Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on plans to support residents without a domestic energy supply with rising energy bills.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular conversations with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a carbon pricing system.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme – a ‘cap and trade’ carbon pricing scheme – came into force on 1 January 2021, replacing the UK’s participation in the EU ETS. It is run by the four administrations of the UK, collectively making up the UK ETS Authority.
Establishing the UK ETS demonstrates the UK's commitment to carbon pricing as an effective tool that will help fulfil its climate change objectives. The UK ETS covers the UK’s power sector, energy-intensive industries, and emissions from domestic flights, flights from the UK to the European Economic Area (EEA) and flights between the UK and Gibraltar and UK and Switzerland. The Government is exploring expanding the scheme to other sectors.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of rising energy costs on hospitality businesses; and what steps his Department is taking to help support (a) pubs, (b) restaurants and (c) other hospitality venues with rising energy costs.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The costs of gas and electricity that energy suppliers buy on customers’ behalf is forecast to remain high. The Government is taking immediate action on a scale similar to the measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Government has introduced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to support non-domestic energy customers this winter, including pubs, restaurants, and other hospitality venues on eligible contracts. The scheme will initially run for 6 months covering energy use from 1st October 2022 until 31st March 2023.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what was the total number of claimants of Statutory Adoption Pay in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Dean Russell
Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP). This data provides a broad indication of SAP take-up but does not include anyone taking unpaid Statutory Adoption Leave.
Table 1: Individuals in receipt of SAP, 2015/16 to 2021/22 (the latest year for which full year data is available)
Year (April to March) | No. of individuals in receipt of SAP |
2015-16 | 5,500 |
2016-17 | 5,400 |
2017-18 | 4,900 |
2018-19 | 4,800 |
2019-20 | 4,900 |
2020-21 | 4,400 |
2021-22 | 4,600 |
Figures are based on the total number of individuals in a given year, irrespective of when the payment first started. Some individuals will be counted across two years.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of researchers in the UK researching (a) dementia, (b) cancer, (c) stroke and (d) coronary heart disease in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government does not collect this data.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral evidence from the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility to the Women and Equalities Committee on 22 November 2017, HC 358, when he expects take-up of Shared Parental Leave to reach (a) 10 per cent, (b) 20 per cent and (c) 25 per cent of eligible fathers.
Answered by Paul Scully
The evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Pay scheme remains important for the Government, and we will publish our report in due course. This will include an up-to-date estimate of take-up.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
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 contribution by the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets to the Westminster Hall debate on Parental Leave and Pay on 22 March 2022, Official Report, cols 98-102 WH, when he will bring forward proposals to extend redundancy protection to those applying for adoption leave and shared parental leave.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has committed to extending redundancy protections during pregnancy and after maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
We will introduce these measures when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of new mothers who started on statutory paid maternity leave used the Shared Parental Leave scheme to transfer some of their leave to the child's father during fiscal years (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2021-22.
Answered by Paul Scully
Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP). This provides a broad indication of Shared Parental Leave take-up but excludes anyone taking unpaid Shared Parental Leave.
Table 1: Individuals in receipt of ShPP, 2019/20 and 2021/22
Financial Year | Female | Male | Total |
2019-20 | 2,600 | 9,900 | 12,600 |
2021-22 | 3,200 | 9,800 | 13,000 |
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
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 19 July 2021 to Question 32423 on Parental Leave, when he plans to publish the findings of the surveys and consultation conducted as part of the evaluation of Shared Parental Leave and Pay.
Answered by Paul Scully
As part of the evaluation, we commissioned large, representative surveys of parents and employees which asked about a range of parental leave and pay entitlements as well as their experience of Shared Parental Leave specifically. We also consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay.
We are currently considering this information and will publish our findings in due course.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
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 17 June 2022 to Question 14454 on Energy Supply: Park Homes, what avenues the Government is exploring to help provide support to those people; and if he will make a statement before the Summer recess.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for St Albans on 20th June 2022 to Question 18990.