Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Ministerial Directions have been issued in Her Majesty's Treasury since October 2020; and what matters they related to.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
None.
There have been two Ministerial Directions issued since October 2020: one by the Secretary of State in Defra concerning a Movement Assistance Scheme to support traders moving agri-food commodities and equines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland; and one by the Secretary of State in the then Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government concerning the funding of fire alarms and walking watches for private and social sector buildings over 18 metres with unsafe cladding.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Ministerial Directions have been issued since October 2020.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
There have been two Ministerial Directions issued since October 2020: one by the Secretary of State in Defra concerning a Movement Assistance Scheme to support traders moving agri-food commodities and equines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland; and one by the Secretary of State in the then Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government concerning the funding of fire alarms and walking watches for private and social sector buildings over 18 metres with unsafe cladding.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Ministerial Directions have been issued in the Department of Health and Social Care since October 2020; and what matters they related to.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No Ministerial Directions have been issued in the Department of Health and Social Care since October 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the provision of vaccines against COVID-19 for (1) elderly, or (2) vulnerable, patients hospitalised for other conditions.
Answered by Lord Bethell
By mid-February we successfully offered a first vaccine dose to everyone in the top four priority groups identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation as follows:
- all residents in a care home for older adults and their carers;
- all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers;
- all those 75 years of age and over; and
- all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.
The latest NHS England data dated 4 March shows that 7,300,964 individuals aged 70 years old or over have been vaccinated with at least one dose and 1,961,501 clinically extremely vulnerable patients have been vaccinated with at least one dose. This means 88.3% of the population identified as clinically extremely vulnerable have received at least one dose. We do not hold figures for vulnerable patients hospitalised for other conditions, but hospital hubs will typically vaccinate eligible inpatients where clinically appropriate.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the policy on working from home which is applied at the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency office in Cardiff.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the start of the pandemic, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has put in place a range of measures to minimise the number of people working in its offices in the Swansea campus at any one time.
Around 2,000 of the DVLA’s over 6,000 staff are currently working from home, the majority of whom have done so since the first lockdown in March 2020. Staff in operational roles that cannot be carried out from home are on site, with around 2,000 on the campus at any one time, as the DVLA operates shifts and many staff work part time.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the staff at the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency office in Cardiff have been required to attend the office during the period when Public Health England COVID-19 guidance has been to work from home where possible.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the start of the pandemic, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has put in place a range of measures to minimise the number of people working in its offices in the Swansea campus at any one time.
Around 2,000 of the DVLA’s over 6,000 staff are currently working from home, the majority of whom have done so since the first lockdown in March 2020. Staff in operational roles that cannot be carried out from home are on site, with around 2,000 on the campus at any one time, as the DVLA operates shifts and many staff work part time.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ascertain whether businesses are insisting that staff attend the workplace when they could reasonably be expected to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The current Covid restrictions guidance states that you can only leave home for work purposes where it is unreasonable to do your job from home. It is important that people stay at home wherever possible to minimise the risk of transmission and Government will continue to reinforce this message when engaging with businesses and representative organisations across a range of different sectors.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the cost of transporting dogs from Northern Ireland to Great Britain since 31 December 2020.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
We are not aware of increased costs on this route as there are no specific animal health or documentary requirements to enter Great Britain from Northern Ireland with a non-commercial pet, or commercial dog. We would welcome further information from stakeholders and members of the public on costs associated with these movements. For information on entrance requirements for dogs travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the public should consult the information provided by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland, on their website.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what sanctions they will impose on businesses which insist that staff attend the workplace when they could work effectively from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The current Covid restrictions guidance states that you can only leave home for work purposes where it is unreasonable to do your job from home. It is important that people stay at home wherever possible to minimise the risk of transmission and Government will continue to reinforce this message when engaging with businesses and representative organisations across a range of different sectors.
Under existing health and safety laws, employers have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees and other people who might be affected by their business. Employers must do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this and this includes requiring and supporting those who can reasonably work from home to do so.
If employees are concerned that their employer is not taking all practical steps to support working from home, then they can report this to their local authority or the Health and Safety Executive who can take a range of actions.
Asked by: Baroness Wheatcroft (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation they have had, if any, with (1) Visit Britain, (2) the British Retail Consortium, (3) the Walpole Group, (4) the Airport Operators Association, and,(5) the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, about the decision to end the VAT Retail Export Scheme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government published a consultation on the potential approach to duty-free and tax-free goods following the transition period which ran from 11 March to 20 May. During this time the Government held a number of virtual meetings with stakeholders to hear their views, and received 73 responses to the consultation. The Government is also continuing to meet and discuss with stakeholders following the announcement of these policies.
The detailed rationale for these changes and a list of respondents to the consultation can be found in the summary of responses to the consultation.
HMRC estimate that VAT Retail Export Scheme refunds cost about £0.5 billion in VAT in 2019 for about 1.2 million non-EU visitors. HMRC also estimate that fewer than one in ten non-EU visitors use the VAT Retail Export Scheme.
In 2019 the ONS estimate there were substantially more EU visitors (24.8 million) than non-EU passengers (16.0 million) to the UK. This implies an extension to EU residents would significantly increase the cost by up to an estimated £0.9 billion. This would result in a large amount of deadweight loss by subsidising spending from EU visitors which already happens without a refund mechanism in place, potentially taking the total cost up to about £1.4 billion per annum.
The final costings will be subject to scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and will be set out at the next forecast.