Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to increase the business mileage rate for motorists.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government sets Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) to minimise administrative burdens. AMAPs aim to reflect running costs including fuel, servicing and depreciation. Depreciation is estimated to constitute the most significant proportion of the AMAPs.
Employers are not required to use the AMAPs. Instead, they can agree to reimburse the actual cost incurred, where individuals can provide evidence of the expenditure, without an Income Tax or National Insurance charge arising.
Alternatively, they can choose to pay a different mileage rate that better reflects their employees’ circumstances. However, if the payment exceeds the amount due under AMAPs, and this results in a profit for the individual, they will be liable to pay Income Tax and National Insurance contributions on the difference.
The Government keeps this policy under review.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has received any income as a result of calls to the passport hotline made by hon. Members' offices.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The HM Passports option on the MP enquiry line has received 797 calls between 4 April and 12 May 2022. We only have data from 4 April as this is when the specific passport option was made available. UKVI has not received any money as a result of calls to the MP Enquiry line, including the HM Passports specific option.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many calls have been received by the UK Visas and Immigration hotline on passport cases from hon. Members' offices between 1 March and 12 May 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The HM Passports option on the MP enquiry line has received 797 calls between 4 April and 12 May 2022. We only have data from 4 April as this is when the specific passport option was made available. UKVI has not received any money as a result of calls to the MP Enquiry line, including the HM Passports specific option.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much monies her Department has received as a result of calls to the Homes for Ukraine hotline made by hon. Members' offices.
Answered by Kevin Foster
842 - The MP enquiry line is an 0345 number which is a local rate number, so calls to this line cost the same as calls to a geographic number and will be dependent on your telephone service provider. UKVI does not charge for calls to this number.
843 - The Ukraine option on the MP enquiry line has received 3223 calls between 1 March and 11 May 2022
844 - UKVI has not received any money as a result of calls to the MP Enquiry line, including the Ukraine specific option.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many calls have been received by the Homes for Ukraine hotline from hon. Members' offices between 1 March and 11 May 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
842 - The MP enquiry line is an 0345 number which is a local rate number, so calls to this line cost the same as calls to a geographic number and will be dependent on your telephone service provider. UKVI does not charge for calls to this number.
843 - The Ukraine option on the MP enquiry line has received 3223 calls between 1 March and 11 May 2022
844 - UKVI has not received any money as a result of calls to the MP Enquiry line, including the Ukraine specific option.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much it costs per minute to call the hon. Members telephone hotline for UK Visas and Immigration.
Answered by Kevin Foster
842 - The MP enquiry line is an 0345 number which is a local rate number, so calls to this line cost the same as calls to a geographic number and will be dependent on your telephone service provider. UKVI does not charge for calls to this number.
843 - The Ukraine option on the MP enquiry line has received 3223 calls between 1 March and 11 May 2022
844 - UKVI has not received any money as a result of calls to the MP Enquiry line, including the Ukraine specific option.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason there is currently no statutory duty to record gambling as a relevant factor in the determination of a suicide.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government recognises that quality information on the circumstances leading to self-harm and suicide, including issues relating to gambling addiction, can support better interventions. Coroners may be made aware of information about the motivation or contributory factors in a suicide. However, it is likely that any such information collected by coroners would not necessarily be complete or consistent, and therefore not always useful for delivering these interventions.
Expecting coroners routinely to assess the motivation for individual suicides would take the coronial role fundamentally beyond its legal parameters, which are to determine who died, and how, when and where they died. Coroners are not permitted, by law, to appear to determine any question of civil or criminal liability against another person.
However, in addition to the inquest conclusion, coroners have a statutory duty to make a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to a person where an investigation gives rise to a concern that future deaths will occur, and the coroner considers that action should be taken to reduce that risk. PFD reports are about learning and improvements to public health, welfare and safety and could, for example, raise concerns relating to gambling addiction where the circumstances of the individual case give rise to a concern. To promote learning, any PFD report and the responses to it must be sent to the Chief Coroner, who may publish them on the judiciary website.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing coroners to record gambling addiction as a relevant factor to a death by suicide.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government recognises that quality information on the circumstances leading to self-harm and suicide, including issues relating to gambling addiction, can support better interventions. Coroners may be made aware of information about the motivation or contributory factors in a suicide. However, it is likely that any such information collected by coroners would not necessarily be complete or consistent, and therefore not always useful for delivering these interventions.
Expecting coroners routinely to assess the motivation for individual suicides would take the coronial role fundamentally beyond its legal parameters, which are to determine who died, and how, when and where they died. Coroners are not permitted, by law, to appear to determine any question of civil or criminal liability against another person.
However, in addition to the inquest conclusion, coroners have a statutory duty to make a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to a person where an investigation gives rise to a concern that future deaths will occur, and the coroner considers that action should be taken to reduce that risk. PFD reports are about learning and improvements to public health, welfare and safety and could, for example, raise concerns relating to gambling addiction where the circumstances of the individual case give rise to a concern. To promote learning, any PFD report and the responses to it must be sent to the Chief Coroner, who may publish them on the judiciary website.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
If she will make it her policy to introduce a statutory levy on gambling operators to fund services relating to gambling harms.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Review of the Gambling Act called for evidence on how best to recoup the regulatory and societal costs of problem gambling. We will publish a white paper in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has placed sanctions on Russian owned and operated fishing vessels that may have obtained fish quotas or licences to fish within UK waters.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We have not issued licences to fish in British fishery limits to any vessels which fly the Russian flag. We do not believe that any vessels owned or operated by Russian nationals currently fish in UK waters. UK quotas are only allocated for use by British-registered vessels.