Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide (1) additional support to councils to electrify their vehicles, and (2) councils with advice on how they can achieve electrification of their vehicles.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Local authorities and other public sector bodies are increasingly supporting the transition to zero emission vehicles, including electrifying their own fleets. The Government funds the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to run the Local Government Support Programme, which provides impartial advice to local authorities in England on fleet electrification, and wider local policies to support zero emission vehicle uptake. EST also provides a fleet management toolkit to any public or private organisation, which offers in-depth, impartial fleet support to help them reduce costs and limit the environmental impact of their fleet.
Government’s ULEV Readiness Programme was launched in January 2015 and as well as funding charging infrastructure, supported 296 ultra-low emission vehicles across the public sector, including 90 in local authorities. It also offered fleet reviews to 35 Public Sector Bodies (including Local Authorities, NHS Trusts and Fire and Rescue Services). We will continue to work with and encourage local authorities to electrify their fleets and to apply for available funding for chargepoints in their local areas.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of local councils in delivering electric vehicle charging infrastructure to meet the Government’s 2030 target to end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Local councils have an important role to play in the transition to zero emission driving and we are working with them to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030. The Government’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities to provide charging infrastructure for those without private parking. More than 105 local authorities have already taken advantage of the scheme, funding more than 3,800 chargepoints. We encourage local authorities to apply for funding to provide chargers for their residents.
We provided £40 million of funding via our Go Ultra Low city scheme to 8 cities across the UK, to support uptake of ultra low emission vehicles in those cities. Over 3,500 chargepoints were installed as part of this scheme. Bristol, London, Milton Keynes and Nottingham have been delivering ambitious plans to become global exemplars of ultra low emission vehicle uptake. The scheme also provided £5 million of development funding for specific initiatives in Dundee, Oxford, York and the North East region. The Government has committed £90 million at Spending Review to fund local electric vehicle charging infrastructure, in particular to support the roll out of larger, on-street charging schemes and rapid hubs in England.
Later this year, the Government will publish an electric vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, which will explore the roles and responsibilities for central government and wider stakeholders involved in the deployment of charging infrastructure. As part of this, we will be engaging with local authorities, charge point operators and other stakeholders to ensure that future charging infrastructure is practical, accessible and deliverable.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether councils will be given discretion over the payment of the £500 self-isolation Test and Trace support grant so that councils can pay those claimants who do not submit their claim within two weeks, providing a legitimate reason is given for the delay in the application.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Individuals can apply for a Test and Trace Support Payment up to 28 days after their first day of self-isolation. This cut-off period is the same across all local authorities. In the event a local authority believes there is a legitimate reason an applicant has not been able to apply within the 28-day application period – for example, because they were ill in hospital and could not reasonably have been expected to make an application – they should use their discretion on a case-by-case basis in deciding whether to accept an application.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of fires since 2012 in buildings over (1) 18 metres or six storeys high, and (2) 11 metres or four storeys high, have had (a) non-combustible insulation, (b) combustible cavity insulation, and (c) no cavity insulation.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Home Office does not collect this information. Data on fires in high-rise and medium-rise purpose-built flats are available in Table 0205 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables#dwelling-fires-attended but we do not collect information on cavity insulation in the property in which the fire took place.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Berridge on 7 December (HL10633), what assessment they have made of the impact of school exclusion on those children who are prevented from attending school due to COVID-19 infection in their support bubble.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We have commissioned an independent research and assessment agency to provide a baseline assessment of catch-up needs for pupils in schools in England and monitor progress over the course of the year to help us target support across the system, which is currently ongoing.
A new national lockdown came into effect on 6 January and schools should only allow vulnerable children and the children of critical workers to attend face-to-face education. All other pupils will learn remotely. Our get help with remote education portal provides information, guidance and support on educating pupils and students during the COVID-19 outbreak. The portal is accessible here: https://get-help-with-remote-education.education.gov.uk/.
We know that receiving face-to-face education is best for children’s mental health and for their educational achievement and we will review the restrictions on schools to ensure that children and young people return to face-to-face education as soon as the pressures are easing on the NHS. Limiting attendance at this time is about reducing the number of contacts that people have with other households given the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country and the intense pressure on the NHS.
For those pupils and staff still attending school, the system of protective measures that we have asked schools to implement continues to mean that any risks are well managed and controlled.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of COVID-19 patients in hospitals are diagnosed with the virus (1) before being admitted, or on (2) day 1, (3) day 2, (4) day 3, (5) day 4, (6) day 5, (7) day 6, (8) day 7, (9) day 8, (10) day 9, (11) day 10, (12) day 11, (13) day 12, (14) day 13, (15) day 14, (16) day 15, of being admitted.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The data is not collected in the format requested.
Trusts are advised to follow guidance on testing patients on admission and repeat testing at the advised intervals.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what data they collect on the number of (1) homecare workers, and (2) people who receive care in their own homes, who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Berridge on 26 October (HL9059), what plans they have to close schools and move to online learning before the Christmas holidays to enable (1) children to be isolated in their family groups, and (2) extended family gatherings in a COVID-19 secure manner.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
It continues to be the Department’s aim that all pupils, in all year groups, remain in school full time. Returning to school full time has been vital for children’s education and for their wellbeing. Time out of school is detrimental for children’s cognitive and academic development, particularly for disadvantaged children. This impact can affect both current levels of learning and children’s future ability to learn.
As set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Winter Plan, nurseries, schools and colleges should not change their Christmas holidays or close early this term. Parents should continue to send their children to school during term time. A time limited change to social restrictions over Christmas does not require any children to be taken out of school prematurely. The leaders and staff of schools have been doing an extraordinary job to remain open, keep settings safe and provide education.
Schools have implemented a range of protective measures to minimise risk of transmission. The risk to children themselves of becoming severely ill from COVID-19 is low and there are negative health impacts of being out of school. Senior clinicians, including the Chief Medical Officers of all 4 nations, still advise that school is the very best place for children to be, and so they should continue to go to school.
Closing schools early would also cause additional disruption and inconvenience to many parents, including key workers such as NHS staff, due to the additional child care arrangements required as a result of this action.
If parents have concerns about their child attending school because they consider they or members of their household may have particular risk factors, they should discuss these with their school.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to finish the winter school term early in order to ensure that children can be isolated in their family groups, ahead of any extended family gatherings that may take place in line with social distancing regulations.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department does not currently have plans to make changes to school holidays. We will keep this under review.
As usual, parents should plan their holidays within school and college holidays and avoid seeking permission to take children out of school during term time.
Attendance at school is vital for children’s education and wellbeing, particularly for the most disadvantaged. Time out of school leads to lost learning now but will also affect children’s ability to learn in future.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the restricted access to teaching and part-time employment opportunities experienced by university students in areas affected by additional COVID-19 restrictions,what plans they have to limit the charges those universities operating within such areas can make on their students.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This is a difficult time for students, as it is for people in society more widely, but we are working with the higher education (HE) sector to make sure that all reasonable efforts are being made to enable students to continue their studies.
Universities and other HE providers are autonomous and responsible for setting their own fees. In deciding what level of fee to charge in the current circumstances, HE institutions will of course want to ensure that they can continue to deliver courses which are fit for purpose and help students pursue their qualifications.
The government expects universities and other HE providers to continue delivering a high-quality academic experience. If students have concerns about their experience, they should first raise their concerns with their university. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at institutions in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint.
My hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities, wrote to HE institutions ?on 26 March to ask that they pay particular attention to the additional challenges being faced by staff and students who have been reliant on income from campus-based jobs at this time.
We have worked with the Office for Students, the HE regulator in England, to clarify that universities and other HE institutions can draw upon existing funding from the student premium to increase their hardship funds for students. Students can access this support if they are experiencing particular financial difficulties as a result of COVID-19.
Our system of HE tiers, as set out in guidance, intends to help universities identify the appropriate restrictions to impose on their educational provision in response to an outbreak in their area. This is particularly important when there is a change to the local COVID alert level. This guidance is available via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses.
HE providers should continue work with their local public health teams to control or manage any outbreak. When a university is considering moving between the HE tiers, they should engage their local director of public health and inform the Department for Education if the decision is to move to tier 3 or above.