Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report published by Lloyds Bank entitled Black. British. In Business & Proud, what steps he is taking to increase (a) cultural awareness and (b) Black representation in the banking sector.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
On 17 March, the Government published “Inclusive Britain” in response to the independent report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, setting out a ground-breaking action plan to tackle negative disparities, promote unity and build a fairer Britain for all. The Government has responded in detail to each of the Commission’s 24 recommendations from its report. In some cases, The Government’s response has gone further than the report envisaged, to ensure that our action plan is as wide-reaching as possible and builds a fairer and more inclusive society in the long-term.
The Government is very supportive of the Race At Work Charter, which over 100 financial services firms have already signed up to. The Charter commits firms that sign up to take practical steps to tackle barriers that ethnic minority people face in recruitment and progression.
We are also supporting entrepreneurs through the Start-Up Loans scheme, which offers businesses 12 months of free mentoring. Of all loans issued up to December 2021, 20% went to Asian people, Black people, or people from other Ethnic Minorities (excluding White minorities). At the end of December 2021, the programme had delivered more than 90,000 loans, providing more than £819m of funding to entrepreneurs.
In March 2021, the Parker Review published statistics showing that significant progress has been made on improving ethnic diversity of UK boards, with 89 out of 100 FTSE 100 companies reporting they had appointed a director from a minority ethnic group.
The Treasury remains committed to supporting individuals and businesses of all backgrounds to access the finance they need and continues to engage with the private sector and other government departments including BEIS and Cabinet Office on this important issue.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report published by Lloyds Bank entitled Black. British. In Business & Proud, what steps he is taking to increase the confidence of the UK's Black business community in the banking and financial services sector.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
On 17 March, the Government published “Inclusive Britain” in response to the independent report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, setting out a ground-breaking action plan to tackle negative disparities, promote unity and build a fairer Britain for all. The Government has responded in detail to each of the Commission’s 24 recommendations from its report. In some cases, The Government’s response has gone further than the report envisaged, to ensure that our action plan is as wide-reaching as possible and builds a fairer and more inclusive society in the long-term.
The Government is very supportive of the Race At Work Charter, which over 100 financial services firms have already signed up to. The Charter commits firms that sign up to take practical steps to tackle barriers that ethnic minority people face in recruitment and progression.
We are also supporting entrepreneurs through the Start-Up Loans scheme, which offers businesses 12 months of free mentoring. Of all loans issued up to December 2021, 20% went to Asian people, Black people, or people from other Ethnic Minorities (excluding White minorities). At the end of December 2021, the programme had delivered more than 90,000 loans, providing more than £819m of funding to entrepreneurs.
In March 2021, the Parker Review published statistics showing that significant progress has been made on improving ethnic diversity of UK boards, with 89 out of 100 FTSE 100 companies reporting they had appointed a director from a minority ethnic group.
The Treasury remains committed to supporting individuals and businesses of all backgrounds to access the finance they need and continues to engage with the private sector and other government departments including BEIS and Cabinet Office on this important issue.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that teachers and other education staff can choose to be accompanied to disciplinary or grievance hearings by a person other than a trade union representative or colleague.
Answered by Robin Walker
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, is supportive in principle of a change to the Employment Relations Act 1999 to give teachers who are not members of a trade union the right to be accompanied by a representative of another professional body, such as Edapt, to disciplinary and grievance meetings.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to work with Ofcom to ensure that people who still use landlines after the PSTN switchover process is completed in 2025 are able to access landline payment plans (a) without broadband internet connection included and (b) that only charge them for their phone usage time instead of operating as a set monthly payment plan.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
PSTN’s replacement, VoIP technology, requires a minimum stable connection speed of just 0.5Mbps, and, for current landline-only customers on BT and KCOM (the universal service providers), it will be possible to order a VoIP landline without purchasing a general internet connection.
Pricing in the telecoms market is ultimately a commercial decision and is a matter for the independent telecoms regulator Ofcom. That being said, the government is clear that the PSTN migration should not be used as an opportunity for providers to exploit consumers with disproportionate costs for the necessary upgrades.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will include impact on motorcyclists as an additional factor in the Cycling Level of Service Tool audit as set out in his Department's paper entitled Cycle Infrastructure Design, published in July 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department’s Cycle Infrastructure Design Guidance (Local Transport Note 1/20) provides guidance to local authorities on building good quality cycle infrastructure and integrating it safely into their local roads. It includes advice on safely managing interactions between cyclists and other road users, including motorcyclists, and suggests ways of reducing the particular risks to motorcyclists that can arise from the use of certain types of light segregation features.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it will be possible to register a covid-19 lateral flow test result online with the NHS after 1 April 2022 for the purposes of presenting that result to hospital authorities.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The public can continue to register publicly provided tests online and receive a confirmatory text message, which can be used for hospital services.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Pavement parking: options for change consultation which closed in November 2020, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce pavement parking.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We will publish the formal consultation response and announce next steps as soon as possible. The formal consultation response will be available to view on the Gov.uk website at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will permit individuals with motor neurone disease to renew their blue badge parking permits automatically without renewal application forms.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Applications to the Blue Badge scheme are not dependent upon condition but are based on the need of the applicant to park closer to their destination. Local authorities are responsible for administering the scheme locally and all local authority administrators have the discretion to add a ‘not for reassessment’ marker to individual Blue Badge records, including for applicants with Motor Neurone Disease.
The Department has recently made changes to the online application process and operates a continuous improvement programme based on user research to make it easier for all applicants to apply for a badge.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ease the application process for individuals with motor neurone disease renewing their blue badge parking permits.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Applications to the Blue Badge scheme are not dependent upon condition but are based on the need of the applicant to park closer to their destination. Local authorities are responsible for administering the scheme locally and all local authority administrators have the discretion to add a ‘not for reassessment’ marker to individual Blue Badge records, including for applicants with Motor Neurone Disease.
The Department has recently made changes to the online application process and operates a continuous improvement programme based on user research to make it easier for all applicants to apply for a badge.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his statement of 14 March 2022, Official Report, col 619, whether he plans to have discussions with developers on purposing properties for use by refugees.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
I refer my Hon Friend to the answers given to Question UIN 145857 on 28 March 2022 and Question UIN 144955 on 29 March 2022, which include links to published guidance and information at Gov.uk.