Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on rail stations that are inaccessible to people with disabilities; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
We are committed to improving accessibility at rail stations, and have recently extended the Access for All programme with £300m to provide accessibility improvements at even more stations. This is in addition to improvements required whenever infrastructure work is carried out at a station by the industry.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
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 plans to include carbon emissions from UK Overseas Territories in its carbon accounting processes for the Paris Agreement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department is consulting with UK Overseas Territories as to whether they would like to have the UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement extended to them. For those UK Overseas Territories that so choose, the Department will work with them to ensure they are ready to implement the Paris Agreement and to regularly report to the Department on that implementation.
Under the accounting and transparency rules for the Paris Agreement agreed at COP24 in December 2018, any UK Overseas Territories included in the geographic scope of UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement in future will also need to be included in the UK’s accounting for and regular reporting on emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The UK was the first major economy in the world to legislate for a net zero target. The target is enshrined under the Climate Change Act 2008 which does not apply to UK Overseas Territories.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if her Department will work with the UK Overseas Territories to reduce their carbon emissions as part of the UK’s (a) contribution towards the Paris Agreement and (b) Net Zero commitment.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department is consulting with UK Overseas Territories as to whether they would like to have the UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement extended to them. For those UK Overseas Territories that so choose, the Department will work with them to ensure they are ready to implement the Paris Agreement and to regularly report to the Department on that implementation.
Under the accounting and transparency rules for the Paris Agreement agreed at COP24 in December 2018, any UK Overseas Territories included in the geographic scope of UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement in future will also need to be included in the UK’s accounting for and regular reporting on emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The UK was the first major economy in the world to legislate for a net zero target. The target is enshrined under the Climate Change Act 2008 which does not apply to UK Overseas Territories.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What recent assessment his Department has made of the equity of employment contract terms and conditions in the supermarket sector.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to upgrading workers’ rights and protecting the most vulnerable workers. Our legal framework already ensures that employers should always treat their employees fairly, and our Good Work Plan will introduce the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.
In the retail sector specifically, the industry-led Retail Sector Council has identified employment as a priority workstream and this will be discussed at our next meeting on 20 June.