Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the fixed disregard rate for the New Style Employment and Support Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The current disregard was set in 1999. We have no current plans to change it, but I will be interested in any proposals my hon friend brings forward.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of ending the two child benefit cap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimates have been published.
While we cannot currently commit to changing the two child policy, tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. This is why the Child Poverty Taskforce will look at all available levers to reduce child poverty, including social security reforms, before publishing a strategy.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will take steps to encourage insurance companies to insure buildings with a PAS 9980 assessment of (a) low and (b) medium tolerable that do not require remediation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Building owners are responsible for ensuring that buildings have appropriate buildings insurance in place.
The government encourages insurance companies to provide suitable, fairly-priced insurance for all blocks of flats, whatever the conclusion of the Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls.
Insurers make commercial decisions about the price and terms of cover they offer following their assessment of the relevant risks. Government is determined that insurance companies treat customers fairly and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires firms to ensure their products offer fair value. The FCA has been clear it will be monitoring firms and, where necessary, it will take action.
My officials would be happy to speak to the insurance industry about any building brought to our attention, which is unable to obtain any buildings insurance cover.
For buildings that do require remediation, the Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility, led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and reinsurance broker McGill and Partners, may reduce high premiums for some of the most affected multi-occupancy buildings with fire safety issues.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
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 potential reasons why people receiving tax credits are not voluntarily migrating to Universal Credit.
Answered by Jo Churchill
It is the customers responsibility to choose whether to make an application for Universal Credit. There is no evidence to suggest any actions the Department has taken or should have taken are influencing that choice.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the LGBT Veterans Independent Review.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The Government has accepted in principle the all the LGBT Veterans Independent Review's recommendations. Whilst we agree with the intent behind them, there are a number we will deliver in a slightly different way to that described in the report. Many of the recommendations are complex and it is vital that we carefully consider their delivery to ensure the best outcomes for those affected.
Responding to the LGBT Veterans Independent Review and delivering its recommendations remains a high priority for the Government. Further detail on the delivery of the recommendations will be included in our full response, which will be published shortly. In the meantime, the Government encourages anyone that was impacted by the historic policy to explore the support, services, and restorative measures available to Veterans, by visiting the LGBT Veterans: Support and next steps GOV.UK page.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of guidance for measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions in the public sector.
Answered by George Freeman
There is detailed guidance available on public sector emissions measurement and reporting, as set out during the recent Public Accounts Committee hearing on this subject. Overall, the public sector has reduced its emissions by 44% between 1990 and 2020.
The Government will provide a full response to the Public Accounts Committee report shortly.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to help tackle unethical supply chains in the fashion industry.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UNGPs. In 2015 we introduced the Modern Slavery Act which requires businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement stating the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
The Government expects companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress. This enables consumers, shareholders and civil society to scrutinise the efforts being made.
Since October 2020, a wide group of stakeholders comprising retailers, manufacturers and non-profit organisations have been working with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) under the Apparel and General Merchandise Public Private Protocol to address poor working, pay, and purchasing practices in the UK supply chain.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support Post Offices after the end of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
HM Treasury is currently conducting a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and evidence from post offices is included in that which has been received. The Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the end of the review, which will report later this month.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to help support small businesses that are not eligible to participate in the UK Tradeshow Programme to develop commercial relationships.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our Export Strategy has a range of measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase their exports. It includes initiatives such as the Export Champions, which facilitates peer-to-peer learning between businesses, allowing them to learn through exporting success stories and build business networks.
Our UK-wide Export Academy delivers webinars and events to build the exporting capabilities of small businesses, while also centrally coordinating the Department for International Trade’s capability building activities, including building effective networks and in 2021/22 UK Export Finance provided £7.4bn in support for UK exports, directly supporting 545 UK businesses, of which 81% were SMEs.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have applied to extend their use of CHIEF and have yet to register for the Customs Declaration Service.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
4,727 businesses made import declarations on CHIEF in 2021. As of week, commencing 7 November 2022, 3,440 businesses are using the full service on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), with over 86% of import declarations now being made on CDS. 1,287 businesses have yet to subscribe to CDS. 1,231 businesses are in the Trader Dress Rehearsal, which allows businesses to practice making declarations in CDS.
Out of 1,653 businesses that applied for an extension to use CHIEF until 31 October 2022, 263 are yet to subscribe to CDS.
Out of 2,485 businesses that applied for an extension to use CHIEF beyond 31 October 2022, 470 are yet to subscribe to CDS.
As of 16 November 2022, c600 businesses have a valid extension to use CHIEF to allow them to complete training or because of issues with their third-party software. HMRC is working with these third-party software providers to resolve their issues and is tracking their progress.