James McMurdock MP: written questions 2024
224 published records · newest first.
Written questions
HomelessnessMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18341More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support people who do not qualify for council funding and are (a) homeless and (b) at risk of homelessness.
Answer: Homelessness legislation includes eligibility criteria, consideration of vulnerability and whether someone is intentionally homeless to ensure that resources, including temporary accommodation and access to settled housing, are prioritised effectively and...
Answered 13 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordLondon, Tilbury and Southend Line: TicketsDepartment for TransportTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18340More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of her planned ticket pricing policies on (a) affordability and (b) ridership for passengers using the C2C train routes in the period after its re
Answer: Most regulated rail fares will increase by 4.6% on 2 March 2025. This will be the lowest absolute increase in three years and delivers a fair balance between taxpayers and passengers. This increase will support the Government’s long-term plans to achieve ...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordLondon, Tilbury and Southend Line: StandardsDepartment for TransportTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18339More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) establish and (b) monitor (i) customer service and (ii) other performance standards on the C2C train routes when they are under public ownership.
Answer: c2c services are being brought into public ownership, with the date for transfer scheduled for July 2025. The Annual Business Planning round for 25/26 is currently underway and customer service and other performance standards will be agreed in due course....
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordLondon, Tilbury and Southend Line: Railway StationsDepartment for TransportTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18338More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has allocated funding for step-free access improvements at stations on C2C routes.
Answer: This government is committed to improving the accessibility of Britain’s railway and recognise the social and economic benefits this brings to communities. Since its launch in 2006, the Access for All programme has delivered step free upgrades at more tha...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordLondon, Tilbury and Southend Line: FinanceDepartment for TransportTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18337More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of planned funding for (a) services and (b) infrastructure on C2C train routes in the period following its re-nationalisation.
Answer: c2c services are being brought into public ownership, with the date for transfer scheduled for July 2025. The Annual Business Planning round for 25/26 is currently underway where the adequacy of funding for c2c will be considered. Network Rail’s funding f...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordLow IncomesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18095More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to increase the level of financial support for low-income families with more than two children.
Answer: Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, and the Child Poverty Taskforce has started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. We published our framework ‘Tackling C...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordPoverty: ChildrenDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18094More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help tackle child poverty.
Answer: Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, and the Child Poverty Taskforce has started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. We published our framework ‘Tackling C...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordEducation: AccessDepartment for EducationTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18093More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children from low-income families have the same level of access to (a) high-quality education and (b) a range of options for schools as those from higher-incom
Answer: Too often opportunity for children and young people is defined by their background. The Opportunity Mission will break the link between young people’s background and their success, ensuring family security and providing the best start in life, with all ch...
Answered 12 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSlavery: Victim Support SchemesHome OfficeTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18092More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the support services available to victims of modern slavery; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure these services are (a) accessible and (b)
Answer: The UK Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery, holding perpetrators to account, and ensuring that victims are supported to recover and rebuild their lives.Long-term reform will focus on driving up prosecutions and convictions and ...
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSlaveryHome OfficeTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18091More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of its policies on tackling modern slavery.
Answer: The UK Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery, holding perpetrators to account, and ensuring that victims are supported to recover and rebuild their lives.Long-term reform will focus on driving up prosecutions and convictions and ...
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordHuman Trafficking and SlaveryHome OfficeTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18090More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on tackling (a) human trafficking and (b) modern slavery across borders.
Answer: The UK Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery, holding perpetrators to account, and ensuring that victims are supported to recover and rebuild their lives.Long-term reform will focus on driving up prosecutions and convictions and ...
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSlaveryHome OfficeTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18089More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure law enforcement agencies are equipped with the necessary (a) training and (b) resources to (i) identify and (ii) tackle modern slavery cases effectively.
Answer: The UK Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery, holding perpetrators to account, and ensuring that victims are supported to recover and rebuild their lives.Long-term reform will focus on driving up prosecutions and convictions and ...
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSlavery: Supply ChainsHome OfficeTabled 4 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18088More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to stop modern slavery practices within supply chains (a) domestically and (b) internationally.
Answer: The UK Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery, holding perpetrators to account, and ensuring that victims are supported to recover and rebuild their lives.Long-term reform will focus on driving up prosecutions and convictions and ...
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordCoronavirus: VaccinationDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17757More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of (a) adverse events and (b) rare side effects reported after receiving a covid-19 vaccine.
Answer: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for monitoring all authorised medicines and vaccines in the United Kingdom, including COVID-19 vaccines, on an ongoing basis, to ensure their benefits continue to outweigh any risks. T...
Answered 9 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordUndocumented MigrantsHome OfficeTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17756More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities that are facing challenges in managing people who have entered the UK illegally.
Answer: The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered. The Home Office is committed to working collaboratively with local authoriti...
Answered 11 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordBusiness and Consumers: StampsDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17755More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of proposed increases in stamp prices on (a) consumers and (b) businesses.
Answer: The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s commercial decisions, including the prices of stamps and other services. In setting its prices, Royal Mail must observe the regulatory framework set by Ofcom which imposes price controls, ‘safeguard caps...
Answered 5 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Bank ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16703More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how data collected from benefit claimants’ bank accounts will be used to inform decisions about (a) fraud, (b) eligibility and (c) compliance.
Answer: Fraud and error in the social security system currently costs the taxpayer almost £10 billion a year and, since the pandemic, a total of £35 billion of taxpayers’ money has been incorrectly paid to those not entitled. We are determined to reduce those lev...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Bank ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16702More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure the safe storage of data collected from benefit claimants’ bank accounts.
Answer: The Eligibility Verification Measure (EVM) in the proposed Fraud, Error and Debt Bill will require banks and financial institutions to look within their own data to highlight where someone may not be eligible for the benefits they are receiving. Banks wil...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Bank ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16617More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what types of data would be collected from benefit claimants’ bank accounts under the proposed policy.
Answer: The Eligibility Verification Measure (EVM) in the proposed Fraud, Error and Debt Bill will require banks and financial institutions to look within their own data to highlight where someone may not be eligible for the benefits they are receiving. Banks wil...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Bank ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16616More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to conduct a public consultation on the proposed powers for her Department's investigators to scrutinise benefit claimants’ bank accounts.
Answer: Fraud and error in the social security system currently costs the taxpayer almost £10 billion a year and, since the pandemic, a total of £35 billion of taxpayers’ money has been incorrectly paid to those not entitled to the money. This Government will red...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Fraud and MaladministrationDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16615More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of alternative methods to reduce fraud and error in the benefits system that would not involve granting her Department's investigators acc
Answer: Fraud and error in the social security system currently costs the taxpayer almost £10 billion a year and, since the pandemic, a total of £35 billion of taxpayers’ money has been incorrectly paid to those not entitled to the money. This Government will red...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Bank ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16614More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to allow benefit claimants to challenge or appeal decisions made based on scrutiny of their bank accounts.
Answer: Fraud and error in the social security system currently costs the taxpayer almost £10 billion a year and, since the pandemic, a total of £35 billion of taxpayers’ money has been incorrectly paid to those not entitled. We are determined to reduce those lev...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16613More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Fraud, Error and Debt Bill on the (a) mental health and (b) wellbeing of (i) benefit claimants with (A) disabilities and (B) long-t
Answer: Safeguarding vulnerable claimants is always a priority. All the powers included in the Fraud, Error and Debt Bill will include strong safeguards to ensure they are only used appropriately and proportionately – including new independent oversight and repor...
Answered 5 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Bank ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16612More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the compatibility of plans to access to benefit claimants' bank accounts with existing (a) data protection restrictions and (b) human rights privacy rights.
Answer: The Eligibility Verification Measure will not give DWP access to any bank accounts, nor any information as to what claimants spend their money on. The proposed new power instead helps verify benefit eligibility, using very limited information from banks a...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Bank ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 27 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16611More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to monitor the use of powers granting her Department's investigators access to benefit claimants’ bank accounts.
Answer: Fraud and error in the social security system currently costs the taxpayer almost £10 billion a year and, since the pandemic, a total of £35 billion of taxpayers’ money has been incorrectly paid to those not entitled. We are determined to reduce those lev...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament record
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