Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to share data with broadband providers on consumers in receipt of benefits for the purposes of increasing the efficiency and speed of the vetting process for applications for social tariffs.
Answered by Julie Marson
DWP currently have a verification system in place with BT to confirm benefit eligibility, allowing claimants to access the BT Basics social tariff.
DWP is developing a new API service which will enable more Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to confirm eligibility for broadband social tariffs.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of levels of (a) lottery duty and (b) returns to good causes (i) in 2022-23 and (ii) in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Damian Collins
National Lottery ticket sales return 12% to the Exchequer as lottery duty. The Gambling Commission provides DCMS and the Lottery Distributing Bodies with good cause forecasts on a six-monthly basis to assist them with their grant planning. The forecast is presented as a range, with low, high and central scenarios. The modelling approach is regularly refined to ensure the forecasts remain as accurate as possible. The most recent forecast extends to 2023-24. We do not publish this information given commercial sensitivities.
Actual good cause returns are broadly consistent with these forecasts and are published in the National Lottery Distribution Fund Annual Report and Accounts and can be found on the GOV.UK.
The fourth National Lottery Licence is due to commence on 1 February 2024. 12% in Lottery Duty will continue to be paid on each National Lottery ticket. However, the method for calculating good cause returns will change. The design of the new Licence is such that as National Lottery sales grow, so do the benefits to good causes.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Command Paper, Defence in a competitive age, published in March 2021, whether it remains his policy to reduce the armed forces to 72,500 by 2025.
Answered by James Heappey
There are currently no plans to reverse the decision to reduce the number of regular Army personnel to 73,000 by 2025.
The Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper made clear that we must focus on Defence capability rather than troop numbers in response to changing threats and priorities. The British Army will be more integrated and active, with a whole force of over 100,000 regulars and reservists, to address the current and future threats from across the globe.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the (a) Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and (b) Gambling Commission on the implications of the fourth National Lottery licence on levels of (a) Lottery Duty and (b) returns to good causes.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Fourth National Lottery Licence Competition was an independent process run by the Gambling Commission. The Treasury engaged with senior officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Gambling Commission regarding the Competition as it progressed. HMRC monitor receipts from specific betting and gaming duties, including Lottery Duty.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he expects day-to-day departmental spending to fall in real terms by the end of the 2022-23 Parliament.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Department received a revised settlement of RDEL following the Spending Review 21 last autumn, which noted the cost pressures on the Department as a result of changes in the economic forecast.
The department has measures in place to limit the impacts including the forward purchase of foreign exchange, firm price contracts and purchase of long-lead items. The potential effects of the current levels of inflation on our pay and programmes remain under continuous review.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information she holds on Iranian intelligence operatives attempting assassinations in (a) mainland Europe and (b) Britain and Gibraltar in the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds
We do not routinely comment on intelligence matters or specific threats.
The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority and we will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and our interests from any Iran-linked threats.
The UK is committed to working with the international community to ensure Iran abides by international laws and norms and is held to account for its destabilising activity.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions a call out relating to a fault in armed forces accommodation resulted in a wait of more than one month for the repair to be completed in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
We are reviewing information sources. I will write to the hon. Gentleman in due course and place a copy of my response in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which projects have received funds from Project Gigabit.
Answered by Julia Lopez
To date, Project Gigabit funding has been contracted for the following projects:
Superfast Extension Programme: Scottish Government R100, Northern Ireland Project Stratum, and Connecting Cheshire Superfast Broadband Phase 3.
Gigahubs Programme: Department for Education, National Health Service (Scotland), Highlands Council, Welsh Government, Oxfordshire County Council, Dorset Council, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Full Fibre Northern Ireland.
In addition, almost 1,500 projects have received funding through the Project Gigabit voucher scheme.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the £5 billion Project Gigabit funds have been spent as of 19 May 2022.
Answered by Julia Lopez
UK coverage of gigabit broadband has boomed from 6 per cent to more than 68 per cent in the last three years. The Department has upgraded 600,000 hard-to-reach premises to gigabit and we remain on track to hit our target of 85 per cent gigabit coverage by 2025.
To date, we have spent over £61 million to provide reliable, lightning-fast connections to hard-to-reach premises across the UK via Project Gigabit. A further £35 million is already contracted to be spent and over £500 million of funding is now out to procurement.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the potential cost savings of reducing the armed forces by up to 10,000 personnel by 2025.
Answered by James Heappey
Whilst the Regular Army reorganises to its new structure of 73,000, naturally this will result in workforce cost savings. The reduction of the Army to 73,000 by 2025 has been estimated to present £3.9 billion in savings over the 10 years following the financial year 2021-22.
The Department is delivering record investment in the Army, providing £41.3 billion in support of existing platforms and new equipment.