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, if he will make an assessment of the ways in which (a) disused care homes and (b) other public buildings can be repurposed to support refugees coming to the UK from Ukraine.
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.
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, if he will make it his policy to use (a) Airbnb and (b) other short-term holiday lets for the purpose of homing refugees fleeing Ukraine until they are settled elsewhere or able to return home.
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.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2022 to Question 139347, and with reference to his statement of 14 March 2022, Official Report, col 619, whether the universal credit payments of people who provide accommodation to refugees will be affected by receiving the £350 monthly payment under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.
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.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2022 to Question 139524 and with reference to his statement of 14 March 2022, Official Report, col 619, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in ensuring that Ukrainian refuges have access (a) schools, (b) public health, (c) trauma counselling and (d) other public services.
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.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department's response to FOI2021/05245, if he will publish his Department's final versions of the following files relating to calculations of the levelised cost of electricity generation (a) Solar Methodology.xlsx, (b) Onshore Methodology.xlsx, (c) Offshore Methodology.xlsx, (d) Generation Costs Summer Updates 2019 PR.pptx, (e) Offshore Wind Summer 2019 Update.docx, (f) Onshore Update Summer 2019.docx, (g) Solar Update Summer 2019.docx and (h) [OFFSEN] Electricity Generation Costs 2019.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department is not intending to publish these documents as they are draft, working documents that do not reflect the final “Electricity Generation Costs Report 2020”[1] which has been published online. As such they have been withheld under Environmental Information Regulation 12(4)(d).
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-electricity-generation-costs-2020
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, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the clamping and parking provisions in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 against the original objectives of the policy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In March 2018, the then Home Secretary presented a Memorandum to the Home Affairs Committee on Post-Legislative Scrutiny of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. This included an assessment of the parking provisions contained in the Act and is available online at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/685894/cm-9579-postlegislative-scrutiny-protection-of-freedoms-2012-web.pdf.
Since the introduction of keeper liability in the Act to support parking enforcement in lieu of clamping, we have seen the number of private parking charges rise significantly. In response to this, and continued concerns about the poor practice and behaviour of the private parking industry, the Government supported the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, which my Department is currently implementing. This will introduce regulation to the private parking industry, with the creation of a new Code of Practice that parking operators must follow if they wish to access DVLA data to enforce charges.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help support students who have been disrupted by industrial action called by unions representing university staff.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Students have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, and any further disruption caused to their learning is wholly unfair and completely unnecessary.
Young people have already sacrificed enough during this pandemic and students should be able to enjoy the full university experience. Students deserve good quality, face-to-face teaching from their universities, and we need a resolution that delivers this for them as soon as possible. It is what the vast majority of teaching staff want, and what students rightly expect.
The Office for Students (OfS) have wide-ranging powers to ensure students’ interests are protected, and they expect providers to do all they can to avoid disruption to students. The OfS has written to universities to make their expectations clear: universities must abide by the conditions of registration and ensure they meet obligations under consumer protection law in relation to the impact of industrial action.
Higher education providers are autonomous and responsible for the pay and pension provision of their staff. While government has no direct role in the disputes, we have been clear that we want this disagreement resolved in a way that avoids further disrupting students’ learning. We strongly encourage a resolution that delivers good value for students, staff, and providers.
Students who have complaints about their higher education experience should contact their provider in the first instance. Where a student remains unsatisfied once they have been to their provider, they can approach the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) who can consider their complaint. The OIA has published a guide to handling complaints arising from significant disruption: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/providers/handling-complaints-arising-from-significant-disruption.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what mechanism his Department used to ensure that the £200m in CFD payments made to the Low Carbon Contracts Company by renewables generators between September 2021 and February 2022 was passed through to consumers as energy bill savings.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Due to current high energy prices, the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) has temporarily stopped collecting the compulsory levy from suppliers which funds the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. CfD generators have instead paid approximately £205 million back into the scheme from September 2021 to March 2022 inclusive. LCCC returned around £40 million of this to suppliers at the last quarterly reconciliation, with suppliers leaving the balance on account with LCCC to meet future liabilities towards funding the cost of the scheme. This ensures that consumers do not pay higher CfD support costs during periods of high electricity prices.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the likely level of forthcoming price rises for heat network customers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Price increases for heat network customers vary depending on the type and owner of the network. Larger district heat networks are able to use their market size to purchase energy at scale and secure cheaper prices.
Whilst the Government does not yet have robust estimates of price increases for heat network consumers, those supplied by district heat networks are seeing price increases broadly in line with increases being seen by customers under the Retail Price Cap. The Government is seeing larger price increases for heat network customers on smaller communal networks where there are greater difficulties in purchasing at scale. These types of networks serve approximately 80,000 domestic consumers (18% of all domestic heat network consumers). The Government remains committed to legislating within this parliament to regulate the heat networks sector.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support and (b) offer redress to university students whose face-to-face teaching has been replaced by online and pre-recorded lectures since the lifting of covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Higher education (HE) providers have delivered new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning, and some providers continue to use some of these approaches alongside in-person provision. However, online learning should only be offered to enhance the student experience, not to detract from it, and it should not be used as a cost-cutting measure.
The department has written to all English HE providers to make clear that we expect them to be offering a high-quality face-to-face student experience and, on 17 January 2022, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote an open letter to students about face-to-face teaching, setting out what they can do if they feel they are not getting the teaching they signed up for. In addition, I have been speaking with a number of university Vice Chancellors to ensure they are offering students the amount of in-person teaching they should expect, including speaking with seven universities regarding concerns about their face to face teaching provision to ensure they are offering students the amount of in-person teaching they expect.
In line with all other settings, HE providers should continue to conduct risk assessments for their particular circumstances. Risk assessments should take account of the approach to managing the virus in wider society, particularly now that all restrictions have been removed and the vaccine programme continues to be rolled out. Risk assessments should never be used to prevent providers delivering a full programme of face-to-face teaching and learning.
HE providers are independent and autonomous bodies which are responsible for the management of their own affairs. If students have concerns about the delivery of their university courses, they should first raise them with their provider. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for HE to consider their complaint. Recommendations can include practical remedies as well as financial compensation where that is deemed appropriate.