Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that responses to Hazardous Substance Consent enquiries from planning authorities are delivered on time.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a statutory consultee for Hazardous Substances Consent Applications. The assessments undertaken by HSE for each Hazardous Substance Consent Application are complex and underpin HSE’s statutory advice to Hazardous Substances Authorities. This advice is aimed at mitigating the effects of a major accident on the population around a major hazard site. In July 2012, as part of the government’s response to the Penfold Review, HSE agreed to deliver its Hazardous Substance Consent statutory advice to Hazardous Substance Authorities within 13-26 weeks of receiving a valid application. HSE continues to work to these agreed timeframes, which reflect the detailed assessment work needed.
HSE processes between 60 and 80 Hazardous Substance Consent applications a year. In 2020/21 (the last full year where data is available) HSE provided advice for 67% of the 61 Hazardous Substance Consent applications received within the 26 week deadline.
HSE meets regularly with Hazardous Substances Consent policy leads from England, Scotland and Wales. HSE understands that there are no current plans for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) or Devolved Administrations to amend Hazardous Substance Consent legislation to reflect the timescales agreed through the Penfold Review, however HSE will be publishing information on its website to advise applicants on the timescales involved. HSE has also produced a smart form to aid the submission of valid applications and is also recruiting to maintain its current numbers of specialist risk assessors, who undertake this expert assessment work.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the target time frame for the Health and Safety Executive to respond to hazardous substances consent enquiries from planning authorities; (a) how many and (b) what proportion of such enquiries were responded to within that time frame in the last 12 months; and of the enquiries that were not responded to within that time frame in the last 12 months, what was the average length of wait for a response.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a statutory consultee for Hazardous Substances Consent Applications. The assessments undertaken by HSE for each Hazardous Substance Consent Application are complex and underpin HSE’s statutory advice to Hazardous Substances Authorities. This advice is aimed at mitigating the effects of a major accident on the population around a major hazard site. In July 2012, as part of the government’s response to the Penfold Review, HSE agreed to deliver its Hazardous Substance Consent statutory advice to Hazardous Substance Authorities within 13-26 weeks of receiving a valid application. HSE continues to work to these agreed timeframes, which reflect the detailed assessment work needed.
HSE processes between 60 and 80 Hazardous Substance Consent applications a year. In 2020/21 (the last full year where data is available) HSE provided advice for 67% of the 61 Hazardous Substance Consent applications received within the 26 week deadline.
HSE meets regularly with Hazardous Substances Consent policy leads from England, Scotland and Wales. HSE understands that there are no current plans for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) or Devolved Administrations to amend Hazardous Substance Consent legislation to reflect the timescales agreed through the Penfold Review, however HSE will be publishing information on its website to advise applicants on the timescales involved. HSE has also produced a smart form to aid the submission of valid applications and is also recruiting to maintain its current numbers of specialist risk assessors, who undertake this expert assessment work.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
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 the calculation formula for child maintenance special expenses travel cost claims.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
A parent may apply for a contact cost variation for certain travel and accommodation expenses that would reasonably be expected to incur in order to maintain regular contact with a qualifying child, provided they are at least £10.00 per week. This threshold avoids the administrative burden of handling applications that would have little or no effect on the maintenance calculation and the whole amount of the claim can be considered.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for travel costs under the child maintenance special expenses system were (a) made and (b) awarded in the last 12 months.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
The Child Maintenance system collates Special Expense variation data, however there are 7 categories, of which Contact Costs is one. Regrettably this dataset does not breakdown the 7 categories individually but is only provided as a total volume.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to publish the remedial order on the eligibility criteria for bereavement support payments.
Answered by Guy Opperman
This issue remains an absolute priority for this department, and we are working at pace to lay the Order as soon after the return to Parliament as possible.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2022 to Question 13758, on Green Deal Scheme, what his Department's timeframe is for processing all outstanding Green Deal complaints.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government aims to complete all Green Deal complaints as soon as possible, taking into account the requirements of the Green Deal Framework Regulations. It is not possible to provide a timeframe on completion due to the variance in individual cases and required stages within the complaints handling process.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Green Deal cases have received a decision since his Department received the preliminary outcome of a lead appeal earlier in 2022 which allowed his Department to re-commence issue of intention and final sanction notices.
Answered by Greg Hands
Under the Green Deal Framework Regulations, where eligible complaints are referred to the Secretary of State for consideration, he is required to first issue an intention notice before a sanction is imposed. Since re-starting this process, the Department has issued 15 intention notices and 14 final decisions in respect of complaints about mis-selling of Green Deal Plans.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to the correspondence dated 9 March 2022 from the hon. Member for Glenrothes and Central Fife regarding delays with state pensions in summer 2021, reference PG5490.
Answered by Guy Opperman
A reply was sent to the hon. Member on the 10 June.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will respond to the correspondence of 11 March 2022 from the hon. Member for Glenrothes on routes to settlement for Afghan refugees, reference PG5604.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office received the Member’s correspondence on 3 March 2022 and responded on 8 March 2022.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she will respond to the correspondence dated 9 March 2022 from the hon. Member for Glenrothes on delays with state pensions in summer 2021, reference PG5490.
Answered by Guy Opperman
We are seeking to provide the hon. Member with a substantive response to the issue he raised in his correspondence and will provide an update as soon as possible.