Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of biomass energy on (a) CO2 emissions and (b) animal biodiversity.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government follows scientific advice which indicates that sustainable biomass could play a role in decarbonising the energy sector as part of a diverse renewable energy mix and in achieving net zero. Recent reports from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) all support this view.
The UK only supports biomass which complies with strict sustainability criteria which considers a range of environmental issues including protecting the biodiversity of forests from which the biomass is sourced, irrespective of its location.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a dedicated scrapping system for diesel and petrol vehicles ahead of the transition towards zero emission vehicles by 2030.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is investing £2.8 billion to support the transition to zero emission vehicles, including to support the uptake of zero and ultra low emission cars, vans, trucks, motorcycles, taxis and buses, as well funding to support charge point infrastructure at homes, workplaces, on residential streets and across the wider roads network, to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of giving workers the right to flexible working from the first day of employment.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government’s manifesto included a commitment to encourage flexible working and to consult on whether flexible working can be made the default unless employers have good reasons not to. We will issue this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
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 (a) modernise medical research and (b) replace animal testing with human-relevant techniques.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As part of a modern research system, we believe that animals should only be used where there is no practical alternative. The use of animals in research is carefully regulated and remains important in ensuring new medicines and treatments are safe.
However, we are actively supporting and funding the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved primarily through funding for the National Centre for the 3Rs which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research. Since the NC3Rs was launched it has committed £100 million through its research, innovation, and early career awards to provide new 3Rs approaches for scientists in academia and industry to use. This includes almost £27 million in contracts through its CRACK IT Challenges innovation scheme to UK and EU-based institutions, mainly focusing on new approaches for the safety assessment of pharmaceuticals and chemicals that reduce the use of animals.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds a portfolio of research projects involving humans, human materials, animal models, and non-animal technologies. At this time, no artificial model or simulation can replicate the complexity of disease processes in a living organism and as such, whole organism approaches continue to be important; animal models are used when experimentation in human volunteers is not possible for safety or ethical reasons. However, we do recognise the increasing value of in vitro and in silico models, including organs-on-chips and 3-dimensional mini-brains, which can greatly aid the development of new healthcare innovations and also reduce, refine or replace the use of animals in research.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
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 has taken to encourage shared parental leave amongst fathers.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 17 June 2021, we launched a new online tool which will make it easier for parents to access Shared Parental Leave and Pay and easier for employers to administer the scheme. The launch of the tool was accompanied by targeted communications activity, including social media and an exclusive with one of the national newspapers. We have also run significant communications campaigns in the past, including a £1.5 million campaign in 2018.
The Government is currently evaluating the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme to better understand the barriers and enablers to parents taking Shared Parental Leave. This exercise has included commissioning, and interrogating information collected from, large scale, representative, surveys of employers and parents and a qualitative study of parents who have used the scheme. We intend to publish our findings later this year.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made representations to Amazon UK on (a) the death of a 21-year-old Amazon driver on 17 February 2021 and (b) the potential merits of reassessing delivery targets for Amazon UK delivery drivers.
Answered by Paul Scully
I was deeply saddened to hear the tragic news of the death of the Amazon driver, and I send my sincere condolences to their family. South Yorkshire Police are investigating and are appealing to anyone who witnessed the collision to contact them.
Benchmark standards for safe delivery plans and realistic schedules are set out in the joint HSE and Department for Transport guidance (Driving at work: Managing work-related road safety INDG382(rev1) (hse.gov.uk).
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of reducing the Official Development Assistance budget on (a) current and future research projects funded under ODA programmes and (b) global research partnerships.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The challenging financial situation we face due to the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a temporary reduction in the UK’s aid spending target from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5%. This means making difficult decisions when it comes to prioritising how we spend aid money to deliver the most impactful outcomes.
We are currently working with UKRI, and all our Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund Delivery Partners, to manage the financial year 2021/22 ODA allocations, including determining which projects will be impacted. Our Delivery Partners have communicated with award holders setting out the next stage of the review of ODA funding this year, and to explore options for individual programmes. (Full details have been published on the UKRI website.) Due to the ongoing nature of this process, we cannot share project-level details.
The Government recognises the importance of supporting global research partnerships and supporting the UK research sector. Our commitment to research and innovation has been clearly demonstrated by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget announcement of increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22; and as has been set out in our Integrated Review ambitions, international collaboration is central to a healthy and productive R&D sector.
On 1st April, the Department set out an additional £250m of funding for the R&D sector. As a result, UK scientists will have access to more public funding than ever before. This takes total Government investment in R&D to £14.9 billion in 2021/22 and follows four years of significant growth in R&D funding, including a boost of more than £1.5 billion in 2020/21.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to extend parental bereavement leave to include pregnancy losses before 24 weeks.
Answered by Paul Scully
We recognise that a miscarriage can be deeply upsetting. We encourage employers to provide appropriate support to women who have suffered a miscarriage and respond sensitively to each individuals specific needs.
The current entitlement to Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay applies to employed parents of children under the age of 18 and those who suffer a stillbirth.
Because the death of a child is particularly tragic, in April 2020, we legislated to give parents who lose a child under the age of 18, including cases where a baby is stillborn after 24 completed weeks of pregnancy, a right to take up to 2 weeks off work in the 56 weeks following the death of their child. The policy is mapped against the clinical definition of a ‘stillbirth’: 24 weeks is a legally and medically important point in a pregnancy as it is the clinical age of viability.
Individuals who do not feel able to return to work following a miscarriage may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay while off work. All employees are also entitled to 5.6 weeks of Annual Leave a year and many employers also offer ‘Compassionate Leave’.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
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 the potential merits of introducing legislation mandating property management companies to carry out improvements on buildings ahead of the proposed upgrade of private rented sector homes to Energy Performance Certificate Band C by 2030.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
BEIS consulted on improving the minimum energy efficiency standards for privately rented homes in England and Wales to EPC Band C. Under the Government’s recommended option, landlords would be required to reach EPC Band C for new tenancies from 1 April 2025 and all tenancies by 1 April 2028. Landlords can choose to work with a property management company to meet the regulations where appropriate, although the requirement for compliance rests with the landlord. We are currently analysing consultation responses and will publish a Government Response in due course.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has made to Boohoo executives on the 12,000 Debenhams jobs currently at risk.
Answered by Paul Scully
While Government has no role in the strategic direction or management of private retail companies, officials have been in regular contact with the administrators who have been exploring all potential options to protect Debenhams and its employees throughout the administration process.
Our Plan for Jobs includes a series of measures to protect, support and create jobs and we are helping those who have lost jobs in the pandemic back into employment through our JETS (Job Entry Targeted Support) programme. We have also launched our £2bn Kickstart scheme to create opportunities for young people.
We have temporarily increased Universal Credit by £1,000 a year, are doubling the number of work coaches to 27,000 by this year and have launched a Job Finding Support Service which will help those who have recently become unemployed increase their chances of finding employment.
Additionally, the DWP Rapid Response Service has been in ongoing conversations with Debenhams who have been offered support from the Service. The Rapid Response Service offers support including: