Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take in response to the findings of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report, Women's State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pensions' communication of changes, printed on 19 July 2021, HC 444.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Ombudsman’s investigation is ongoing and section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”. It is not appropriate to comment on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report of 19 July 2021 on stage 1 of their investigation.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications his Department has received for the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy scheme; how many applicants to that scheme have (a) been excluded from the UK relocation option, (b) been accepted for relocation to the UK under category (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) four and (c) not yet been informed of a decision on their application; and how many of those accepted, rejected or pending were terminated from their employment.
Answered by James Heappey
We have significantly accelerated the pace of relocations under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) in line with the military drawdown. Since 1 June 572 people, former Afghan locally employed staff and their families, have been relocated to the UK. The MOD is working with the Home Office and a range of Government departments to ensure their successful resettlement.
This now takes the total number of people from Afghanistan relocated to the UK under the ARAP and the previous Ex-Gratia Policy to nearly 2,000.
Unfortunately for operational security reasons we cannot at this time comment on specific numbers of applications.
Our commitment to those who are eligible under the ARAP, and the process to deliver it, is not time-limited and will endure beyond the military presence in Afghanistan.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much public money has been spent in support of soldiers going through inquest or criminal proceedings in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
It is taking time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member's question. I will write to him when it is available, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether money has been disbursed from the public purse to Madden and Finucane Solicitors for any purpose in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robin Walker
The UK Government does not hold this information as Justice and legal aid is devolved in Northern Ireland. The Legal Services Agency, an executive agency sponsored by the Northern Ireland Department of Justice, administers the provision of legal aid in Northern Ireland. The total payments made from the legal aid fund to barristers and solicitors' practices have not been published since 2015.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on legal aid to (a) veterans and (b) serving personnel in relation to Troubles prosecutions and incidents in each of the last five years.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
It is taking time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member's question. I will write to him when it is available, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much legal aid has been allocated to Northern Ireland law firms (a) KRW Law and (b) Madden and Finucane in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
KRW Law were offered a legal aid contract which allowed them to represent families of the victims at the inquest into the Birmingham Pub Bombings. Our thoughts are with the families of those who died during this horrific attack.
Legal aid is available for inquests in exceptional cases, which is why we funded the families throughout this inquest.
While our review of legal aid showed that legal representation is not necessary for the vast majority of inquests, we are making a number of changes to ensure there is more support for bereaved families.
Payments by the Legal Aid Agency to KRW Law during the last five years are broken down as below. Note that legal aid costs are paid in arrears, therefore payments may be made in a different year to that in which services were provided:
Year | Amount |
2021 | £62,892.84 |
2020 | £91,622.03 |
2019 | Nil |
2018 | Nil |
2017 | Nil |
No legal aid has been allocated to Madden and Finucane in any of the last five years.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what advice he plans to give to people who are unable to book domestic cruise trips as a result of the cruise company's policy that passengers of all ages must be fully vaccinated against covid-19, including children for whom that vaccine has yet to be approved.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
My Department is committed to the safe restart of cruise and monitoring the risk of transmission and will require passengers and crew to present a negative Covid-19 test prior to embarkation. However, the matter of mandating vaccinations in order to travel on domestic cruises in the UK is a matter for individual operators. This is a commercial matter, with cruise operators formulating their own policies on Covid-19 safety measures.
More information about safe domestic cruise travel in the UK can be found on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the resilience programme for the three priority interventions at Dawlish is planned to be funded as an enhancement scheme during Network Rail’s Control Period 6 programme.
Answered by Andrew Jones
To help find the right permanent solution to deliver the future resilience of the Dawlish rail route, we have already provided £15million for detailed investigation and design work at three key areas, one of which is the seawall at Dawlish. Following this investigatory work, we have announced that, as we move into the next phase of work, we will invest up to £80m in a brand new, more resilient sea wall at Dawlish. This is planned to be funded as an enhancement scheme during Network Rail's Control Period 6 programme.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the October 2018 consultation outcome report on the second road investment strategy entitled Shaping the future of England’s strategic roads, what progress his Department has made on analysing the potential costs and benefits of upgrading the A38.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department recognises the support that exists locally for improvements to the A38 in the South West, and is considering them alongside other potential network enhancements for inclusion in the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2). The Department will make decisions on RIS2 later this year, after which it will be possible to develop robust estimates of the costs and benefits of specific options for schemes included in the investment plan.
Asked by: Johnny Mercer (Conservative - Plymouth, Moor View)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the work of the Medical Defence Services with the Royal College of Psychiatrists Choose Psychiatry campaign to encourage more junior doctors to start a career as a military psychiatrist.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Defence Medical Services are closely involved with the Royal College of Psychiatrists Choose Psychiatry campaign. A part of the campaign, focused on military recruitment, began in October 2018. Using channels including Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube, advertisements for military psychiatric positions are expected to attract significant interest.