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 May 2022 to Question 298 on the Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Board, what plans he has to publish the (a) agendas, (b) minutes and (c( papers for the meetings of that Board.
Answered by Paul Scully
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Oxford East on 6th June 2022 to Question 9997.
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 progress the Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Advisory Board has made on considering the information and guidance available on pregnancy and maternity discrimination to ensure it remains relevant and is effective in supporting employers and employees.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Advisory Board has met on three occasions. It has agreed its scope and terms of reference and has had the opportunity to review the Health and Safety Executive guidance on pregnant women and risk assessments. At the most recent meeting the Board was able to consider the issues raised through Members’ helplines and will use this to inform future work.
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 plans he has to amend UK place of origin regulations for clothing to enable customers to identify products originating in countries or regions within which human rights abuses are occurring.
Answered by Paul Scully
BEIS has no plans to amend the regulation for which it is responsible to seek that the labelling of clothes requires the ‘place-of-origin’ to be included.
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 report of his Department's evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
Evaluating Shared Parental Leave and Pay is an important part of the policymaking process.
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 analysing 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 13 July 2021 to Question 27196 on Compassionate Leave, what plans the Government has to undertake a formal evaluation of the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay scheme; and whether the outcome of any such evaluation will be available to inform consideration of the forthcoming Employment Bill.
Answered by Paul Scully
Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay was introduced in April 2020 as the Government recognises that the loss of a child is particularly tragic. In the Explanatory Memorandum published alongside the legislation, we committed to taking forward a review of the scheme’s impact in 2025, once it has been in place for a few 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, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2021 to Question HL1739, on Equal Pay and Recruitment: Ethnic Groups, for what reason the Government's response to the report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has not yet been published; and when the Government plans to lay its proposals for ethnicity pay gap reporting before Parliament; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
Following publication of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister issued a statement making clear that the government will consider the Commission’s recommendations in detail. In recognition of the extensive scope of recommendations, the Prime Minister established an Inter Ministerial Group which is reviewing the Commission's recommendations, including on ethnicity pay reporting, and assessing the next steps for future government policy.
The Government will respond to the Commission’s report 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 oral contribution of the Paymaster General on 1 March 2021, Official Report, column 51, what progress the Government has made on its legislative proposals for shared parental leave and adoption leave; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
Shared Parental Leave and Pay was introduced in Great Britain in 2014 for parents of children who were due or placed for adoption from April 2015. We are currently evaluating the scheme and will report on the evaluation later this year. Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay has been available to eligible employees since 2002, and in 2014 we made changes to the scheme to bring it into line with arrangements for Maternity Leave and Pay. Since 2014, Adoption Leave has been a “day 1” right and the first six weeks of Statutory Adoption Pay have been paid at an earnings-related rate (90% of the employee’s weekly earnings with no upper limit).
As part of the evaluation of Shared Parental Leave and Pay we commissioned large, representative, surveys of parents and employees which asked about a broad range of parental leave and pay entitlements. We have also consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay. The information that we have collected through these surveys and the consultation will give us a fuller picture of how well the current system of parental leave and pay is working for parents and employers.
We are currently processing and analysing this information and we will publish our findings later in the year.
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 his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing statutory bereavement leave.
Answered by Paul Scully
Since April 2020, parents who lose a child under the age of 18 have a right to take up to 2 weeks of paid leave in the 56 weeks following the death of their child. This right extends to parents of babies who are stillborn after 24 complete weeks of pregnancy. We have not assessed the potential merits of extending entitlements to bereavement leave and pay to other groups, and it is too early to conduct a formal evaluation of the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay scheme.
We recognise that the death of a close family member, friend, or colleague can be deeply upsetting. The Government believes that individuals are best placed to understand their own specific needs and we encourage their employers to respond in an appropriate and sensitive way.
Although there is no statutory entitlement to bereavement leave for employees who lose a close relative who is not a child, all employees have a ‘day 1’ right to take unpaid time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. This entitlement can be used, for example, to make arrangements for the funeral.
Individuals who do not feel able to return to work following a bereavement may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay whilst they are off work. All employees are also entitled to 5.6 weeks of Annual Leave a year.
Many employers offer ‘Compassionate Leave’ in these circumstances and we encourage employers to respond sensitively to each individual’s specific needs.
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, if he will introduce statutory bereavement leave for the loss of an immediate family member or partner.
Answered by Paul Scully
Since April 2020, parents who lose a child under the age of 18 have a right to take up to 2 weeks of paid leave in the 56 weeks following the death of their child. This right extends to parents of babies who are stillborn after 24 complete weeks of pregnancy. We have not assessed the potential merits of extending entitlements to bereavement leave and pay to other groups, and it is too early to conduct a formal evaluation of the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay scheme.
We recognise that the death of a close family member, friend, or colleague can be deeply upsetting. The Government believes that individuals are best placed to understand their own specific needs and we encourage their employers to respond in an appropriate and sensitive way.
Although there is no statutory entitlement to bereavement leave for employees who lose a close relative who is not a child, all employees have a ‘day 1’ right to take unpaid time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. This entitlement can be used, for example, to make arrangements for the funeral.
Individuals who do not feel able to return to work following a bereavement may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay whilst they are off work. All employees are also entitled to 5.6 weeks of Annual Leave a year.
Many employers offer ‘Compassionate Leave’ in these circumstances and we encourage employers to respond sensitively to each individual’s specific needs.
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 steps he is taking to protect workers in (a) the social care sector and (b) other sectors from exploitative employment practices following the March 2021 decision of the Supreme Court that social care staff are not entitled to the national minimum wage for every hour of sleep-in shifts.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Supreme Court’s unanimous judgment published on 19 March provides legal clarity. The Government has published updated guidance on sleep-in shifts and the National Minimum Wage, which applies to all sectors of the economy throughout the UK.
HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for enforcing National Minimum Wage legislation, and since 2015 has ordered employers to pay arrears of £100 million to one million workers. HMRC follows up on every worker complaint received, even those which are anonymous. This includes complaints made via the online complaint form or the Acas helpline and those received from other sources. In recent months, HMRC has also produced and advertised a webinar aimed at helping care providers understand particular issues in the social care sector.
My Hon. Friends the Minister of State for Care and the Minister for Children and Families have written to commissioners of social care services to emphasise that Local Authorities should be working with providers to ensure that they are complying with legislation and also ensuring that care workers are supported and remunerated so to retain a stable workforce.
The Government is also committed to sustainable improvement of the adult social care system and will bring forward proposals later in 2021.