Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the average loan issued under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme is.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) has been introduced to help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2000 and £50,000.
As of 10 May, over 268,000 loans have been issued with a total value of over £8.3 billion.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what plans she has to support women (a) returning to work and (b) accessing childcare after the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that many women face barriers to returning to work due to caring responsibilities. We have delivered, and continue to deliver, return to work programmes which provide training, support and employment opportunities across a variety of levels, sectors, and regions.
For example, we have awarded around £1.5 million to sixteen organisations supporting returners in the private sector. This fund provides parents and carers with a training and skills package to enable them to return to the labour market.
We have also launched returner programmes that target key workforces in the public sector, including social workers, health professionals and police investigators. The Return to Practice programme has supported over 300 health professionals to update their skills and knowledge and gain professional registration, so that they can secure employment. The Return to Social Work programme is recruiting up to 200 previously certified social workers into critical roles within local councils to support the Covid-19 pandemic response, providing them with training and placements.
The Government also recognises the importance of childcare to working parents. The closure of schools, nurseries, childminders and other childcare settings were from Friday 20 March, except for children who are vulnerable, and children whose parents are critical to the COVID-19 response was an important step to reducing the number of social interactions and thus flatten the upward curve of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Government has to monitor redundancies by protected characteristics after the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government does not routinely monitor redundancy statistics by protected characteristics. However, when employers select employees for redundancy, they must comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and ensure that they do not unlawfully discriminate. There are also additional considerations that employers must take into account when redundancies affect women who are pregnant or on maternity leave.
The Government continues to gather data, including through interactions with stakeholders, to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on all citizens, including groups with protected characteristics.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, further to the Answer of 16 January 2020 to Question 2530, on Pay, if he will publish data on the minimum wage (a) arrears and (b) penalties issued in each constituency in each of the last six financial years.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who fail to pay the NMW. HMRC follows up on every worker complaint it receives, even those which are anonymous. The Government publishes a regional breakdown of National Minimum Wage enforcement activity, including arrears and penalties, as part of the annual Enforcement and Compliance Report. The most recent report can be found here.
Caution is required when analysing Minimum Wage enforcement by geography. Enforcement data is reported based on employers’ details, not workers’. This means HMRC may identify arrears for workers who live outside of the immediate area where their employer is based. Similarly, for large employers, arrears and penalties may be attributed to a specific head office location.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which employers underpaid the National (a) Living and (b) Minimum Wage in 2018-19.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone entitled to the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. This is why we have more than doubled the compliance and enforcement budget for the NMW and NLW to £27.4 million for 2019/20, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16.
In 2018/19, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) identified a record £24.4 million in minimum wage arrears for over 220,000 workers and issued over £17 million in penalties to non-compliant employers.
The Naming Scheme is the appropriate mechanism to state which employers have underpaid National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage. The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is reviewing the Naming Scheme; the outcome of that review will be published in due course.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
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 implement the European Council directive on work-life balance for parents and carers.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to maintaining and enhancing workers’ rights as we leave the EU. We will not be bound by EU law but will be able to raise employment standards where it is right for the UK.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are already working on measures designed to increase take-up of family-related leave and flexible working arrangements.
In addition to consulting on high-level options for how we can better balance the gender division of the parental leave and pay system, the department is considering the question of dedicated employment rights for carers alongside existing employment rights (such as the right to request flexible working and the right to time off for family and dependents).
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies previously registered as non-resident for corporation tax purposes in countries other than Luxembourg provided an address in Luxembourg to the Land Registry in May 2019.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
HM Land Registry do not hold information about a company’s tax status as this is not required for land registration purposes.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2017 to Question 109411, what the timetable is for the publication of his Department's response to the 2016 consultation into tipping, gratuities, cover and service charges.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Government will provide a response to the consultation shortly. This will set out next steps on Government policy, taking into account evidence collected by the consultation and subsequent developments in the sector such as the publication of a voluntary Code of Practice.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the contribution of credit card debt to personal insolvency over the last five years.
Answered by Margot James
The Insolvency Service regularly assesses how changes in debt levels impact on the number of personal insolvencies. It considers a wide range of economic indicators to determine which has the greater impact on levels of personal insolvency. Over the last five years, the analysis has shown that total household debt is a better indicator of personal insolvency movements than levels of credit card debt.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for the publication of his Department's response to the 2016 consultation into tipping, gratuities, cover and service charges.
Answered by Margot James
The Government is currently considering next steps in light of responses to the consultation.