Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support small businesses affected by rising energy prices.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials continue to engage constructively with businesses to understand, and to help mitigate the impacts of, high global gas prices. The Government’s priority is to ensure costs are managed and energy supplies maintained.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to help protect consumers from rising wholesale gas prices.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to protecting customers, especially the most vulnerable. The price cap will ensure millions of households pay a fair price for energy this winter. Low income and fuel poor households will continue to be supported with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will also ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months.
Additionally, the Government announced an extra £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to help millions with their household bills.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on tackling the disability (a) employment and (b) pay gap.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
I have frequent discussions with the Minister for Disabled People, who has responsibility for these issues.
Pay gaps are caused by a range of factors. To address them, we must ensure that everybody has equal access to opportunities.
We support disabled people to enter employment and stay in work through a range of initiatives such as the Work and Health Programme, Access to Work and Employment Advice in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services. One of the key transformational elements of Universal Credit is that it provides us with the opportunity to support people who are in work to progress and increase their earnings.
In November 2018, we published a voluntary reporting framework on disability, mental ill health and wellbeing. This is aimed at large employers (with over 250 employees) and it is recommended that they publicly report on the pay and progression of disabled people at regular intervals. The framework can also be used to support smaller employers who are keen to drive greater transparency in their organisation or industry.
The Government will publish a National Strategy for Disabled People which will take into account the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on disabled people. The strategy will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life, including employment.
More broadly, while our current focus, rightly, is on helping to get people into work, our longer-term ambition, based on clear evidence about the importance of work in tacking poverty, remains to build an economy that gives everyone the opportunity to progress out of low pay.
Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith is leading a time-limited Commission looking at how DWP, wider Government and employers can best support people to progress out of low pay, especially for those groups more likely to be in persistent low pay, such as disabled workers. The Commission has recently launched a call for evidence to help inform their report, which will be published in the new year: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/call-for-evidence-and-good-practice-on-in-work-progression.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of (a) the implications for his Department's policies of Greater Manchester's plans to become carbon neutral by 2038 in light of the covid-19 pandemic, and (b) levels of consumer willingness to pay for a just and low cost transition to a decarbonised energy system.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The BEIS Local Energy Programme is supporting Local Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the clean energy economy. BEIS has allocated £500k directly to Greater Manchester Combined Authority since 2017, through devolution, to develop innovative business models (for decarbonisation) and public sector leadership (for climate change and zero carbon targets) in support of their 2038 target, which are then shared with other Local Authorities.
As we recover from COVID-19, the Government intends to deliver a UK economy which is stronger, cleaner, more sustainable and resilient. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Summer Statement included investments which will both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the economic recovery, reflecting the Government’s commitment to build back greener, deliver a green recovery and reach our net zero ambition.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to publish the Government's strategy to prioritise and accelerate net zero solutions to decarbonise energy use in order to increase operator and business confidence in investment in low carbon infrastructure.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State will publish an Energy White Paper in the Autumn which will address these issues. The White Paper will drive economic recovery and help deliver our climate goals.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which official development assistance programmes funded by his Department are targeted at supporting women and girls.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The UK’s Gender Equality Act 2014 (an amendment to the International Development Act 2002), legally requires all overseas development funding to meaningfully consider the impact of how it will contribute to reducing gender inequality.
The Department works with trusted delivery partners, such as the World Bank, to ensure that women and girls are accounted for throughout the delivery process. The Department uses its position as a Board member to ask all delivery partners to disaggregate the data they receive, to show how each project levels the playing field for women and girls.
Our two research and innovation funds, the Newton Fund and the Global Challenges Research Fund, recognise the importance of women and girls. Both funds define gender equality as an eligible research for development objective and all funding calls require applicants to submit their Gender Equality Statement, against which funding applications are assessed.
Some examples of the Funds’ gender work include: the Gender, Justice and Security Hub, which delivers innovative, interdisciplinary research on the challenge of achieving gender justice and inclusive security in conflict-affected societies; the Newton-Bhabha partnership with India, which has funded research into maternal care across a range of eight lower- and middle-income countries; and a project in Brazil with Sempreviva Organizção Feminista, which aims to develop skills in sustainable agriculture and commerce to help women in rural Brazil have better access to markets, both as producers and consumers.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What estimate he has made of the number of self-employed people who do not qualify for covid-19 support.
Answered by Paul Scully
We have prioritised helping the greatest number of people as quickly as possible and it is difficult to come up with reliable criteria that apply to all the relevant sectors of the economy. We are aware some people will not be eligible for the scheme, but they may still benefit from a number of other support schemes available.
The Department is engaging a wide range of stakeholders in relation to Covid-19, and in addition to the Business Secretary’s regular meeting with business representative organisations, I recently hosted a call with stakeholders on support for the self-employed and will continue to engage on the issue.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether remaining in Euratom will be a Government objective in negotiations with the EU.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The UK left the EU, including Euratom, on 31 January 2020. The Government is now preparing to negotiate the UK’s future relationship with the EU, including on civil nuclear.
A Written Ministerial Statement made by my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3rd February 2020 (HCWS86) on UK-EU relations stated that “There should be rapid progress towards a Civil Nuclear Agreement, given the implications for both sides of not doing so and the clear benefits of co-operation":
The civil nuclear sector is of key strategic importance to the UK; our withdrawal from Euratom in no way diminishes our nuclear ambitions.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has made on developing a fact-based evidence base relating to firework safety; and if the OPSS will make that evidence base available to the public.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is developing a fact-based evidence base on the key issues that have been raised around fireworks. This includes looking at data on noise and disturbance, anti-social behaviour, non-compliance, environmental impact, and the impact on humans and animals. This will build a fuller picture of the data around fireworks in order to identify whether further action is appropriate.
The evidence base work includes reviewing existing literature, research and data sources which are already publicly available. The work to develop a full evidence base is an ongoing exercise which is not time limited and we will report in due course.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how frequently she plans to raise the National Living Wage to meet the Government target of two-thirds of median earnings by 2024.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has announced that in April 2020 the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 6.2 per cent to £8.72 for those aged 25 and over. The Government has also announced inflation-beating increases in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates for younger workers and apprentices of between 4.6 per cent and 6.5 per cent.
My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has pledged that the NLW will increase further, reaching two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, providing economic conditions allow. The Government also plans to expand the reach of the NLW, bringing down the eligibility threshold first to age 23 in 2021 and then to 21 by 2024.
The Government increases the NLW and NMW rates annually with consideration to recommendations made by the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC). The Government will publish the LPC’s 2020 remit, which will include details of the new target for the NLW to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024.