Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with (a) representatives from ATOS and (b) the Chief Executive of National Savings and Investment on the potential for staff employed by ATOS on Government accounts joining the Civil Service Pension Scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Pensions issues as part of the compulsory transfer of staff from the public sector to independent providers delivering public services are covered in the non-statutory New Fair Deal policy. The guidance also covers the transfer of staff back into public service pension schemes, including responsibility for any liabilities accrued under the previous scheme. Applications for this are a matter for Atos, the departments for which it works and the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with ATOS and NS&I on (a) the future valuation of and (b) proposed changes to staff pensions; and if he will meet staff representatives to discuss the proposed reforms.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
National Savings and Investments outsources its operations to Atos. Atos is currently engaged in discussions with employees who previously provided services for NS&I - but are no longer working (or not working predominantly) on NS&I activity - and their trade unions on their pension arrangements. This is a matter for Atos and its employees.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many risk assessments have been carried out as required under Health and Safety law and guidance to facilitate a full return to Parliament during the covid-19 outbreak for (a) staff, (b) hon. Members and (c) visitors; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Pete Wishart
The House of Commons has carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment to comply with the government’s guidance on managing the risks of COVID-19 in the workplace. The results have been shared with House staff, hon. Members and other people who work on the Parliamentary Estate. The assessment has also been published on the Parliamentary intranet and the UK Parliament internet transparency pages.
Local task-specific risk assessments have been undertaken by individual teams and offices across the House of Commons to facilitate work activities recommencing safely on the estate. Aligned with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance, the significant findings of these risk assessments have been recorded and used to communicate and manage the risks at Parliament.
The House has also been liaising with contractors and other third-party occupants working on the estate to ensure they have adequately considered the risks associated with Covid-19.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of permitting HMRC staff to continue working from home after the covid-19 lockdown to minimise (a) redundancies and (b) excessive travel times to Regional Centres.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC have been clear that, if staff can move to a regional centre, transitional site or specialist site, and have the skills HMRC need, there will be a role for them. HMRC have a range of policies and support in place, including remote working, to facilitate this. HMRC are providing critical support to the country at this time, and they will seek to sustain any changes to their ways of working that are proven to lead to better outcomes in the long term for the vital public services that they deliver.Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the timeline for HMRC regional centres to come into operation.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC recognise that COVID-19 is having an impact on construction and fit-out of their new regional centres, and that this poses a risk to scheduled delivery timescales.
HMRC’s initial planning has been on the basis that construction activity will be delayed by about three months, with a further month to re-mobilise fully. However, delays will vary by location. HMRC are working with developers and contractors to monitor the impact on delivery timelines, and to assess any changes over the coming weeks and months.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which HMRC Regional Centre has construction work continued since the 17 March 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Construction or fit out work currently continues at HMRC’s Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Cardiff, Birmingham and Stratford construction sites, in line with the guidance issued to employers and businesses on COVID-19 from the UK Government.
HMRC are working with contractors across all UK sites to ensure that where work is continuing they are working diligently in line with the Safe Operating Procedures as issued by the Construction Leadership Council, in conjunction with BuildUK.
All sites listed have been assessed in relation to Government guidelines in response to COVID-19, and procedures put in place. This meant that work was suspended initially at most sites. Where work continues, it does so under close management, and the strict controls are regularly reviewed to ensure social distancing on site. Controls in place include a cap on the number of people allowed on site, introduction of one-way systems, use of stairs not lifts, and staggered break times.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason HMRC is not rolling out telephony homeworking first to employees already working from home; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC’s frontline teams of key workers are doing a very important job to support the UK; protecting people’s livelihoods, keeping cash in businesses, helping people to stay employed and supporting families.
The safety of their staff is HMRC’s top priority. Staff who do not need to be in the office are working from home, and HMRC are following public health advice to keep their offices safe where services cannot be delivered from home.
HMRC took steps quickly to enable as many colleagues as possible to work from home at this time, expanding their remote working network, moving work around, and training hundreds of their customer advisers on webchat, which can be worked on from home. This means that about 75% of HMRC’s people are working at home.
Working telephony at home has been largely untested and presents potential risks that need to be managed carefully. In March, HMRC started a small-scale trial to look at this, and to understand in detail aspects like the experience and wellbeing of colleagues doing it, the customer experience, how secure and suitable home environments are for this type of work, and what extra equipment and network capacity would be needed.
HMRC’s original plan was to evaluate their initial small-scale trial of home telephony before looking at next steps. However, as HMRC prepared for a large surge in customer calls for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), HMRC decided that there was an opportunity to push the home telephony trial further and faster than planned. HMRC have now expanded the home telephony testing to about 7,000 colleagues, supporting CJRS and some of their business as usual lines.
The findings from this trial will help HMRC to understand how far they can increase the number of roles that can be done from home at any one time.
HMRC remain focused on and committed to keeping their people safe, whether in an office or at home, while also protecting their vital services to taxpayers.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the amount of additional (a) staff and (b) labour required by HMRC to enable that organisation to implement the (i) Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and (ii) Self-employment Income Scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC have implemented the CJRS scheme with the resources already within HMRC. HMRC are determining the number required for the SEISS, but that will come from existing HMRC resource.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the staffing complement is of the HMRC national minimum wage compliance unit; and how many posts in that unit were unfilled as of 20 January 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it.
HMRC investigate every complaint they receive from workers, and also carry out a number of targeted, risk-based investigations to tackle new and emerging threats.
If anyone thinks they are not receiving at least the minimum wage, they can contact Acas, in confidence, on 0300 123 1100 or submit a query online using the link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pay-and-work-rights-complaints
Based on the most recent available data, as at 30 December 2019 the HMRC National Minimum Wage Compliance Unit had 447 staff in post and 47 vacancies.
In addition, staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing the NMW: these include lawyers, technical advisers, and those specialising in criminal investigations.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation affects the right of recognised unions in his Department to bargaining information as set out in Section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Answered by Simon Clarke
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has not affected the rights of unions in HMT to bargaining information provided under section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.