Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make the accessible and adaptable standard M4(2) Category 2 the mandatory baseline for all new homes.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Government will consult shortly on accessibility of new homes. The consultation will consider making higher accessibility standards mandatory, recognising the importance of suitable homes for older and disabled people.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many staff at which grades his Department requires to undertake work on leaving the EU without an agreement in the Departmental Operations Centre during standard daytime working hours.
Answered by Jake Berry
A dedicated Departmental Operations Centre (DOC) will manage and lead preparations in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Staff working in the DOC will also manage work associated with the UK's exit from the EU in any other scenario. We do not routinely separately record no-deal work from other Brexit work. MHCLG’s normal operations include some out of hours working alongside standard daytime working hours.
To support this pattern, we currently estimate the Department will require approximately 200 FTE, using a mix of grades but coming mainly from HEO and Grade 7 staff. This estimate will be subject to on-going review to ensure it reflects any change in circumstances or requirements
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what equality impact assessment his Department has undertaken on the selection of staff for normal hours day time working in the Departmental Operations Centre on the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Jake Berry
Working in our DOC under a normal hours day time arrangement is no different to other such arrangements for roles elsewhere in the Department and does not require a specific or separate equality impact assessment. All staff deployed in our DOC will be assigned to roles commensurate with their grade and will be provided with appropriate training and support. Our existing policies and proactive diversity and inclusion agenda ensures all staff are treated fairly including those with protected characteristics.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many staff, by grade, have volunteered for shift working in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Jake Berry
A total of 178 MHCLG staff have currently volunteered for shift working in the DOC. The grade breakdown is as follows: 20 Senior Civil Servants, 16 Grade 6, 67 Grade 7, 19 Senior Executive Officer, 38 Higher Executive Officers and 18 Executive Officers.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many of his staff, by grade, who volunteered for shift working at the Departmental Operations Centre have been rejected because the Department needs to retain them in their current roles.
Answered by Jake Berry
No member of staff who has volunteered to work shifts has been rejected because the Department needs to retain them in their current role. Volunteers for shift working were sought from those individuals either already working in the DOC or already assigned to a DOC team and therefore the possibility of rejecting volunteers because they need to be retained in their current role did not arise.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many of his staff, by grade, that have not volunteered for shift working in the Departmental Operations Centre in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal have (a) been transferred and (b) informed that they may be transferred to normal, daytime hours roles working on preparations in that centre.
Answered by Jake Berry
Staff working in our Departmental Operations Centre (DOC) include a combination of staff who have been recruited through open and fair competition, volunteers who have come forward as our preparations for a no deal exit scenario have increased and other staff who have been asked to work in the DOC as part of those preparations. We have not maintained a central breakdown of those working in the DOC against these different circumstances. Shift working is voluntary and if an individual does not wish to work shifts they will be deployed within their normal working pattern.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance the Department has issued to managers to ensure that selection of staff for normal hours day time working in the Departmental Operations Centre is conducted fairly and without discriminating against staff with protected characteristics.
Answered by Jake Berry
Our existing policies for the recruitment, selection or deployment of staff within the Department ensure that we act fairly and without discriminating against staff with protected characteristics and we have continued to apply those policies.