Paula Barker MP: written questions
275 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Winter Fuel PaymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 4 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4270More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the removal of Winter Fuel Payments on pensioners in receipt of attendance allowance.
Answer: Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordQualificationsDepartment for EducationTabled 4 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4269More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will pause the defunding of applied general qualifications scheduled for 2025 and 2026.
Answer: In July 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a short pause to the defunding of qualifications to enable a review of 16-19 qualification reforms at Level 3 and below. This ensured that 95 qualifications set to lose fun...
Answered 19 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordCouncil Tax: Single PeopleMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4045More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of households that receive the single person council tax discount are (a) widows and (b) widows of retirement age.
Answer: The Government does not collect data on the individual characteristics, or benefits received, of residents of households receiving a single person council tax discount.
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordCouncil Tax: Single PeopleMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4044More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the number of households in receipt of the single person council tax discount that are set to lose Winter Fuel Payments.
Answer: The Government does not collect data on the individual characteristics, or benefits received, of residents of households receiving a single person council tax discount.
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordMotorways: SafetyDepartment for TransportTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4043More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the safety of smart motorways.
Answer: Safety on our roads is of the upmost importance and that is why the Government is committed to delivering a new Road Safety Strategy. The last set of safety data published by National Highways shows that, overall, all three types of smart motorway are saf...
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordRailways: FaresDepartment for TransportTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4042More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the cost of rail travel.
Answer: Affordability is one of our six key objectives for rail reform – wherever possible, prices should be kept at a point that works for both passengers and taxpayers. We have just announced a new networkwide Rail Sale that will launch early next year to tie i...
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWinter Fuel PaymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4041More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administrative cost to her Department will be to means-test Winter Fuel payments.
Answer: The department will deliver this year’s winter fuel payments within the existing planned headcount and budget. This is due to linking eligibility to Winter Fuel with existing means tested benefits rather than means testing Winter Fuel separately. In terms...
Answered 12 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWinter Fuel PaymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4040More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the campaign to increase the uptake of Pension Credit on proposed savings from reductions in the Winter Fuel Allowance.
Answer: The Government estimates that linking entitlement to receipt of Pension Credit and other relevant DWP income-related benefits will reduce expenditure by around £1.4 billion in 2024/25 and £1.5bn in 2025/26.The responsibility to make a claim to Pension Cre...
Answered 12 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWinter Fuel PaymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4039More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the proposed saving is from the reduction in the franchise of the Winter Fuel Payment.
Answer: The savings were estimated in Fixing the Foundations as Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) Winter Fuel Payments (WFP) savings of £1.4bn, for 2024/2025, for Great Britain. These included an assumption about increased take-up of Pension Credit which is in l...
Answered 12 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordPension Credit: ExpenditureDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4038More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of all people eligible for Pension Credit claiming it.
Answer: The estimated total cost if all people eligible for Pension Credit claimed is around £7.6 billion, for Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2022, for Great Britain. This has been calculated by adding the benefit expenditure for Pension Credit for 2021/2022 (Pensio...
Answered 12 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordPoverty: ChildrenDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4037More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department consult former Prime Minister Gordon Brown on policies to reduce levels of child poverty.
Answer: Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The Child Poverty Taskforce, co-chaired by the Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, has started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Str...
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordReligious Buildings: SecurityHome OfficeTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3672More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department has provided to protect places of worship for each religion in each of the last five years.
Answer: The Home Office provides protective security for Places of Worship as part of three separate strands. These are the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme and protection for Muslim faith schools (since 2023/24), the Jewish Community Protective Security Gr...
Answered 6 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordEnergy: PricesDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3218More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if his Department will take steps to help households with the cost of energy during winter 2024-25.
Answer: The Government is committed to supporting households with the cost of energy this winter, and we are continuing to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides a £150 rebate off energy bills for eligible low-income households. I have also outlined our ex...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordEnergy: PricesDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3217More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of the potential impact of energy price rises on levels of child poverty.
Answer: The Government has not made an assessment on the impact of energy price rises on child poverty. The latest statistics on fuel poverty in England cover 2023 and can be found in the published Official Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fu...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordEnergy: TaxationTreasuryTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3216More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a windfall tax for energy companies to help support consumers with the cost of energy bills.
Answer: The Energy Profits Levy (EPL) was introduced in May 2022 to tax the extraordinary profits of oil and gas companies operating in the UK and on the UK Continental Shelf. The levy is currently set at a rate of 35%, bringing the overall headline tax rate on u...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWealth: EqualityTreasuryTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3215More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of wealth inequality.
Answer: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes the Gini coefficient for aggregate household wealth, which is a measure of wealth inequality, and this is released every few years using the Wealth and Assets survey. The ONS has published the Gini coeffi...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordHomelessness: Departmental CoordinationMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3214More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what role her Department will have in coordinating a cross-departmental approach to ending homelessness.
Answer: Homelessness levels have sky-rocketed, and we must deliver long-term solutions. The Government will look at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country, to get us on back on ...
Answered 8 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordTemporary Accommodation: ChildrenDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3213More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty task force will consider the number of homeless children residing in temporary accommodation.
Answer: As set out in its Terms of Reference published on 14th August, the Child Poverty Taskforce will ensure combined action across government departments, exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions to reduce child poverty. The ...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordChild Poverty TaskforceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3212More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty taskforce plans to hold discussions with homelessness organisations.
Answer: As set out in its Terms of Reference published on 14th August, the Child Poverty Taskforce will ensure combined action across government departments, exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions to reduce child poverty. The ...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordShingles: VaccinationDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3211More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure people aged between 65 and 70 who turned 65 before 1 September 2023 can access the shingles vaccine.
Answer: When a vaccination programme is expanded, decisions must be made regarding who to offer the vaccine to first. These decisions are based on advice given by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), and includes evidence of the impact of t...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordRugby: FinanceDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3210More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department provides to support the growth of grassroots rugby league.
Answer: The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordSports: ChildrenDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3209More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure children from deprived backgrounds can participate in sport.
Answer: The Government believes that every child - no matter their background or ability - should have the opportunity to play sport and be physically active.We provide the majority of our funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England ...
Answered 11 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' Release: HomelessnessMinistry of JusticeTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3208More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure prisoners do not become homeless upon release.
Answer: His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service delivers a transitional accommodation service, known as the Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS3), which offers prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness on rel...
Answered 5 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWinter Fuel Payment: GrandparentsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3207More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of proposed changes to the Winter Fuel Payment on households where grandparents are the primary care givers to their grandchildren.
Answer: This Government is committed to pensioners – everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement. Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the governme...
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordHousehold Support FundDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 30 Aug 2024AnsweredUIN 3206More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the (a) Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) Local Government Association on future funding for the Household Support Fund.
Answer: The Government has announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. An additional £500 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF, including funding for the Devo...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament record
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