Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the accounting officer for his Department has sought a written ministerial direction for expenditure on contingency planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
No. For information, the only ministerial direction issued by my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for European Union exit preparations related to the development of a UK database for product safety. This is to ensure critical protections remain in place on leaving the European Union. This was issued on 19 March 2018.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-exit-preparations-beis-ministerial-direction
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
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 with his international counterparts to monitor implementation of the (a) Capacity Building for International Negotiations Programme in the Pacific Region and (b) Pacific Regional Nationally Determined Contributions Hub.
Answered by Claire Perry
Monitoring of the Capacity Building for International Negotiations programme will begin on completion of the delivery contract, which is currently being finalised following procurement. As with all BEIS International Climate Finance funding, the programme will be monitored and reported upon in line with cross government good practice, including the publication of annual reviews of progress on implementation, financial reporting and value for money. This will include activities conducted in the Pacific region.
The German Development Agency GIZ (who are setting up the Pacific Regional Nationally Determined Contributions Hub) are submitting quarterly reports to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on how funds are being spent and progress against pre-agreed indicators. In addition, the British High Commission in Suva meet GIZ at least once a month.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his assessment is of the potential costs to the pharmaceutical industry of Article 45 of the Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
There will be no cost to the pharmaceutical industry as a result of Article 45 of the draft Withdrawal Agreement. The Article requires the UK to share marketing authorisation data with the European Medicines Agency or Member States where needed for assessing generic marketing applications when requested. Member States will also be required to provide the UK with the same information when requested. The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency already regularly shares and receives such data with the European Medicines Agency and other Member States.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance he has provided to the university sector on the safety of students while doing research overseas.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The general duties of an employer with regards to their staff and other people affected in some way by their business activities (i.e. researchers) are contained within the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSAW). Additionally, employers have a common law duty to take reasonable care for their employees.
While the HSAW only applies to those working in the UK, there is an expectation that employers consider HSAW aspects of employees working overseas. Individual organisations, including Universities and Research Councils, publish their own guidance on employees working abroad.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women who take between 39 and 52 weeks maternity leave in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The most recent official data on maternity leave is from the Maternity and Paternity Rights Survey in 2009, which collected data from mothers of children born in 2008. A previous survey in 2007 collected data for children born in 2006. There were policy changes between these dates: in particular, up to 39 weeks’ Statutory Maternity Pay were available in 2008 compared to 26 weeks in 2006. Findings from these two surveys are summarised in the table below, showing the percentage of mothers who took 39 weeks of maternity leave or more, out of a sample of mothers who had worked at some point in the 12 months before birth. Although the question asked about maternity leave, some responses appear to have included other forms of leave.
Duration of Maternity Leave | 39 weeks | 40-51 weeks | 52 weeks | 53 weeks or |
2006 | 1% | 10% | 12% | 4% |
2008 | 20% | 22% | 17% | 6% |
The Government will shortly commission a new survey, which will provide updated information. Subject to the progress of data collection, we anticipate publishing findings in Spring 2019.