Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what targeted, additional support they are making available to businesses in seaside towns during and beyond the lockdown.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The government has already invested £228m since 2012 in coastal towns, supporting 359 projects through the Coastal Communities Fund and a further £7.5 million though the Coastal Revival Fund.
In recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19, the government has announced a package of support for businesses to help with their ongoing business costs.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been working across Government to provide £13 billion of grant funding to help small and rural businesses and businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors manage their cashflow through this period. This support is in the form of two grant funding schemes, the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF). As of 10 May, these grants have been received by over 742,000 businesses and the performance of local authorities in disbursing funding is published on a weekly basis, including all local authorities covering coastal areas of England, this document can be found here at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses
In addition, on 1 May, the Business Secretary announced that up to £617 million is being made available to Local Authorities in England to allow them to provide discretionary grants. This is an additional 5% uplift to the £12.33 billion funding previously announced. The additional Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs but not liable for business rates or rates reliefs. Guidance, intended to support Local Authorities in administering the Discretionary Grants Fund, was published on 13 May. This does not replace existing guidance for the SBGF or the RHLGF.
Furthermore, High Streets Minister Simon Clarke announced on 24 May 2020 a new £50 million fund for councils to support their local high streets get safely back to business. To prepare for the reopening of non-essential retail when the scientific advice allows, the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund will help councils in England, including those with seaside towns, introduce a range of safety measures in a move to kick-start local economies, get people back to work and customers back to the shops. The announcement, including allocations, can be found (attached) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/50-million-boost-to-support-the-recovery-of-our-high-streets and the accompanying guidance at : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reopening-high-streets-safely-fund-guidance
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place to ensure that individuals who are arrested and questioned by the police have access to solicitors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and can access them in a way that conforms to social-distancing measures.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Home Office are in regular contact with the National Police Chiefs' Counsel (NPCC) and other key stakeholders regarding custody related matters.
The NPCC have circulated guidance for all police forces in order for them to safely manage their custody suites with respect to their detainees, staff and visitors. The CPS has also published a temporary interview protocol which clearly sets out the situations where interviews should be prioritised and encourages solicitors to access interviews via video or telephone.
Police have guidance on the use of PPE and should make PPE available to essential visitors to the custody suite.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what targeted, support they are making available to businesses in National Parks both during and after the lockdown.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government has made available a wide range of support measures to businesses during these unprecedented times. This support is available to businesses in National Parks. These include help with business rates, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Bounce Back Loan scheme, and the discretionary fund set up to accommodate certain small businesses previously outside the scope of the business grant funds scheme.
The Government has been working with the National Park Authorities (NPAs) from the outset to understand the impacts from Covid-19, ensuring Parks make full use of the existing Government support schemes. We continue to engage closely with each NPA to assess the level of further support required.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the total annual cost of employment for each member excepted from the 20 July 2010 resolution on allowances in the House, by virtue of being salaried, including (1) employer national insurance contributions, (2) employer pension contributions, and (3) any other costs.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
The employment costs for three Office Holders fall to the House of Lords budget – the Lord Speaker, the Chairman of Committees (also known as the Senior Deputy Speaker) and the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees (also known as the Chair of the European Union Committee). In the 2019-20 financial year the total annual cost of employment was £382,328. This includes the salaries claimed, the Lords Office Holders Allowance claimed, and other employment costs not received by the office holders themselves, such as employer national insurance contributions and the apprenticeship levy.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of employment for each member of the House of Lords salaried under the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975, including (1) employer national insurance contributions, (2) employer pension contributions, and (3) any other costs.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The information requested is not held centrally. The Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 sets out the salary entitlements for different ministerial positions. Information on which ministers are paid a salary and data on the various salary levels are published on gov.uk. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 provides for an allowance for ministerial and other office-holders in the House of Lords, as well provision for determining the Exchequer contribution to be paid into the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund. Information relating to national insurance contributions, employer pension contributions and any other costs, including allowances claimed, is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the timetable for the review by the NHS and Public Health England on the impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities; and what data they will publish before that review is completed.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) has been asked by the Chief Medical Officer to review the potential that some ethnic minority groups are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The findings of the Review will be published at the end of May.
NHS England publishes data of deaths broken down by ethnicity and PHE is planning to include data by ethnicity in its weekly COVID-19 surveillance report.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in using conducting asylum interviews and other procedures at Asylum Screening Units through remote means; and how many cases have been processed remotely.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We take the wellbeing of asylum seekers extremely seriously and we are adjusting processes and procedures to ensure asylum claims can be registered in a safe way that adheres to social distancing guidance – with in person contact and travel requirements for the asylum registration process being minimised.
Asylum in the UK should continue to be sought at the first available opportunity, however for those who have failed to claim on arrival, or whose circumstances have changed since arrival the Home Office has temporarily introduced additional locations to register claims. These are temporary arrangements which will be kept under review to align with HMG guidance.
An overview of key changes and messages are outlined below.
Following guidance from Public Health England, we have cancelled all face-to-face substantive asylum interviews. We are continuing to explore ways to conduct interviews over video link.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their guidelines on personal protective equipment for frontline medical staff are (1) based on expert medical advice and evidence or (2) also based on economic or other factors.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The guidance on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by health and social care workers is based on expert reviews and advice from the Department’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) as well as literature reviews by Health Protection Scotland. The guidance is updated regularly, in line with emerging evidence.
Public Health England has not undertaken an economic assessment of the PPE guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they started to (1) collect, and (2) publish data relating to the ethnicity of those infected with COVID-19; and for what reasons this did not start at the beginning of the pandemic in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Data on those infected with COVID-19 are collected by Public Health England (PHE) for new diagnoses and hospitalised patients. Standard recording practice across laboratory systems requires recording of only minimal data (such as date of birth and name) as these records are not intended for disease surveillance purposes.
PHE has begun a rapid review to better understand how COVID-19 may be having an impact on different ethnic groups. As part of this review, PHE is matching thousands of laboratory records of COVID-19 cases to other health records to draw down accurate data on ethnicity, age, sex and geographical region. The first results will be published by the end of May.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they made to the government of China (1) prior to, and (2) subsequent to, the global outbreak of COVID-19 with respect to the regulation or closure of ‘wet’ markets.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Wet markets exist all around the world. All wet markets should follow best practice on hygiene and safety to avoid health issues, whether in China or elsewhere and that should include safe sourcing of animal and other products.
The UK has always been at the forefront of international efforts to ensure global trade in wild animals is sustainable and well regulated, including through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). We are investing over £36m between 2014 and 2021 and last year pledged a further £30 million over three years to crack down on the abhorrent illegal trade in animals and plants.
On 24 February 2020 China's National People's Congress announced a ban on the trade and consumption of wildlife for food. We welcome this decision and urge China to ensure it is strictly enforced so that all meat for sale is sustainably and legally sourced and poses no threat to human health. We have been in regular contact with the Chinese authorities since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, including a phone conversation between the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister Wang-Yi on 20 March.