Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled, Tackling harassment: universities challenged; and what steps he is taking to ensure that university staff receive adequate training to deal effectively with racial harassment.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Racial harassment is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education (HE) – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.
As independent institutions, HE providers are responsible for training and development opportunities available for their staff. We encourage providers to make use of tools such as the Race Equality Charter and the Race at Work Charter to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that affect minority ethnic staff and students.
We will continue to work closely with partners, including Universities UK and the Office for Students on matters of harassment and hate crime in HE.
The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers recognises the need to create and develop positive environments and cultures in which all researchers can flourish and achieve their full potential. This includes having effective policies and practice for tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment and providing appropriate support for those reporting issues.
By improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff within HE we can ensure that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, both as a student and as a member of staff, does so.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps she has taken to ensure that universal credit claimants have access to support throughout the application process; and whether she plans to increase the number of universal credit telephone advisers.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department takes seriously the need to support vulnerable claimants, and wants the application process for Universal Credit to be as quick and easy as possible, ensuring that claimants receive money at the earliest opportunity. To support this, we keep staffing levels under constant review and at the required levels, ensuring we have the right number of people available to answer customer calls and to respond to forecasted demand.
All Jobcentres across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet. These devices are being upgraded in a programme due to be completed by the end of October 2019. For those that are still unable to access or use digital services, or are not able to travel, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline. In certain circumstances, a home visit can be arranged to support a claimant in making and maintaining their claim
Additionally, Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland have been delivering the ‘Help to Claim’ service on a pilot basis since April 2019, supporting claimants with making a new claim to Universal Credit. The Citizens Advice Help to Claim service offers tailored, practical support to help people make a Universal Credit claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time, and is available online, on the phone and face-to-face through local Citizen’s Advice services.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to (a) remove biomass subsidies and (b) increase support more sustainable, environmentally-friendly alternatives.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Sustainable biomass is currently eligible for support under the Contract for Difference (CFD), the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
We have announced that all support for coal to biomass conversions will end in 2027.
The consultation on ‘Renewable Heat Incentive: biomass combustion in urban areas’ included the question of excluding new biomass installations in urban areas on the gas grid. A government response will be published in due course. The RHI has funding committed until March 2021 and any further funding will be a matter for future budget-related decisions.
Sustainable biomass remains an important part of a balanced energy mix, along with other renewables such as wind or solar.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that no products linked to Amazon deforestation are sold in the UK.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK Government is committed to supporting deforestation-free supply chains as set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan.
To address the footprint of products linked to deforestation, such as soya and beef, we have established the Global Resource Initiative (GRI). Led by a taskforce comprising of senior representatives from the private sector and civil society, the GRI will produce a set of recommendations in early 2020 to address the impact of the UK’s commodity supply chains. These recommendations may relate to regulatory and policy measures, transparency, financial incentives, trade, sustainable procurement and/or the role of the consumer. To address issues in relation to soya specifically, we have established the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soya which has recently led to 83% of the UK retail market publishing concrete sourcing policies to deliver sustainable soya to the UK market.
The Government works in partnership with countries in the Amazon to tackle deforestation and has invested nearly £120 million through the UK’s International Climate Finance on projects to support sustainable agriculture, prevent forest fires and implement the Forest Code in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes. Following the Amazon fires the UK has pledged a further £10 million to protect and restore the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the final report from the Young people's future health inquiry entitled A healthy foundation for the future published in October 2019, what steps the Government is taking to establish a job market that offers young people secure and rewarding work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to supporting young people into work. We aim to ensure that everyone, no matter what their start in life, is given the very best chance of getting into work.
The DWP Youth Obligation Support Programme is currently delivered to young people aged 18-21 making a new claim to Universal Credit. We provide additional tailored support to enable young people to achieve their goals.
In January 2019 we announced the extension of the Mentoring Circles initiative from the ethnic minority community to all young people who could benefit from such support. Mentoring circles support 16-24 year olds by giving them an opportunity to build on their employability skills. By facilitating an interaction with employers this initiative helps to provide young job seekers with access to and interaction with role models in the workplace.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government's Transport Decarbonisation Plan will apply to international (a) aviation and (b) shipping; and what steps he is taking to ensure that those sectors achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Answered by George Freeman
The Transport Decarbonisation Plan will consider the transport sector as a whole and the increased contribution that all modes need to make to achieve an economy-wide net zero target by 2050. Given the global nature of the aviation and shipping sectors sector, and their climate change impacts, effective and coordinated international action remains essential. Unilateral action by a single state leads to the risk that these highly mobile carbon emissions are simply moved overseas, therefore failing to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The UK will continue its leadership role at the IMO pushing for the most ambitious measures to reduce GHG emissions from ships and negotiate for ICAO to agree a long-term emissions reduction goal by its 41st Assembly in 2022. Government will keep our approach to the inclusion of international shipping and aviation emissions in our legislation under review, taking account of progress in the IMO and ICAO.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to encourage NHS England to add the maternal six week postnatal check to the GP contract so that all new mothers get a full appointment to discuss their mental and physical health.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The potential for a six-week post-natal maternal health check for all mothers is the subject of further work by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Decisions on changes to the GP contract for 2020/2021 will be made following negotiations between NHS England and the British Medical Association which are due to conclude at the end of 2019.
Support from health visitors and other professionals at the universal 6-8 week review is an important time for assessing the health and wellbeing of new parents, particularly in look for signs of postnatal depression.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of appointing a caretaker devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Julian Smith
I continue to do everything I can to get Stormont back up and running. I, as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, have no power or role to recall the Assembly, as that function is conferred on the Speaker for the Assembly. The Assembly can only be recalled by the Speaker, by agreement of the parties
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of obligating all retailers to ensure that the packaging of products they sell can be recycled locally before stocking those products.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has recently consulted on a package of measures to overhaul the waste and recycling system, including proposed reforms to the packaging producer responsibility system which will incentivise producers, including retailers, to make better, more sustainable decisions when designing and using packaging including using packaging that can be easily recycled. This consultation also proposed a mandatory UK-wide labelling scheme that provides clear information to help people to recycle, and improved communication campaigns funded by packaging producers to help consumers to know what and how to recycle. We will take primary powers in the Environment Bill to enable us to implement new extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems.
In addition, we have consulted on measures to achieve greater consistency in recycling provision across England, so that there is less confusion over how the packaging that retailers do sell can be recycled. The measures in both consultations will be implemented in 2023 and will be complimentary.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the British Horseracing Authority on changes to reduce the death rate of horses.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to the Hon. Member for Slough on 4 July 2019, PQ 263251. Since then Defra officials have met the British Horseracing Authority and will continue to do so, to ensure actions to improve horserace welfare are maintained.