Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
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 make an assessment of the potential effect of standing charges on (a) small- and (b) medium-sized businesses.
Answered by Greg Hands
The standing charge is a fixed charge that suppliers pass on to their customers to cover the cost of providing a live supply. If the standing charge were removed, these costs would be added to the unit price of energy. Otherwise, suppliers would not be able to recover the legitimate costs of serving customers. The standing charge is passed on to consumers as a flat rate per day, rather than as a percentage charge (based on how much energy they use). The setting of the standing charge is a commercial matter for individual suppliers.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on local communities of the projects funded through the latest tranche of awards from the (a) Levelling Up Fund and (b) Community Ownership Fund.
Answered by Michael Gove
The Levelling Up Fund considers the impact of projects in local communities, by looking at how strongly each bid aligns and supports local need.
The Community Ownership Fund considers the impact of projects in local communities by assessing how an asset under community ownership will deliver benefits to a local community and bolster pride of place.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of starting isolation periods from a positive lateral flow result on the use of PCR tests and the Government's ability to track covid-19 variants.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The move away from confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for some groups is compatible with surveillance for COVID-19 variants. The UK Health Security Agency aims to conduct surveillance on at least 10% of community cases for the monitoring of variants. Those groups which will continue to be tested with a PCR test will provide sufficient community-based positive samples to maintain the ability to detect any new mutations in the Omicron or Delta variants or any emerging and new variants.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to ensure that housebound people are able to access the covid-19 booster vaccine.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Every adult in England aged 18 years old and over has now been offered a COVID-19 booster vaccination, including all those who are housebound. General practitioners and community teams have determined the best approach for vaccination for those who are housebound, based on their knowledge of the patient and their circumstances. Some patients may be able to attend Primary Care Network (PCN) designated sites with assistance and discussions should be held with the family and /or carer to facilitate this. For those patients unable to travel to a PCN designated site with assistance, vaccinations will be delivered via roving units to an individual’s home.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with stakeholders on merging personal independence payments into universal credit.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Health and Disability Green Paper aimed to explore ways to improve the design of the benefits system and posed illustrative ideas, such as a single benefit covering both PIP and UC, to generate discussion.
During the consultation period we held more than 40 events with stakeholders to hear their views on the proposals in the Green Paper, including on options for simplifying the benefits system.
Although the formal consultation period has now ended, we will continue to engage stakeholders regularly, particularly on the broader aspects of the paper that focus on future reform.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What steps her Department has taken to safely reopen international travel to facilitate trade and tourism.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The Government strongly supports the safe reopening of international travel. Only seven countries now remain on the red list and this is reviewed regularly. We now accept vaccination certificates from over 90 countries and territories and we are working to expand that list. These changes make travel abroad easier - boosting trade, tourism and reuniting friends and families.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve the current package of support for unpaid carers.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We will take steps to ensure that unpaid carers have the support, advice and respite they need, fulfilling the goals of the Care Act 2014. We will work with stakeholders, including unpaid carers, to co-develop our plans and publish further detail in a white paper for reform later this year.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Home Office:
What plans her Department has to increase police funding.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In February, the Government published a total police funding settlement of up to £15.8 billion in 2021/22.
This is an increase of up to £600 million compared to 2020/21 and cements our commitment to give the police the resources they need to keep the public safe.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether there is a roadmap for the return to contact training for local clubs hosting contact sports.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
We have come to a critical juncture. Incidence rates are growing and the NHS is under increasing pressure. Therefore, from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December there will be new national measures to reduce the infection rate of coronavirus. However, sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus. Exercise and recreation outdoors will be allowed with your household or on your own with one person from another household.
DCMS and Sport England are working with National Governing Bodies to allow the safe return of close contact sports. However, sports which involve close contact with another person cannot currently take place. This is due to the increased risks of transmission of Covid-19, because of the proximity of participants and contact between them.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will put plans in place to provide financial support to the coach industry.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We have announced several financial support measures available to UK businesses, including the coach industry. This includes measures announced on 24 September as part of the Winter Economy Plan. Further support was announced by the Chancellor on 22 October for businesses in local lockdown areas, in addition to changes to the Job Support Scheme (JSS), and increased business grants.
In addition, we are supporting coaches to be used for school transport and public transport, where appropriate. The Department for Education has provided over £70 million to local transport authorities to provide additional dedicated school and college capacity in our transport system, including coaches.
We continue to work closely with representatives from the coach sector including the Confederation of Passenger Transport, and with other government departments, to understand the ongoing risks and issues, including demand considerations and how these could be addressed.