Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 his Department has held with HM Treasury on the potential merits of coordinating the development of key skills required for (a) civil and (b) military nuclear programmes in order to reduce the cost of that skills development to the public purse.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department has not had any recent discussions with HM Treasury on the potential merits of coordinating the development of key skills required for civil and military nuclear programmes.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 9 November to Question 110779, whether his Department has held discussions since 2016 with the Ministry of Defence on ways to develop (a) skills and (b) capacities for nuclear submarines through exploring potential synergies with civil nuclear programmes.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department has had no discussions since 2016 with the Ministry of Defence on the Government’s action to develop skills and capacities for nuclear submarines through exploring potential synergies with civil nuclear programmes.
There is an industry-led Nuclear Skills Strategy Group, of which the Department, as well as the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Education, are members. This group considers skills challenges and opportunities for the wider industry and its supply chain organisations.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 9 November to Question 110780, whether his Department has held discussions with the (a) manufacturers and (b) developers of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) on developing the industrial synergies between SMRs and submarine propulsion nuclear reactors.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 9 November 2020 to Question 110780.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 economic benefits of the current bereavement leave entitlement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises that the death of a child is a tragic event. There are around 7,500 child deaths a year in Great Britain, including around 3,000 stillbirths. This is devasting for the parents involved and this is why the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay in April this year.
At the time we introduced this entitlement we published an Impact Assessment (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/249/impacts) which contains a cost benefit analysis of the policy, setting out the costs to the Exchequer and business as well as the monetary benefits to employees and business and the social benefit to employees.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential (a) health and (b) economic benefits of introducing a statutory right to two weeks bereavement leave for employees in the event of the death of a dependant.
Answered by Paul Scully
In April this year we introduced a new statutory entitlement to Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay for parents who lose a child under the age of 18. Whilst this entitlement is not available to employees who suffer a bereavement in other circumstances, all employees have a ‘day 1’ right to take unpaid time off work for an emergency involving a dependant. Time off for Dependants can also be used to deal with practical issues, including registering the death and making funeral arrangements.
All employees also have access to 5.6 weeks of paid Annual Leave a year.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people have been eligible for (a) parental bereavement leave and (b) statutory parental bereavement pay since April 2020.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises that the death of a child is particularly tragic, and this is why the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay in April this year.
The Government estimates that this entitlement will help to support over 10,000 parents of these children a year.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to raise public awareness of (a) Parental Bereavement Leave and (b) Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has made a number of media announcements to raise awareness of the new entitlement to Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay, including during the passage of the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 through Parliament and when the new entitlement came into force on 6 April 2020.
The new entitlement has attracted significant media attention since it was first proposed, including many articles in the national press and trade publications, and a multitude of broadcast coverage when the Statutory Instrument that was required to implement the detail of the policy was laid in January this year. Guidance for bereaved parents and their employers has also been published on GOV.UK. We continue to emphasise and champion Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay publicly, whenever the opportunity arises.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 Secretary of State for Defence, on the potential merits of coordinated development of key skills required for (a) civil and (b) military nuclear programmes.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has had no recent discussions with my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on the potential merits of coordinated development of key skills required for civil and military nuclear programmes.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the (a) manufacturers and (b) developers of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in respect of the developing the industrial synergies between SMRs and submarine propulsion nuclear reactors.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has had no discussions with manufacturers or developers of small modular reactors (SMRs) in respect of developing the industrial synergies between SMRs and submarine propulsion nuclear reactors.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a public body with powers to set the price of licences required to stream music similar to the Copyright Royalty Board in the US.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The prices of music streaming licences are the result of private, commercial negotiations and the Government plays no role in them.
The Government recognises the importance of understanding how rights holders are remunerated in the global streaming environment. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is working closely with the UK Council of Music Makers on a research project to investigate the flow of money from streaming to creators. This is due to report in summer 2021.