Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many households live in blocks of flats with flammable cladding.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Department publishes data on the number of dwellings in high-rise social sector residential and private sector residential buildings in England with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations. The latest data is available (attached) at:
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of removing and replacing flammable cladding on all blocks of flats.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The information on flammable cladding for all blocks of flats is not held. However, section 11 of the Building Safety Bill: Impact Assessment (attached) estimates the average costs per building for addressing safety remediation in high rise buildings. These estimates consider all necessary remediation, which goes beyond façade remediation.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the the Royal College of Psychiatrists' analysis published on 14 September that estimated that the number of high-risk drinkers has risen from 4.8 million in February to 8.4 million during the COVID-19 pandemic; and what steps they plan to take based on any such assessment.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning alcohol services to meet these needs, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities in this work by providing advice, guidance and data.
PHE has been collecting and publishing a range of data on alcohol sales and consumption during the period of the pandemic. This data can be viewed as part of the Wider Impacts of COVID-19 on Health monitoring tool, which is available in an online only format.
The data indicates that while many people have taken the opportunity of lockdown to moderate their drinking, or to not drink at all, there is a group of people who are drinking at levels which increase their risk of harm.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to delay proposals to allow local authorities to keep 75 per cent of business rates income until the Treasury’s fundamental review of business rates has reported.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has?confirmed that 75 per cent business rates retention will not be implemented in 2021-22.??This decision was taken to allow both the Government and councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Looking beyond 2021-22, in determining the next steps, we will need to consider the impact the pandemic has had on both the demand for public services across councils, and their access to local resources. This will also require a careful consideration of the link between the fundamental review of business rates and the future of the business rates retention policy.
We will set out the timetable for our proposed way forward in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing temporary additional funding to schools to help fund the increase in cleaning costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department is providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred between March to July, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, that cannot be met from their existing resources.
Schools have been eligible to claim for: increased premises related costs associated with keeping schools open over the Easter and summer half term holidays; support for free school meals for eligible children who are not in school, where schools are not using the national voucher scheme; and additional cleaning costs required, due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements. We have published detailed guidance on the fund at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
The first claims window for the fund closed on 21 July. All claims for funding within the specified cost categories and maximum limit have already been paid. We are assessing all other claims, which will be paid later in the autumn if approved.
There will also be a further opportunity in autumn for schools to claim for exceptional costs they faced between March to July. This second claims window will be available for schools who were unable to claim in the summer and will be for the same eligible cost categories.
As set out in our reopening guidance, schools should use their existing resources when planning to welcome all children back for the autumn. The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to honour the commitment made by the Local Government Minister on 18 October 2018 to amend section 80 of the Local Government Act 1972 to disbar persons required to sign the Sex Offenders Register from acquiring or holding public office as councillors or mayors.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
It is essential that all our councillors, mayors and London Assembly members are held to the highest standards of conduct.
That is why the Government has committed to legislate on this issue as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
These challenging times have put the Government’s legislative programme under pressure. However, the Government will seek an early opportunity to legislate on this matter as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish guidance on how solo singers can perform in a COVID-19-safe way either (1) inside, or (2) outside.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The existing guidance for the performing arts provides guidance for performances by solo singers in both indoor and outdoor settings. Since 15 August, live indoor performances in front of a socially distanced audience have been able to take place provided the performance space is COVID-19 secure and groups of up to 6 in the audience are kept separate from one another to ensure they do not mix and do not exceed the new legal limits.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether local resilience forums and local authority directors of public health are being provided with the results of COVID-19 tests carried out on people whose home address is within the local authority boundary.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of people who have died unexpectedly alone at home from COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19; and what preventative measures they are taking in response.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that 1,876 deaths involving COVID-19 took place in a private home in England and Wales in 2020, by the week ending 15 May. This figure is less than 3% of total deaths or 65,002. Therefore, whilst it is not known how many of these deaths were people living alone, it will be a small proportion of total deaths.
Even if relatively small, this figure should not be ignored, and measures are in place to attempt to prevent deaths at home. The National Health Service has published guidance on what people, including those living alone, should do if their COVID-19 symptoms worsen. Using the 111 and 999 helplines as well as networks of local volunteers, should enable those living alone be able to seek help if needed.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements have been made to ensure prompt and universal COVID-19 testing for those (1) providing home care, and (2) receiving care at home.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Symptomatic social care workers (and symptomatic members of their household) who are self-isolating can access testing through the online self-referral portal. Individuals can also be referred for a test by their employer through the employer referral portal.
Anyone in England over the age of five with any of the symptoms of COVID-19 can ask for a test through the National Health Service website.