Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support travel agents during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises the outbound travel sector has been particularly hard hit by covid-19, and we will continue to engage regularly with ABTA and its members about the sector’s recovery.
Businesses in the outbound travel sector have been able to access Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme, the loan schemes, VAT deferrals and cash grants of up to £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, as well as a broad range of other economic support.
Additionally, on 18 July the Government announced that ATOL-protected holidaymakers can book with confidence following confirmation that the Government will protect refund credit notes offered if packages are cancelled as a result of COVID-19.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, whether the accreditation process for prospective new lenders can be prioritised so that support from that scheme is available to an increased number of small businesses.
Answered by Paul Scully
Accrediting new lenders for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) is a priority for the British Business Bank. The Bank is working at pace to accredit more lenders to further extend the Scheme’s reach and provide more choice for smaller businesses.
The Bank has put substantial additional resources in place to create a streamlined process within the Bank to help onboard new lenders seeking accreditation as quickly as possible. For example, existing lenders accredited under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) may have an expedited accreditation process for the BBLS.
There are currently 16 accredited lenders for the BBLS.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether accredited lenders that assess applications to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme make their assessments (a) based on the applicant's individual merit and (b) not based on the applicant's status as a current business customer.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) has been introduced to help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000. Businesses are not required to bank with a lender in order to apply for a Bounce Back Loan with them. A full list of accredited lenders can be found on the British Business Bank website.
To be eligible for the scheme, businesses must:
o Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
o Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)
o COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility
To apply for the scheme businesses must complete a short, simple, online application form, meaning that applications can be submitted and processed rapidly. Businesses should then be able to access loans within a matter of days. The Government is providing lenders with a 100% guarantee on each loan to give them the confidence they need to support the smallest businesses in the country.
The Government continues to work with banks and other finance providers to help SMEs access the finance they need.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to safeguard supplies of (a) gas and (b) electricity during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Great Britain has a reliable energy system and maintaining a safe and secure energy supply is a key priority for this Government.
Since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, we have been in daily contact with gas and electricity operators, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), National Grid Gas (NGG), and Ofgem, to ensure our electricity and gas supplies are secure.
We have received assurance from all critical gas and electricity operators that they have contingency plans in place to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19; and we are closely monitoring staff absenteeism levels, as well as the supply of key commodities.
Currently, electricity and gas margins are adequate and there is sufficient supply to meet demand. The implementation of the Government policies to delay the spread of Covid-19 is resulting in a measurable reduction in the national demand for electricity and gas.
We are confident that electricity and gas supplies will keep flowing.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent discussions she has had with the Minister for Welfare Delivery on the removal of Child Maintenance Service collect and pay charges for receiving parents.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
On 3 July we published ‘Gender equality at every stage: a roadmap for change’, which sets out our plans to address the persistent gendered barriers people face at every stage of life. As part of the development of the roadmap the Minister for Women and Equalities engaged with ministers across government, including the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on a range of issues related to gender equality.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU single market on the (a) strength of and (b) level of jobs in the UK service sector.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 28 November 2018, Her Majesty's Government released a detailed economic assessment of the effect of multiple EU Exit scenarios on the strength of all parts of the UK economy, including the services sector.
The Government works closely with the sector through the industry-led Professional and Business Services Council (PBSC). The Council is made up of representatives from the PBS sector, with a number of working groups focusing on important issues and opportunities for growth and employment in the sector.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2019 to Question 215595 on Parental Leave: Baby Care Units, when his Department plans to complete the internal review of the provisions for parents of premature and sick babies; and if he will publish the results of that review.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The review of provisions for parents of premature, sick and multiple babies is being carried out by officials in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to enable them to provide advice to Ministers. We have no plans to publish this advice but I look forward to discussing the conclusions we reach with interested parties in due course.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2019 to Question 206403 on parental leave, when his Department plans to complete the evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme; and if he will publish the results of that evaluation.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
We are currently evaluating the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme. We anticipate being in a position to publish findings later in 2019.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2018 to Question 195661 on paternity leave, what the timescale is for commissioning a new survey into family-related leave and pay entitlements.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
I can confirm that the new survey into family-related leave and pay entitlements - including Paternity Leave - has been commissioned. Data collection is due to start shortly; subject to the progress of this, we can expect to be in a position to publish findings later this year.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses his Department has investigated for underpaying staff in the last year.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage (NMW) is a priority for this Government. HMRC enforce the NMW on behalf of BEIS; in 2018/19 we increased HMRC’s enforcement budget to a record high of £26.3 million. HMRC responds to 100% of worker complaints.
In the financial year 2017/18, HMRC closed 2,402 cases and identified £15.6 million in arrears of wages for over 200,000 workers. This is the largest amount of money recovered for the highest number of workers since the NMW came into force. HMRC issued financial penalties in 810 of these cases, with a record total value of just under £14.1 million.
Further details are available in the published document below: