Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department will publish its response to the consultation on unfair leasehold practices which concluded on 26 November 2018.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for leaseholders and freeholders and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We will publish the Government's response to the technical consultation on Implementing reforms to the leasehold system in England shortly.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of reports that UK-born and trained greyhounds are being kept in poor conditions for breeding in China; whether his Department has plans to prevent the future export of greyhounds from the UK to China; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government takes the welfare of all racing animals very seriously, including once their racing careers have ended.
The Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA), which grants certification for the commercial exports of dogs and records information regarding the commercial movement of animals, has confirmed that they do not have any records of greyhounds being exported to China for commercial purposes during 2017 or 2018.
The Greyhound Board of Great Britain have made clear that they do not support the export of greyhounds to countries where welfare standards cannot be verified. They keep records of all dogs running and once a dog is retired the owner or trainer is required to state where the dog will be relocated to.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities on (a) improving the availability of electric car charging points and (b) funding for those charging points.
Answered by Michael Ellis
In 2018 Office for Low Emission Vehicle Ministers wrote to Local Authority leaders encouraging them to support the uptake of electric vehicles and apply to the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme. This scheme provides grant funding to Local Authorities to install chargepoints at on-street locations for residents that lack off-street parking. Ministers also announced a further £4.5m for the scheme (£2m for 18/19 and £2.5m for 19/20). In addition, OLEV and the Energy Savings Trust have hosted a series of on-street charging workshops providing over 200 Local Authorities with more information on the scheme. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles have regular discussion with Local Authorities on recharging infrastructure.
We have also provided £40m to eight Go Ultra Low Cities, around £20 million for dedicated taxi infrastructure and recently announced over £12.5 million for bus recharging infrastructure under the ultra low emission bus scheme.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the report from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets' Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee, published 26 February 2019, which found that in 2018-19 the local authority had referred 539 universal credit cases back to her Department due to accuracy queries, of which 197 were still outstanding.
Answered by Will Quince
The vast majority of Universal Credit (UC) claimants’ claims are administered in real time and accurately. Every UC award is calculated based on the circumstances of individuals during each assessment period, taking into account savings, assets and income.
All claimants have a responsibility to notify the Department about changes in their circumstances, as this could alter the monthly award and/or the responsibilities associated with receiving UC.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) fatal crashes caused by uninsured drivers and (b) speed cameras activated by uninsured drivers in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government does not hold data on either the insurance status of drivers involved in accidents or from speed cameras in relation to uninsured drivers.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of road crashes resulting in (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries caused by uninsured drivers in the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department does not hold data on the specific costs of accidents caused by uninsured drivers.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect of the 89 per cent conversion rate of uninsured drivers to insured under operation Tutelage in conjunction with the Motor Insurers' Bureau on police time spent processing individual PNC checks after manually downloading and cross-checking MIDAS hits from ANPR.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office has not assessed Operation Tutelage. How police enforce uninsured driving and deploy resources, including any particular campaigns, is an operational matter for individual Chief Officers of police in conjunction with local policing plans.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of road crashes resulting in (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries in the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The latest figures available for the total cost elements of reported accidents are:
| Deaths | Serious injuries |
2017 | £3,571M (at 2017 prices) | £5,490M (at 2017 prices) |
A full breakdown on accident and casualty costs by year has been published on www.gov.uk (see https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ras60-average-value-of-preventing-road-accidents - Table RAS60003 has the total value of prevention for accidents of all severity, by cost element.)
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2019 to Question 239850, whether the figures on the number of complaints that were upheld includes those dealt with under the early resolution procedure.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The number of upheld complaints referred to in the response to Question UIN 239850 on 10 April includes those dealt with under the Housing Ombudsman Service’s early resolution procedure.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2018 to Question 161501, how many full-time equivalent (a) Adjudicators, (b) Dispute Resolution Advisors and (c) Dispute Resolution Managers were in post at the Housing Ombudsman Service on (i) 31 March 2011, (ii) 31 March 2012, (iii) 31 March 2013 and (iv) 31 March 2014.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Housing Ombudsman Service holds historical headcount data that would require further research and analysis at a disproportionate cost to provide the information requested.