Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with Ministers in HM Treasury on the allocation of specific funding from the public purse to (a) new mothers and (b) children born since the outbreak of covid-19.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is committed to providing support to all those that need it, including new mothers and children born during the pandemic, as we recover from the impact of COVID-19. During the crisis we have rolled out unprecedented levels of support to protect jobs and income for both women and men, including via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Universal Credit uplift.
Financial support available for those who are pregnant or new parents includes Child Benefit, the Sure Start Maternity Grant, and the Healthy Start Scheme, as well as Maternity Allowance or paid parental leave for those who are eligible and/or Universal Credit where relevant.
We also recognise the impact of the pandemic and restrictions on people’s mental wellbeing and are doing our utmost to ensure that mental health services are there for everyone who needs them. The Government's mental health recovery action plan, backed by £500 million, will support hundreds of thousands of people with mental health issues.
All specialist and in-patient perinatal mental health services have remained available during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, having moved at pace during the early stages to be able to deliver digital and remote support.
Since 1 April 2020, GPs are required to offer a maternal postnatal consultation at 6-8 weeks after birth, focusing on a review of the mother’s physical and mental health and general wellbeing. This service has also continued throughout the pandemic.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
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 extend paternal leave to support people who have lost access to health services, baby groups and childcare support as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is sympathetic to the unique challenges that new parents have faced because of COVID-19 and the social distancing measures that we had to put in place to protect lives and the NHS. We recognise that these restrictions have meant that some parents have been, or still are unable to participate in activities normally available to them, such as baby groups.
The Government is not minded at this stage to extend Paternity Leave and Pay entitlements. We believe current entitlements to Paternity Leave and Pay and Shared Parental Leave and Pay are generous enough to allow fathers to care for the child and support the child’s mother or adopter. Fathers have access to two weeks of Paternity Leave and Pay and through Shared Parental Leave and Pay, they can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay with the mother if she does not intend to use her full maternity entitlements.
We understand that social distancing guidelines have made finding childcare more challenging. Parents who are unable to find suitable childcare can contact their local authority where they will receive advice on available settings. In addition, parents of children aged under 14 are now able to form ‘childcare bubbles’ to allow friends or family from one other household to provide informal childcare. Early Years settings (including nurseries and childminders) also remain open during the new national lockdown.
The NHS has made arrangements to ensure that new parents were supported throughout the pandemic. Operating digitally where possible, community health services have continued to provide support, prioritising higher needs families, and NHS mental health services also remained open.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of taking steps to encourage companies to place parents on furlough while schools are closed as a result of the covid-19 national lockdown that has been in place since January 2021.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is available to the employers of anyone who is unable to work, including from home, due to caring responsibilities arising from COVID-19, such as caring for children who are at home as a result of school and childcare facilities closing. However, the furloughing of staff through the CJRS is a voluntary arrangement, entered at the employers’ discretion and agreed by employees. It is not for the Government to decide whether an individual firm should put its staff on furlough.
In the most recent national lockdown, the Government has chosen to keep early years settings open for all children. Vulnerable children and children of key workers can also continue to attend out-of-school settings, for example breakfast clubs and after-school clubs. Households with anyone aged under 14 can form a ‘childcare bubble’. This allows friends or family from one other household to provide informal childcare.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral evidence of the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets to the Women and Equalities Committee on Unequal impact? Coronavirus and the gendered economic impact on 4 November 2020, Q177, HC 385, how many women made an employment tribunal claim in respect of a redundancy in breach of Regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 in each year since 2000.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
HM Courts and Tribunals Service does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2020 to Question 64381 on Baby Care Units: Coronavirus, if he will make it his policy for rapid testing for parents of babies in neonatal care to be prioritised in line with the recommendations of the First Report of the Petitions Committee of Session 2019-21, entitled The impact of Covid-19 on maternity and parental leave, HC 526, published on 6 July 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
It is essential that the mother and her partner are never considered to be visitors within the neonatal unit – they are partners in their baby’s care and their presence should be encouraged. The mother and her newborn should have unrestricted contact when admission to a neonatal unit is unavoidable.
The same arrangements for COVID-19 testing should be offered to parents as are applied to staff, in order to minimise unnecessary separation. This includes testing of symptomatic parents and testing of suspected contacts.
An asymptomatic mother who is awaiting the result of routine COVID-19 admission screening should usually be allowed to attend her baby in the neonatal unit and to provide skin to skin care.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of a period of statutory maternity pay being used to calculate a reduced furlough pay entitlement for returning mothers on variable pay; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Employees on variable pay who have been on Statutory Maternity Pay or other forms of Parental Leave are eligible to apply for furlough pay under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Eligible employees will be entitled to 80% of the higher rate of two calculations: either the wages earned in the corresponding calendar period in the tax year 2019 to 2020, or the average wages payable in the tax year 2019 to 2020. These measures have been put in place to cover a wide range of contractual and working arrangements and are designed to mitigate situations where individuals have low pay in a certain month for any reason.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to ensure BAME women are not disproportionately affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
This Government is working to support all people through COVID-19, including BAME women. Guided by medical and scientific expertise, we have implemented specific measures to reduce the spread of the virus in all communities for everyone including women from BAME backgrounds.
This Government has taken unprecedented steps to support lives and livelihoods, including increasing the generosity of Universal Credit, introducing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and made changes to ensure women do not miss out on parental leave and childcare support. We continue to engage with women’s charities both local and national, and have made available an additional £76 million announced in May, to support survivors of?domestic abuse, sexual violence, modern slavery, and vulnerable children and their families.
The Public Health England (PHE) report, “COVID-19: review of disparities in risks and outcomes”, published on 2 June 2020, looks at the COVID-19 mortality rates of different ethnic groups. I am now leading further work to build on this by analysing the key drivers of disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, the relationships between different risk factors, and what can be done to close the gap, for BAME men and women. This work is supported by the Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office. The recommendations in the second PHE report “Beyond the data: Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on BAME groups” published on 16 June are also being taken forward as part of the terms of reference announced by myself on 4 June.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
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 take steps to introduce neonatal (a) leave and (b) pay for families affected by covid-19.
Answered by Paul Scully
We recognise that parents of sick and premature babies are in an extremely difficult and distressing position and that Covid-19 has made it difficult for some parents to spend time with their children. The social distancing measures that we put in place have, however, been necessary to save lives – including those of new parents and their babies – and protect the NHS.
As announced in the Queen’s Speech, we intend to bring forward an Employment Bill which will include measures to allow parents of children who have spent time in neonatal care to take additional paid leave (subject to qualifying criteria). We intend to legislate as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the UN Report The Impact of Covid 19 on Women; and what steps she is taking to in response to that report's findings that the covid-19 outbreak has had a greater negative economic impact on women, has led to an increase in unpaid care work, and has led to a rise in gender-based violence.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
This Government is working tirelessly to support people impacted by COVID-19, including women.
The UN Report has highlighted some key issues that women are facing globally as a result of this pandemic. To respond to these challenges, we have taken unprecedented steps to support lives and livelihoods, including increasing the generosity of Universal Credit, introducing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and made changes to ensure people do not miss out on parental leave, childcare support or carer’s allowance. We have also been clear that those with caring responsibilities (including childcare) can access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which will continue until October. We have also engaged extensively with a wide variety of key stakeholders to inform our work in this area, including the Fawcett Society, Equally Ours, a network of UK equal opportunities organisations, the UK Civil Society Women's Alliance, and small women’s organisations. The cultural shift in flexible working for all that we’ve seen in recent months can and must be part of how we build back better after the crisis.
Gendered violence of any kind is unacceptable, which is why we announced an extra £76 million to support the most vulnerable – including survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence. This is in addition to the £2 million made available by the Home Office to help bolster domestic abuse helplines and online services, to ensure that support continues to be available for victims. Despite lockdown regulations, we made clear that anyone at risk of domestic abuse could still leave their home and go somewhere they feel safe. The Home Office is running an awareness campaign - #YouAreNotAlone - to signpost victims to the support services available.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support BAME women during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
This Government is working to support all people through COVID-19, including BAME women. Guided by medical and scientific expertise, we have implemented specific measures to reduce the spread of the virus in all communities for everyone including women from BAME backgrounds.
This Government has taken unprecedented steps to support lives and livelihoods, including increasing the generosity of Universal Credit, introducing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and made changes to ensure women do not miss out on parental leave and childcare support. In addition, Equality Hub officials regularly meet with organisations representing women and BAME communities and continue to do so. We are also working to alert and encourage relevant grassroots charities to apply for funding that has been made available including through the National Lottery Community Fund.
Public Health England has now completed its review into ‘Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19’, which confirms that COVID-19 has replicated, and in some cases increased, existing health inequalities related to risk factors, including age, gender, ethnicity and geography. The Minister for Equalities is working with the Race Disparity Unit and the Department for Health and Social Care to carry forward work to address the disparities outlined in the Public Health England report.