Asked by: Ed Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2021 to Question 30321 on Business Premises: Coronavirus, what budget has been made available for enforcement activities in respect of business premises ventilation in each of the last 10 years; what enforcement action has been taken in respect of ventilation of business premises in each of the last 10 years; and when she most recently discussed ventilation of business premises with national bodies representing businesses.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) allocates resources based on planned levels of activity to deliver it’s published strategy and plans. It does not allocate budgets by specific risk areas such as business premises ventilation, but inspectors will take action to respond to poor ventilation if identified during regulatory activity.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the risks associated with poor general ventilation in a workplace increased due to the risk of transmitting coronavirus. HSE has carried out more than 300,000 interventions since the start of the pandemic, to check how businesses are implementing measures to reduce transmission of coronavirus at their sites, including whether employees are working in poorly ventilated spaces. Where contraventions are identified, HSE inspectors will take action to secure compliance by providing verbal advice, written correspondence or serving enforcement notices.
HSE has also updated their website guidance to support businesses in addressing the issue of ventilation in businesses www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation/index.htm.
HSE does not collate all enforcement action taken specifically in respect of ventilation. However, HSE’s operational database shows that in the last ten years, there have been 7 enforcement notices specifically citing Regulation 6 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (as amended), which imposes general requirements for ensuring workplaces are adequately ventilated. Please see table below for figures:
Year | Number of enforcement notices citing contraventions of Regulation 6 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (as amended) |
2011 | 2 |
2012 | 1 |
2013 | 0 |
2014 | 1 |
2015 | 0 |
2016 | 0 |
2017 | 0 |
2018 | 0 |
2019 | 3 |
2020 | 0 |
Total | 7 |
This table does not, however, provide a full picture of HSE enforcement in respect of ventilation, for example because enforcement action on coronavirus-related ventilation deficiencies may be taken under the general provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, without reference to the above-mentioned regulation (and in such cases cannot readily be identified on HSE systems). Further, HSE does not collate information to identify how often verbal advice or written correspondence has been provided by inspectors to deal specifically with ventilation deficiencies.
HSE has had numerous recent meetings with national representative groups in which the issue of workplace ventilation was discussed and is involved in scientific activities researching ventilation issues. The Secretary of State has not been involved in these discussions personally.
Asked by: Ed 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: Ed 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
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: Ed 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
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: Ed 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: Ed 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: Ed 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: Ed 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: Ed 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: Ed Miliband (Labour - Doncaster North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people who appealed benefits decisions in Doncaster in the last 12 months were successful.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Information about the outcomes of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
Decisions on benefit, typically on a person’s entitlement to benefit, or its rate of payment, can be overturned on appeal for a variety of reasons. For instance, further evidence, including oral testimony, may be provided at the hearing. HM Courts & Tribunals Service cannot comment on decisions made by the independent tribunal judiciary.
Latest figures (to March 2019) indicate that since Personal Independence Payment was introduced, 4.1 million decisions have been made, and of these, 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned at Tribunals.
Between April 2014 and December 2018, 4.1 million Employment and Support Allowance (post Work Capability Assessment) decisions have been made. Of these, 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned.