Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil servants are assigned to process indefinite leave to remain applications made using the (a) priority service and (b) super priority service.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of civil servants processing Indefinite Leave to Remain applications, including priority and super priority applications, is forecast in advance, based on anticipated intake levels. However, the actual number of civil servants assigned to this work at any one time will vary as we actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many indefinite leave to remain applicants have used the (a) priority service and (b) super priority service in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on the number of indefinite leave to remain applications, in the Migration transparency data, in table VSI_02 of the Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil servants are assigned to process indefinite leave to remain applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of civil servants processing Indefinite Leave to Remain applications, including priority and super priority applications, is forecast in advance, based on anticipated intake levels. However, the actual number of civil servants assigned to this work at any one time will vary as we actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to respond to Question 9354 tabled by the hon. Member for Gower on 12 January 2024 on Horizon IT System.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
A response was published on 7 February. The Department apologises for the delay in publishing this response.Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time is for hon. Members to receive a response from His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service on casework queries.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In the period January – June 2023, HMCTS issued 74% of responses to honourable Members’ casework queries within 15 working days. 91.5% were responded to within 20 working days.
Published data is available on Gov.uk - Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Post Office on replacing the Horizon system.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT Ministers and officials engage regularly with Post Office Ltd on a range of strategically important issues, including the company’s IT platform.
The Government is supportive of Post Office’s plans to replace Horizon with a modern, fit for purpose New Branch IT system. In December 2023, I announced the award of an additional £103m to support Post Office Limited to meet its IT costs in the 2023/34 and 2024/25 financial years.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to tackle medicine shortages.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are around 14,000 licensed medicines and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global, meaning there can sometimes be supply issues which affect the United Kingdom, along with other countries around the world.
Medicine supply problems can occur for several reasons such as manufacturing difficulties, regulatory non-compliance, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues.
While it is not always possible to prevent supply issues from occurring, there is a team within the Department that has a range of well-established tools and processes to manage them when they arise, working closely with the pharmaceutical industry, the National Health Service, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and others operating in the supply chain to help mitigate the risks to patients.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the level of ATM interchange fees in the context of trends in the level of the cost of (a) labour and (b) the distribution of non-branch ATMs.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach: FCA Access to Cash Consultation
Decisions regarding the funding arrangements of an ATM network are taken by the parties involved. LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the list of medical conditions which meet the criteria for a medical exemption certificate.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Approximately 89% of prescriptions are dispensed free of charge. People on a low income who do not qualify for an exemption from prescription charges can seek help under the NHS Low Income Scheme, which provides help with health costs on an income-related basis. For those who do not qualify for an exemption, prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) allow people to obtain as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost. A three-monthly PPC or an annual PPC will save people money if they need four or more items in three months or 12 or more items in 12 months.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to support park home residents with energy costs.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Last winter, the Government delivered the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding and the Alternative Fuel Payment Alternative Fund which many park homes were eligible for, delivering over £20 million in support to park home households. The Government is continuing to support those who need it the most, with millions of vulnerable and low-income households receiving £900 in further cost of living payments, including £150 to those on eligible disability benefits. This in addition to established support for vulnerable households such as the Winter Fuel Payment worth between £250 - £600.