Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, information his Department holds on the fuel sources for district heating systems delivered under the Government’s Heat Networks Investment Programme from April 2019, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
In December 2018 we published in ‘Heat networks: Developing a market framework’ our estimate of the fuel sources that will be used in projects that will come forward under the Heat Network Investment Project. The assumed technology mix is displayed in the figure below. The estimate is based on analysis of HNIP pilot data and surveys of the project pipeline. The estimate is dynamic as it is assumed original CHP plants are replaced with lower-carbon systems at the end of their operational life.
The estimated technology mix is 22% gas back-up boiler, 33% gas CHP, 20% EfW incinerator, 5% biomass, 10% heat pump and 10% waste heat recovery.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the employment tribunal naming scheme.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government launched the scheme as part of the Good Work Plan in response to concerns that rates of employment tribunal payments are unacceptably low. Employers who have failed to pay a tribunal award of £200 or more at least 84 days after the original judgment will be eligible for naming.
The scheme was launched on 18 December 2018 and the Government will publish the first list of employers in due course. Therefore, it is too early to have assessed the effectiveness of the scheme.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what ongoing estimate he is making of the number of people who have not received payments due to them following employment tribunals and mediation processes.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
It is right that people get what they are owed, and we know employment tribunal awards are not always paid promptly. Government commissioned research in 2013 found that only 53% of successful claimants received full or part payment without enforcement action. 35% had not received any payment at all.
Following this research Government introduced the BEIS penalty scheme in 2016 and have since recovered over £1.5 million to workers of previously unpaid awards. We will now also name employers who do not pay employment tribunal awards within a reasonable period.
We have also recently commissioned research on employment tribunals that will include payment rate information for employment tribunal awards, Acas conciliated and private settlements.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of (a) treatment and (b) support for people with with tuberculosis.
Answered by Steve Brine
‘The Collaborative Tuberculosis (TB) Strategy for England 2015 to 2020’ was developed by Public Health England (PHE) in partnership with NHS England and aims to reduce suffering and harm caused by TB through lowering the incidence of the disease in England. The Strategy is available at the following link:
The strategy aims to tackle TB in under-served populations through the commissioning of integrated, multidisciplinary, case management and support for under-served groups. This multidisciplinary support, which may include third sector organisations, should provide targeted outreach interventions, informed by proven models such as ‘Find and Treat’ in London, including specific services for active case finding among homeless people and those attending substance misuse services.
In January 2016, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a clinical guideline that covers preventing, identifying and managing latent and active TB in children, young people and adults. This is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng33
In 2017, PHE and the National Health Service issued a ‘TB Service Specification and Clinical Policy’ for use by commissioners and TB services. This builds on the work of the strategy to:
- improve rapid diagnosis and treatment of active TB disease;
- prevention of TB by treating latent infections; and
- focus on complex cases with antimicrobial resistance and patients with other risk factors for poor treatment outcome, such as homelessness.
NHS England is supporting those clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) with the highest burden of disease to provide latent TB testing and treatment programmes which are essential for reducing the incidence of active TB. In 2018/19, the 46 CCGs with the highest burden of disease were supported with £3,594,000 to provide this service.
According to the latest annual report ‘Tuberculosis in England: 2018’ published by PHE, since the peak of TB incidence in England in 2011 the number of people notified with TB had fallen by nearly 40% in 2017. The incidence rate in 2017 was 9.2 per 100,000 population, the lowest recorded rate for England, which for the first time falls under the 10 per 100,000 World Health Organization definition of a low incidence country. The report is available at the following link:
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what plans the Government has for continued participation in the Erasmus scheme in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Robin Walker
Leaving the EU with a deal remains the Government’s top priority. This has not changed. The Political Declaration includes an agreement to establish terms and conditions for UK participation in EU programmes in areas of shared interest, including culture and, youth and education. It also contains a reference to wider dialogues and exchanges in culture and education, to allow us to share best practice and act together. The Government recently updated its technical notice that provides guidance to organisations and participants on the UK’s anticipated participation in the current Erasmus+ programme (2014 to 2020). The notice can also be found at: https://bit.ly/2GaP28y.
This states that, to prepare for the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the UK Government has been seeking to engage with the European Commission with the aim of securing the UK’s continued full participation in Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) until the end of 2020 and minimising the impact on projects in a no deal scenario. We are considering carefully the draft regulation the European Commission published on contingency for Erasmus+ on 30 January and are seeking to speak with them to seek clarification, and discuss further what they are proposing.
In addition, in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Government’s underwrite guarantee will cover the payment of awards to UK applicants for all successful Erasmus+ bids submitted before the end of 2020. Successful bids are those that are approved directly by the European Commission or by the UK National Agency and ratified by the European Commission. The Government will need to reach agreement with the EU for UK organisations to continue participating in Erasmus+ and ESC projects and, as mentioned above, has been seeking to hold these discussions.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department has issued to private hire and other licensed taxi drivers to support disabled passengers (a) with and (b) without guide dogs, and whether he has plans to review that guidance.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Responsibility for ensuring that taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers understand the rights and requirements of disabled passengers, including through effective training and communication, rests with respective local licensing authorities.
Ministers are considering the report of the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, including the recommendation that disability awareness training should be mandatory in all areas. A Government response will be issued in due course.
We are also undertaking research to understand why disabled people sometimes still face discriminatory behaviour when using taxis and PHVs, and to identify what further steps could be taken so that every disabled passenger can travel with confidence.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on elderly people in rural areas of the planned discontinuation of the Post Office card system.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government’s contract for the Post Office card account comes to an end on 30 November 2021. For those claimants and pensioners who are unable to open a mainstream account ahead of this date, the DWP will implement an alternative payment service that allows users to obtain cash payments in their local area (including suburban and rural locations) before the end of the contract. When commissioning this alternative payment service, it will be our priority to ensure that elderly vulnerable people are protected and catered for.
Our communications with Post Office card account users will highlight that 99% of a banks’ personal customers, are able to withdraw cash, deposit cash and cheques, and make balance enquiries at a Post Office counter via its network of 11,600 branches. Therefore, those receiving benefit and pension payments into a bank account can continue to collect their money from the Post Office so there should be minimal effect on elderly people in rural areas. We have already introduced a phased conversion process ahead of 2021 and we will be writing to all Post Office card account users to ensure they are provided with an alternative payment service.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government provides support for new house buyers with snagging issues; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
This Government is committed to making the housing market work. By the mid-2020s, we aim to have increased house building to an average of 300,000 net new homes a year. And as we move towards achieving this target, we will not sacrifice higher quality and standards.
We have already made commitments to provide better protection for purchasers of new build homes who experience snagging issues and we know more needs to be done. On 1 October 2018, we announced our intention for there to be a New Homes Ombudsman to protect the rights of homebuyers and hold developers to account. We also announced our intention to bring forward legislation to require all developers to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman.
On 24 January, following a wide-ranging consultation with consumers and industry, we set out our plans to strengthen consumer redress for the whole housing market. I want to help plug the gaps in available redress services so that more people can get their housing disputes resolved without going through the courts. We have also made great strides to create greater fairness in the rental market by banning unfair letting fees, capping tenancy deposits and cracking down on rogue landlords.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What steps his Department is taking to reduce the persecution of Christians overseas.
Answered by Mark Field
The Foreign Secretary has commissioned an independent, global review into the additional practical steps the Government can take to support persecuted Christians. The review will report by Easter.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What assessment he has made of the effect of recent budgetary decisions on the Scottish block grant.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
At Budget we announced a £700m increase in the Scottish block grant for 19/20 because of the additional money we are spending across the country.