Helen Whately MP: written questions
222 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Urgent Treatment CentresDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21339More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure Urgent Treatment Centres remain open.
Answer: No such assessment has been made. Integrated care boards are responsible for the commissioning of local services, including urgent treatment centres and their operational hours.
Answered 7 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordPrimary CareDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21338More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support ICBs that are considering cuts to primary care services.
Answer: Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a delegated responsibility for planning and commissioning healthcare services to meet the reasonable needs of the people for whom they are responsible. ICBs should evaluate the needs of the populations for which they are...
Answered 8 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordPrimary CareDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21337More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to safeguard primary care services.
Answer: Work is already underway to ensure the safeguarding of primary care services. Neighbourhood Health Centres will be trialled to bring together a range of services, ensuring healthcare is provided closer to home. This is part of our broader ambition to move...
Answered 8 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordEmploymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20687More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timeframe is for the 80 per cent employment rate target.
Answer: The trend of economic inactivity is a long-term challenge; the UK is the only country in the G7 with an inactivity rate higher than before the pandemic. We want to raise productivity and improve the quality of work to help more people get into and on in w...
Answered 6 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Fraud and MaladministrationDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20686More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2024 to Question 16391 on Department for Work and Pensions: Fraud and Maladministration, what progress she has made on the (a) recruitment and (b) training of additi
Answer: Funding for 3,000 new roles within the department’s Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt (CFCD) division, allocated in the Government’s Spending Review, will take effect from April 2025. CFCD has also secured an uplift in staffing costs for Q4 of the financ...
Answered 6 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment SchemesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20685More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what measure her Department will use to determine whether devolved authorities have been successful in delivering employment support.
Answer: Within our Get Britain Working reforms, we committed to offering new responsibilities and funding to mayors and local areas in England because local leaders know their communities best. This includes supporting areas in England to produce Get Britain Work...
Answered 8 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18163More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have made a (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful application for Pension Credit in each Parliamentary constituency since 1 April 2024; and how many people are awaiting a decision on their
Answer: Statistics on Pension Credit application volumes were published on 28 November 2024. This includes numbers of applications that were awarded and not awarded, up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UKWe do not c...
Answered 11 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxTreasuryTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17857More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what case studies she has used to calculate the financial impact of proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief.
Answer: The tax base consists of all estates subject to Inheritance Tax that are projected to claim Agricultural Property Relief or Business Property Relief across the scorecard period. The tax base is estimated using HMRC administrative data, and is grown over t...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17856More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the changes to inheritance tax on the financial viability of small family farms in (a) Kent and (b) Faversham and Mid Kent cons
Answer: Assessing the impact of the new Inheritance Tax policy, which comes into force from 6 April 2026, relies on a number of factors such as ownership structure and debt levels. Without such information, which the Government does not hold at that level, area l...
Answered 7 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: KentDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17855More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the economic contribution of farming to (a) Kent and (b) Faversham and Mid Kent constituency.
Answer: In 2023, total income from farming for Kent was £187.76 million. Total income from farming for each of the five Kent ITL3 regions was £5.16 million for Medway; £52.72 million for Kent Thames Gateway; £35.15 million for East Kent; £54.52 million for Mid Ke...
Answered 17 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17854More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an estimate of the number of farmers who will exit the sector as a result of the change to agricultural property relief in the Autumn Budget.
Answer: From 6 April 2026, the full 100% relief from inheritance tax will be restricted to the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property. Above this amount, landowners will access 50% relief from inheritance tax and will pay inheritance tax ...
Answered 17 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: KentTreasuryTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17853More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many farms were subject to inheritance tax in Faversham and Mid Kent constituency in the (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22 financial year.
Answer: Inheritance Tax is a tax on the estate (the property, money and possessions) of someone who’s died. Farmland and farming assets are not the unit of taxation, although some taxpaying estates may contain farmland and farming assets. Information about how ma...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: KentTreasuryTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17852More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to (a) agricultural and (b) business property relief in the Autumn Budget on family-owned farms in (a) Kent and (b) Faversham and Mid Kent constituency
Answer: I refer the Honourable Member to the PQ referenced 12250 published on 11th November 2024 at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-11-01/12250. The Chancellor also recently wrote to the Chair of the Treasury Select Commi...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxTreasuryTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17851More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to help ensure the generational continuity of agricultural businesses.
Answer: The Government is committing the largest ever proportion of the £5 billion farming budget across this year and next to sustainable food production in our history. It is expected that up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief (APR), or APR an...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxTreasuryTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17850More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance she plans to issue to small business farmers who wish to keep an inherited family farm.
Answer: The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms. It is expected that up to around 2...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxTreasuryTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17849More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to agricultural property relief in the Autumn Budget 2024 on the sustainability of domestic food production.
Answer: The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms. It is expected that up to around 2...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordEmployment: Mental IllnessDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17758More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s Get Britain Working White Paper published on 26 November 2024, whether the 140,000 places for Individual Placement and Support for severe mental illness are in ad
Answer: The Government inherited a £22 billion blackhole in the nation’s finances which has required tough choices around spending priorities. Despite this bleak financial backdrop, we were determined to identify the funding required to support local Individual P...
Answered 20 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordGarden Communities: SittingbourneMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17580More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how safeguarding the Best and Most Versatile agricultural land will be taken into account when she considers the Highsted Park development.
Answer: Call-in decisions are inherently about process and not the merits of any given planning application.I refer the hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 26 March 2019 (HCWS1452), and on 26 October 2012, columns 71WS-72WS.All relevant matter...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: LandMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17579More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how the commitment to safeguard the Best and Most Versatile agricultural land is applied to planning decisions.
Answer: This Government places great importance on the value of our agricultural land. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out how the best and most versatile agricultural land should be reflected in planning policies and decisions. The Framework is clear...
Answered 11 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: LandMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17578More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to safeguard the Best and Most Versatile agricultural land.
Answer: This Government places great importance on the value of our agricultural land. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out how the best and most versatile agricultural land should be reflected in planning policies and decisions. The Framework is clear...
Answered 11 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: LandMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17577More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how she plans to report on the effectiveness of her safeguarding of the Best and Most Versatile agricultural land in line with the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answer: This Government places great importance on the value of our agricultural land. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out how the best and most versatile agricultural land should be reflected in planning policies and decisions. The Framework is clear...
Answered 11 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: LandMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17576More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will publish how many hectares of the Best and Most Versatile agricultural land are (a) protected, (b) under consideration for development and (c) approved for consent in
Answer: The information requested is not held by the Department.
Answered 11 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordGarden Communities: SittingbourneMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17575More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason she called in Highsted Park outline planning applications 21/503906/EIOUT and 21/503914/EIOUT.
Answer: Call-in decisions are inherently about process and not the merits of any given planning application.I refer the hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 26 March 2019 (HCWS1452), and on 26 October 2012, columns 71WS-72WS.All relevant matter...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: Planning PermissionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17574More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria she uses to call in planning applications before they are discussed by local councillors.
Answer: Call-in decisions are inherently about process and not the merits of any given planning application.I refer the hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 26 March 2019 (HCWS1452), and on 26 October 2012, columns 71WS-72WS.All relevant matter...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordEmployment Schemes: FinanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17573More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the £240 million funding allocated to her Department in the Autumn Budget 2024 for trialling new ways of getting people back into work on savings
Answer: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 17010 on 5th December 2024, for the details of how we have allocated the £240 million funding across the White Paper measures.We are working with trailblazers to create their local plans and we are ...
Answered 11 Dec 2024
Original Parliament record
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