Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
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 help ensure adequate ventilation in businesses to reduce risk of covid-19 infection; what plans he has to issue guidance to businesses on ventilation of premises that (a) are and (b) are not open to the public; what standards or criteria his Department advises are used to plan and measure ventilation; of businesses; and whether his Department plans to make funds available to improve standards of ventilation in businesses.
Answered by Paul Scully
Public Health England has published guidance on the ventilation of indoor spaces which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-ventilation-of-indoor-spaces-to-stop-the-spread-of-coronavirus/ventilation-of-indoor-spaces-to-stop-the-spread-of-coronavirus-covid-19.
The Health and Safety Executive has published guidance on ventilation and air conditioning here:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation/index.htm.
Using this guidance, Local Authorities should assess the risk from Covid-19 and implement the appropriate transmission risk controls. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess risks and implement the appropriate controls. Health and Safety Executive is the health and safety enforcement authority for Local Authority activities and can take proportionate enforcement action.
Venues are advised to pay due regard to the published guidance above, alongside any sector-specific guidance.
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether any officials in his Department receive any remuneration for paid work for organisations or companies outside of Government.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 23 April, the Cabinet Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the management of outside interests in the Civil Service.
The Committee published this letter on 26 April. It can be found here:
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/5623/documents/55584/default/.
The Cabinet Secretary’s letter sets out a series of steps to improve processes. This programme of work will also take account of any recommendations that emerge from Nigel Boardman’s review.
The Civil Service Management Code sets out, at paragraph 4.3.4, the requirement that civil servants must seek permission before accepting any outside employment which might affect their work either directly or indirectly. The applicable principles are those set out in the Business Appointment Rules. The Civil Service Management Code is published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-servants-terms-and-conditions.
Where the civil servant is a member of the departmental board any outside employment, as well as other relevant interests will be published as part of the Annual Report and Accounts or other transparency publication.
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the (a) Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth and (b) Minister for Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility have had discussions (i) in person and (ii) by e-mail with relevant stakeholders on the Aquind Interconnector project.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Information regarding meetings of ministers with stakeholders is published online[1], and there have been no discussions or email correspondence between my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and I, and stakeholders from the Aquind interconnector project.
All applications for development consent are dealt with by the Department in line with Government Propriety Guidance. Neither the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State nor I will have any role in the decision.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Pay As You Grow scheme on loss rates from the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Pay As You Grow measures give Bounce Back Loan borrowers more time and greater flexibility to repay their loans.
Work is currently underway with data scientists, other Government departments and external consultants on a range of projects to develop our analysis on various datasets, in order to give us the best possible insight into the scheme.
The Department will report updated estimates of expected credit losses as part of its Annual Report and Accounts for 2020-21, to be published later this year.
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of allowing extensions on repayment periods from six to 10 years on loss rates from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has enabled lenders to extend the repayment period for Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) facilities beyond 6 years (up to a maximum of 10 years) where this is needed in connection with the provision of forbearance. CBILS term extensions are offered at the discretion of lenders. This measure is designed to help businesses that would struggle to repay their CBILS facility on their existing terms, by reducing monthly repayments.
Work is currently underway with data scientists, other Government departments and external consultants on a range of projects to develop our analysis on various datasets, in order to give us the best possible insight into the scheme.
The Department will report updated estimates of expected credit losses as part of its Annual Report and Accounts for 2020-21, to be published later this year.
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department’s latest estimate is of the loss rate of the (a) Bounce Back Loan Scheme and (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The 2019-20 BEIS Annual Report and Accounts published on 30 September 2020 provided initial indicative loss ranges for both the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
For BBLS, losses were estimated as of 11 September 2020 to be in a range of 35-60%. For CBILS, losses were estimated to be in a range of 10-25%. These estimates include both credit and fraud losses.
The initial indicative loss ranges are based on historic losses observed in prior programmes which most closely resemble the current Covid-19 interventions. However, no two programmes or two economic downturns are completely alike.
Work is currently underway to refine these estimates as data available to us improves. The Department will report updated estimates as part of its Annual Report and Accounts for 2020-21, to be published later this year.
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish his Department's estimate of the number of fathers who were eligible for shared parental leave in the latest quarter; and how many new fathers are ineligible for that leave because they do not meet criteria on work history or status.
Answered by Paul Scully
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Pay was introduced in December 2014 for the parents of children due or adopted from 5 April 2015. The scheme enables eligible working parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay in the first year, where the mother does not intend to use her full maternity entitlements.
At the time of introduction, we estimated that c. 285,000 fathers or partners would be eligible for SPL a year and between 2 and 8 per cent of them would take up the entitlement.[1] Information provided by employers to HMRC in respect of claims for Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) suggests that take up is broadly in line with our initial forecast. Table 1 below shows the number of individuals in receipt of ShPP per quarter.
Table 1: Individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay based on the total number of individuals in that quarter
| Statutory Shared Parental Pay (total number of claimants[1] in that quarter) |
Q1 15/16 | 1,500 |
Q2 15/16 | 1,900 |
Q3 15/16 | 2,200 |
Q4 15/16 | 3,000 |
Q1 16/17 | 3,100 |
Q2 16/17 | 3,300 |
Q3 16/17 | 3,000 |
Q4 16/17 | 3,300 |
Q1 17/18 | 3,400 |
Q2 17/18 | 3,700 |
Q3 17/18 | 3,300 |
Q4 17/18 | 3,400 |
Q1 18/19 | 3,600 |
Q2 18/19 | 4,200 |
Q3 18/19 | 4,000 |
Q4 18/19 | 4,100 |
Q1 19/20 | 4,500 |
Q2 19/20 | 5,500 |
Q3 19/20 | 4,600 |
Q4 19/20 | 4,800 |
Q1 20/21 | 4,200 |
Q2 20/21 | 2,600 |
Notes
Eligible parents can also take unpaid SPL so information relating to claims of ShPP only gives a partial picture of take up. We are currently evaluating the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme, which includes large scale, representative surveys of employers and parents, and a qualitative study. We are currently analysing the data from the research that we commissioned and will report on the evaluation of the scheme later this year.
We do not hold estimates of the number of fathers eligible for SPL by quarter, however in 2013 we estimated that c. 285,000 fathers or partners would be eligible for SPL a year.[2] We will update and publish an estimate of the number of parents who are eligible for SPL and an updated estimation of take-up rates for the scheme when we report on the evaluation.
[1] Impact Assessment of Shared Parental Leave and Pay, BIS 2013 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2013/256/pdfs/ukia_20130256_en.pdf
[2] See footnote 1
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish his Department's estimate of the take up of shared parental leave by fathers (a) on the latest figures available as (i) an absolute number and (ii) proportion of those fathers eligible and (b) for each quarter since the introduction of that policy as (i) an absolute number and (ii) a proportion of those eligible.
Answered by Paul Scully
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Pay was introduced in December 2014 for the parents of children due or adopted from 5 April 2015. The scheme enables eligible working parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay in the first year, where the mother does not intend to use her full maternity entitlements.
At the time of introduction, we estimated that c. 285,000 fathers or partners would be eligible for SPL a year and between 2 and 8 per cent of them would take up the entitlement.[1] Information provided by employers to HMRC in respect of claims for Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) suggests that take up is broadly in line with our initial forecast. Table 1 below shows the number of individuals in receipt of ShPP per quarter.
Table 1: Individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay based on the total number of individuals in that quarter
| Statutory Shared Parental Pay (total number of claimants[1] in that quarter) |
Q1 15/16 | 1,500 |
Q2 15/16 | 1,900 |
Q3 15/16 | 2,200 |
Q4 15/16 | 3,000 |
Q1 16/17 | 3,100 |
Q2 16/17 | 3,300 |
Q3 16/17 | 3,000 |
Q4 16/17 | 3,300 |
Q1 17/18 | 3,400 |
Q2 17/18 | 3,700 |
Q3 17/18 | 3,300 |
Q4 17/18 | 3,400 |
Q1 18/19 | 3,600 |
Q2 18/19 | 4,200 |
Q3 18/19 | 4,000 |
Q4 18/19 | 4,100 |
Q1 19/20 | 4,500 |
Q2 19/20 | 5,500 |
Q3 19/20 | 4,600 |
Q4 19/20 | 4,800 |
Q1 20/21 | 4,200 |
Q2 20/21 | 2,600 |
Notes
Eligible parents can also take unpaid SPL so information relating to claims of ShPP only gives a partial picture of take up. We are currently evaluating the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme, which includes large scale, representative surveys of employers and parents, and a qualitative study. We are currently analysing the data from the research that we commissioned and will report on the evaluation of the scheme later this year.
We do not hold estimates of the number of fathers eligible for SPL by quarter, however in 2013 we estimated that c. 285,000 fathers or partners would be eligible for SPL a year.[2] We will update and publish an estimate of the number of parents who are eligible for SPL and an updated estimation of take-up rates for the scheme when we report on the evaluation.
[1] Impact Assessment of Shared Parental Leave and Pay, BIS 2013 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2013/256/pdfs/ukia_20130256_en.pdf
[2] See footnote 1
Asked by: Edward Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for the Committee on Climate Change to complete its review into the implications of the Paris Agreement for the UK’s long-term climate targets.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government will be seeking the advice of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on this issue after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes its Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5oC later this year. We will work with the CCC to agree an appropriate timetable for the provision of their advice.