Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the implications of the Stannington gas flood in Sheffield Hallam constituency for his policies on emergency responses to a major incident; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a single consolidated priority register for all utility providers.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Central Government Concept Of Operations provides clear guidance on the levels of emergencies as well as responsibilities for response and recovery activities. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places duties on gas distributors and other utility companies (as Category 2 responders) to cooperate and share information with other local responders with regards to emergency planning and response.
Regarding the priority register, it was announced in the recent Autumn Statement, that the Government will consult on strengthening the economic regulation of the energy, water and telecommunications sectors, with proposals that include a consolidated Priority Services Register so that vulnerable people can be confident their status is recognised by all their utilities providers and support will be provided when needed.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is taking steps to prevent public contracts being awarded to companies that blacklist workers.rs.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 prohibit the compilation, usage, sale or supply of blacklists. The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 contain exclusion grounds which allow contracting authorities to exclude suppliers from procurements where their tender does not comply with labour law or where the supplier is guilty of grave professional misconduct. A breach of the Blacklists Regulations on a particular tender would render the supplier liable to exclusion and a breach more widely may amount to grave professional misconduct.
In all cases, individual departments and other public sector bodies are responsible for their own decisions on these matters
The Procurement Bill introduced by the Government, currently in the final stages of debate in Parliament, builds on and clarifies the exclusions measures in the existing regime. This includes specific measures enabling the exclusion of suppliers for labour market misconduct and professional misconduct.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people were employed in offshore roles in the oil and gas industry in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Questions of 17 May are attached.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people were employed in offshore roles in the wind industry in each year since 2015-16.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Questions of 17 May are attached.