Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the scientific advice from SAGE on the potential need for a national covid-19 lockdown in January 2021.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Throughout the pandemic, the Government has listened carefully to the views of the scientific community, the information from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and its sub-groups when taking decisions on the best way to tackle the pandemic. Data and scientific advice informing the fight against COVID-19 are published on GOV.UK and specific relevant findings are shared in presentations accompanying significant policy announcements.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to roll out rapid covid-19 saliva testing nationally.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Good progress is being made with utilising technologies to help improve our testing service. We announced £500 million in next generation tests, including saliva tests and rapid turnaround tests that can deliver results in just 20 minutes, which are being piloted in Hampshire, Southampton and Salford. We are continuing to trial new tests and future plans will depend on the outcomes of those trials.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether travelling from England to Wales for the purposes of securing a property is allowed during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown in England.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The November restrictions currently in force in England are clear that you can only leave home where there is a reasonable excuse to do so. Whether such an exemption exists will depend on the circumstances of a specific situation, but it would not normally be reasonable to do so to visit a second property.
Further guidance on these restrictions is available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november#travel
These restrictions will cease to have effect from 2 December.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the criteria he has set for removing additional covid-19 restrictions in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We work closely with local leaders and public health teams to inform decisions on local interventions, taking into account a range of factors, and all decisions are based on the latest data and advice from experts, including our epidemiologists and the Chief Medical Officer.
There is no single hard threshold. The thresholds are not fixed between the local COVID alert levels because they take into consideration a range of metrics and intelligence. This includes positivity rates, case rates through the age groups, and hospital pressures including COVID-19 admissions but also indirect impact, staffing levels and absences.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to reduce the noise limit on fireworks available to the public.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has no current plans to lower the legal noise limit of fireworks.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) published its Fireworks Evidence Base on 29 October 2020. This included reviewing existing data and producing a research paper on fireworks noise levels and impacts on health and the environment. This is intended to provide a baseline of current scientific knowledge.
The Fireworks Evidence Base, including noise data, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fireworks-evidence-base
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to amend the definition of adultery to include same-sex relations.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Parliament considered this definition during passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. Adultery in this context has a longstanding definition and can, within the terms of the 2013 act, take place only between a man and a woman. A same sex extramarital affair can therefore not be cited in support of the legal fact of adultery for the purpose of a divorce petition under the existing law. People can and do, however, use the fact of behaviour in a divorce petition to cite same sex affairs or other kinds of infidelity that do not meet the legal definition of adultery.
Commencement of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will remove the requirement to evidence adultery or any other fact and replace this with a requirement to state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. There will therefore no longer be a requirement to evidence matters of a personal nature that can introduce or worsen conflict to the detriment of any arrangements for the future, particularly about children.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
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 class card shops as an essential retailer for the purposes of the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has published details of guidance that sets out the restrictions that certain businesses and venues in England will be required to follow from 5 November. It is for each business to assess whether they are a business required to close having considered the guidance and Regulations.
All shops can continue to offer home delivery and click and collect services to customers?during the national restrictions in place from 5 November.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to allow community development finance institutions to access funding from the Bank of England.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Bank of England provides funding to a range of financial institutions through the Sterling Monetary Framework (SMF) to support its monetary policy and financial stability objectives.
Access to the SMF and its lending facilities is a matter for the Bank of England, which publishes clear eligibility criteria on its website. A broad range of counterparties have access to SMF lending facilities which provide funding against eligible collateral across various maturities.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the importance of the aerospace sector to the UK's transport infrastructure; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Aviation has a complex supply chain, with airports and airlines being the central nodes, aerospace supplying and maintaining the sector’s aircraft and engines, and other sectors providing services that facilitate operations, such as baggage handling, air traffic management and insurance. Before the COVID-19 crisis, the aviation sector contributed at least £22 billion to the UK economy annually and supported around half a million jobs spread across the UK, of which a significant proportion was in the aerospace sector.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Global Travel Taskforce plans to publish its recommendations.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Global Travel Taskforce, which is chaired by the Secretary of State for Transport, is due to submit its recommendations to the Prime Minister in November.