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.
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, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for UK Government obligations to the people of Kurdistan of the Treaties of Sèvres and Lausanne.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We have not made such an assessment. We support the territorial integrity of all countries in the region covered by the two treaties, and encourage the governments concerned to safeguard the rights of all their citizens, regardless of ethnicity. We continue to support a thriving Kurdistan Region of Iraq within a peaceful, prosperous Iraq.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what additional support she will give to the tourist sector in response to covid-19 restrictions on travel to the UK.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has put in place a measured and proportionate set of restrictions to continue to support the tourism sector. To support businesses through this next phase, the ‘Working Safely’ guidance will continue to provide advice on sensible precautions employers can take to manage risk and support their staff and customers.
Hospitality businesses are exempt from enforcing customers to wear masks and this assessment has been made from a practical point of view as the nature of hospitality visits is to eat and drink.
The Government has worked to strike a balance with introducing new measures.
The Government has introduced a new temporary business rates relief in England for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2022-23, worth almost £1.7 billion. The VAT rate for goods and services supplied by the tourism and hospitality sector has also been cut, and will remain at the reduced rate of 12.5% until 31 March 2022, to help businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate.
The recent changes demonstrate the government’s focus on protecting the UK from the most dangerous variants while supporting the travel sector’s safe reopening.
We are continuing to listen to stakeholders during this time.
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, what discussions she (a) has had or (b) is scheduled to have with the Government of Chile on the protection of the rights of women and minorities.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK Government is committed to promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals, including the rights of women and minorities in Chile, and across Latin America. Our embassy in Santiago regularly raises the protection of the rights of women and minorities with the Chilean government. We also work in partnership with Chilean authorities, civil society, and businesses in supporting efforts to strengthen gender equality through UK-Chile commercial trade links, and addressing gender based violence.
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, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending diplomatic protection to Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Ratcliffe.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We have received Mr Ashoori's application for diplomatic protection. The Foreign Secretary is considering the matter carefully. In Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case, the Foreign Secretary was clear that diplomatic protection would not lead to an overnight resolution. We remain committed to securing Mr Ashoori's, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe's and Mr Tahbaz's immediate and permanent release. The Foreign Secretary raised the UK's strong opposition to Iran's practice of detaining foreign and dual nationals with her Iranian counterpart on 8 November and will continue to do so. Our Ambassador in Tehran regularly raises Mr Ashoori's, Mr Tahbaz's and Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's cases with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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, what recent steps she has taken to secure the release of UK citizens arbitrarily detained in Iran.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign Secretary continues to raise Iran's practice of detaining British dual nationals with her Iranian counterpart, most recently in a call with Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian on 8 November and Minister Cleverly raised this with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Bagheri Kani, on 11 November. Our Ambassador in Tehran continues to raise our detainees regularly with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We remain committed to doing all we can to ensure that British nationals being unfairly detained by Iran are released and allowed to return home to be reunited with their families.
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 progress (a) her Department and (b) the Office for Product Safety and Standards have made on assessing the potential merits low noise fireworks.
Answered by Paul Scully
In response to issues raised around noise and disturbance, the Office for Product Safety and Standards commissioned research to test the decibel level of commonly used fireworks. The objective of the testing work is to help us understand the decibel level associated with a range of fireworks and whether they are compliant with the regulations.
The testing work was delayed due to covid impacting the laboratory’s ability to carry out the necessary testing, but the results will be available in due course.