Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many (a) descendants and (b) other close family relatives of former employees of the Cammell Laird shipyard were receiving a pension from British Shipbuilders in the last year; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 27th February 2023, UIN 146756.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of trends in level of funding for public health grants on a real-terms basis for each financial year since 2015-16; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The following table shows the local authority public health grant allocations for each year since 2015/16. The targeted departmental public health funding is allocated to local authorities for drug treatment, the Start for Life programme, weight management services and human immunodeficiency virus pre-exposure prophylaxis.
The 2021 Spending Review confirmed that the public health grant to local authorities would increase over the settlement period. In 2022/23, the grant increased by 2.81% to £3.417 billion. This is in addition to targeted investment through local Government in Start for Life support and drug and alcohol treatment services.
Year | Real terms allocation (2021/22 prices) |
2015/16 | £3.471 million |
2016/17 | £3.794 million |
2017/18 | £3.640 million |
2018/19 | £3.484 million |
2019/20 | £3.306 million |
2020/21 | £3.255 million |
2021/22 | £3.324 million |
2022/23 | £3.259 million |
Notes:
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will take steps to introduce the Organ and Tissue Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill to create an opt-out organ donation system in Northern Ireland as exists in the rest of the UK.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The absence of Northern Ireland Assembly business is causing unnecessary delays in the introduction of this life-saving legislation. It is one example of the devastating backlog of legislation that has been allowed to build up over the past 11 months without an Assembly. I urge the Northern Ireland parties to come back to the Executive, get back to work and take these decisions in the interests of the people of Northern Ireland.
I would be happy to meet with Dáithí Mac Gabhann’s family to discuss this issue further.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
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 the BEIS consultation entitled Making Flexible Working the Default published in September 2021, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating publishing of parental leave policies as part of gender pay gap reporting.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government consulted on whether employers should be required to publish and report on their family-related leave and pay policies in 2019. Having reviewed consultation responses from a range of stakeholders and taken account of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government decided that such a requirement should be considered as part of the process of considering how successful the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations have been, and how Gender Pay Gap Reporting may be taken forward.
A fully considered review of Gender Pay Gap Reporting will be published in due course.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to increase the speed and safety of routes (a) parents of children living in the UK and (b) other family reunion.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
These dangerous concealments are facilitated by vile people smugglers, who place profits above the lives of vulnerable people. The Government is determined to prevent further loss of life by breaking the business model.
The Home Office has invested significant amounts since 2014 to secure feeder ports, including increasing the use of body detection dogs and strengthening the vehicle screening regimes with the latest technology. The department is currently in the process of significantly strengthening the clandestine entrant civil penalty regime in order further drive improvements in vehicle security.
Unfortunately, there have been fatalities, including the Purfleet incident in 2019 when 39 Vietnamese nationals sadly lost their lives, and all such incidents are a reminder that attempts to clandestinely cross the border are inherently dangerous.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the context of the cost of living crisis, if he will extend eligibility for free prescriptions to (a) those in receipt of tax credits and (b) more widely to protect people’s access to healthcare.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are currently no plans to extend eligibility for free prescriptions. The NHS Business Services Authority issues NHS Tax Credit exemption certificates for full help with health costs, including free prescriptions, where the annual family income used to calculate Tax Credits is £15,276 or less and the person receives either Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit paid together or Working Tax Credit including a disability or severe disability element.
We have also frozen prescription charges this year and approximately 89% of prescription items in England are provided free of charge. To support those who do not qualify for an exemption from prescription charges, the cost of prescriptions can be capped by purchasing a prescription pre-payment certificate, which can be paid for in instalments. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 promote flexible and secure work for parental workers.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The 2019 Conservative Party manifesto pledged changes to enhance workers’ rights and support people to stay in work. The government is currently supporting five private members bills which will deliver on these commitments, three of which will particularly promote flexible and secure work for working parents.
The Neonatal (Leave and Pay) Bill, Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill and Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill will protect and support new parents, as well as provide all employees with better access to flexible working.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the implications of a reported increase in the proportion of women leaving the workforce for childcare purposes.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Over the last decade we have seen strong growth in the number of women in full-time work, and we are committed to ensuring that every woman is able to reach her full potential in her working life.
In June to August 2022, 19.2% of people (1.7 million people) were economically inactive as a result of looking after family/home and of working age (16 to 64 years). This is part of a long-term declining trend since comparable data started to be collected June to August 1993 when it was 34.6% (3 million people). We continue to carefully monitor these figures.
The UK has some of the highest quality childcare provision in the world, but we recognise that it is also one of the biggest costs facing working families today. Improving the cost, choice and availability of high-quality childcare and early education remains a key priority for this government.
That is why we have spent over £3.5bn in each of the past three years on our early education entitlements to support families with their childcare costs.
At the Spending Review on 27 October 2021, we announced that we are investing additional funding for the early years entitlements worth £160m in 2022-23, £180m in 2023-24 and £170m in 2024-25, compared to the 2021-22 financial year. This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers.
On 21 September, the then Business Secretary additionally announced a new Energy Bill Relief Scheme to support eligible schools and businesses large and small, including early years providers, with their energy costs.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to ensure that women are not forced out of the labour market because of childcare costs.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Over the last decade we have seen strong growth in the number of women in full-time work, and we are committed to ensuring that every woman is able to reach her full potential in her working life.
In June to August 2022, 19.2% of people (1.7 million people) were economically inactive as a result of looking after family/home and of working age (16 to 64 years). This is part of a long-term declining trend since comparable data started to be collected June to August 1993 when it was 34.6% (3 million people). We continue to carefully monitor these figures.
The UK has some of the highest quality childcare provision in the world, but we recognise that it is also one of the biggest costs facing working families today. Improving the cost, choice and availability of high-quality childcare and early education remains a key priority for this government.
That is why we have spent over £3.5bn in each of the past three years on our early education entitlements to support families with their childcare costs.
At the Spending Review on 27 October 2021, we announced that we are investing additional funding for the early years entitlements worth £160m in 2022-23, £180m in 2023-24 and £170m in 2024-25, compared to the 2021-22 financial year. This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers.
On 21 September, the then Business Secretary additionally announced a new Energy Bill Relief Scheme to support eligible schools and businesses large and small, including early years providers, with their energy costs.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the British Chamber of Commerce, (b) Hospitality UK, (c) the Federation of Small Businesses, (d) Make UK and (e) the Institute for Family Business on the potential impact of rising energy bills on British businesses.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is in regular contact with business groups and suppliers to understand the challenges they face and explore ways to protect consumers and businesses.
The Government announced a new six-month scheme – the Energy Price Guarantee for Businesses (EPGB) – to protect all businesses and other non-domestic energy users from soaring energy costs. It will offer comparable support to that being provided for consumers and we expect the scheme to be available in the autumn. After this initial six-month scheme the Government will provide focused support for vulnerable sectors, targeted to make sure those most in need get support.