Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they intend to provide to the Libraries Taskforce, now that Arts Council England has assumed responsibility for its work, and given that its current funding arrangements will end in March 2020.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Government funding for the Libraries Taskforce is currently confirmed until March 2020. Arts Council England receives funding for the work streams that it is leading on behalf of the Taskforce.
Decisions about the Taskforce’s future are yet to be made, and as with all government spending, funding beyond this period will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 2 August 2018 (HL9831), when they expect the Breathing Space debt scheme to be fully established.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government intends to lay regulations for the establishment of breathing space before the end of the year.
A consultation on the scheme closed in January. The Government intends to set out its approach to the scheme, including its implementation, in its response to the consultation. The response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the letter concerning the impact of Brexit on people and places in poverty from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Shelter, Trussell Trust, Child Poverty Action Group, Action for Children, National Children’s Bureau, Poverty Alliance, Turn2us, Barnardo's, and ATD Fourth World dated 15 February; and what plans they have to (1) lift the freeze on working-age benefits and tax credits, (2) end the five-week wait for the first payment within Universal Credit, and (3) bring forward funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund to create an emergency stimulus package before 2020.
Answered by Lord Bates
The government is tackling the root causes of poverty by getting people into work and giving children the best possible education. A record number of children are now in working households, with 630,000 fewer children in workless households than in 2010.
Budget 2018 announced that Universal Credit claimants will continue to receive Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support for the first fortnight of a Universal Credit claim. This builds on previous announcements to support people moving onto Universal Credit.
The government has committed to establish the UK Shared Prosperity Fund after we have left the European Union and EU Structural Funds. The UKSPF will tackle inequalities between communities by raising productivity, especially in those parts of our country whose economies are furthest behind. We intend to consult widely on the fund shortly; details of the operation and priorities of the Fund will be announced following the Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support lone-parent families living in poverty; and in particular, to tackle (1) high housing costs, (2) low-paid work, and (3) cuts to benefits and tax credits.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
There is clear evidence that work offers the best opportunity for families to move out of poverty and towards financial independence. Children of lone parent workless families are around 4 times more likely to be in poverty than those where their parent works full time. There are now over 1.2 million lone parents in work and this Government has introduced a number of changes to help lone parents address the challenges they face. Working parents on Universal Credit can have up to 85% of their childcare costs reimbursed – worth up to £1,108 per month for someone with two or more children. We have also introduced additional flexibility on support for up front childcare costs, increased work allowances and doubled free childcare available to working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours per week. People on Universal Credit who earn above £542 a month are exempt from the benefit cap, and lone parents need to work just 16 hours a week to be eligible for Working Tax Credits and be exempt from the benefit cap.
This Government has introduced the National Living Wage which will increase again to £8.21 from April 2019. This is expected to benefit up to 2.4m people with the rise this April increasing a full-time worker’s annual pay by over £2,750 since its introduction. Our tax changes will make basic rate tax payers £1,075 better off in 2018-19 than in 2010-11. And we have provided around £1billion in Discretionary Housing Payment funding since 2011, enabling local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the Committee on Fuel Poverty annual report 2018, published on 7 November 2018; what steps they are taking, if any, to implement those recommendations in advance of (1) the Comprehensive Spending Review, and (2) the revisions to the current Fuel Poverty Strategy for England; and what assessment they have made of (a) the case for, and (b) the potential benefits which might arise for the UK of, increasing investment in energy efficiency improvements to ensure statutory requirements are met.
Answered by Lord Henley
Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and we welcome the advice of the Committee on Fuel Poverty. We recognise the environmental, social and health benefits of energy efficiency. The Clean Growth Strategy reiterated our commitment to improving the energy performance of as many fuel poor homes as reasonably practicable to Band C by 2030.
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) now focuses exclusively on low income households with funding of £640m per year. In November, the Committee recommended new guidance on the ECO Flexible Eligibility scheme; and new guidance was published earlier this month. In line with the Committee’s annual report, BEIS has also published new analysis on the churn of households in and out of fuel poverty to better understand this issue and will soon be publishing a policy plan for improving Private Rented Sector energy efficiency. Government remains committed to the Buildings Mission announced in 2018 to halve the cost of retrofitting buildings to use half the energy of current new builds. We are considering the Committee’s other recommendations as part of our work this year to update the Fuel Poverty Strategy for England and they will also be relevant to Spending Review considerations.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the report by the Cultural Cities Enquiry Enriching UK cities through smart investment in culture, in particular the importance of (1) investment, and (2) corporate social venture funds and other city-wide philanthropy platforms, in increasing the ability of cities to use culture to drive inclusive growth.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We welcome the valuable contribution of the Cultural Cities Enquiry report to the cultural sector and fully recognise the benefits that investment, alongside philanthropy, can bring to a cities cultural offer.
The Government appreciates the impact of different investment models in driving inclusive growth, and my officials will consider the recommendations set out in the report closely.
In support of the report’s vision, my department has announced funding of up to £110,000 to support early adopters across England in establishing ‘Culture Compacts’. These will bring together local partners to deliver a shared vision for investing in culture at a local level to drive inclusive growth. Arts Council England will begin work with the Core Cities Group and the Key Cities Group to identify a number of cities to become early adopters.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to assess the amount of VAT paid on e-publications by (1) ministerial departments, and (2) non-ministerial departments, agencies and other public bodies.
Answered by Lord Bates
HMRC does not hold detailed information on VAT paid on specific products by government departments, public institutions or private entities.
The Government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT on e-publications.
Any amendments to the VAT regime as it applies to physical publications and e-publications must be carefully assessed against policy, economic and fiscal considerations.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether perinatal mental illnesses are being adequately identified and treated; whether they have made any assessment of the links between (1) perinatal mental illness and emotional and behavioural problems in children, and (2) perinatal mental illness and intergenerational cycles of poverty; whether, as a result of any such assessment, they intend to take steps to tackle any under-identification of perinatal mental illness; and if so, what steps.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Perinatal mental illness covers a wide range of conditions. Although the Government has made no formal assessment of the links between perinatal mental health and intergenerational poverty, we stated in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health that if left untreated, it can have significant and long-lasting effects not only on the woman but also on the emotional, social and cognitive development of children.
The Government is committed to improving both the detection and treatment of perinatal mental illness. General practitioners and primary care teams have a crucial role in supporting the identification and treatment of perinatal mental illness, including post-natal depression, and are part of an integrated pathway of services. Support includes monitoring early onset conditions, providing pre-conception counselling and referring women to specialist mental health services, including Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services and specialist perinatal community teams, if necessary.
To date, NHS England and Health Education England has also funded training for over 3,000 staff and professionals in mental health, maternity services and primary care to better identify and support women with perinatal mental health needs.
We are investing £365 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 in perinatal mental health services to ensure that by 2020/21 at least 30,000 more women each year are able to access evidence-based specialist mental health care during the perinatal period. This investment is designed to improve access to specialist perinatal mental health services across England, resulting in better outcomes for women and their families.
In addition, the NHS Long Term Plan, includes a commitment for a further 24,000 women to be able to access specialist perinatal mental health care by 2023/24, building on the additional 30,000 women who will access these services each year by 2020/21 under pre-existing plans. Specialist care will also be available from preconception to 24 months after birth, which will provide an extra year of support.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 26 November (HL11364), whether they have begun assessing the equalities impact of applying a zero VAT rate to e-publications; and whether any such assessments will include the impact on literacy rates in relation to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT on e-publications.
Any amendments to the VAT regime as it applies to physical publications and e-publications must be carefully assessed against policy, economic, and fiscal considerations.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide free menstrual products to all school children in England.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Department for Education published statistics in March 2018 which shows that while absence rates related to illness are slightly higher in girls than boys, the gap in absence rates between boys and girls is very similar regardless of disadvantage. This suggests period poverty does not have a significant, nation-wide impact on attendance. However, no girl should be held back from reaching her potential because of her gender or background and we are keeping this matter under close review.
Schools are best placed to identify and address the needs of their pupils; have discretion over how they use their funding; and can make sanitary products available to disadvantaged pupils if they identify this as a barrier to attainment or attendance.
We support schools in addressing the needs of disadvantaged pupils through the provision of the Pupil Premium, equivalent to more than £2.4 billion of additional funding this year alone.
Our guidance on ‘Sex and Relationship Education’ and the draft ‘Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education’ guidance (both attached) encourages schools to make sensitive arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation. Lastly, as a government, in the previous round of the Tampon Tax Fund we provided £1.68 million for the ‘Let’s Talk. Period’ project, which is distributing sanitary products to young women and girls in need across England.