Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of support for unpaid carers with the rising cost of living.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The primary purpose of Carer’s Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to provide regular and substantial care for a severely disabled person.
The level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by uprating it each year in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The rate will increase from 11 April, which means that since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance will have increased from £53.90 to £69.70 a week, providing an additional £800 a year for carers through Carer’s Allowance.
In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. The Universal Credit carer element will increase in April to £168.81 per monthly assessment period, and the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit will increase to £38.85 per week. This means carers can receive an additional £2,000 a year.
We recognise that many people, including carers, are facing pressures with the cost of living – which is why we’re providing support with the cost of living worth £22 billion across this financial year and next.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the £350 allowance payable to hosts in the Homes for Ukraine scheme will be (a) treated as earned income, (b) treated as unearned income or (c) disregarded for the purposes of (i) universal credit, (ii) employment and support allowance, (iii) jobseeker's allowance, (iv) pension credit, (v) carers allowance and (vi) housing benefit.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are ensuring those who have stepped up to sponsor a Ukrainian individual or family do not see their household benefit entitlements affected as a result. Payment of the £350 ‘thank you’ payment will not be counted as income for the purpose of calculating benefit entitlement.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will appoint a dedicated lead for immunocompromised and immunosuppressed people in Government in order to provide adequate communication and guidance on covid-19 to this group.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, is the Senior Coordinating Clinical Lead for the programmes supporting these patients.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what impact assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of its Living Safely with Covid strategy on the Panoramic study.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Limited symptomatic testing will be available for a small number of at-risk groups. The forthcoming testing strategy will provide further detail on eligible groups, including for patients who may be eligible to enrol in the Panoramic study.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential effect of the Loan Charge on the (a) mental health and (b) number of suicides amongst people subject to that charge prior to its introduction.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to using taxpayer insight and data to ensure the taxpayer impacts of tax policies are identified and understood. Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs) are intended to give a clear explanation of the policy objective together with details of the tax impact on the economy, equalities, and various sectors of society.
The impact of the Loan Charge on those affected was assessed ahead of the introduction of the policy. The November 2017 TIIN assessed the impact of the policy across the entire UK population, of which affected avoidance scheme users make up a very small minority. It anticipated that some individuals affected by the policy would become insolvent as a result.
The impact of the Loan Charge was also considered as part of the Independent Loan Charge Review, led by Lord Morse in 2019. Lord Morse recommended improvements be made to HMRC’s impact assessments. The Government accepted these recommendations and TIINs are now more thorough in their assessment of impacts on individuals, households and families.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure that Ofsted inspections of initial teacher training are consistent with previous inspections in (a) rigour and (b) even handedness.
Answered by Robin Walker
Ofsted are a non-ministerial government department who are independent and report directly to Parliament.
Ofsted held a public consultation on their revised Initial Teacher Education (ITE) inspection handbook, following work on the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) core content framework. This was published by the department in November 2019.
Department officials work regularly with Ofsted counterparts on Ofsted’s plans to deliver ITT inspections. The revised ITE inspection handbook found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-education-ite-inspection-framework-and-handbook. This sets out that Ofsted inspectors will check that providers of ITT leading to Qualified Teacher Status, have incorporated the ITT Core Content Framework into their course offering.
Inspection provides assurance to the public and to government that:
Ofsted can be contacted directly through their home page at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she (a) has made and (b) plans to make representations to her Moroccan counterpart on the case of a constituent of the hon Member for Alyn and Deeside, Abdul Kolim, imprisoned in Morocco.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We are in regular contact with Mr Kolim and the Moroccan authorities, and continue to provide consular support to Mr Kolim.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the equity of the proportion of a self-employed parent's income that is payable as Child Maintenance.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance calculation is designed to be fair and affordable, while ensuring that the paying parent contributes a significant proportion of their income to support their children.
For self-employed paying parents the income used to calculate child maintenance payments is usually provided by HMRC and is the gross taxable profit of the parent’s business, for the latest tax-year HMRC hold a complete record. The taxable profits of a business represent the amount from which a business owner can support themselves and meet their outgoings.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
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 potential (a) fairness and (b) sustainability of the Child Maintenance scheme in calculating payments from self-employed paying parents whose businesses had a short-term, exceptional increase in profit in tax year 2020-21 due to deferred costs and government grants relating to the outbreak of covid-19; and what assessment she has made of the effect on those paying parent's (i) finances and (ii) mental health where their business may have subsequently experienced a downturn.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance calculation is designed to be fair and affordable, while ensuring that the paying parent contributes a significant proportion of their income to support their children.
For self-employed paying parents the income used to calculate child maintenance payments is usually provided by HMRC and is the gross taxable profit of the parent’s business, for the latest tax-year HMRC hold a complete record. The taxable profits of a business represent the amount from which a business owner can support themselves and meet their outgoings.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the involvement of CVC Capital in the bid by Sisal S.p.A for the National Lottery Licence, whether his Department has plans to introduce measures to ensure that (a) CVC Capital upholds obligations to Debenhams pension fund and (b) National Lottery funds will not be used to pay dividends to CVC Capital partners.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The competition for the next licence to run the National Lottery is run by the Gambling Commission. Government is not involved in selecting the winning bid. The Commission has received four final applications to run the licence. This is the highest number of applications received since the first licence was awarded in 1994 and reflects the strength of the competition, and the market’s recognition of the opportunity which exists.
While the competition remains on-going it is not appropriate to comment on whether an individual, or organisation, has participated in any stage of it. We have no plans to publish any correspondence received by the Department from either CVC Capital Group or Sisal partners.
As part of the Department’s public appointments process, applicants to public bodies roles, including to the Gambling Commission’s board, must declare in their application any private interests which would result in actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest. On taking up an appointment to the Gambling Commission, Commissioners are required to adhere to principles in Nolan Principles and the Gambling Commission’s own Code of Conduct for Commissioners. Further to this:
All Commissioners are required to declare interests at least annually, and ensure in year changes are notified as necessary;
Their interests are published on the Gambling Commission’s website;
Declarations of interest are sought at the beginning of every board and committee meeting; and
When an interest is declared, it is reviewed by the Head of Governance and the Chair of the Commission to identify if any action is required as a result (up to and including asking my Department to terminate the appointment/asking them to terminate their interest).
The purpose of the National Lottery, as set out in legislation, is to raise monies for the four good cause pillars. The National Lottery must be run by a single purpose vehicle, with controls in place to ensure that proceeds cannot be diverted to another area of the operator’s business. The mechanism by which proceeds are divided between good cause returns and profits will be set out in the licence while decisions about the use of their profits will be a matter for the operator.
Defined benefit pension schemes are an important source of retirement income for many people in the UK, and the Government is committed to ensuring that they are protected. Whilst it is not appropriate for Ministers to comment on the arrangements of particular pension schemes, the Pensions Regulator monitors private Defined Benefit pension schemes and has the powers to act where they believe a breach of the law has taken place. The Government is committed to strengthening the powers at the disposal of the Regulator and new sanctions, within the Pension Schemes Act 2021, will strengthen the punishment for irresponsible management of pension schemes.