Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made in distribution of the £1.6 billion of funding as part of the Home Upgrade Scheme and Social Housing Decarbonisation Scheme.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is investing £6.6 billion in this Parliament to decarbonise buildings, of which over £2 billion is aimed specifically at lower-income households, helping people save money on their energy bills.
The total committed funding to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, to date, is just over £1 billion, representing a significant investment in driving the decarbonisation agenda. £240 million has been awarded to Registered Providers of social housing through the Demonstrator and Wave 1, delivering energy efficiency upgrades to Social Homes currently below EPC C from 2022 to 2023. As confirmed in the 2021 spending review settlement, £800 million has been committed for Wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (FY22/23 –24/25). The competition window is currently planned to open in late summer 2022.
The Government has allocated £1.1 billion to the Home Upgrade Grant since 2020. £219 million has been awarded to local authorities to deliver energy efficiency upgrades to low-income, off-gas grid, households by March 2023. BEIS is working across government and with key stakeholders to decide the final policy scope and delivery approach for future Home Upgrade Grant funding iterations until 2025.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support rural residents with the expected increase in cost of living.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government is providing support worth over £20 billion across this financial year and next that will help families with the cost of living. This includes cutting the Universal Credit taper rate and increasing work allowances to make sure work pays, freezing alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down, and the £9.1 billion package announced in February 2022 to help households with rising energy bills.
The Government’s Plan for Jobs is also helping people into work and giving them the skills they need to progress – the best approach to managing the cost of living in the long term. We are building on the success of the Plan for Jobs, investing more than £6 billion on labour market support over three years. In addition to this, we are increasing the National Living Wage (NLW) by 6.6% to £9.50 in April 2022 for those aged 23 and over, which will mean a full-time worker on the NLW will see an increase in their earnings of over £1,000 a year.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to help tackle cyberflashing.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The behaviour known as cyberflashing would likely be caught by one or more of a range of existing offences.
However, to ensure that the law is up to date and fully equipped to protect victims from such abuse the Government asked the Law Commission to review the existing criminal law relating to harmful communications online and offline.
The Law Commission has published its final report, and has made a number of recommendations, including the creation of a new offence to capture specifically cyberflashing.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of how medical waste created by the covid-19 vaccine rollout will be disposed of.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Medical waste is being disposed of in line with local clinical waste disposal arrangements. Through Local Resilience Forums, health and care leaders with managers of vaccine sites and other vaccines delivery facilities are working collaboratively with local authorities to ensure there is sufficient capacity for this essential function. All staff involved in vaccinating patients in all types of vaccination facility are fully trained in the vaccination process including the disposal of medical waste.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the importance of advertising planning notices in local newspapers to (a) the elderly and vulnerable, (b) other local residents and (b) local media organisations.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The use of digital tools is important to be able to standardise and improve the user interface where local people seek to engage in the planning system. It is not a replacement for engagement but is a tool to make this engagement more transparent and more accessible to all parts of communities across England. This is particularly the case for publicity of planning applications where we want to see greater digital coverage, and we will be exploring the best way of doing that as we develop our proposals to reform the planning system. In doing so, we recognise the importance of local newspapers to communities and that there will continue to be a need to reach out to people without digital access to information.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of deferring the VAT payments due by 31 March 2021 for businesses worst affected by the covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Approximately 600,000 payments were deferred to the value of £34 billion through the VAT payments deferral scheme, which ended on 30 June 2020. As part of the Winter Economy Plan, the Government announced further support for those with deferred VAT. Instead of paying the full deferred VAT outstanding by 31 March 2021, businesses can spread what they owe over up to 11 smaller monthly payments. More information is available at www.gov.uk/hmrc/vat-deferral.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the importance of advertising Traffic Regulation Orders in local newspapers to (a) the elderly and vulnerable, (b) other local residents and (c) local media organisations.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The most recent assessments we have made about Traffic Regulation Orders are in two reports. The first discovery research report was published in 2019 and laid the foundations for the second report available here:
Each of these reports considered the impacts on different groups of potential improvements to the legislative process.
The Department plans to consult on proposed reforms to Traffic Regulation Orders more generally later in 2021. An Impact Assessment will accompany this consultation.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether businesses that operate under a partnership structure are eligible to take part in the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We welcome applications from all employers regardless of structure. Small businesses and organisations which are not registered on Companies House or do not have PAYE systems can now apply to the Kickstart Scheme through an organisation offering a ‘Gateway Plus’ model. This model enables Kickstart young people to be placed on the gateway’s PAYE system for the duration of their placement.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses that have faced disruptions as a result of the covid-19 outbreak to apply for the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive before the deadline.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has introduced a number of measures to support businesses that have been affected by the covid-19 pandemic. The Department also published guidance for tradesmen, so that they could continue to operate safely while carrying out installations in people’s homes.
In March 2020, as part of the budget statement, the Government extended the lifetime of the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (DRHI) scheme by an additional 12 months, so it is now scheduled to close at the end of March 2022. The extension will provide support for businesses and the installer supply chain for an additional year.
The Department is also making a further amendment to the regulations to relax the requirement for installations to be accredited to the RHI within 12 months of the installation taking place. This will help both consumers and businesses who have been unable to complete building work due to the. The amendment should come into force on 1st April 2021.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to tackle the covid-19 outbreak at the DVLA office in Swansea.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
On 22 February, there were three cases of Covid across the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s workforce of more than 6,000 staff.
Since January, more than 5,000 lateral flow tests have been carried out with DVLA contact centre staff, with no positive results identified. This scheme is currently being extended to other DVLA staff working across its estate undertaking work which cannot be done from home.
All staff whose jobs can be done remotely are working from home, with now more than 2,000 staff doing so exclusively. Extensive safety measures have been put in place across the DVLA’s sites. These include enhanced cleaning, social distancing leasing an additional building, perspex screens installed, floors divided into zones with no mixing within zones, one-way systems introduced, and communal areas closed.
The DVLA has made significant investment in making its estate Covid-secure, working closely with Public Health Wales, Swansea Council’s Environmental Health team and the trade union. Swansea Bay University Health Board has confirmed a high level of compliance with control measures and did not identify any additional concerns over the control regime in place.
Throughout the pandemic, the DVLA has implemented Welsh Government legislative requirements and advice fully, including the workplace guidance for offices and contact centres. The organisations mentioned work closely with the DVLA and regularly review the measures in place. When advice is revised, it is acted upon and changes made quickly.