Tag: Jake Berry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to facilitate customers switching suppliers in consumer markets.

Nick Boles

We are taking action to make it quick and easy to switch suppliers. Last year, we published six switching principles, urging industry to improve their processes.

The Government has challenged the mobile phone operators to unlock handsets for free, and the major operators have committed to doing so.

We are also legislating for easier switching in the communications markets in the Digital Economy Bill.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing in the UK initiatives for people with (a) fibromyalgia and (b) other central sensitivity syndromes similar to those introduced in Spain.

David Mowat

The Department is aware of ongoing clinical trials and research projects which deal with the assessment and treatment of people with fibromyalgia. Whilst the results of the studies in Spain concerning the merits of ophthalmologic tests in diagnosis and fibromyalgia and helping guide disease management are interesting, larger, high quality clinical trials would be needed to demonstrate the efficacy before introducing such initiatives in the United Kingdom.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many applications to buy public owned land for residential development made between 2009 and 2015 were (a) made, (b) granted and (c) developed as set out in those applications.

Brandon Lewis

As part of the Public Sector Land programme between April 2009 and March 2015, a total of 838 central Government-owned sites were sold. The Department does not hold information on the numbers of applications for sale or disposal of central government land, nor the build-out rates for individual sites.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many sites granted planning permissions for residential development in each year from 2009 to 2015 were subsequently developed in accordance with the submitted plan.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not currently hold information centrally on the build-out rate or compliance with permission for individual sites.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many sites were available for residential development in each year from 2009 to 2015.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not hold information centrally on the number of sites that are available for residential development. Local planning authorities are required to identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide five years’ worth of housing against their housing requirements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much it cost his Department to send out winter fuel allowance payments in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

Justin Tomlinson

The information is not readily available and could only be provided at a disproportional cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications by grandparents for permission to apply for a contact order to see their grandchildren were successful in each year since 2010.

Caroline Dinenage

Under the Children Act 1989 the court may make a child arrangements order to determine with whom a child is to live or spend time. Prior to 22nd April 2014 such orders were called contact and residence orders. The Department collates figures on the numbers of applications made by grandparents for child arrangements orders and the figures for such applications since 2010 are shown below.

Number of child arrangement (contact) order applications made by grandparents in England and Wales

Year	Applications by grandparents
2011	2403
2012	2574
2013	2755
2014	1624
2015 – 3 quarters only	1335

Unlike parents, grandparents and other family members can only make an application for a child arrangements orders with the permission of the court. The requirement to apply for the court’s permission is not designed to be an obstacle to grandparents, or other close relatives, but to act as a filter to sift out those applications that are clearly not in the child’s best interests. Experience suggests that grandparents (or other interested relatives) would not usually experience difficulty in obtaining permission where their application is motivated by a genuine concern for the child.

The Department does not collate figures on applications for a child arrangements order where the court’s permission has been sought. This information could only be obtained by manually checking each case file at disproportionate cost. Similarly, the Department does not collate figures centrally on family members named in a child arrangements order. Details of the numbers of child arrangements orders issued specifically for grandparents to see their grandchildren could only be obtained by checking each file at disproportionate cost.