Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to comply with principle (d) of schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Department for Business and Trade ensures compliance with this principle through the delivery of the following;
Provision of workplaces and equipment that comply with applicable legislation and standards. Arrangements that ensure any colleagues that may require workplace, equipment, or procedural adaptations are assessed and acted on, where reasonably practicable
HR line manager arrangements that ensure stimulating and engaging objectives are set, and flexible work arrangements that offer colleagues flexibility in how they work and deliver their tasks.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether all (a) buildings and (b) workplaces staff from their Department occupy have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment under Section 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Answered by Greg Hands
Health and safety risk assessments have been undertaken in all Department for Business and Trade offices. Staff are advised to complete individual risk assessments if they regularly work from other workplaces, including home locations.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has sought legal advice on the potential implications of continued approval of arms export licences where (a) components and (b) arms are known to be going to conflict zones.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) is comprised of subject matter experts and officials in the Department for Business and Trade, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Ministry of Defence.
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade receives legal advice as appropriate, on all matters related to export licensing, as part of advice from officials.
Any legal advice received is subject to legal professional privilege and as such we do not comment on legal advice that may or may not have been sought or received.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether an Access to Work scheme has been implemented in their Department.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Access to Work is a demand-led, personalised discretionary grant which contributes to the disability-related extra costs of working faced by disabled people and those with a health condition in the workplace that are beyond standard reasonable adjustments. It does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments.
The Department for Business and Trade has assumed responsibility for providing such adjustments for their staff.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling in the 2017 case of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willetts & Ors for the calculation of holiday pay entitlement for staff in her Department; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) are aware of the ruling in the relevant Employment Appeal Tribunal and have been working to implement this with our shared services provider, UK Shared Business Services (UKSBS). We expect this request to be processed following the Machinery of Government (MoG) staff payroll transfer.