Every parliamentary written question tabled by Melanie Ward this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 61–77 of 77 · this parliament
How many women claimed statutory (a) maternity pay and (b) maternity allowance in Scotland in each of the last five years.
Statutory Maternity Pay is delivered through HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), rather than the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Figures provided by HMRC on the number of new claims for Statutory Maternity Pay in Scotland in each financial year from 20...
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the possibility of arms supplied from the UK to Israel being used to be used to (a) commit and (b) facilitate serious violations of Inter
The UK's robust export licensing criteria state that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law. Following the Government...
Pursuant to the Answer of 30 July 2024 to Question 1887 on Tax Avoidance, when she plans to provide an update on her policy on the loan charge.
I know that the loan charge is an extremely important issue for many members and their constituents. I have met with campaigners to discuss the loan charge, and the Chancellor and I are considering this matter further. We will provide an update in due cou...
What steps he is taking to tackle the national supply shortage of Methylphenidate.
The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. Information is not collected on a local level.The Department has been working hard with industry and NHS England to ...
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to develop a new national strategy on atrocity prevention
The FCDO supports a comprehensive approach to mass atrocity prevention. However, we have no plans to develop a new national strategy at this time. Since 2022, the FCDO's conflict directorate has been strengthening monitoring capabilities to identify and e...
How much was spent on maternity pay in Scotland in each of the last five years.
Outturn for Maternity Pay consists of both Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance, and is published by country in the Expenditure by country and region tables, last updated following Autumn Statement 2023. Outturn for Scotland in the last five ye...
Whether NHS hospitals are required to record the number of occasions on which instrumental delivery of a baby creates lasting health problems for the mother.
The Department recognises the significant physical and psychological consequences of birth trauma and the devastating impact this has on women. The Government remains fully committed to improving the quality and consistency of care for women throughout pr...
Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to commission a lessons learned review with local authorities following the late arrival of postal votes in the 2024 General Election.
The Electoral Commission is the independent electoral regulator and will be reporting on the administration of the May elections and the recent General Election. This will include the proportion of individuals turned away for lack of accepted identification. We anticipate publication of their initial findings on voter ID later this month and their full election report later in the year. In line with our manifesto commitments, we will carefully review the voter ID rules and evaluate how they impacted citizens during the General Election before bringing forward firm proposals for reform in due course. This will of course include full consideration of the Electoral Commission’s findings. With regard to postal voting at the 2024 General Election, I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 199 on 26 July 2024.
If she will undertake a review of the Child Maintenance Service.
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. The consultation includes exploration of removing Direct Pay and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster. The consultation also explores how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported.The Government extended the consultation to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place, we will then consider the next steps for CMS.
Communities and Local Government, whether the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will continue after March 2025.
The Government is committed to delivering economic growth across the country and is considering how to best fund long-term local funding in line with wider fiscal and economic priorities.Post-March 2025 funding is a decision for the Budget.
Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the future of the Shared Prosperity Fund.
I regularly talk to the Chancellor and her team to discuss many aspects of funding, across all the departments’ business and my officials work closely with those in the Treasury. The future of any departmental programme will be agreed as part of the budget and next fiscal event in light of those discussions.The Government is committed to delivering economic growth across the country, and is considering how to best fund long-term local funding in line with wider fiscal and economic priorities.
Whether she plans to take steps to agree a reciprocal arrangement for (a) pilot and (b) engineer licenses with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
This Government is committed to resetting the relationship and seeking to deepen ties with our European friends, neighbours and allies. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) allows for potential cooperation on aviation safety in a number of areas, including on personnel licencing. The UK will continue to seek expansions in the aviation safety chapter of the TCA where appropriate.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many British-registered charities working in Gaza have experienced (a) staff or volunteers being (i) killed and (ii) injured and (b) buildings or other infrastructure being destroyed or damaged in Gaza in the last 10 months; and how many (A) staff have been (1) killed and (2) injured and (B) incidents there have been of buildings being destroyed or damaged in Gaza in the last 10 months, by each registered charity.
The UK Government does not hold this data directly. However, we are extremely concerned about the number of casualties amongst the humanitarian sector community, including our own UK nationals. International Humanitarian Law provides for the protection of non-combatants. Whilst in Israel, the Foreign Secretary pressed Prime Minister Netanyahu to implement improved deconfliction processes to protect aid workers. I will continue to raise with my Israeli counterparts the incidents that affect the delivery of vital humanitarian work.Israel must take concrete steps to protect civilians and aid workers in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. This includes deconfliction between military and humanitarian operations, and supporting the minimum operating requirements of the UN agencies. The World Central Kitchen (WCK) deaths on 2 April, including the death of three British Nationals, were an appalling example of Israel's failure to provide an effective deconfliction mechanism to keep humanitarian operations safe from military operations.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish risk assessments of the likelihood of atrocity crimes being committed in Gaza and the West Bank that his Department has made in the last 10 months.
It is our policy that any FCDO monitoring and assessment of atrocity risks is confidential and therefore we have no plans to publish. However, we continue to monitor risks closely and will continue to update the House on the ongoing situation in Gaza. We do not have access to the advice provided to the previous Government.
What proportion of households spent more than 10 percent of their household income on energy bills in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency in each of the last 10 years.
DESNZ has responsibility for the measurement of fuel poverty in England. The latestestimates of fuel poverty in England are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics Fuel poverty is a devolved matter and different metrics of fuel poverty are used in the Devolved Administrations.
How many people were living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency in each of the last 10 years.
Statistics for the total number of people living in relative and absolute poverty are not available at a constituency level. Statistics on the total number of people in living in relative and absolute poverty both before and after housing costs at regional level are published annually in the Households Below Average Income statistics Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty per constituency are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication and can be found in tabs “5_Relative_ParlC” and “6_Absolute_ParlC”. These are only produced on a before housing cost basis. A link to these statistics can be found here: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
What the average disposable income was in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency in each of the last 10 years.
The Department for Work and Pensions produces household income statistics on both a before housing costs and after housing costs basis, published in its Households Below Average Income publication. However, these are not available at constituency level: Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) The Office for National Statistics produces household disposable income statistics. However, these are also not available at constituency level. The latest regional gross disposable household income statistics can be found here: Regional gross disposable household income, UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)