Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether they (a) have or (b) are planning a voluntary exit programme for civil servants serving in their Department.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Department is currently supporting voluntary exits of individual staff members where there is a sufficient business case with Cabinet Office approval. The Department is not planning to advertise a voluntary exit programme across the Department.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) consultations and (b) calls for evidence issued by his Department that have closed since 1 January 2020 have not received a Government response.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued 54 consultations and calls for evidence, that have closed since 1 January 2020, for which a response by the Department is still outstanding:
a) 33 consultations (11 of which are still within the recommended response period);
b) 21 calls for evidence (3 of which are still within the recommended response period).
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in 2021.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Department spent £398,138 on external recruitment consultants in 2021.
BEIS external recruitment consultants expenditure is published on GOV.UK here, under the expense type ‘Recruitment Consultancy Costs’.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress the Government has made on the Prepare Pillar of the UK Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government continues to make progress on the UK Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy, including work across Government, industry and with international partners to evaluate the impact of severe space weather across a range of sectors.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 100575 on Parental Leave, when he plans to publish the report of his Department's evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme.
Answered by Dean Russell
Evaluating Shared Parental Leave and Pay is an important part of the policymaking process.
As part of the evaluation, we commissioned large, representative surveys of parents and employees which asked about a range of parental leave and pay entitlements as well as their experience of Shared Parental Leave specifically. We also consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay.
We are currently considering this information and will publish our findings in due course.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the total number of claimants of Statutory Shared Parental was in each year since 2015-16 broken down by gender.
Answered by Dean Russell
Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP). This data provides a broad indication of SPL take-up but does not include anyone taking unpaid Shared Parental Leave.
Table 1: Individuals in receipt of ShPP by gender, 2015/16 to 2021/22
Year (April to March) | No. of individuals in receipt of ShPP | ||
Women | Men | Total | |
2015-16 | 1,100 | 5,100 | 6,200 |
2016-17 | 1,600 | 7,100 | 8,600 |
2017-18 | 1,700 | 7,500 | 9,200 |
2018-19 | 2,200 | 8,500 | 10,700 |
2019-20 | 2,600 | 9,900 | 12,600 |
2020-21 | 2,600 | 8,600 | 11,200 |
2021-22 | 3,200 | 9,800 | 13,000 |
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the total amount paid was of (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Maternity Allowance, (c) Statutory Paternity Pay, (d) Statutory Adoption Pay and (e) Statutory Shared Parental Pay in 2020-21.
Answered by Dean Russell
In 2020/21, Maternity Allowance expenditure was £384m.
The table below shows information provided by employers to HMRC on the total value of payments made to individuals in receipt of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Statutory Shared Parental Pay in 2020/21.
| Total value of payments in 2020/21 |
Statutory Maternity Pay | £2.8 billion |
Statutory Paternity Pay | £50.2 million |
Statutory Adoption Pay | £21.1 million |
Statutory Shared Parental Pay | £19.5 million |
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many individual recipients claimed Statutory Adoption Leave in the financial year 2021-22; and what the total expenditure was on that policy for that year.
Answered by Jane Hunt
Information provided by employers to HMRC shows that there were around 4,600 individuals in receipt of Statutory Adoption Pay in the 2021/22 financial year and the total value of those payments amounted to £21.8m.