Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans are in place to ensure customer confidence in the (a) accessibility, (b) adequacy of access for blind and partially sighted people and (c) cleanliness of the public transport system once covid-19 lockdown measures have been relaxed.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
On 12 May 2020, in response to Covid-19, the Department for Transport published safer travel guidance for passengers and operators. These documents are clear that all equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply and that operators should ensure everyone who needs to can continue to access the transport network.
Operators should consider their messaging, and continue to support those with protected characteristics, as they normally would. The documents also remind passengers of the potentially different experience of those with disabilities, including hidden disabilities. The Department is working closely with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee to identify how to improve the experience of disabled passengers during lockdown and into the future.
The guidance advises the public to avoid public transport where possible and, if they need to use it, how to stay safe – for example by wearing a face covering if possible and washing their hands before, during and after travel. We have advised operators that they could consider additional cleaning measures and protocols to limit coronavirus transmission. These steps should help boost confidence for all passengers.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the roll-out of universal credit in (a) the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and (b) Stourbridge constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department successfully completed the rollout of Universal Credit in December 2018 and it is available in every Jobcentre across the country including those across the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Stourbridge constituency. It is a modern, agile, personalised system which has scrapped the ‘cliff edges’ featured across legacy benefits, where money was lost when working more than 16, 24 and 30 hours.
Universal Credit provides claimants with the support they need to better prepare for work, move into work, or to increase earnings.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the systems in place to refund rail season tickets.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department and Transport Focus are in regular contact with the rail industry to monitor the effectiveness of the systems in place to refund rail season tickets. This has led to the introduction of new processes to make claiming refunds easier during this crisis.
Passengers are now able to claim refunds remotely and we have allowed passengers to backdate their season ticket refund claim to 17th March, when ‘do not travel’ advice was first introduced. The refund acceptance period for passengers has also been extended to 56 days, and a season ticket refund calculator has been added to National Rail’s website.
Train operators have allocated additional resources to process the unprecedented number of refund requests as quickly as possible. Since 17th March over 85,000 season ticket holders have claimed season ticket refunds totalling over £130 million in response to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Chambers of Commerce on how they can support businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department works in close contact with UK Business Representative Organisations (BROs) – including with leading BROs such as the British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation for Small Businesses, and MAKE UK, the Manufacturers Organisation and UK Finance.
This engagement has been increased significantly across all levels of the Department, for Government to understand where support is needed most for businesses across the economy during the Coronavirus outbreak. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I hold numerous calls every week with a range of BROs to discuss feedback on government support measures; and we have initiated additional calls to announce additions and developments to the suite of COVID19 business finance, such as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme.
In my role as Minister for Small Businesses, I have also engaged with local Chambers of Commerce such as in Merton, for example on Wednesday 5th May I joined a webinar to engage in a Question and Answer session.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure that negotiations on bilateral trade agreements continue during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have now launched negotiations virtually with the US. The UK government remains in regular contact with the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand and we will jointly decide how to proceed with each negotiation in a way which respects public health. Our partners remaining willing to make progress on high quality free trade agreements. Increasing transatlantic trade can help our economies bounce back from the economic challenge posed by COVID-19.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with Ministers in his Department on introducing formal recognition by the Government for heroic actions taken during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Further to the answer given by my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster during his oral statement on 28 April 2020, the Government will ensure recognition is both timely and appropriate and is reflective of the profound gratitude the nation feels towards everyone on the frontline.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support British nationals overseas whose visas have expired during the lockdown period; and what recent discussions his Department has had with its overseas counterparts on ensuring that those British nationals are not unfairly sanctioned by those states.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has lobbied countries across the globe to ensure that British nationals who are waiting to be repatriated are not regarded as over-stayers and will not suffer any immigration penalties. We advise British nationals who are in this position to contact the relevant immigration authority in the country in which they are located. In a number of countries, including Thailand and Indonesia, we have provided British national travellers with expiring visas with letters and information notes from the Consulate to support their visa extension requests.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Wales Office:
What stakeholder engagement he has undertaken in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
We are engaging with Welsh businesses and other sectors on a daily basis to learn more about the impact of the crisis on the ground and feed stakeholders’ views back into government policy making. This includes, remotely, one-to-one discussions and group webinars enabling the Secretary of State and I to explain the government’s support schemes.
This week I have been pleased to join meetings hosted by the Welsh Local Government Association and CBI Wales. Tomorrow, the Secretary of State will join the Business Secretary and Welsh Ministers in hosting a joint web-based business question and answer session.
Asked by: Suzanne Webb (Conservative - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps his Department is taking to improve rail services in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Major investment is planned to improve rail services throughout the region. In the West Midlands, £700m is being invested in a fleet of 180 new carriages which will deliver 20,000 more peak hour seats into Birmingham over the next two years,
The East Midlands will benefit from our £1.5bn upgrade of the Midland Mainline, with faster peak time journeys to London from this December and a brand-new fleet of bi-mode trains entering service from 2022.