Asked by: Laura Farris (Conservative - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the press release entitled, £1.57 billion investment to protect Britain’s world-class cultural, arts and heritage institutions, what the process is for freelancer (a) performers, (b) musicians and (c) third party providers to access that funding; and what the timeframe is for freelancers to apply for that funding.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
On 5 July, the Government announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. Guidance has been published by Arts Council England, the British Film Institute, Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund for applicants to the Culture Recovery Grants application rounds, and by Arts Council England for applicants to the Repayable Finance Scheme. Further details on eligibility and application processes are available in the published guidance.
This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of sectors, with one of our core objectives being to support the cultural organisations that are crucial to places across the whole country. We will ensure that funding is distributed fairly, and that smaller organisations and cultural venues that are at the centre of their communities are protected.
We also recognise the crucial role that individuals play in making our arts and creative industries world-leading. As a result of these grants and loans, organisations will be more able to resume cultural activity, albeit in a socially distanced way, which will increase employment opportunities for freelancers.
Asked by: Laura Farris (Conservative - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that children of people who are shielding during the covid-19 outbreak can (a) access education and (b) minimise risk of transmitting covid-19 to others in their household.
Answered by Nick Gibb
During the summer term, we are advising children who live in a household with someone who is shielding to only attend school if stringent social distancing can be adhered to and if they are able to understand and follow those instructions. This may not be possible for very young children and older children without the capacity to adhere to the instructions on social distancing. If stringent social distancing cannot be adhered to, we do not expect those individuals to attend. They should be supported to learn at home.
To aide this, we have published a list of high-quality online resources, which have been assessed with support from some of the country’s leading educational experts, to help pupils learn at home. We have also worked with schools to produce case studies guidance on remote education practice. This guidance provides an opportunity for schools to learn from each other's emerging practice as they develop their own approaches.
In addition, we are supporting sector-led initiatives such as the Oak National Academy. This new enterprise has been created by 40 teachers from schools across England. It will provide 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to year 10. By 21 June, 3.9 million unique users had accessed the Oak National Academy website and 13.2 million lessons had been viewed.
The BBC has also developed resources for families as part of a comprehensive new education package, which is now available on TV and online at BBC Bitesize.
The Government has committed over £100 million to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children in England to access remote education and social care services, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers.
We are providing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged and vulnerable children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in year 10, receiving support from a social worker or are a care leaver. Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and children in year 10 do not have internet connections, we are providing 4G wireless routers.
Shielding advice for all adults and children will pause on 1 August, subject to a continued decline in the rates of community transmission of COVID-19. This means that even the small number of pupils who remain on the shielded patient list can return to school, as can those who have family members who are shielding.
Our guidance for fully reopening schools in the autumn sets out a ‘system of controls’ which schools should adopt to minimise the risk of transmission. Where schools apply the full measures in this guidance, the risks to all pupils and staff will be mitigated significantly, including those who were previously classed as extremely clinically vulnerable and clinically vulnerable. This guidance also sets out our expectations of the remote education schools should provide if a pupil is unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical and/or public health advice, including if they are required to self-isolate or a local outbreak occurs.
This guidance can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Asked by: Laura Farris (Conservative - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Public Health England (PHE) to address concerns of frontline NHS staff working in hospital settings with covid-19 positive patients that the current PHE guidance for non-core covid-19 treatment centres, which does not include gowns or visors, leaves staff underprotected.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The COVID-19 pandemic guidance on infection prevention and control (IPC) is issued jointly by the Department, Public Health Wales, Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, Health Protection Scotland, Public Health England and NHS England. The IPC guidance is available to view at the following link:
The guidance provides advice on the use of personal protective equipment by healthcare staff which is dependent on the clinical care and procedures being undertaken, and the closeness of contact between staff and patients.
Asked by: Laura Farris (Conservative - Newbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support the funeral industry during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The department has ongoing engagement with the death management sector focusing on the pressure of increased demand, maintaining the welfare of staff, ensuring the deceased are treated with dignity and respect and the bereaved with compassion.
As part of this work, organisations across the funeral sector are sharing key information with Government and in turn the Government is sharing relevant information and exploring whether additional support may be needed. The Government has produced an online hub collating government guidance for the funeral sector and those involved in the management of deaths (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-those-involved-in-managing-covid-19-deaths) so that it is easily accessible for those who need it.
Asked by: Laura Farris (Conservative - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish guidance to supermarkets on maintaining supplies of essential items.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government has well-established ways of working with the food industry during disruption to supply situations. Our retailers already have highly-resilient supply chains and they are working around the clock to ensure people have the food and products they need. Industry is adapting quickly to any changes in demands, and food supply into and across the UK is resilient.
The Secretary of State is holding regular conversations with industry, including the British Retail Consortium and supermarket Chief Executives, to discuss any additional support the Government can provide. To help supermarkets respond to this unprecedented demand we have already introduced new measures to keep food supply flowing. We have issued guidance to local authorities to allow extended delivery hours to supermarkets so that shelves can be filled up quicker, and we have implemented extensions to drivers’ hours. We are also temporarily relaxing certain elements of competition law to ensure retailers are able to collaborate effectively in the national interest.
We fully recognise the additional pressures on our food supply chain as a result of recent events. The UK’s major supermarkets have last weekend issued a statement to encourage everyone to shop as they normally would, and pull together to support those staying at home.
We will continue to work closely with the industry over the coming days and months.
Asked by: Laura Farris (Conservative - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment she has made of the appropriateness of the level of rates paid to residents under the Smart Export Guarantee scheme.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Smart Export Guarantee has been successful in bringing forward a range of competitive offerings to the market. Renewable generators now have a several tariffs to choose from, in some cases higher than the FIT export tariff.
Ofgem will prepare an annual report on the provisions made by suppliers for smaller scale exporters. The government will review this to monitor whether the market is delivering an effective and competitive range of options.