Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will reconsider her plans to close 41 of her Department's processing sites, as announced in March 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has too much estate. There is currently capacity for over 158,000 people across the Department’s estate, against a requirement for space for approximately 90,000. We therefore need to reduce our estates capacity, while retaining our national footprint. The Department’s plans for transformational change will support delivery of the Government priorities for getting people back into employment, deliver long-term savings and meet Government modernisation commitments. Reshaping how, when and where the Department works, will result in a smaller, greener and better estate.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce legislation to hold companies liable when they fail to prevent human rights abuses and environmental harms in overseas supply chains.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles. In response to the Guidelines, the UK was the first State to produce a National Action Plan and we continue to develop our approach in line with Modern Slavery Act 2015. Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act places a requirement on businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more, to publish an annual modern slavery statement setting out the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. To further bolster our commitment to tackle modern slavery, in January 2021, the UK government announced that financial penalties will be introduced for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. We have also enhanced Companies Act reporting (2013, 2016) and the UK is signatory to the 1976 OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multi-National Enterprises, which adopted the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The UK has also introduced due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. This is one part of a wider package of measures to improve the sustainability of our supply chains and will contribute to global efforts to protect forests and other ecosystems.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the policy intention of the proscription of Hamas was to leave unrestricted the scope for public bodies to support UK-based civil society organisations to conduct (a) cultural, (b) educational, (c) commercial or (d) humanitarian work in Gaza.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Hamas’ proscription was extended to cover the organisation in its entirety in November 2021 because it was assessed that the distinction previously maintained between the military and political wings could no longer be maintained. Hamas is a single, complex organisation which commits and participates in acts of, prepares for, and promotes terrorism.
Hamas is designated in its entirety by a number of the UK’s international partners, including the EU, US, Canada and Australia.
The Terrorism Act (TACT) 2000 does not prevent organisations operating overseas in high-risk jurisdictions from carrying out legitimate activities. In October 2020, the Government published on GOV.UK an information note on operating within counter-terrorism legislation, sanctions and export controls. The note directs users to the guidance available to support the delivery of legitimate activities and addresses concerns about the risk of prosecution.
The note provides information on the defence provided by section 12(4) of TACT 2000, which is intended to permit the arrangement of genuinely benign meetings with a proscribed organisation; and information on section 21ZA of TACT 2000, which allows organisations to seek a defence to carry out a transaction that would otherwise be a terrorist financing offence by seeking prior consent from the National Crime Agency.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding UK Research & Innovation (a) has allocated to work on long covid by financial year to date and (b) will allocate to that matter in the next five financial years.
Answered by George Freeman
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have funded around £31 million in long Covid awards to date.
Detailed allocations for specific programmes for this Spending Review period will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated through UK Research and Innovation to research into cholangiocarcinoma.
Answered by George Freeman
Funding into cholangiocarcinoma has been allocated through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction in Animals in Research (NC3Rs) and Innovate UK.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has allocated £1.8 million of funding to research related to the understanding, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of Cholangiocarcinoma since 2018/19.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
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 reasons for the increase in energy supply standing charges.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The standing charge is a fixed charge that suppliers pass on to their customers to cover the cost of providing a live supply. One component of these costs relates to transmission and distribution costs, which have increased recently as the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) levy is paid via network costs. The SoLR levy covers the unrecoverable costs of a supplier taking on the customers of a failed supplier and reflects the significantly higher costs of purchasing wholesale energy since August. The standing charge is passed on to consumers as a flat rate per day rather than as a percentage charge based on how much energy they use.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what additional support his Department is providing to carers in response to rising costs of living.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The government understands the pressures that households are facing with the cost of living and is monitoring the situation closely. These are global challenges, but the government is providing support worth over £22 billion in 2022-2023 to help families with these pressures, much of which will help carers on low incomes. This includes providing millions of households with up to £350 to help with rising energy bills and helping people keep more of what they earn. The government has cut the Universal Credit taper rate and increased work allowances meaning that 1.7 million households will, on average, keep an extra £1000 per annum. The government has also announced a further rise in the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour from April 2022 which is an increase of over £1,000 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on NLW, in addition to freezing alcohol duty.
The Spring Statement went further, with the government announcing an increase to the annual National Insurance Primary Threshold and Lower Profits Limit to £12,570, a cut to fuel duty by 5 pence per litre, and an additional £500m to help with the cost of essentials such as food, clothing and utilities through the Household Support Fund.
Carers and their vital contribution to society are also recognised within the welfare system. Carers can receive additional support through Carer’s Allowance, the Carer Element in Uni versal Credit and through Pension Credit. The weekly rate of Carer’s Allowance will increase to £69.70 in April 2022. Around 360,000 carer households on Universal Credit can receive an additional £1,965 a year through the Carer Element, ensuring that extra support is focused on those carers who need it most. This amount will increase from April 2022 and will benefit carers across the country.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he was consulted by Royal Mail on the voiding of existing stamps in 2023 before the decision was taken.
Answered by Paul Scully
The development of stamp products is an operational matter for Royal Mail and not an issue in which the Secretary of State has a role.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government receives financial information from the Duchy of Lancaster beyond that published in their annual public accounts.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government does not receive financial information beyond that published by the Duchy in their annual public accounts.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to take steps at the United Nations Human Rights Council to promote human rights in Bahrain.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Bahrain is a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country. We regularly raise human rights issues and individual cases with senior members of the Government of Bahrain, and continue to raise specific cases with senior interlocutors, as well as with the independent human rights oversight bodies.
We are happy to work with partners, including the Human Rights Council, to promote human rights in Bahrain and elsewhere.