Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there are legal protections in place to prevent employers from mandating people who are severely immunocompromised from having to return to their workplace after the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends in September 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
There are a range of legal protections which could be engaged where it is difficult for an employee to return to work as a result of an underlying health condition. But the law does not distinguish specifically between particular health conditions.
An immunocompromised person may be considered to have a disability and benefit from protections under the Equality Act which include the duty on an employer to make reasonable adjustments. A disability under the Equality Act is defined as a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. A reasonable adjustment can include letting someone work somewhere else.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Post Office branches have closed in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last twelve months.
Answered by Paul Scully
While Post Office Limited is publicly owned, it operates as an independent, commercial business. Therefore, details regarding the branch type and the number of closed Post Offices in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland as of 5 July 2021, are an operational matter for Post Office Limited.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of each branch type of Post Office are operating in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland as at 5 July 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
While Post Office Limited is publicly owned, it operates as an independent, commercial business. Therefore, details regarding the branch type and the number of closed Post Offices in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland as of 5 July 2021, are an operational matter for Post Office Limited.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 is taking to maintain the existing number of operating branches in the Post Office network.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to a UK-wide network of post offices, which is why we have set the national access criteria. These criteria, for instance, require that nationally, ninety per cent (90%) of the UK population are within one mile of the nearest Post Office Branch and that nationally, ninety-nine per cent (99%) of the UK population are within three (3) miles of the nearest Post Office Branch.
Whilst the Post Office branch numbers can fluctuate between areas and regions, the Post Office works hard with communities to ensure that service is maintained and this can include solutions such as mobile or other types of outreach services where necessary.
In the Government's Spending Review it was announced that we will be investing £227m in the Post Office in 2021/22. This reflects our commitment to the role that post offices play across our communities.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What recent assessment he has made of the sustainability of the Post Office network.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Post Office network has been incredibly resilient during the pandemic, with over 90% of branches remaining open throughout. The Government continues to work with Post Office to monitor the network closely.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 21 January 2021 to Question 133029 on Disability: EU Law, what steps the Government is taking to improve and enhance accessibility through domestic legislation.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK has robust legislation on accessibility through the protections covered by the Equality Act 2006, Equality Act 2010, and equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination on grounds of disability and imposes a duty on providers of goods and services to make reasonable adjustments to prevent this.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 legislative proposals to ensure workers’ rights and employment standards are maintained after the transition period.
Answered by Paul Scully
As an independent, sovereign nation we are now ideally placed to capitalise on the wealth of opportunities available to us. We want to go further than ever before to uphold workers’ rights, support UK businesses and ultimately boost productivity in the UK.
Our high standards have never been dependent on EU membership, and this agreement recognises the importance of these employment standards, whilst retaining flexibility for us to tailor our approach to what works for the UK and maintaining our strong levels of protection.