Sarah Olney MP: written questions 2024
54 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Disability Living Allowance: StandardsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9515More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the rate of disability living allowance claims processed dropped between (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2023-24.
Answer: DWP has seen a substantial increase in claims for Disability Living Allowance (Children) since Covid-19, and this upward trajectory continues. This has resulted in increased pressures on early years services for children with additional needs and neurodiv...
Answered 24 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordRiver Thames: ReservoirsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 14 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8844More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the Environment Agency’s modelling of the average (a) daily and (b) monthly percentage of (i) usable and (ii) deployable capacity in each of the (A) Lower Lee Group
Answer: The Environment Agency (EA) does not model how resilient water company owned supply systems are to drought. It is the responsibility of the water companies to ensure that their systems can deliver secure water supplies for customers whilst ensuring they m...
Answered 22 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordRiver Thames: ReadingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 14 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8843More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the Environment Agency’s modelling of average (a) daily and (b) monthly volumetric river flow rates for each gauging station on the Thames from Reading to Kingston f
Answer: The Environment Agency (EA) does not model flow at gauging stations using drought event return periods. The modelling of flow under a range of climate scenarios is carried out as part of planning by water companies to assess how resilient their supply sys...
Answered 22 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8188More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait for a pension credit application to be approved was in each year since 2015.
Answer: The Department does not hold information on the annual average waiting time for Pension Credit and cannot provide the figures requested. The Department does publish our annual performance against a 50 working day clearance rate for Pension Credit in the D...
Answered 16 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8187More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the average waiting time between a pension credit application and a decision by the Department.
Answer: The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts on 22nd July 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts...
Answered 16 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8186More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 29 July 2024 on Public Spending: Inheritance, Official Report, column 1033, how many people have applied for pension credit
Answer: We have recently published Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which provides the number of Pension Credit claims received by the department.
Answered 16 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8185More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are waiting to be assessed for pension credit.
Answer: The total outstanding Pension Credit claims as at the end of week commencing 30th September 2024 is 77,703. This includes 8,245 advanced claims where the application can be started up to 4 months before reaching State Pension age. The Department is signif...
Answered 28 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordParliamentary Estate: SecurityHouse of Commons CommissionTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8184More
Question: To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will publish a list of (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers who have a parliamentary pass.
Answer: We are unable to provide this information, as the pass issuing system does not categorise passholders in this way. Special advisers are not a specific category of passholder, and therefore this information could not easily be obtained from the pass data s...
Answered 17 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordParliamentary Estate: SecurityHouse of Commons CommissionTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8183More
Question: To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will publish a list of special advisers who have had a parliamentary pass in each of the last five financial years.
Answer: We are unable to provide this information, as the pass issuing system does not categorise passholders in this way. Special advisers are not a specific category of passholder, and therefore this information could not easily be obtained from the pass data s...
Answered 17 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordParliamentary Estate: SecurityHouse of Commons CommissionTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8182More
Question: To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many parliamentary passes were (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last five financial years.
Answer: The database is a live pass issuing system and does not retain full historical information as data is only retained for three years or less depending on the pass category, so is continually being deleted in line with our records retention policy. The foll...
Answered 17 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordParliamentary Estate: SecurityHouse of Commons CommissionTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8181More
Question: To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many parliamentary passes were not returned following the conclusion of the holder's employment in each of the last five financial years.
Answer: The database is a live pass issuing system and does not retain full historical information as data is only retained for three years or less depending on the pass category, so is continually being deleted in line with our records retention policy.The vast ...
Answered 17 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordParliamentary Estate: SecurityHouse of Commons CommissionTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8180More
Question: To ask the hon. Member representing the House of Commons Commission, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many holders of each pass type have access to the parliamentary estate.
Answer: The number of passes on issue changes constantly, so the following represents a snapshot of data recorded on 10 October 2024:MPs: 648Peers: 832MPs’ staff: 1,589Peers’ staff: 333Staff of the Administrations - House of Commons, House of Lords, and Parliamen...
Answered 17 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPharmacy: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 4 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 6369More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the funding for pharmacy services under the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care was spent on administration fees since May 2023.
Answer: The Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, announced in May 2023, announced an allocation up to £645 million up until March 2024. This supported the launch of Pharmacy First as well as the expansion of the Blood Pressure Checking service and...
Answered 24 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPharmacy: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 4 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 6368More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to pharmacy services as part of the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care since May 2023.
Answer: The Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, announced in May 2023, announced an allocation up to £645 million up until March 2024. This supported the launch of Pharmacy First as well as the expansion of the Blood Pressure Checking service and...
Answered 24 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordRiver Thames: ReservoirsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5077More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the expected reservoir levels for each Lower Thames reservoir for drought events (a) 1:100 years, (b) 1:200 years and (c) 1:500 years.
Answer: Public water supply reservoirs are the responsibility of the water companies. The Government has not made such estimates; however we are committed to improving water resilience and we are closely monitoring the delivery of their water resources management...
Answered 20 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordRiver Thames: ReadingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5076More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of volumetric river flow rates corresponding to the locations of each gauging station on the Thames from Reading to Kingston.
Answer: The Environment Agency operates six river flow gauging stations on the River Thames between Reading and Kingston. These are located at Reading, Maidenhead, Windsor, Staines, Walton and Kingston. The recent daily mean flow at these sites on 11 September 20...
Answered 17 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordHammersmith Bridge: Repairs and MaintenanceDepartment for TransportTabled 9 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4754More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish the memorandum of understanding between (a) her Department, (b) Transport for London and (c) the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on the cost of the Hammersmith Bridge repairs.
Answer: A Memorandum of Understanding on the split of responsibilities for the repair of Hammersmith Bridge was drafted but not agreed in 2021. However, the Department has continued to work productively with both LBHF and TfL and has contributed almost £13m towar...
Answered 17 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordHammersmith BridgeDepartment for TransportTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4012More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an estimate of the potential cost to the public purse of replacing Hammersmith Bridge with a new structure.
Answer: Hammersmith Bridge is protected by Historic England. It is a Grade II Listed heritage asset, as it is a 'particularly important' national structure of 'more than special interest'. The Department has not made any estimates of the cost of replacing the str...
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordHammersmith Bridge: Repairs and MaintenanceDepartment for TransportTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4011More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to fund one third of the cost of the Hammersmith Bridge strengthening works.
Answer: The Department will be exploring funding options for a suite of transport related projects at the Spring Spending Review, including the Hammersmith Bridge strengthening works.
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWater Abstraction: TeddingtonDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4010More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with Thames Water on the definition of best value in the context of the Teddington DRA and Water Resource Management plan.
Answer: The Teddington Direct River Abstraction scheme has been selected by Thames Water in its Water Resources Management Plan from one of 2,400 options modelled at a regional level, by Water Resources South East. The options were put through an options appraisa...
Answered 16 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWater Abstraction: TeddingtonDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 2 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 3763More
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 Teddington Direct River Abstraction project on water quality in its vicinity; and if he will take steps to ensure the adequ
Answer: Teddington Direct River Abstraction (DRA) is a water recycling scheme considered in Thames Water’s draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024 (dWRMP24) and Water Resources South East’s (WRSE) Regional Plan as a supply option for 2030/31. The Environment A...
Answered 20 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWater TreatmentDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 2 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 3762More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing of mandatory quaternary water treatment of wastewater.
Answer: Defra currently has no plans to introduce and make quaternary treatment mandatory for domestic wastewater treatment. Where it is deemed necessary as an additional wastewater treatment process, costs and benefits will be assessed, and stakeholder consultat...
Answered 10 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordRoyal Engineers: Development Aid and Peacekeeping OperationsMinistry of DefenceTabled 2 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 3761More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Royal Engineers have helped to construct road bridges in (a) aid and (b) peacekeeping missions.
Answer: The Corps of Royal Engineers primarily builds temporary bridges that enable military road traffic to cross dry and wet gaps during operational deployments. The Corps of Royal Engineers has not recently helped to construct road bridges in aid or peacekeepi...
Answered 10 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordAviation: NoiseDepartment for TransportTabled 2 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 3760More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the status is of the Aviation Night Noise Effects (ANNE) study, funded by her Department.
Answer: The Aviation Night Noise Effects (ANNE) study is a current study examining the relationship of aviation noise on sleep disturbance and annoyance, and how this varies by different times of night. The study is funded by the Department for Transport and is a...
Answered 10 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordHeathrow AirportDepartment for TransportTabled 2 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 3759More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential (a) economic, (b) environmental and (c) health impact of a third runway at Heathrow.
Answer: An Appraisal of Sustainability and economic assessment were conducted before the Airports National Policy Statement was voted on by Parliament and designated in 2018.https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/heathrow-airport-expansion#appraisal-of-sustain...
Answered 10 Sept 2024
Original Parliament record
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