Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 17 November (HL3182), what arrangements they have put in place to ensure that those who (1) do not have the digital literacy skills, and (2) are without internet access, can access the same impartial and tailored advice that users of the digitally led service can receive.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has provided a digital assist service for the energy advice tool on GOV.UK for those without digital literacy skills or internet access. Later this year, we will provide further support through a free retrofit phoneline for consumers in England to access tailored and impartial information about how to improve the energy performance of their homes. In addition, the Government will launch a series of local demonstrator projects, which will test various approaches to delivering in-person advice, with a particular focus on harder-to-treat properties and digitally excluded consumer groups. Lessons learnt from these projects will inform further action post-2025.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 21 December 2022 (HL4133), when they expect the Migration Advisory Committee to restart their review of the Shortage Occupation List; and when they expect the Committee to report.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Government is considering its position on the topic of legal migration following the Office for National Statistics’ November publication of net migration estimates and in line with its manifesto commitments to bring overall numbers down. We will be setting out information on the Shortage Occupation List review shortly.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 21 December 2022 (HL4133), what changes they are considering to the workplan of the Migration Advisory Committee; and when they expect to publish changes to the workplan.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Government is considering its position on the topic of legal migration following the Office for National Statistics’ November publication of net migration estimates and in line with its manifesto commitments to bring overall numbers down. We will be setting out information on the Shortage Occupation List review shortly.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 21 December (HL4133), what are the “other migration issues” to which he referred.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Government is considering its position on the topic of legal migration following the Office for National Statistics’ November publication of net migration estimates and in line with its manifesto commitments to bring overall numbers down. We will be setting out information on the Shortage Occupation List review shortly.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assist people of working age who are economically inactive due to illness back into employment.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The government has a longstanding programme supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work. This programme includes employment support programmes for disabled people and people with health conditions facing additional barriers into employment and interventions designed to minimise the risk of ill-health related job-loss. These programmes are accessible to the economically inactive and those at risk of falling into economic inactivity, including due to illness.
Long-term sickness is now the most common reason for being economically inactive, rising 3.5 percentage points in the last 3 years to a total of 2.5 million people. It is the biggest factor in the rise in economic inactivity since the start of the pandemic.
The 50-64 age group make up the largest proportion of those who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness. The government provides additional support to individuals aged 50 and over, in recognition of the additional challenges they may face re-joining the labour market.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Migration Advisory Committee will report its recommendations to change the shortage occupation list (SAL).
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Government has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to review the Shortage Occupation List, however the review is currently paused.
The Home Office is working closely with the Migration Advisory Committee in considering their workplan, in light of other migration issues.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in delivering their policy of creating new garden cities in England; when they expect the builds to be completed; and how many dwellings will be created.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Garden Communities Programme is supporting 47 locally led Garden Communities (12 Garden Towns and 35 Garden Villages) to deliver over 320,000 homes by 2050. The programme has awarded c.£58 million of capacity support funding to assist places in delivering against their proposals, plus c.£12 million funding to help deliver infrastructure to unlock homes. As of December 2021, local authorities report that over 33,000 homes have been completed across 17 projects supported by the programme.
As well as homes, we expect the programme to support the delivery of over 200 schools, c.68 health and care centres, almost 200,000 jobs, green infrastructure and over 150 community facilities.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons behind UK citizens borrowing from loan sharks; and what steps they will take to reduce the number of UK citizens borrowing from loan sharks.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HM Treasury regularly monitors developments in the consumer credit market, including those regarding illegal money lending, as part of its normal process of policy development.
However, it does not conduct its own research as to the scale of illegal money lending in England. Instead, HMT draws on the research of various stakeholders, including the Illegal Money Lending Teams (IMLTs), consumer groups and thinktanks, to inform policy development.
HM Treasury recognises the risks posed by illegal lenders and the harmful impacts they cause to their victims and communities
That is why, in financial year 2022/23, the Government will provide over £6.7 million of funding to IMLTs across the UK, an increase of over 5% compared to 2021/22. This funding enables IMLTs to investigate and prosecute loan sharks and use their legal powers to tackle the wider criminality they inflict on communities, such as violence and blackmail.
Consumers use illegal lenders for a variety of reasons. However, the Government is overseeing many innovative affordable credit initiatives which will expand the provision of affordable credit to those who may otherwise use an illegal lender. This includes by:
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the number of UK citizens who are indebted to loan sharks, and (2) the total value of loans that are currently outstanding; and what steps they plan to take as a result.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HM Treasury regularly monitors developments in the consumer credit market, including those regarding illegal money lending, as part of its normal process of policy development.
However, it does not conduct its own research as to the scale of illegal money lending in England. Instead, HMT draws on the research of various stakeholders, including the Illegal Money Lending Teams (IMLTs), consumer groups and thinktanks, to inform policy development.
HM Treasury recognises the risks posed by illegal lenders and the harmful impacts they cause to their victims and communities
That is why, in financial year 2022/23, the Government will provide over £6.7 million of funding to IMLTs across the UK, an increase of over 5% compared to 2021/22. This funding enables IMLTs to investigate and prosecute loan sharks and use their legal powers to tackle the wider criminality they inflict on communities, such as violence and blackmail.
Consumers use illegal lenders for a variety of reasons. However, the Government is overseeing many innovative affordable credit initiatives which will expand the provision of affordable credit to those who may otherwise use an illegal lender. This includes by:
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their policy on (1) identifying, and (2) retrofitting, the most energy inefficient homes with insulation and other energy saving adaptions.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Heat and Buildings strategy, published in 2021, confirmed the need to upgrade the worst performing homes first. The Government is providing £3.2 billion in targeted support for social housing residents, low income and fuel poor household through the Local Authority Delivery scheme, the Home Upgrade Grant, and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. The Energy Company Obligation has been extended from 2022 to 2026, boosting its value from £640 million to £1 billion a year
The Government has also launched a digitally led service ‘find energy improvements suitable for your home’ on GOV.UK to provide impartial and tailored advice helping people make their homes greener and cheaper to run.