Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many covid-19 vaccine doses England has available for use in reserve supply.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The UK Government has secured early access to 397 million vaccine doses through supply agreements with six separate vaccine developers, of which four have received regulatory approval and three are currently in deployment. This includes agreements with:
In addition, the Government has a reservation agreement with GlaxoSmithKline/Sanofi Pasteur for 60 million doses and a non-binding agreement with CureVac for 50 million doses.
We are in constant contact with the vaccine manufacturers and are confident that the supply of vaccines to the UK will not be disrupted and that we will meet the vaccination targets set out by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 14 June:
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance his Department has given to (a) travel companies and (b) insurers on refunds for holidays booked to green list destinations that are subsequently moved to the amber or red travel list under covid-19 regulations.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is clear that businesses should treat their customers fairly and responsibly and in accordance with their statutory rights, and where disagreements arise in respect to holiday cancellations and refunds, they should seek to find a mutually acceptable solution.
The Package Travel Regulations 2018 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 outline the conditions under which a consumer is entitled to a refund from travel companies if a travel package is cancelled or severely disrupted. The Competition and Markets Authority has made clear, for instance in its open letter to the package travel sector of 13 May 2021, that organisers of package holidays are expected to comply with travellers’ statutory rights, for example by offering consumers a right to cancel and receive a full refund within 14 days if, due to circumstances beyond its control, the organiser needs to alter significantly any of the main characteristics of the package. Travelling to countries against FCDO advice is likely to invalidate customers’ travel insurance.
Furthermore, the Passenger Covid-19 Charter was published by Department for Transport on 17 May 2021, providing information on the rights and responsibilities of passengers booking travel while Covid-19 restrictions remain in place. It also sets out reasonable expectations for industry, including offering flexibility, where possible, for bookings affected by changes to Covid-19 restrictions and to traffic light categories.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 engage with the work of Animal Free Research UK on reducing the use of animals in medical research.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Animal Free Research UK have recently shared their report: ‘Modernising Medical Research: How Britain can become a global leader in animal free science’.
We are already taking steps to replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research. This is an area that is carefully regulated and one that remains important in ensuring new medicines and treatments are safe. The Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved primarily through funding for the National Centre for the 3Rs, which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research.
Since the NC3Rs was launched it has committed £100 million through its research, innovation, and early career awards to provide new 3Rs approaches for scientists in academia and industry to use.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of the value of business the travel sector has from 17 May 2021, when international travel resumes, compared to previous years based on the allocation of holiday destinations on the red, amber and green travel lists.
Answered by Paul Scully
We are aware that the sector has been severely impacted by continued travel restrictions. The Government is continuing to engage with stakeholders - such as the Association of British Travel Agents, the Association of Independent Tour Operators and UKInbound - to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on the sector.
We are working closely with the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to support the reopening of international travel, in line with the Government’s reopening roadmap and the work of the Global Travel Taskforce.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the value of business the travel sector has lost since the first lockdown compared to how much business support has been directed to the travel sector.
Answered by Paul Scully
We are aware that the sector has been severely impacted by continued travel restrictions. The Government is continuing to engage with stakeholders - such as the Association of British Travel Agents, the Association of Independent Tour Operators and UKInbound - to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on the sector.
The Government has continued to support travel businesses and individuals during this period of restrictions - including through the extension of various government-backed loans, grants and the extended furlough and self-employed support schemes.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average length of time a first registration of a property with the Land Registry takes to complete; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce that time.
Answered by Paul Scully
HM Land Registry processes over 70,000 applications every day (based on 2020/21 figures). Over 80% are completed within three days. The vast majority of the remainder are completed within 5 weeks.
Of these applications, 1.4% are complex, including first registrations, creation of a new lease or transferring part of a property. It currently takes HMLR an average of seven months to complete an application for first registration of a property.
HM Land Registry is making significant investment in long-term transformation to improve customer experience and efficiency. It is improving processing times by greater digitisation and automation, and by building more operational capacity.
HM Land Registry will fast track applications, on request, where a delay would put a property sale or any kind of property transaction at risk, or cause any other problems not related to a land transaction.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has plans to further increase Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings for rental properties to band C for existing tenants in 2025 and for new tenants in 2028; what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of that increase on the supply of private rented housing as a result of affected landlords potentially leaving the sector; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential for damage to older properties with original features as a result of the work necessary to meet that increased EPC rating.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department recently consulted on raising the energy performance standards in the domestic private rented sector to EPC band C for new tenancies from 2025 and all tenancies by 2028. As part of the consultation, we sought evidence on the possible impacts of the policy on the size of the private rented sector and on listed buildings and those in conservation areas. We are currently analysing the responses and will be publishing the Government response in due course.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 reduce the use of animals in scientific experiments through promoting investment in human-relevant life sciences.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The use of animals in research is carefully regulated and remains important in ensuring new medicines and treatments are safe. At the same time, the Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved primarily through funding for the National Centre for the 3Rs, which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research. Across the UK, the NC3Rs has invested £71 million in research through grants to universities, and almost £28 million in contracts through its CRACK IT Challenges innovation scheme to UK and EU-based institutions, mainly focusing on new approaches for the safety assessment of pharmaceuticals and chemicals that reduce the use of animals.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds a portfolio of research projects involving humans, human materials, animal models, and non-animal technologies. At this time, no artificial model or simulation can replicate the complexity of disease processes in a living organism and as such, whole organism approaches continue to be important; animal models are used when experimentation in human volunteers is not possible for safety or ethical reasons. However, we do recognise the increasing value of in vitro and in silico models, including organs-on-chips and 3-dimensional mini-brains, which can greatly aid the development of new healthcare innovations and also reduce, refine or replace the use of animals in research.
The Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UKRI, has for a number of years prioritised experimental medicine research, in which studies are undertaken in humans to identify disease mechanisms and provide early evidence and validity of new discoveries or treatments. In order to accelerate progress in this area a vision for a new Precision Medicine Accelerator (PMA) was approved by MRC in December 2019. The first step of the PMA, a new Experimental Medicine Panel, has been launched to fund academic-led, interventional clinical studies in humans.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What steps his department is taking to support UK research and development.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We have announced an investment of £14.6 billion in R&D for 2021/22, and we are taking forward the ambitious commitments in our R&D Roadmap.
As announced in the Plan for Growth at Budget 2021 we will publish a new Innovation Strategy in the summer to unleash innovation across the UK to complement this investment.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 on the creation of the Events Research Programme, as set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021 roadmap published on 22nd February; what the timeframe is for the publication for the programme’s conclusions; what factors are being assessed for the reopening of that sector; if he will announce the role of the business events industry within the programme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Events Research Programme aims to examine the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from attendance at events and explore ways to enable people to attend a range of events safely. We anticipate that the research pilots will take place in April, with a view to reporting findings to my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister at the end of May, to feed into wider discussions around Step 4 of the lockdown restrictions. Departments are currently working up plans and further details regarding the Events Research Programme will be published in due course.