To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Domestic Abuse and Gender Based Violence
Thursday 3rd March 2022

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to their publication Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England, published on 23 December 2021, what engagement the Department for Health and Social Care has had with (1) survivors of domestic abuse, (2) support groups for victims of domestic abuse, and (3) representatives of organisations campaigning to end violence against women and girls.

Answered by Lord Kamall

The Call for Evidence, which informs the priorities, content and actions of the Women’s Health Strategy for England was open for 14 weeks. Organisations and individuals were invited to contribute, including those supporting the victims of domestic abuse and with lived experience. Since publication, we have continued to engage with representatives from the sector.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the number of independent pharmacies that are able to offer COVID-19 vaccination on-site; and what steps they are taking to ensure that such pharmacies (1) receive delivery of, and (2) can administer, COVID-19 vaccinations, promptly.

Answered by Lord Bethell

Since 14 January 2021, over 100 community pharmacies, including some independent pharmacies, have started to offer the COVID-19 vaccination service, with more pharmacies joining over the coming months.

Community pharmacies in England, who are or will be providing the COVID-19 vaccination service are required to deliver 1,000 vaccines per week and to achieve this they are supported in the form of training, funding for the service and non-monetary support, including delivery of vaccines, consumables, personal protective equipment and other equipment to operate the site.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with all the national pharmacy organisations on plans to ensure that community pharmacies, including independent pharmacies, are used to optimal effect in the COVID-19 vaccination programme, starting with the sites that can do this at scale.


Written Question
Social Media: Racial Harassment
Monday 15th February 2021

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that social media companies address the racist abuse of footballers.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Culture Secretary and Sports Minister recently led a roundtable discussion with current and former players from the Premier League, English Football League (EFL), Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Championship, which discussed online racist abuse and players’ perspectives on tackling discrimination in the game.

We are clear that the online racist abuse of football players is unacceptable. We must do all we can to tackle it. We are taking steps through the online harms regulatory framework to ensure that online abuse, whether anonymous or not, is addressed. Under a new legal duty of care, companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content, including illegal online abuse. All companies will need to take swift and effective action against such content.

Companies providing high-risk, high-reach services will also need to undertake regular risk assessments to identify legal but harmful material on their services. These companies will need to set clear terms and conditions which explicitly state what categories of legal but harmful material they accept (and do not accept) on their service. Companies will need to enforce these terms and conditions consistently and transparently and could face enforcement action if they do not. The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the regulatory framework, will be ready this year.


Written Question
Teachers: Coronavirus
Monday 1st February 2021

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that teachers are prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Answered by Baroness Berridge

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the government on which vaccine/s the UK should use and provide advice on who should be offered them. The JCVI advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems, and as the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age. This prioritisation captures almost all preventable deaths from COVID-19. In the next phase of the vaccine rollout, the JCVI have asked that the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other Government departments. The department is working with DHSC and Public Health England to ensure that the education and childcare workforce is considered for prioritisation in the roll out of the vaccine.


Written Question
Credit: Coronavirus
Tuesday 30th June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that consumers’ future ability to access credit is not adversely impacted by any payment holidays taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

The Government recognises the important role payment holidays play in providing temporary support to consumers through this period and continues to work closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to support consumers facing financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Lenders must act responsibly when deciding whether and how much credit to issue. This includes assessing consumers’ ability to repay. The information on a consumer’s credit file is an important part of this assessment. FCA guidance makes clear that, during a payment holiday, accounts should be recorded to ensure the consumers’ current credit data position is maintained or frozen for the duration of the payment holiday period. The Government expects that this should not impact on a consumer’s credit file.

Consumers should speak to their lender about their options when coming to the end of their payment holiday.


Written Question
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Maternity Leave
Tuesday 23rd June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to carry out an equality impact assessment of women who are on maternity leave and using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

The Government has taken various steps in developing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help ensure women are not disadvantaged.

Employers can claim through the CJRS for enhanced (earnings related) contractual pay for employees who qualify for either maternity pay, adoption pay, paternity pay, or shared parental pay. Parents who have been furloughed whose period of family-related statutory pay begins on or after 25 April 2020 will have their entitlement calculated on the basis of their usual earnings, and not their furloughed wages. The amount that an employee receives in pay should not be affected due to being on furlough during the relevant 8-week period used to determine entitlement to family-related statutory payments and the earnings-related rates of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance.

In addition, the Government has ensured that women returning from maternity leave after 10 June are able to access the CJRS even if they have not been previously furloughed.

Detailed information is available in the online guidance.


Written Question
Immigration Controls: Coronavirus
Tuesday 5th May 2020

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce COVID-19 health checks and quarantine measures at the borders and entry points for people travelling to the UK; and if not, why not. [T]

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Our approach to tackling coronavirus is driven by the latest scientific and medical advice. In line with that advice to date, no changes have been required at the UK border.

Any decision to implement additional restrictions on international travel to the UK or on arrival at ports/airports will be made based on the consideration and advice of SAGE/Public Health England.

We will continuously review the most appropriate response at the UK border to the changing situation in relation to CV-19, both in the UK and across the international community

To date medical and scientific advice is that screening at the border, particularly given the current low passenger volumes and CV-19 levels within the UK, would make no material impact. There are also significant challenges with thermal screening including:

  • Low likelihood of identifying individuals with COVID-19 given the incubation period can be anywhere between 2 and 14 days;
  • High probability of identifying false positives or those with other conditions who will need clinical assessments to ascertain they have Covid-19; and
  • Easy to circumvent: by taking fever-suppressing drugs.
  • There are similar concerns with clinical screening.

Written Question
Assistance Animals
Wednesday 5th February 2020

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the Equality Act 2010 to give the same rights to owners of emotional support animals as those who own certified assistance animals.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments for their disabled users and customers so that they are not disadvantaged compared with people who are not disabled. This requirement includes permitting access to assistance dogs where reasonable. If a person meets the Act’s definition of disability and has an emotional support animal to help them manage that disability, they should ask the service provider to consider allowing access to the animal.

Other than in relation to taxis, the Equality Act does not refer to assistance dogs or any other specific form of support or facility for disabled people, because each reasonable adjustment must be considered on its merits and in the context of the particular circumstances of the case. We therefore have no plans to include emotional support dogs in the Act, as this would be at odds with the basic and long-standing basis of the legislation.


Written Question
Apprentices
Tuesday 4th February 2020

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) year-on-year fall in the number of apprenticeships started by young people, and (2) the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Levy.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

Our reforms to apprenticeships have fundamentally changed what apprenticeships are and the long-term opportunities they provide for people of all ages and backgrounds.

The tables below show apprenticeships starts, by age, from 2015/16 to 2018/19, including the percentage change from 2015/16 to 2018/19 and the breakdown of frameworks and standards.

Age range

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

Percentage change 2015/16 – 2018/19

Under 19

131,400

122,800

106,600

97,700

-26%

19 to 24

153,900

142,200

113,700

116,000

-25%

25+

224,100

229,900

155,500

179,700

-20%

Total

509,400

494,900

375,800

393,400

-23%

Type of apprenticeship

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

Frameworks

505,100

470,300

212,100

145,300

Standards

4,300

24,600

163,700

248,100

The number of people starting apprenticeships has fallen across all age groups. A key reason for this is that we are moving away from old apprenticeship frameworks which employers said were not equipping apprentices to do the job; training was often poor or non-existent. As more standards have become available each year, the number of apprentices of all ages starting on standards has increased.

Employers are now in the driving seat, designing apprenticeship standards to give apprentices the skills that industry really needs. Over 63% of starts in 2018/19 were on standards, compared to 44% in 2017/18, and all starts will be on high quality standards from August 2020.

To promote apprenticeships to younger people, we launched the third phase of our apprenticeships marketing campaign, Fire it Up, in January. The campaign shines a spotlight on how apprenticeships can provide opportunities for ambitious young people and support businesses to diversify their workforce. Our annual National Apprenticeship Week will take place in February and celebrate the impact of apprenticeships on individuals, employers and the economy.

In 2019, we engaged with over 16,500 students in years 10 to 13, and 2,000 schools and colleges used the Apprenticeship Activity Pack for students. Throughout the year, our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme ensures that schools and colleges across England have free support to develop apprenticeship awareness activities.

The apprenticeship levy underpins our reforms to increase the quality of training and to support employers of all sizes to make a sustainable investment in the skills they need to grow.

We have already made changes to the levy in response to our engagement with employers. In April 2019, we raised the cap on transfers to 25%. We have already seen employers making use of transfers to support apprenticeship starts in their supply chains or to meet local skills needs.

In January, we extended the use of transfers to cover the full cost of training for 16 to 18-year-olds, eligible 19 to 24-year-olds and for receiving employers with fewer than 50 employees, creating opportunities for organisations who may have previously felt that employing an apprentice was beyond their reach. We are committed to continuing to look at how we can improve the working of the levy to ensure it delivers the skilled workforce that employers need.


Written Question
Internet: Harassment
Wednesday 23rd October 2019

Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to stop online (1) trolling, (2) harassment, and (3) cyberbullying; and what measures are in place to protect victims of such abuse.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. The duty of care will ensure companies have appropriate systems and processes in place to deal with harmful content on their services to keep their users safe. Compliance with this duty of care will be overseen by an independent regulator, which will have a range of enforcement powers.

Alongside the White Paper, the government published the Social Media Code of Practice. This voluntary guidance sets out actions that the Government believes social media platforms should take to prevent bullying, insulting, intimidating and humiliating behaviours on their sites.

Government has also asked the Law Commission to conduct a second phase of its review of the legal framework around abusive and offensive communications online. This will make specific recommendations for legal reform and is due to report in early 2021. Alongside this, the Law Commission will also consider whether co-ordinated harassment by groups of people online could be more effectively dealt with by the criminal law.