Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of Government financial support for businesses who operate from a domestic premise during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Businesses operating from a domestic premises are eligible to benefit from a range of Government support during the pandemic, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme (CBILS), Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), Future Fund, Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
As of 12 July, £45 billion worth of loans have been approved under the three debt schemes (CBILS, CLBILS and BBLS). 429 convertible loans have been approved under the Future Fund, worth almost £419.6 million.
Around 95 per cent of those with more than half their income from self-employment in 2018-19 could be eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). As of 12 July, SEISS had helped 2.7 million individuals, claiming £7.8 billion of government support.
Those who pay themselves a salary through their own company via a PAYE scheme, including those based in domestic premises, are eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). As of 12 July, 9.4 million jobs had been furloughed under the CJRS.
We engage frequently with businesses of all sizes including micro businesses and self-employed people and their representative organisations, to understand and identify the most effective support.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the average time taken for banks to process applications to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
In order to apply for the Bounce Back Loans scheme, businesses complete a short, simple, online application form, meaning that applications can be submitted and processed rapidly. The Government is providing lenders with a 100% guarantee on each loan to give them the confidence they need to quickly support the smallest businesses in the country.
The scheme has proved popular with businesses and as of 5 July, there had been 1,013,410 approved loans totalling £30.93 billion.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage businesses to incorporate gender impact assessments into their plans to reopen with alternative working arrangements after the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government’s Safer Working guidance does not affect employers’ existing responsibilities under employment and equalities legislation. For example, this guidance does not change employers’ responsibilities towards new or expectant mothers. Workers who are pregnant are part of the “clinically vulnerable” group who are at higher risk of coronavirus.
Employers, therefore, need to bear in mind the particular needs of different groups or individuals, and make sure that the steps they take to address the risk of COVID-19 do not unjustifiably impact on some groups compared with others.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent elderly and vulnerable people being targeted with scams related to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to protecting consumers from those who seek to profit from scams, and particularly those associated with Covid-19.
The Consumer Protection Partnership of consumer advice and enforcement agencies collects regular intelligence on scams as they emerge. Citizens Advice and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute issued advice and warnings on Covid-19 related scams earlier this month.
Consumers can access advice on how to spot a scam and how to report one through the Citizens Advice website. Citizens Advice refer cases onto enforcement agencies including local Trading Standards where appropriate.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the oral contribution the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 10 March 2020, Official Report, column 43WH, what steps he is taking to challenge Post Office Ltd leadership on its engagement with sub-postmasters.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government believes that Post Office Limited’s commitments for cultural and organisational change following the mediation are of the upmost importance and is determined to see them delivered.
I have personally challenged the Post Office CEO and Chair to strengthen their relationship with postmasters and take onboard the lessons learnt through the litigation. I will continue to raise this issue and test progress during my regular meetings with the CEO going forward. Officials will also monitor progress at regular meetings with Post Office officials.
BEIS has established and chairs a quarterly working group with the National Federation for Subpostmasters and the Post Office. This is a forum for discussing how the relationship between the Post Office and postmasters can be improved and highlighting any concerns that postmasters may have. This is a further forum where we will test whether progress is being made.
The Government is also committed to establishing an independent review to look at these issues further. We will announce more details in due course. We will ensure that any review does not undermine the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s work or the separate Director of Public Prosecution’s consideration.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) the most recent Network Subsidy Payment or (b) any other funding from the public purse to the Post Office (i) was and (ii) will be used to fund any settlement or litigation.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government believes that Postmasters are at the heart of communities and we recognise the strength of feelings about the negative impact the Horizon Court case has had on postmasters, causing distress to them and their families.
In relation to £57.75 million settlement that was agreed between Post Office Limited and the postmasters concerned. The costs involved in the legal defence of this litigation were drawn from Post Office Limited’s own commercial revenues, including the settlement offer. The shareholder has specifically required that government funding is not used for this purpose.