on the number of asylum seekers at the Asylum Reception Centre at the former RAF Wethersfield.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Occupancy at the Wethersfield site is currently capped at 580 as part of the Special Development Order. This means that during current operation of the site, the population will not exceed 580.
Once the relevant Special Development Order conditions have been discharged, regular occupancy will be capped at 800. The number of residents on the site at any one time is likely to vary due to a number of factors, including individuals having moved to onward dispersed accommodation while their claims are being considered.
In addition to verbal updates given at various engagement forums with key stakeholders and partners the Wethersfield: Factsheet is revised regularly and updated to provide relevant information to the community.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to shut down the asylum reception centre at the former RAF Wethersfield.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Any decisions on the future use of Wethersfield will be made in due course and announced in the normal way.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of disorder there were at the Asylum Reception Centre at the former RAF Wethersfield between 1 July and 1 October 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The safety and security of the local communities, the staff and those accommodated on the sites are of the utmost importance, with a specialist and experienced provider of security services permanently on site.
We also work closely and routinely with Essex Police to ensure appropriate security arrangements are in place. The Home Office also continues to engage regularly with representatives from the Council, the NHS, the Police, and local partners to address the concerns of those most impacted by the site and to keep them informed.
During the period 1 July to 1 October 2024, there has been one incident of disorder on site at Wethersfield.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria she used to close the Bibby Stockholm; and whether she will apply those criteria to the Asylum Reception Centre at former RAF Wethersfield.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are determined to reduce asylum accommodation costs, which reached record levels under the previous government, and decisions on individual sites are made on a case by case basis with that objective in mind will save an estimated £7 billion for the taxpayer over the next ten years and are delivering a major uplift in returns to remove people with no right to be in the UK.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made changes to the Special Development Order on the Asylum Reception Centre at former RAF Wethersfield since 1 July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Special Development Order (SDO) was laid in Parliament by the previous Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 21 March 2024 and it came into force on 11 April 2024. No changes have been made to the SDO but work to discharge the conditions in the current SDO is ongoing.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with West Yorkshire Police on the recent disorder in Harehills, Leeds.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary and I have been kept fully up to date by West Yorkshire Police following the disorder in Leeds last week. We have been briefed on the action they are taking and the progress of their investigations in response to the unacceptable scenes of disorder and criminality that we saw.
The Home Secretary visited the Leeds District Police Headquarters and also met with local community leaders on Friday 19th July 2024. In these meetings she has been clear that those responsible should feel the full force of the law.
I am grateful to the police for their work in reassuring local residents and managing the situation on the ground.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of UK diplomatic relations with Japan.
Answered by Mark Field
UK-Japan bilateral relations are the strongest they have been in years. Japan is one of our closest partners in the region. We are natural partners, with common interests as outward-looking, democratic, free-trading island nations with global reach.
During the Prime Minister's visit to Japan in August 2017, she committed to elevating the UK-Japan partnership to a new level. The Prime Minister and Prime Minister Abe agreed to enhance cooperation across three pillars of the bilateral relationship: Security and Defence; Prosperity; and Innovation. The Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary met their Japanese counterparts in London on 14 December, as part of regular, proactive engagement with the Japanese government and business, with special emphasis on defence and security issues.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent steps he has taken to transfer welfare powers to the Scottish Government.
Answered by David Mundell
We continue to progress the transfer of welfare powers in the Scotland Act 2016, most recently enabling the Scottish Parliament to legislate for carers benefits, disability benefits and payments made from the regulated social fund. I look forward to seeing how the Scottish Government use these extensive new powers.