Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people her Department employs (a) in London and (b) outside of London.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
As of 31st January 2020, the Department employs 4,429 people, of which 4,048 are in London and 381 outside London, excluding contractors and temporary staff.
The current distribution of our workforce reflects legacy decisions about office locations and role placements. The Department is committed to working with the Places for Growth Programme, Beyond Whitehall, and other initiatives as part of the Government Estates Strategy.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when she plans to publish the outcome of the Neonatal Leave and Pay consultation, which closed on 29 November 2019.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Government is determined to make Britain the best place in the world to work. As announced in the Queens’ Speech, we will be bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years. This will include measures to allow parents of children who have been in neonatal care for a prolonged stay to take additional paid leave (subject to qualifying criteria).
This will take forward the proposals which the Government consulted on from July to October last year. The consultation outlined our estimates of the cost of this policy to business and to the Exchequer. This covered a range of options for how many weeks leave and pay the entitlement would cover, as well as the impact of a qualifying ‘minimum stay’ in neonatal care. The consultation document is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/good-work-plan-proposals-to-support-families with provisional costings on p44. The Government will publish a full impact assessment when the Bill is introduced in Parliament.
We look forward to setting out our plans soon with the publication of the Government Response.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when neonatal leave and pay will be available to parents with a baby receiving neonatal care.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Government is determined to make Britain the best place in the world to work. As announced in the Queens’ Speech, we will be bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years. This will include measures to allow parents of children who have been in neonatal care for a prolonged stay to take additional paid leave (subject to qualifying criteria).
This will take forward the proposals which the Government consulted on from July to October last year. The consultation outlined our estimates of the cost of this policy to business and to the Exchequer. This covered a range of options for how many weeks leave and pay the entitlement would cover, as well as the impact of a qualifying ‘minimum stay’ in neonatal care. The consultation document is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/good-work-plan-proposals-to-support-families with provisional costings on p44. The Government will publish a full impact assessment when the Bill is introduced in Parliament.
We look forward to setting out our plans soon with the publication of the Government Response.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate her Department has made of the cost per annum to the public purse of introducing for parents of premature babies an entitlement to (a) two weeks of neonatal leave and pay and (b) an additional week of neonatal leave and pay for each week a baby is in neonatal care paid at the statutory maternity pay rate.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Government is determined to make Britain the best place in the world to work. As announced in the Queens’ Speech, we will be bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years. This will include measures to allow parents of children who have been in neonatal care for a prolonged stay to take additional paid leave (subject to qualifying criteria).
This will take forward the proposals which the Government consulted on from July to October last year. The consultation outlined our estimates of the cost of this policy to business and to the Exchequer. This covered a range of options for how many weeks leave and pay the entitlement would cover, as well as the impact of a qualifying ‘minimum stay’ in neonatal care. The consultation document is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/good-work-plan-proposals-to-support-families with provisional costings on p44. The Government will publish a full impact assessment when the Bill is introduced in Parliament.
We look forward to setting out our plans soon with the publication of the Government Response.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate her Department has made of the cost per annum to the private sector of introducing for parents of premature babies an entitlement to (a) two weeks of neonatal leave and pay and (b) an additional week of neonatal leave and pay for each week a baby is in neonatal care.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Government is determined to make Britain the best place in the world to work. As announced in the Queens’ Speech, we will be bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years. This will include measures to allow parents of children who have been in neonatal care for a prolonged stay to take additional paid leave (subject to qualifying criteria).
This will take forward the proposals which the Government consulted on from July to October last year. The consultation outlined our estimates of the cost of this policy to business and to the Exchequer. This covered a range of options for how many weeks leave and pay the entitlement would cover, as well as the impact of a qualifying ‘minimum stay’ in neonatal care. The consultation document is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/good-work-plan-proposals-to-support-families with provisional costings on p44. The Government will publish a full impact assessment when the Bill is introduced in Parliament.
We look forward to setting out our plans soon with the publication of the Government Response.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether her Department offers additional parental leave to its employees who become parents of premature babies.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not currently offer additional parental leave specifically to employees who become parents of premature babies. All employees can apply for paid special leave or unpaid parental leave, both of which are considered on a case-by-case basis.
The Department does offer employees maternity leave, adoption leave, paternity leave, and shared parental leave.
The Government is committed to enhancing workers’ rights and to supporting people to balance their work and caring responsibilities. We have already laid regulations in Parliament that will give grieving parents a right to paid time off work. We will also introduce a new entitlement to carers’ leave as well as entitlement to paid leave for parents of children who spend time in neonatal care.
We are committed to making the UK the best place to work and grow a business. As announced in the Queen’s Speech, we will bring forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20 years.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
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 against the commitment set out in the Loneliness Strategy to work in partnership with Campaign to End Loneliness, British Red Cross, the Association of Convenience Stores and others, to explore how businesses can provide community space out of business hours or engage with the wider community in other ways.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Employers can play an important role in tackling loneliness in their workforce and wider society.
The Department continues to work with the Campaign to End Loneliness to run an Employers’ Leadership Group on Loneliness. The group strengthens cooperation and coordination between Government, business and other groups with an interest in tackling loneliness. The group, which includes the Association of Convenience Stores and the British Red Cross, is currently carrying out work to identify good practice and produce case studies and guidance to help employers tackle loneliness – both in the workforce and in the wider community.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
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 against the commitment set out in the Loneliness Strategy to capture and share the work businesses are doing to help tackle loneliness in the wider community and to promote that work and develop it further.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Employers can play an important role in tackling loneliness in their workforce and wider society.
The Department continues to work with the Campaign to End Loneliness to run an Employers’ Leadership Group on Loneliness. The group strengthens cooperation and coordination between Government, business and other groups with an interest in tackling loneliness. The group, which includes the Association of Convenience Stores and the British Red Cross, is currently carrying out work to identify good practice and produce case studies and guidance to help employers tackle loneliness – both in the workforce and in the wider community.