voted Aye - in line with the party majority
One of 359 Conservative Aye votes vs 0 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 369 Noes - 2
I am sure that the whole House welcomes the fantastic news of Nissan’s investment in an electric battery gigafactory in …
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access …
From 24 January 2020, member of the Town Board for Burton upon Trent. This is an unpaid role. (Registered 21 …
Division Voting information
Kate Griffiths voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 53 Conservative No votes vs 290 Conservative Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 291 Noes - 78
Kate Griffiths voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 43 Conservative No votes vs 56 Conservative Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 213 Noes - 47
Kate Griffiths voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 45 Conservative Aye votes vs 235 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 243 Noes - 238
Debates during the 2019 Parliament
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
Sparring Partners
Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
(11 debate interactions)
(8 debate interactions)
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
(6 debate interactions)
Department Debates
(10 debate contributions)
(6 debate contributions)
(5 debate contributions)
(3 debate contributions)
Legislation Debates
Kate Griffiths has not made any spoken contributions to legislative debateBurton Petitions
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
of 134,630 signatures (0.46%)
of 30,789 signatures (0.34%)
of 47,765 signatures (0.27%)
of 59,975 signatures (0.22%)
of 130,923 signatures (0.18%)
of 134,630 signatures (0.46%)
of 364,719 signatures (0.17%)
of 388,101 signatures (0.16%)
of 234,626 signatures (0.12%)
of 130,923 signatures (0.18%)
Latest EDMs signed by Kate Griffiths
Commons initiatives
These initiatives were driven by Kate Griffiths, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Kate Griffiths has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Kate Griffiths has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
Kate Griffiths has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Kate Griffiths has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
36 Written Questions in the current parliament
(View all written questions)6 Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Questions
(View all Kate Griffiths's DCMS questions)Ensuring that every new home is built with fast, reliable and resilient broadband is a priority for my Department. The Government announced in March 2020 that we will amend Building Regulations 2010 to require housing developers to:
Provide a gigabit-capable connection unless the cost exceeds £2,000, or the network operator declines to provide a connection;
Install the next fastest broadband connection which can be installed below a cost of £2,000, where a gigabit-capable connection cannot be installed below a cost of £2,000; and
Install the physical infrastructure necessary for gigabit-capable connections even where a gigabit-capable connection exceeds the cost cap.
We are working closely with stakeholders to develop the regulations and statutory guidance and will publish a technical consultation this winter, laying the amendments to regulations in spring 2021.
The Government has also secured commitments from the CEOs of Openreach, Virgin and Gigaclear to work with housing developers to provide gigabit-capable connectivity to all new build developments across the UK, including contributing to the costs of connection.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has been liaising closely with the football authorities as their plans to restart the season have developed, however, there have been no discussions with them about confirmed plans for using the facilities at St George’s Park.
Football and local authorities will continue discussions on the most appropriate venue for each remaining fixture.
Assistant Whip
The government is committed to making the UK the safest place to be online. The next step for our online harms proposals is to publish the full government response, which we will do later this year. We will follow that with legislation, once Parliamentary time allows.
We recognise that the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has impacted everyone’s daily lives and it is likely that more people will be spending more time online. The government has published new guidance which outlines steps that people can take to stay connected and safe online during this time. The guidance also provides more detailed information for parents and carers to manage children’s safety online.
Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit capable broadband as soon as possible, including in the Burton constituency. Gigabit broadband will provide consumers with faster download speeds of 1Gbps compared to ultrafast broadband, which provides download speeds of at least 300 Mbps. Much progress has already been made across the UK, with full fibre coverage doubling in the past year to reach 10% of UK premises, according to the latest Ofcom figures.
This Government will continue to take action to remove barriers to network rollout and to ensure that those in the hardest to reach areas are not left behind. We have introduced legislation to make it easier for operators to deploy broadband in blocks of flats, will be legislating to mandate gigabit connectivity in new builds and will invest £5 billion of funding to support gigabit rollout in hard to reach areas.
In the Burton constituency, there is 97% superfast coverage, up from 57% in 2012 and compared to the current UK average of 96%. Full fibre coverage in Burton is 21.8%, according to the latest Ofcom figures, more than double the UK average.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
According to Thinkbroadband. currently, 97% of premises have access to superfast broadband, up from 57% in 2012.
Around 21.8% of premises have full-fibre connections which is above 12% the national average.
Burton, constituency falls under our Superfast Staffordshire project, which has received £9.6m of funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) towards the rollout of Superfast broadband.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We are expecting all mainstream schools and colleges, including independent schools and middle schools, to follow the same approach to wider opening.
Based on all the evidence, the Department asked primary schools to welcome back children in nursery, Reception, year 1 and year 6, alongside priority groups (vulnerable children and children of critical workers), from 1 June. From 15 June we are asking schools to offer some face-to-face support to supplement the remote education for year 10 and, where they have sixth forms, year 12 students who are due to take key examinations next year, alongside the full time provision they are offering to priority groups.
We encourage middle schools to do the same to ensure national parity for children in these year groups. Although in three-tier school systems year 6 students are not facing a transition to a new school, it represents the end of Key Stage 2 and so welcoming pupils in year 6 back will allow schools to support the transition from the primary to secondary curriculum.
There continues to be extensive engagement with teaching unions and other school stakeholder organisations both at a ministerial and official level.
Minister of State (Education)
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn, and because we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers.
Once a child has been admitted to a school it is for the headteacher to decide how best to educate them. This may, on occasion, include deciding that a child should be educated in a year group other than the one indicated by their age. Such decisions should be based on sound educational reasons and in consultation with parents. We do not currently anticipate that children and young people will need to repeat a school year as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to look at all options to make sure children and young people get the support they need to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak and make up for time spent out of school.
However, it remains possible for headteachers to agree this in individual cases, if they think it is appropriate.
Minister of State (Education)
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn, and because we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers.
Once a child has been admitted to a school it is for the headteacher to decide how best to educate them. This may, on occasion, include deciding that a child should be educated in a year group other than the one indicated by their age. Such decisions should be based on sound educational reasons and in consultation with parents. We do not currently anticipate that children and young people will need to repeat a school year as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to look at all options to make sure children and young people get the support they need to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak and make up for time spent out of school.
However, it remains possible for headteachers to agree this in individual cases, if they think it is appropriate.
Minister of State (Education)
3 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions
(View all Kate Griffiths's Defra questions)There are various testing facilities in the UK and more than one testing method. Post-mortem examination and sampling is the most effective way of testing for this pathogen, but blood samples and nasal or tracheal samples can be used in the live animal.
The testing facilities include:
- Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) Veterinary Investigation Centres in England and Wales
- APHA Mycoplasma department
- Scotland's Rural College Veterinary Investigation Centres and laboratories in Scotland
- Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute Veterinary Investigation Centres and laboratories in Northern Ireland
- APHA Partner Post-mortem Providers in England and Wales
- Various private laboratories in UK for samples collected by private veterinarians on-farm
The GB network of testing facilities can be found here: http://apha.defra.gov.uk/vet-gateway/surveillance/diagnostic/national-network.htm.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is an ongoing assessment for the detection of, and disease due to, Mycoplasma bovis and other respiratory pathogens. This is conducted both by the network of veterinary investigation centres throughout the UK, and via samples sent by private veterinarians to Government laboratories and private laboratories.
Mycoplasma bovis is still considered to be a significant pathogen in bovine respiratory disease.
A survey is due to be published by the UK Ruminant Health and Welfare Group. This comprehensive survey of cattle farmers and cattle professionals (veterinarians and farm advisors) asked 530 cattle farmers to rank their disease concerns. Mycoplasma bovis was ranked 7th most important by professionals, 12th by dairy farmers and 9th by beef farmers.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has a dedicated and specialist Mycoplasma group at its Weybridge Laboratory. This group advises veterinarians in other countries about Mycoplasma bovis and other Mycoplasmas. Respiratory samples from across England and Wales are sent to this group and the testing monitors for other Mycoplasmas, including exotic Mycoplasmas. This includes Mycoplasmas that cause Contagious Bovine Pleuro-pneumonia, which is a notifiable disease.
The results from testing across the network of veterinary investigation centres and partner post-mortem providers in England, Wales and Scotland are collated by a Veterinary Investigation Diagnosis Analysis (VIDA) database. The VIDA results indicate an increase in GB incidents (as a percentage of diagnosable submissions) from 3.5% in 2016 to 5.5% in 2020. Disease trends are summarised in the APHA Quarterly Reports which can be found here:
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the value of our urban trees and is committed to planting and protecting them. This is reflected in the significant increase in investment on trees announced in the budget. Urban trees play a crucial role in providing health and wellbeing benefits for communities, flood risk alleviation and carbon sequestration.
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) was launched in May 2019 and aims to plant 130,000 trees across England’s towns and cities by 2021. The first round of the UTCF closed in August 2019 and is funding the planting of over 22,000 large trees and 28,000 small trees in urban areas. The second round of the UTCF opened in March, for successful applicants to plant this winter. As well as providing funding for the planting of large and small trees in urban and peri-urban areas, the UTCF provides three years of establishment payments following planting.
We will shortly be consulting the public on an English Tree Strategy. This will set out the Government’s vision for the sector for the years to come and will be a crucial mechanism for delivering the planting of trees in both rural and urban areas.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There was an underspend of £1.2m against Tradeshow Access Programme budgets in 2019-20.
The underspend arose predominantly within the last two months of the financial year, the busiest period of the tradeshow calendar, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of many shows from February 2020 onwards.
We continue to work hard with business and trade bodies to support TAP stakeholders, and successful applicants, to attend those agreed tradeshows that are internationally accessible, under HMG travel guidelines, at the point they commence.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for International Trade)
The funding provided by the Department for Transport for highways maintenance funding to Staffordshire County Council in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019 and (d) 2020 is shown in the table below.
Year | £m |
2017/18 | 28.321 |
2018/19 | 29.574 |
2019/20 | 22.993 |
2020/21 | 33.802 |
Total | 114.690 |
2020/21 also includes an allocation of the £2.5 billion Pothole Fund announced at Budget 2020, to be allocated over 5 years between 2020/21 – 2024/25.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has allocated £25m in 2021/22 to support local authorities with the skills and people needed to implement the National Bus Strategy. We have already given an initial £100k to each Local Transport Authority, with more capacity funding to be allocated soon. We are also developing a Bus Centre of Excellence to serve as a repository of information and guidance for local authorities and bus operators, helping to build capabilities into the future.
Our Transport Decarbonisation Plan, due to be published shortly, will include further commitments to drive the decarbonisation agenda at the local level.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My officials and I have been engaging regularly with the cruise industry on restart plans through Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). FCO currently advise against travelling on sea-going cruises only. River cruises are not included within the travel advice for cruise, however, CLIA continues to engage across industry on the safe resumption of operations. River cruise operators should ensure the relevant risk assessments have been undertaken and that their operations comply with relevant Covid-19 requirements. We are keen to support the safe resumption of cruise operations, and will continue to work with CLIA, Public Health England, and the FCO to ensure plans are in place to support this.
The first part of the £2 billion to be released will be a £225 million Emergency Active Travel Fund in the current financial year. The first tranche of this will be released as soon as possible provided local authorities submit suitably ambitious plans to the Department, and the second tranche will be released later in the summer. Indicative allocations to local authorities have been published on gov.uk. Staffordshire has been indicatively allocated £366,000 for tranche one and £1,466,000 for tranche two: its final allocations will depend on the quality of the plans it submits to the Department. Decisions on the remainder of the £2 billion will be a matter for the next Spending Review.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Funding for 2020/21 for individual authorities in England and Staffordshire from the £2.5 billion Pothole Fund will be announced shortly.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In order to increase access to dental care in the Midlands, NHS England commissioned a scheme from 8 January to 31 March 2021 to provide additional sessions at weekends. This initiative saw an additional 17,250 patients treated by 91 participating practices. NHS England has evaluated the scheme and is considering recommissioning the service to further improve access in the region.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Discussions have taken place with HM Treasury regarding a range of issues including the Test and Trace Support Payment. The Government has provided a total of £110 million to local authorities for the scheme to date, including £35 million for discretionary payments. To enable local authorities to continue supporting individuals on low incomes to self-isolate, we are increasing the funding available to local authorities for discretionary payments to £20 million a month.
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Displaying an official National Health Service QR code poster and collecting contact details for NHS Test and Trace for certain venues is a legal requirement for designated businesses and venues in England. If a customer or visitor chooses to check in by scanning the NHS QR code, they do not also need to provide their contact details. Local authorities are enforcers of this regulation in England and have the power to issue fines starting from £1,000 for venues that are failing to comply. Fines will rise to £10,000 for repeat offenders. The police can be used as a last resort.
We have held stakeholder engagement meetings with each of the sectors in scope of the guidance to explain the policy and provide an opportunity for question. We have also published advice on how to print and display the official NHS QR code poster which is available at the following link:
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service Nightingale hospitals are an unprecedented response to an unprecedented challenge and created additional capacity to ensure the NHS can respond to demand if needed.
The Nightingale hospitals are available to support the NHS when needed. Local clinical leaders are working to determine how this is done whilst considering the needs of all patients requiring NHS care.
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The current sensitivity of our polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 such as those used at our lighthouse laboratories is over 99%. All manufacturers of PCR tests for COVID-19 must meet the requirements of our validation process to ensure the accuracy of their tests.
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s mental health remains a priority for this Government.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked all mental health trusts to ensure they have 24 hours a day, seven days a week open access telephone lines in place for urgent National Health Service mental health support, advice and triage for people of all ages through a single point of access. Mental health providers are also looking at how they can maximise the use of digital and virtual channels to keep delivering support to existing and new service users.
Public Health England has also updated resources, such as the Every Mind Matters platform, and published guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Foreign Secretary spoke with the Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, on 21 March. He assured us that he would work together with the UK to make sure we could arrange flights home this week, including providing the necessary assistance to those UK nationals in Cusco. Our Embassy is working closely with the Peruvian authorities to ensure that restrictions on movement in Peru do not prevent passengers from getting onto flights that they have booked.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The unprecedented full business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure properties for the financial year is worth £10 billion to business in 2020-21. All eligible businesses will pay no business rates in England for 12 months from 1 April 2020.
The Government will continue to look at how to adjust support in a way that ensures people can get back to work, protecting both the UK economy and the livelihoods of people across the country.
The Government considers all reliefs in the round, against the broader fiscal and economic impacts of COVID-19 and as part of the Business Rates Review, and would encourage businesses and individuals to respond to the review’s Call for Evidence document.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In April 2017, the Government changed the off-payroll working rules for those working in the public sector, shifting responsibility for determining employment status from the worker’s own limited company to the organisation they work for. These existing rules continue to apply.
On 17 March 2020, the Government announced that the reform to the off-payroll working rules that would have applied for people contracting their services to large or medium-sized organisations outside the public sector, as well as engagers in the public sector, will be delayed for one year from 6 April 2020 until 6 April 2021. This is part of the additional support for businesses and individuals to deal with the economic impacts of COVID-19. Public authorities will not need to implement the changes on status determination statements or implement status disagreement processes until April 2021.
Independent research by IFF Research and Frontier Economics showed the reform to the off-payroll working rules in the public sector had not resulted in significant disruption to the sector, or to its use of contingent labour. During the recent review into the implementation of the reform, public sector bodies reported that they continued to engage people with specialist skills and had adapted their business models to comply with the reform.
The Government will continue to listen to stakeholders and monitor and evaluate the operation of the rules.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#asylum-support
Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential so we do not provide this information, however, total asylum spends are published as part of transparency data https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data
Data is published on a quarterly basis from 31st March 2014 with the latest information covering until 30th June 2020. The next quarterly figures are due to be released in November 2020
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government has committed to providing £10 million in 2020/21 for innovative new approaches to preventing domestic abuse, including work to expand projects like the ‘Drive’ perpetrator programme.
The Home Office is currently working with key voluntary and statutory organisations to ensure that this funding is used effectively to deliver immediate and longer-term improvement to our response to domestic abuse and domestic abuse perpetrators.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
3 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Questions
(View all Kate Griffiths's MHCLG questions)We do not hold data on the number of homes purchased through the Home Ownership for Long-term Disabilities (HOLD) scheme.
Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is aware from both local planning authorities and the development industry that, with delays caused by COVID-19, there is a risk of unimplemented planning permissions lapsing, undermining the delivery of projects. We are aware of these concerns and are considering whether permissions should be extended.
Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. The Government is advancing a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices and raise standards in the leasehold and freehold markets.
Homeowners who pay estate rentcharges currently have limited rights to challenge these costs. The Government intends to legislate to give freeholders on private and mixed tenure estates equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of estate rentcharges as well as a right to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to appoint a new manager to manage the provision of services covered by estate rentcharges. We will bring forward legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As community rates increase, the risk of outbreaks in prisons inevitably rises. We have planned for this and have a range of measures in place, informed by public health advice, to protect our staff, prisoners and the NHS over Winter.
Our hard-working prison staff are continuing to implement regimes that have been adapted for safety, with social distancing and PPE use. We are also quarantining new arrivals, isolating those with symptoms, and shielding the vulnerable.
These interventions are supporting us to minimise importation, limit the spread of infection and protect against explosive outbreaks.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)