Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to create a regulator for online political advertising.
Answered by Nigel Adams
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support homeless migrants from the EU apply for settled status.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office has put in place measures to ensure that the settlement scheme is accessible and capable of handling vulnerable customers, including homeless applicants, with flexibility.
A user group of external stakeholders who represent the needs of potentially vulnerable individuals, including those who are homeless, has been established to work with the Home Office to ensure the right support arrangements are in place.
There is provision in policy to ensure effective consideration of evidence of residence, which allows for a wide range of evidence to be provided by applicants in order to evidence their residence.
The Home Office has introduced a range of support including up to £9 million grant funding for 57 voluntary and community organisations, to ensure those that require the most support to apply to the scheme can access it.
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 he plans to require employers to provide domestic abuse survivors with (a) flexible working arrangements and (b) a period of paid leave.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Domestic abuse is a devastating crime which shatters the lives of victims and their families, and this Government remains committed to transforming the response to this abuse. That is why we have introduced the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill, which had its Second Reading on 2 October and will be carried over to the next Parliamentary session.
Employers should take all steps which are reasonably possible to ensure their health, safety and wellbeing of their employees.
We know that 97% of employers offer some form of flexible working. Many employers also offer compassionate leave or special leave to employees to enable them to take time to deal with a wide range of circumstances. This type of leave is agreed between the employer and the employee, either as a contractual entitlement or on a discretionary basis.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all schools teach every part of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We know that many schools choose to teach pupils about the Equality Act and the protected characteristics under that Act in the context of duties on schools, such as the requirements to promote both fundamental British values and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of their pupils. Schools are entitled to teach about the Equality Act in this context, and the Department thinks it is right that pupils leave school with a proper understanding of the importance of equality and respecting difference.
From September 2020 Relationships Education will be compulsory for all primary pupils and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) will be compulsory for all secondary pupils. These subjects will give pupils the knowledge they need to stay safe and develop respectful, caring relationships of all kinds. The guidance on these subjects can be found here:
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, what steps her Department is taking to support research into cost-effective alternatives to coal for heavy industry.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department understands the need for industry to decarbonise as the UK moves towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To support this priority, the Department is currently running, or intending to run, the following R&D programmes that focus on industrial decarbonisation, which may consider bids for cost-effective alternatives to coal:
- The Industrial Fuel Switching Competition is a £20m competition, funded by the BEIS £505m Energy Innovation Portfolio (2016-2021), which aims to identify and test the processes and technologies required for industries in the UK to switch to low carbon fuels;
- The Industrial Energy Transformation Fund was announced at Budget 2018 as a new fund worth up to £315 million to support businesses with high energy use to transition to a low carbon future and to cut their bills through increased energy efficiency;
- The Clean Steel Fund, is a £250m programme, currently under consultation, will support the UK steel sector to transition to lower carbon iron and steel production through new technologies and processes;
- The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund has two relevant challenges, including the industrial decarbonisation challenge which is focused on heavy industry, and the Transforming Foundation Industries challenge, which is focused on energy and resource efficiency.
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, with reference to the Sexual Harassment of UK Doctors: Report 2019 published by Medscape on 1 October 2019, what steps his Department is taking to safeguard junior doctors and medical students against sexual harassment at work.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Employers are responsible for protecting their staff from sexual harassment by members of the public or other staff members. For doctors in training and medical students, this will include senior clinicians, educational supervisors and managers of training programmes. They are responsible for ensuring that their organisations provide supportive working environments that prioritise patient safety, educational outcomes and staff wellbeing.
Sexual harassment, a form of unlawful discrimination, should not be tolerated under any circumstances so staff who believe they have been subjected to it should report the incident(s). Employers should ensure they fully support these staff and work with them to ensure appropriate legal action is taken against perpetrators.
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, whether he plans to expand the safeguarding system used to investigate the deaths of vulnerable adults to include everyone who has died while street homeless.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The cross-Government Rough Sleeping Strategy, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in August 2018, sets out the commitments to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2027.
The Department of Health and Social Care has committed itself to work with Safeguarding Adult Boards to ensure that Safeguarding Adult Reviews are conducted when an adult who sleeps rough dies or is seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect, whether known or suspected, and there is concern that partner agencies could have worked more effectively to protect them. The Care Act Statutory Support Guidance sets out the criteria for carrying out a Safeguarding Adult Review, regardless of whether the adult is homeless or not.
The Department has no imminent plans to extend the safeguarding system to investigate the death of every vulnerable adult who is homeless and dies, but will continue to work with other Government departments to deliver the Rough Sleeping Strategy.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Russian counterpart on the release of the Ukrainian student Serhiy Rusynov, who has been held for almost a year held by Russian backed separatists in Donbas.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We are aware of reports concerning Mr Rusynov's imprisonment in a non-government controlled area of Eastern Ukraine. We remain extremely concerned about the lack of access for human rights bodies to non-government-controlled territories in Eastern Ukraine. It is essential that independent investigations take place to deliver accountability for all serious allegations of violations. We have called upon Russia to use its influence over the separatists to provide this access and to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
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 steps her Department is taking to help businesses increase access for disabled people to (a) apprenticeships and (b) jobs.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In respect of apprenticeships, we have undertaken a number of actions to improve access to apprenticeships for people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. We have made British Sign Language (BSL) an alternative to English Functional Skills for those who have BSL as their first language and we have adjusted the minimum English and maths requirements for those who are able to meet the occupational standard of their apprenticeship but would struggle to achieve the regular English and maths minimum requirements.
It is encouraging to see that 36,900 apprenticeships were started by individuals with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in the first three quarters of 2018/9. This is 12.3 per cent of all apprenticeship starts and an increase from 11.5 per cent at the same point in 2017/18.
We continue our work with Mencap and our Pacesetters group, made up of a range of organisations and local authorities to identify what further support we can give those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
With regard to jobs help, we offer a range of programmes and schemes that offer employment support to disabled people. These include:
The Intensive Personalised Employment Support Programme (IPES) will launch by the end of 2019. It will provide highly personalised packages of employment support for disabled people with complex and multiple barriers to work who are at least a year away from moving into work without the support on the programme.
Our Jobcentres offer tailored and personalised support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers, backed by the Personal Support Package which is a 4-year, £330 million package of employment support targeted at claimants with disabilities and health conditions.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Brazilian counterpart on the increase in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon over the last 12 months.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Ministers and our Embassy in Brasilia routinely engage with the Brazilian Government on many environmental issues, including deforestation. The Foreign Secretary spoke to the Brazilian Foreign Minister about the forest fires in the Amazon on 27 August, and I also discussed this issue with the Brazilian Ambassador at a meeting on 4 September.