Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Durham County Council on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by George Eustice
We have communicated on a range of topics with local authorities, including in a conference call on 13 August along with other Government departments. Each local Authority has established a Brexit lead officer to liaise with Government.
Defra has identified areas where our exit preparations impact local authorities. For instance Environmental Health Officers are responsible for issuing Export Health Certificates on fish and we have discussed capacity and the requirements with them.
We regularly contribute to a cross-government working group which coordinates engagement with local authorities.
Information on leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement relevant to a particular local authority can then be accessed by the local authority via shared channels, such as:
Information on a range of Defra’s exit projects if we leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement has been made available to local authorities through these channels. This includes information on:
Local authorities have been invited to attend various meetings, including workshops, training events and roadshows on topics including:
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how he plans to use the Northern Powerhouse to increase productivity in County Durham.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In his Manchester Speech of 27 July, the Prime Minister made clear this Government’s commitment to the Northern Powerhouse as part of its ambitions to level-up the country, unlocking untapped productivity and economic potential in all places, including County Durham.
This commitment builds on a track record of investment in economic growth in the North East. Of the £3.4 billion Government has invested in Growth Deals across the Northern Powerhouse, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has received £379.6m across the three rounds of the Local Growth Fund. This investment in innovation, business support, skills, economic assets and infrastructure and transport and connectivity, will help people gain access to new jobs and opportunities and provide businesses with the environment needed to grow and become more productive. In County Durham, £17m of Local Growth Funding has been invested at the National Formulation Centre and National Photonics Centre. These leading innovation centres will boost productivity but also provide facilities and expertise to help companies of all sizes develop new technologies and turn them into commercially viable products that will grow the local economy.
The Northern Powerhouse’s emphasis on transport connectivity as a driver of productivity will also be of direct benefit to Durham, for example the £780 million upgrade to the East Coast Mainline.
Local economies are a crucial part of this: Bishop Auckland is also one of 50 places across the Country that has progressed to the second phase of the £675 million Future High Streets Fund, which will help local leaders to reinvent their town centres. Those successful towns will now receive up to £150,000 of new funding to work up detailed project proposals, based on their initial plans.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with the National Association of Local Councils on the delivery of the Northern Powerhouse.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and his officials engage with local councils through a range of different organisations and forums, including Local Enterprise Partnerships and Transport for the North, where local councils are represented at board level.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings her Department has had with Durham County Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
BEIS Ministers and officials have been engaging throughout the country with businesses of all sizes and their representatives, trade associations and local enterprise partnerships, including through regular meetings. We communicate regularly with intermediaries to ensure businesses obtain information quickly and efficiently. We will continue to engage across the business population to ensure their priorities are reflected and that businesses have the latest information on how to prepare themselves for Brexit, including through a targeted series of roadshows and events.
The Government also has a business readiness website designed to keep businesses and consumers informed about what no deal might mean for them, with information on a range of measures that may need to be taken in order to prepare. These notices are being regularly updated with the latest information, for example BEIS have published 18 sector specific guides with the top three to six priorities per sector on GOV.UK. These guides can be easily accessed through an interactive business search tool https://www.gov.uk/get-ready-brexit-check
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it compulsory for all residential nursing and care homes to have outdoor recreational space.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government has no plans to make it compulsory for residential care settings to have outdoor recreational space but is committed to ensuring that local authorities offer a meaningful choice of adult social care services to people in their local area. That is why the Care Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to shape their local markets and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, person-centred care and support options available to them, and that they can access the services that best meet their needs.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on improving the experience of care and support for people using care services and recommends that day and residential care settings should enable people to choose from a range of leisure activities that allow them to participate in a variety of aspects of daily life. This includes recreational activities that take place outside the home.
The Care Quality Commission, which monitors, inspects and regulates the quality of adult social care services, is also clear that everyone should have the right to person-centred care that is tailored to and meets their needs and preferences.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he plans to respond to the letter of 18 June 2019 from the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland requesting a meeting with the Minister of State for the Commonwealth.
Answered by Alan Duncan
A response from Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon was sent to the hon. Member for Bishop Aukland on 15 July 2019.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to ban the practice of employers requiring waiting staff to pay for clients' unpaid bills.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The 1996 Employment Rights Act already defines the limited circumstances in which it is allowable for deductions to be made from pay to cover cash shortages.
The Government is committed to ensuring fair remuneration for lower-paid workers across the economy. In April 2019, the National Living Wage rate was increased to £8.21 per hour, a rise of 4.9 percent. It is estimated that 230,000 workers in the hospitality sector benefitted directly from this increase.
In order to further support fairness for workers in the hospitality sector, through the Good Work Plan, the Government will shortly bring forward legislation to ensure that all tips left to workers will go to them in full. New rules will benefit over a million workers, many of whom are in low-paid jobs.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2019 to Question 259082 on Peat Bogs: Environment Protection, when the 2019 Spending Review will take place
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
As the Chancellor announced at Spring Statement, if a deal with the EU is agreed, the 2019 Spending Review will conclude alongside an Autumn Budget.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Government's policy is on an application from Aquind to join the list of projects of common interest for an interconnector project.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Aquind interconnector project was included on the third EU list of projects of common interest, published in November 2017, and the Government supported the application of the project at that time. Selection of the fourth PCI list is ongoing, and the Government is currently considering its position on all candidate projects, including the Aquind interconnector.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with which private sector organisations the Government held discussions on supporting engagement of the private sector with the Truth Commission in Colombia.
Answered by Mark Field
Over the 2016-2018 financial years, we financed a project, implemented by Centro Regional de Empresas y Emprendimientos (CREER) in Colombia, to help implement the measures in Colombia's National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights which provide for non-judicial remedy of potential disputes related to extractive industry projects. The guide for firms, produced following extensive consultations, workshops and three pilot projects, can be found here (in Spanish).
For more information on the global objectives of this (and other) programmes, please see our ODA collection pages on GOV.UK . The Foreign and Commonwealth Office remains committed to meeting transparency requirements, published on gov.uk