Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that postal delivery providers, such as Amazon, comply with Ofcom’s (1) new guidance on improving their complaints process, and (2) new regulations improving protections for disabled customers.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Postal Services Act 2011 designates Ofcom as the independent regulator for the postal sector with the powers to impose and enforce regulatory requirements on postal operators to fulfil its functions in relation to postal services.
Ofcom decided to take targeted and proportionate steps to address consumer issues identified in its review of postal regulation in 2022. Ofcom committed to ongoing monitoring of the new provisions and considering enforcement action, or further regulation to protect consumers, if progress is not made.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote consumer confidence in buying online; and what assessment they have made of the performance of delivery companies in this regard.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Through the Consumer Right Act 2015 and other legislation, the Government ensures that consumers have specified rights when shopping online. Furthermore, the Government has consulted on measures to boost these online rights further, including proposals to prevent consumers being misled by fake reviews and preventing online exploitation of consumer behaviour. The consultation is now closed and the Government response will be published in due course.
Ofcom is the UK’s independent regulator of postal services. It monitors competition and consumer protection in the sector. Ofcom is currently conducting a review of postal regulation so that it remains relevant and fit for purpose in the light of market changes. It intends to publish a consultation later this year before concluding the review next year.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - 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 importance of home parcel deliveries during the last 18 months to the health and well-being of the UK; what conclusions, if any, they have drawn from any such assessment; and what plans they have to further regulate home parcel deliveries to protect the public interest.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government remains committed to ensuring the universal postal service, through the universal service obligation, remains affordable and accessible to all users.
Ofcom, as the UK’s designated independent regulator of postal services, is carrying out a review of the future regulatory framework for post which it aims to complete in 2022. As part of this review, Ofcom is considering whether extra consumer protections may be required and has sought views on the future regulation of the parcel delivery market. A Call for Inputs was launched on 11 March 2021 and closed on 20 May 2021. Ofcom intends to publish a full consultation on the future regulation of postal services later this year.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to enshrine protection for furlough fraud whistleblowers in law through the Finance Bill.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Employment Rights Act 1996, amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, already gives legal protection to those who speak up in the public interest. The legislation is intended to build openness and trust in workplaces by ensuring that workers who hold their employers to account are treated fairly, and to provide means of redress for a worker who suffers detriment at the hands of their employer after ‘blowing the whistle’. In many cases, employers respond appropriately when concerns are raised by their employees. Where they do not, employees can take their case to an Employment Tribunal, who can award compensation.
In order to qualify for the protections, a worker must make their disclosure either to their employer or other responsible person or a ‘prescribed person’ as set out in the Prescribed Persons Order. Prescribed persons are most often organisations with a regulatory responsibility for the sector in which the worker works, or for the type of wrongdoing that is being disclosed. Disclosures can also be made to a legal advisor or an MP.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to review the framework of protections offered to whistleblowers.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Government recognises how valuable it is that whistleblowers are prepared to shine a light on wrongdoing, and believes that they should be able to do so without fear of recriminations.
The Government has continued to make reforms to the whistleblowing regime to enhance the role of prescribed persons. The most recent reform was a new legislative requirement for most prescribed persons to produce an annual report on whistleblowing disclosures made to them by workers and how they were taken forward. Relevant prescribed persons were required to publish the second of these reports by the end of September 2019. The duty increases confidence in the actions taken by prescribed persons through greater transparency about how disclosures are handled.
Alongside the new duty, the Government published guidance for prescribed persons to help them understand their role and provide advice on complying with legal requirements as well as practices beyond the whistleblowing legislation.
The Government has committed to reviewing the whistleblowing framework once the recent reforms have built the necessary evidence of their impact.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - 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 adequacy of the protections offered to whistleblowers by regulatory authorities.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Government recognises how valuable it is that whistleblowers are prepared to shine a light on wrongdoing, and believes that they should be able to do so without fear of recriminations.
The Government has continued to make reforms to the whistleblowing regime to enhance the role of prescribed persons. The most recent reform was a new legislative requirement for most prescribed persons to produce an annual report on whistleblowing disclosures made to them by workers and how they were taken forward. Relevant prescribed persons were required to publish the second of these reports by the end of September 2019. The duty increases confidence in the actions taken by prescribed persons through greater transparency about how disclosures are handled.
Alongside the new duty, the Government published guidance for prescribed persons to help them understand their role and provide advice on complying with legal requirements as well as practices beyond the whistleblowing legislation.
The Government has committed to reviewing the whistleblowing framework once the recent reforms have built the necessary evidence of their impact.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Companies House intends to launch a public consultation on the proposal to reduce the amount of time that records of dissolved companies are retained from 20 years to six; and if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government has no current plans to bring forward proposals to reduce the period of time that Companies House retains records of dissolved companies.
We will continue to keep the retention period under review. Any future proposal to change the retention period would be subject to public consultation.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have considered tackling in-built obsolescence in relation to internet search engines, equivalent to legislation in France under decree 1482, and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Decree 1482 concerns obsolescence in appliances rather than computer software. The Government is not specifically considering obsolescence in computer software but has protected consumers in a different way. Since October 2015 consumers have had new rights under the Consumer Rights Act in relation to digital content including software. Software must be of satisfactory quality which includes remaining functional for the period a consumer can reasonably expect.
Decree 1482 does not cover internet search engines and the concept of in-built obsolescence in relation to internet search engines is unclear so the Government has no plans to address this issue.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have considered tackling in-built obsolescence in computer software, equivalent to legislation in France under decree 1482, and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Decree 1482 concerns obsolescence in appliances rather than computer software. The Government is not specifically considering obsolescence in computer software but has protected consumers in a different way. Since October 2015 consumers have had new rights under the Consumer Rights Act in relation to digital content including software. Software must be of satisfactory quality which includes remaining functional for the period a consumer can reasonably expect.
Decree 1482 does not cover internet search engines and the concept of in-built obsolescence in relation to internet search engines is unclear so the Government has no plans to address this issue.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to implementing the EU Waste Electrical Equipment Directive (2012/19/EU) in relation to computer software.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
No consideration has been given to either computer software or internet search engines because they do not fall within the definition of electrical and electronic equipment specified in the WEEE Directive. Software is normally either downloaded to equipment or purchased on CDs. It is the equipment that is used to run the software that would fall in scope since that equipment is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly. An internet search engine is a service, not a piece of equipment, and so is also outside the scope of the Directive.