Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
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 adequacy of the Royal Mail’s current service standards for the delivery of letters.
Answered by Paul Scully
Ofcom, the independent regulator, monitors Royal Mail’s performance and has powers to investigate and take enforcement action if Royal Mail fails to achieve its service standards. Ofcom is consulting on the future regulatory framework for post and plans to issue a statement in Summer 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
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 Ofcom on Royal Mail's current service standards for the delivery of letters in response to reports to Citizens Advice of increased postal delays.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department has regular discussions with Ofcom on a wide range of issues, including its duty to ensure the provision of a financially sustainable and efficient universal postal service.
Ofcom monitors Royal Mail’s performance and has powers to investigate and take enforcement action if Royal Mail fails to achieve its service delivery targets.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Supreme Court judgement in the case of Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake and Shannon v Rampersad and another dated 19 March 2021, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend National Minimum Wage regulations to clarify that sleep-in shifts for care staff should be counted for the purposes of calculating the minimum wage.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Supreme Court has upheld the Court of Appeal judgment of July 2018 and provided legal clarity following years of evolving court judgments and legal uncertainty.
The Government welcomes the legal clarity and is considering the implications of the judgment, also with care commissioners and providers, to consider what action, if any, is needed.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
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 3 November 2020 to Question 110766 on Business: Coronavirus, if his Department will take steps to monitor the number of office-based businesses who are still requiring staff to work from the office during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
When employers consider whether workers should come into the office, this will need to be reflected in the COVID-19 workplace risk assessment and actions taken to manage the risks of transmission in line with this guidance.
The decision to return to the workplace must be made in meaningful consultation with workers (including through trade unions or employee representative groups where they exist). It is vital employers engage with workers to ensure they feel safe returning to work, and they should not force anyone into an unsafe workplace.
Safer working guidance for offices and contact centres can be found at www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/offices-and-contact-centres. This guide clarifies for employees how they, should they need to, can escalate a concern regarding a return to work.
Anyone who feels they are incorrectly being asked to go into their place of work should contact their employee representative or trade union if they have one, or contact the Health and Safety Executive on 0300 790 6787 or using the online working safely enquiry form.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to monitor compliance with covid-19 guidance among office-based businesses.
Answered by Paul Scully
Across all industries, 97% of UK businesses say they are aware of the government safer workplace guidance. Source: ‘Business Impact of Covid-19 Survey’, ONS, October 2020.
Across all industries, only 2% of UK businesses said that they have not implemented any safety measures in the workplace. Source: ‘Business Impact of Covid-19 Survey’, ONS, October 2020.
A survey of the public found that almost two thirds of employees (63%) in Great Britain had been consulted on safer working practices by their employer, whilst a similar proportion (62%) said that their employer is displaying a covid-secure poster in their workplace. Source: ‘Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain’, ONS, October 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the number of employers contravening Government guidance by prohibiting staff from working from home during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Compliance by employers across the nation with the BEIS guidance is high. Across all industries, 97% of UK businesses say they are aware of the government safer workplace guidance (Business Impact of Covid-19 Survey’, ONS, October 2020).
Further, the BEIS guidance make it clear that by law, from 28 September employers must not knowingly require or encourage someone who is being required to self-isolate to come to work.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that employers support staff to work from home where possible during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government’s safer working guidance is clear that in order to keep the virus under control, it is important that people work safely. In order to help contain the virus, everyone who can work effectively from home must do so. Where people cannot do so (for instance people who work in critical national infrastructure, construction, or manufacturing) they should continue to attend their workplace. This is essential to keeping the country operating and supporting vital sectors and employers. The full guidance is available on gov.uk.
In order to help employers support staff to work from home where possible, ACAS has produced comprehensive guidance on the key employment issues for when people are working at home during the pandemic. This covers practical issues such as pay and insurance, as well as offering training on managing people who work remotely – the link to the relevant section of the ACAS site can be found here https://www.acas.org.uk/working-from-home.
There is also a legal framework in place that grants all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer the statutory Right to Request Flexible Working, where employees can request a change to their hours, working patterns or to work from home. There is supporting guidance currently available online which explains eligibility, as well as the process for both making and receiving requests to work flexibly on GOV.UK – this can be found here https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent employers dismissing and re-employing staff for the purposes of changing the terms and conditions of their employment.
Answered by Paul Scully
Terms and conditions of employment are for negotiation and agreement between employers and employees (or their representatives). Provided they do not discriminate unlawfully, for example on grounds of race, sex or disability, employers are free to offer the terms and conditions of employment which best suit their business needs. Once agreed, however, they form a legally binding contract of employment. While it is always open to either party to seek to renegotiate the terms of the contract, if the employer changes any of the terms without the employee’s agreement, the employee may be entitled to seek legal redress.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government's Covid-19 recovery strategy published on 11 May 2020, what funding the Government will provide to small businesses to enable them to comply with the Covid-19 secure guidelines.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has put in place a package of support for businesses of all sizes, including small businesses. This includes guidance developed with industry experts, unions, business organisations, local Government, and other stakeholders to get people back to work safely. It helps organisations meet their obligations under health and safety law and employers are responsible for taking all reasonably practical steps to address health and safety risks.
The small business grant fund has been created, specifically for hereditaments in England that were eligible for relief on 11 March under the small business rates relief (SBRR) fund. The funding is to support small and rural businesses which are ratepayers on a property, as these businesses are more likely to have ongoing fixed costs during this period. Unfortunately, businesses that were not eligible for percentage SBRR relief on 11 March are excluded.
Nevertheless, there are other new measures to provide support to those businesses, including Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme; deferral of the next quarter of back-payments for firms until the end of June, representing a £30 billion injection into the economy; and a new fast-track finance scheme providing loans with a 100% government guarantee. In addition, there is also the bounce-back loan scheme, which will ensure that the smallest businesses can access loans in a matter of days. We are working currently with local authorities to try to make sure that this support is delivered as fast as possible.