Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that cable and satellite TV companies to share their subscription information with TV Licensing to improve the investigation and enforcement process as set out in section 5 of the TV licence free enforcement review.
Answered by Margot James
The government expects the BBC to collect the licence fee in an efficient and proportionate way to reduce costs and evasion. We continue to explore the feasibility of subscription data sharing.
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2019 to Question 237196 on Universal Credit: Appeals, what assessment she has made of her Departments capacity to procure a record of data in relation to Universal Credit (work capability) decisions that are subject to an order of a tribunal asking her department to respond within 21 days.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Whatever the issue being disputed, when a Universal Credit appeal is made the Tribunals Service will send the appeal to DWP and ask that it provides an appeal response within 28 days – there is no 21 day rule. The time taken for the response to be provided has been recorded for UC Full Service appeals since 1 April 2019.
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many active universal credit (work capability) decisions, which have been appealed to Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, are now subject to an order of the tribunal asking her Department to respond within 21 days.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times a request for a Statement of Reasons pertaining to the allocation of universal credit (limited capability to work) has not been delivered within the statutory time limit of 14 days in each of the last three years for which data are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the (a) focused assets covered under the Asset Protection Agency and (b) focused assets underwritten by the Asset Protection Agency that were transferred to West Register between 2009 and 2012.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Asset Protection Agency (APA) was set up in 2009 to manage the Asset Protection Scheme (APS), with the objective of maintaining financial stability and protecting taxpayers’ interests by helping participating banks manage their exposure to high-risk assets.
The 2009-10 APA Annual Reports and Accounts state that the APS initially provided protection on £282bn worth of assets on the consolidated balance sheet of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc. The detail of these assets is commercially sensitive. The Annual Report can be found here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm
To develop a more streamlined and better focused monitoring process for these assets, in 2011 and 2012 the APA stopped reviewing certain low risk assets and instead focused on a number of larger, high risk assets, known as the “Focus List”. Further information on the make-up of the Focus List can be found at http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2012-0368/DEP2012-0368.pdf and at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/229293/0120.pdf.
Further detail on the assets underwritten by the APA, including the assets that were transferred to West Register, an RBS subsidiary, between 2009 and 2012, is commercially sensitive information in relation to RBS’ customers.
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason (a) child maintenance payments are allocated first to (i) enforcement charges and (ii) debt and then to children and (b) there is no provision to retrieve payments which have been allocated incorrectly by the system or manually.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
(a)The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) does not prioritise the collection of enforcement charges over on-going maintenance and arrears. Only when all the money due to children, along with any associated collection fees, has been collected, will the CMS collect the remaining charges associated with the case, including enforcement charges. The only exception would be where an enforcement charge forms part of a liability order, which would be collected alongside the other debt associated with that order.
(b)The system does have the Manual Allocation capability, which enables a caseworker to allocate money received across any outstanding liability on a case
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2019 to Question 218386, for what reasons he is not able to publish the full version of the Accession Agreement to the Asset Protection Agency.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Asset Protection Agency (APA) was set up in 2009 to manage the Asset Protection Scheme (APS), with the objective of maintaining financial stability and protecting taxpayers’ interests by helping participating banks manage their exposure to high-risk assets.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) signed an ‘Accession Agreement’ to the APS dated 26 November 2009. This Agreement has previously not been published as it contained personal and commercially sensitive information. The Agreement is currently being reviewed with the intention of publication following redaction of any information that remains personal and commercially sensitive.
The APA’s Framework Document is currently available in unredacted form at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm
The ‘Asset Management Framework and Conflicts Management Policy, and related Modifications to the Accession Agreement’ is also available, with the exception of a number of redactions of commercially sensitive information, at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish in unredacted form the Asset Protection Agency’s Framework Document, published on 7 December 2009.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Asset Protection Agency (APA) was set up in 2009 to manage the Asset Protection Scheme (APS), with the objective of maintaining financial stability and protecting taxpayers’ interests by helping participating banks manage their exposure to high-risk assets.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) signed an ‘Accession Agreement’ to the APS dated 26 November 2009. This Agreement has previously not been published as it contained personal and commercially sensitive information. The Agreement is currently being reviewed with the intention of publication following redaction of any information that remains personal and commercially sensitive.
The APA’s Framework Document is currently available in unredacted form at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm
The ‘Asset Management Framework and Conflicts Management Policy, and related Modifications to the Accession Agreement’ is also available, with the exception of a number of redactions of commercially sensitive information, at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make public in unredacted form the 9 November 2011 document entitled Approval of the Asset Management Framework and Conflicts Management Policy, and related Modifications to the Accession Agreement.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Asset Protection Agency (APA) was set up in 2009 to manage the Asset Protection Scheme (APS), with the objective of maintaining financial stability and protecting taxpayers’ interests by helping participating banks manage their exposure to high-risk assets.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) signed an ‘Accession Agreement’ to the APS dated 26 November 2009. This Agreement has previously not been published as it contained personal and commercially sensitive information. The Agreement is currently being reviewed with the intention of publication following redaction of any information that remains personal and commercially sensitive.
The APA’s Framework Document is currently available in unredacted form at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm
The ‘Asset Management Framework and Conflicts Management Policy, and related Modifications to the Accession Agreement’ is also available, with the exception of a number of redactions of commercially sensitive information, at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm
Asked by: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to state, what the proportion of (a) incentive and (b) bonus components was of remuneration for Asset Protection Scheme personnel and senior executives, evaluated against their performance targets between 2009 and 2012; and which Minister authorised those payments.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Asset Protection Agency (APA) was set up by the Government in 2009 to manage the Asset Protection Scheme (APS). The APA supported financial stability and the taxpayers’ interest by protecting financial institutions participating in the APS against exceptional credit losses on high-risk assets.
An APA Remuneration Committee advised the Chief Executive and Advisory Board on remuneration for APA staff, and advised HM Treasury on remuneration for the Chief Executive. Performance awards were made based on individual performance appraisals, which were undertaken in line with Civil Service appraisal and performance award policies. Further information on remuneration is publicly available in the APA Annual Report and Accounts here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110533/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/apa.htm.
The HMT Operations Committee approved the pay principles to be adopted in setting salary ranges for APA staff. Remuneration packages for senior APA staff were approved by the Cabinet Office.
The Senior Oversight Committee was established by RBS in compliance with the APS governance and oversight conditions. The Committee consisted of RBS senior management personnel and a non-executive director of RBS. The APA leadership team attended Committee meetings as non-voting observers.