Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Royal Mail are pursuing a policy of prioritising the delivery of premium products.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Universal Service Obligation is set out in the Postal Services Act 2011 and ensures a six-day a week, one price goes anywhere, service for the delivery and collection of letters (and five days a week for parcels) throughout the United Kingdom. Ofcom, as the UK’s designated independent regulator of postal services, monitors the delivery of the universal postal service standards.
Beyond the Universal Service Obligation, the delivery of premium products is an operational matter for Royal Mail.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to require his Department and its agencies to provide a payroll deduction service to allow staff to save more easily with a credit union; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department is committed to providing a strong employee benefit offer to staff. At present, there are no plans to introduce access to a credit union via a payroll deduction service.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to create jobs in renewable energy as the UK recovers from the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The UK has over 460,000 jobs in low carbon businesses and their supply chains and many of the actions we need to take to reach our target of net zero emissions by 2050 will support the future growth of our economy.
In his Summer Economic Statement, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer emphasised the Government’s intention to make this a green recovery with concern for our environment at its heart and announced a package of over £3 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, which will support up to 140,000 green jobs.
On 6th October, the Government set out new plans to Build Back Greener by making the UK the world leader in clean wind energy. Under these plans, a target has been set to support up to double the capacity of renewable energy in the next Contracts for Difference auction; £160 million is to be made available to upgrade ports and infrastructure; and a new target was announced for floating offshore wind to deliver 1GW of energy by 2030. This will enable the sector to support up to 60,000 jobs directly and indirectly by 2030 in ports, factories and associated supply chains, manufacturing the next-generation of offshore wind turbines and delivering clean energy to the UK.
The Government will also establish a £40m Green Recovery Challenge Fund to help halt biodiversity loss and tackle climate change through local conservation projects, connecting more people to the outdoors by delivering up to 5,000 jobs.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he will plans to extend the Groceries Supply Code of Practice to include developing country suppliers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
Developing country suppliers are protected by the Groceries Supply Code of Practice where they are directly supplying UK supermarkets covered by the Code. These suppliers are supported by the work of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, who ensures they are treated lawfully and fairly, as required by the Code.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority to require all Energy providers to offer at least one Zero Standing Charge tariff for each fuel they supply; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Setting energy tariffs is a commercial matter for individual suppliers. There are fixed costs in the supply of gas and electricity, such as meter costs and providing an emergency service, so any tariff with a zero standing charge would need to levy the fixed cost via a higher unit rate. This could benefit some low consumption households but could also make higher consumption households worse off, such as those with children or people who need to use more energy due to ill health. The price cap on default and prepayment meter tariffs ensures that all households pay a fair price for gas and electricity.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he has taken to ensure that online retail businesses that are able to remain open during the covid-19 outbreak are implementing social distancing measures that maximise the safety of (a) their staff, (b) the families of their staff and (c) customers.
Answered by Paul Scully
Everyone must comply with the rules issued by the Government in relation to coronavirus, in order to protect both themselves and others.
We have published guidance for employers and businesses to assist them in the safe operation of their business:
Additionally, the British Retail Consortium have published guidance for social distancing in warehouse and distribution settings:
http://brc.org.uk/news/corporate-affairs/social-distancing-in-warehouse-and-distribution-settings/.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide direct payroll subsidies to ensure that no businesses will need to terminate the contracts of (a) directly and (b) indirectly employed staff; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is clear that we must support people in work to do the right thing during this Covid-19 outbreak.
It is essential that we support businesses who are experiencing increased costs and disrupted cashflow as a result of Coronavirus. The Government has introduced a host of new measures to help businesses in this period, with £330 billion worth of Government-backed and guaranteed loans to support UK businesses. Businesses can ring the Business Support Helpine for further advice on the support available.
Alongside this, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will help to pay people’s wages. Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover 80% of wages, up to a monthly cap of £2,500, for their workforce who remain on payroll but are temporarily not working due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he plans to take to ensure that employees are not placed under pressure to continue working to complete contracts for their employers when they should self-isolate or follow social distancing measures as a result of covid-19; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
Government is clear that we must support people in work to do the right thing.
We have already made plans to temporarily change the rules on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), ensuring that, for those that are eligible, SSP will be available from day 1 in the event of a severe outbreak of Covid-19. People who are eligible for SSP but unable to work because they are following Government advice, for example on self-isolation, are also entitled to SSP.
Those who aren’t entitled to SSP, including those who are self-employed, may be able to claim Universal Credit and/or new-style Employment and Support Allowance.
If employees can work from home, we urge employers to enable them to do so. We must all play our part to reduce the spread of the virus.
In this unprecedented time, we would urge employers to take socially responsible decisions and listen to the concerns of their workforce. Employers and employees should come to a pragmatic agreement about these arrangements. If individuals need advice they should approach ACAS where they can get impartial advice about in work dispute.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps she is taking to end maternity discrimination; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government recognises the importance of tackling pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
That is why we committed in our Manifesto to reform the law so that women returning from maternity leave receive additional protection from redundancy.
We will extend the redundancy protection period for six months once a new mother has returned to work and provide similar protections for those parents taking adoption leave and shared parental leave.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when representatives of the (a) Jain and (b) Zoroastrian community were invited to national events organised by her Department in each of the last two years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department has invited representatives from both communities to participate in roundtable discussions where relevant issues are discussed.
The Jain and Zoroastrian communities of this country have made, and continue to make a positive contribution to life in the United Kingdom. The Government values this contribution enormously.