Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to investigate allegations made by whistleblower Jon Wedger against the Metropolitan Police.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The investigation of allegations made against police forces is a matter for the force and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to consider as appropriate. The decision-making processes of both organisations are independent of the Government and the Home Office itself.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Governement, whether he is consulting on permitting a further two per cent increase to local authority precepts in order to fund social care.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
My Department has now published the Local Government Finance Settlement technical consultation, which includes a proposal for an adult social care precept for local authorities with responsibility for adult social care of 2 per cent on top of the core council tax referendum principle. The consultation can be found on Gov.uk website.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to reduce excise duty on UK produced petroleum.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The government recognises that transport is a significant cost for households and businesses. That is why for the last nine years the government has frozen fuel duty at a cost of £53bn, saving the average car driver £1,000 compared to pre-2010 plans.
All taxes remain under review with any future decision made as part of the normal Budget processes and in the context of the wider fiscal position.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether she has made an assessment of the potential risk to the UK's future fuel security should the UK become reliant on Russian or Middle Eastern petrol in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
If the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement, supplies of crude oil, fuel, and important chemicals for refineries are expected to remain available through the UK’s diverse supply chains from Europe and the rest of the world. Crude oil and petroleum products are traded through liquid international markets.
The Government has been working closely with the fuel industry to minimise the risks from leaving the EU on fuel supplies. The Government also has a long-standing fuel supply contingency programme that includes measures that can be deployed in support of industry to maintain supplies.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the DVLA has refunded to motorists who sold their cars and claimed back the unused vehicle tax on those cars since 2014.
Answered by George Freeman
Since 1 October 2014, vehicle excise duty automatically ends when the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has been notified that a vehicle has been sold, transferred into the motor trade, scrapped, exported, stolen or a statutory off road notification is made. When the DVLA is notified of any of these events, the registered keeper automatically receives a refund of the full months remaining on their vehicle excise duty. The table below shows all vehicle excise duty refunds since 2014:
Year | VED Refunds £millions |
2018/19 | 365 |
2017/18 | 352 |
2016/17 | 338 |
2015/16 | 357 |
2014/15 | 216 |
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which ministers he has appointed to the taskforce to find a new buyer for the Novartis site in Great Grimsby.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department of International Trade are closely monitoring the situation. We are working with the company, the local authority and Local Enterprise Partnerships to support their efforts in helping to preserve highly skilled jobs in the area and to help find a buyer for the site.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the susceptibility of the lasting power of attorney process to fraud.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
OPG are aware of 2 cases of the fraudulent creation of LPAs in the last 6 months – out of over 890,000 registered in 2018/19. We are not aware of any concerns of fraud being raised with the OPG in relation to the process of creating LPAs in the previous 5 years. Both cases have been thoroughly investigated and a lessons learned exercise conducted – part of which was an assessment of the process of registering an LPA. We have extremely good working relationships with the financial and legal sectors – and work closely with them to ensure that our processes together do all they can to eliminate fraud.
As of 31st March 2019, OPG had 3,906,416 powers of attorney and deputyship orders on its register and in the financial year 2018/19 we undertook 2,883 investigations covering a whole range of issues. This represented 0.07% of the total powers on the register. And only in 25% of those cases was there any need for court action in relation to the deputy or attorney albeit not all court applications were for removal of an attorney or deputy, some applications relate to requests for information or clarifying a person’s capacity. Where, as a result of an investigation, OPG has evidence that fraud may have taken place we will make a referral to the relevant police authority.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he plans to include officers from Humberside Police on the National Police Air Service.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a collaboration of English and Welsh Police Forces. The operational performance of the service, decisions as to how aircraft are deployed and recruitment are matters for NPAS and the Strategic Board which oversees its work, comprised of Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners.
NPAS publish an annual report outlining the service’s performance and financial position. The Home Office does not collect performance information on NPAS. In an article of 18 April, on the West Yorkshire Police website, NPAS published information describing the next steps in introducing new fixed wing aircraft to operational police activity. The detail of how the police will use these new aircraft to complement their existing helicopter fleet is an operational matter for NPAS.
Police officers from all English and Welsh forces were invited to apply for secondments in NPAS through a recruitment campaign run in April 2019.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the equality of availability of shared policing resources across all relevant police forces.
Answered by Nick Hurd
We recognise that demand on the police is changing and becoming more complex, and have made clear that the issue of the funding formula for police grant will be looked at again in the context of the next Spending Review. It is right first to consider what the overall envelope of funding to the police should be, before determining how it should be distributed.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect of the loss of a force-specific police helicopter on the quality of air support in the Humberside area.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a collaboration of English and Welsh Police Forces. The operational performance of the service, decisions as to how aircraft are deployed and recruitment are matters for NPAS and the Strategic Board which oversees its work, comprised of Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners.
NPAS publish an annual report outlining the service’s performance and financial position. The Home Office does not collect performance information on NPAS. In an article of 18 April, on the West Yorkshire Police website, NPAS published information describing the next steps in introducing new fixed wing aircraft to operational police activity. The detail of how the police will use these new aircraft to complement their existing helicopter fleet is an operational matter for NPAS.
Police officers from all English and Welsh forces were invited to apply for secondments in NPAS through a recruitment campaign run in April 2019.