Covid-19: Support for the Self-employed
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Verma
The Earl of Courtown
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, for her question. Her Majesty’s Government are looking at all options for how we take this forward. Specifically for freelancers and the self-employed, at the moment we are doing it through the welfare system, which will benefit from changes made on 20 March, such as the £20 increase in the UC standard allowance and the uprating of local housing allowance. We are also temporarily relaxing the minimum income floor for all self-employed UC claimants for the duration of the outbreak. This means that a drop in earnings due to sickness or self-isolation, or as a result of the economic impact of the outbreak, will be reflected in claimants’ awards. Self-employed people unable to work because they are directly affected by Covid-19 or self-isolation will also be eligible for contributory employment and support allowance, as announced in the Budget; that is now payable from the first day of sickness. This package will enable self-employed people to claim welfare close to statutory sick pay.
The noble Baroness mentioned another issue, to which I do not have the answer. I will arrange for her to be written to on that.
Baroness Verma (Con)
My Lords, I will not ask about the self-employed; I will wait for the Chancellor’s Statement in a few days’ time. Will the small businesses able to access zero-interest loans have to put up any form of security for that loan?
The Earl of Courtown
My noble friend refers to the business interruption loan scheme, I think. The recent Budget announced a temporary new coronavirus business interruption scheme to help businesses access the finance that they need. On 17 March, the Government went further by increasing the value of the facilities available under the scheme from £1.2 million to £5 million. Alongside the action being taken by UK lenders, this will help to ensure that eligible businesses facing short-term cash-flow difficulties continue to access the finances that they need to respond to the temporary impact of the coronavirus outbreak on their cash flow.
My noble friend asked a specific question about security. I will write to her on that matter.
Oil Prices: Rural Consumers
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Verma(9 years, 10 months ago)
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The Earl of Courtown
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they are doing to ensure that the benefits of lower oil prices are passed on to consumers, particularly in rural areas.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Baroness Verma) (Con)
My Lords, Her Majesty’s Government have made it clear to energy providers that it is vital that the benefits of plunging oil prices are passed on quickly to consumers. In addition, we are well on the way to giving 17 of the most rural areas on the UK mainland a 5p per litre fuel duty rebate. The Scottish islands and the Isles of Scilly are already benefiting from this rebate. We continue to monitor price movements closely.
The Earl of Courtown (Con)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. I was particularly glad to hear that the fuel rebate scheme is extended to remote areas of the UK. As my noble friend will be aware, though, the cost of travelling to work in rural areas—in places such as where I live in Gloucestershire—is 24% more than if you are travelling in urban areas. I was wondering if she would be able to extend this fuel rebate system so that it could cover areas such as where I live, where there are relatively higher fuel costs, which also affects people on lower incomes.
Baroness Verma
My noble friend is of course right to raise the issue of people living in rural areas. There are a number of factors that account for fuel price differences in rural areas. Often as not, the transport costs are higher and there are fewer competitors in rural areas. My noble friend is right to raise this, and we have spoken to energy companies to ensure that where they can pass on the price reductions they are doing so, so that no one is left out in benefiting from reduced pricing.
Energy: Oil Price Projections
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
My Lords, while we encourage reduced use of oil in our country, the difficulty arises in emerging economies that have found greater demand for it, so it is about finding a balance between our own liberalised markets and the demand seen elsewhere. There has also been some slight uncertainty during the recent difficulties being faced in north Africa and the Middle East.
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, will the Minister tell the House how the Government intend to mitigate these increased oil prices, particularly with reference to using future renewable forms of energy?
Baroness Verma
My noble friend will be aware that this Government are keen to ensure that we have a good range of energy mixes, thereby reducing our usage of oil. However, we have a realistic view that, for the foreseeable future, we will still need extra supplies of oil and therefore we cannot mitigate our usage completely. We will of course try to make sure that, through our policies and the Energy Bill, all other energy resources have an equal footing to compete on.
Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975 (Amendment) Order 2011
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Verma(13 years, 4 months ago)
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Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
My Lords, I declare an interest as being in receipt of a ministerial or other salary. I have been for some time and I am very grateful to the Government.
I am also very grateful to the Minister for pointing out that the previous Government also had a policy of not increasing salaries. Of course, I am attracted—I would be, wouldn’t I?—by the idea from the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, that, rather than reduce ministerial salaries, there should be a reduction in Ministers. I jest but I believe now, as I did when we were in government, that there are too many Ministers. I do not think that that should have an impact on salaries but I firmly believe that there are too many Ministers—in the other place, of course—although Ministers work phenomenally hard.
I am not sure what the noble Earl was getting at but I think that it is wrong in principle for there to be unpaid Ministers. A Minister is a Minister; they do a fantastic job and should be paid accordingly.
Of course, when everyone in the whole country is having to tighten their belts, it is right that those in receipt of ministerial salaries should do likewise. Resources are limited and we have to take our share of the pain. Although I would strenuously argue that the cuts to our public services in general are too deep and being made too fast, I do not think that that is the case in relation to ministerial salaries. The Prime Minister was correct when he acted as a sort of catalyst for this legislation.
Baroness Verma
Again, I start by thanking my noble friends and the noble Baroness for their broadly warm welcome for the order and for their questions about ministerial salaries. I should like to start by responding to the point made by my noble friend Lord Maclennan—whose name, I hope, I have got right this time—about it being gesture politics. The fact is that we need to show that we in government are prepared to take some of the bites that are going to affect every single citizen because of the financial difficulties that this country is in. I want to resist saying that it is gesture politics: we have a duty to show that we are willing to take some of the pain. It may not look as though it is a lot of the pain but those of us who work incredibly hard feel that it is only right that we all share in it, and the previous Government did the same.
I should also like to thank my noble friend for his kind words. Ministers in both this House and another place work very hard and often with gruelling hours on subjects that we have to get our minds around very quickly, as is the case today. This is not my normal remit—and I think that is true of the noble Baroness, too.
There are 13 unpaid Ministers in government, three in the Commons and 10 in the Lords. The former Administration had the same number of unpaid Ministers before leaving office, with nine from the Commons and four from the Lords. The Government believe that the number of Ministers should be dictated by need, and on this basis have carefully considered all the appointments that they have made. Because of the nature of the coalition Government and the challenge of delivering the programme for government, the Prime Minister did not think that it was possible to reduce significantly the number of Ministers at this time. However, the Government have reduced the number of Ministers who regularly attend meetings of the Cabinet. I hope that has answered my noble friend’s question.
The Earl of Courtown
Perhaps I did not explain well enough the point that I was really making. The Minister said that at the other end there are three Ministers not in receipt of a salary, and 10 noble friends at this end. At least down the other end they receive a parliamentary salary.
Baroness Verma
My Lords, I enter into territory that is way over my pay grade, and the safest option for me is now for me to retreat into a safer area. I shall respond to the question about pension contributions. It is correct that these measures are not retrospective; salaries in the amendment order come into effect when the order comes into force. On the question of unpaid Ministers who might be in receipt of pensions—no, it deals only with salaried Ministers. Unpaid Ministers are not entitled to a pension under the parliamentary pension scheme.
I am not getting much more inspiration from behind me on any further questions, so I undertake to write to noble Lords on any questions that have not been answered.