Questioner: Dame Diana Johnson
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to respond to Question 60723, tabled by the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North on 17 June 2020.
Answer (Vicky Ford)
Written parliamentary question 60723 was answered on 09 July 2020.
Questioner: Owen Thompson
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what advantages the Government envisages the OneWeb low earth orbiting satellite system will have for navigation over continued use of the Galileo system.
Answer (Amanda Solloway)
The UK will not seek to access Galileo as we will not be able to assure its services for use in defence and critical national infrastructure.
The current OneWeb satellites are used to deliver satellite communications services, and we are actively considering what other capabilities OneWeb could provide.
Dedicated work is ongoing across Government to determine the UK’s positioning, navigation, and timing requirements, and to assess options for meeting them.
OneWeb holds a position since 2012 in the UK and U.S. of developing cutting-edge satellite technology from its bases both here in the UK and in the United States. It holds a global leadership position in Low Earth Orbit technology.
The move of acquiring Oneweb signals the government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies through the ownership of a fleet of Low Earth orbit satellites.
Questioner: Seema Malhotra
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department’s policy is from 1 July 2020 on applying benefit sanctions for claimants who have been assessed as failing to comply with their claimant commitment.
Answer (Mims Davies)
From the 1st of July, we will be contacting claimants to introduce a personalised claimant commitment.
Claimant commitments must be reasonable for this unprecedented time, reflecting the reality of a person’s local jobs market and personal circumstances to help prepare them for getting back into work. The claimant commitment will take into account local and national public health guidelines.
Sanctions are only used when people fail to meet their agreed commitments without good reason – and UC sanction rates have fallen to the lowest rate on record.
Questioner: Thangam Debbonaire
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2020 to Question 46100 on Equality Act 2010, what the timeframe is for identifying the additional costs that local authorities may incur.
Answer (Kemi Badenoch)
Section 36 of the Equality Act cannot commence for private companies before an assessment of local authority costs is made. This is because Section 36 applies to all types of landlords; commencement of Section 36 may require local authorities to meet additional costs regardless of the type of landlord. Departments continue to engage on quantifying additional costs.
Questioner: Owen Thompson
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the (a) business case and (b) risk assessment for the decision to invest in OneWeb.
Answer (Amanda Solloway)
OneWeb holds a position as a global leader in Low Earth Orbit technology. This investment secures that leading position and signals the Government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in high-tech satellite technology.
Due diligence has shown that the investment is going to be commercially sound and is likely to make an economic return. Our investment provides a stable platform for OneWeb’s development and unlocks a range of future commercial and strategic opportunities for the UK.
Questioner: Chi Onwurah
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Government to protect UK research jobs with major support package, published on 27 June 2020, whether universities seeking access to replacement funding for research as a result of the decrease in international students can access both the announced (a) grants and (b) loans.
Answer (Amanda Solloway)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 29 June 2020 that informed the House of Commons of a support package to sustain research capacity and capability which might otherwise be impacted by Covid-19.
From the Autumn, the Government will demonstrate its commitment to research by providing a package of support to research-active universities, consisting of low-interest loans with long pay-back periods, supplemented by a small amount of government grants. In sharing responsibility for the future of science and research with our world-leading university system the government will cover up to 80% of a university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 20/21, up to the value of non-publicly funded research activity in that university.
Further details of the package, including the loan and grant arrangements, will be announced in due course.
Questioner: Seema Malhotra
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department is providing for universal credit claimants to undertake courses to reskill.
Answer (Mims Davies)
Evidence suggests that the numbers of people requiring DWP support will increase further over the coming months, particularly as the CJRS winds down. Many of these people will effectively be ‘job ready’ and will not require extensive support from Government to return to work. Our ‘Good Place to Start’ campaign has already gone live, with digital advertising that signposts jobseekers to our job websites.
The Department will now go further and will spend £895 million to double the number of work coaches in Jobcentre Plus before the end of the financial year across Great Britain. Work coaches are at the core of our employment offer and this increase will provide more people with the tailored support they need to move into work. We know some people might require additional support to get back into work, and DWP is launching a “Getting Britain Back into Work” package, which builds on and bolsters the existing support offered by our Jobcentre Plus network. The package includes:
- Kickstart Scheme – a £2b fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality 6-month work placements aimed at those aged 16-24 who are on Universal Credit and at risk of long term unemployment.
- Expanded Youth Offer – increasing the intensive support offered to those 18-24 in the Intensive Work Search group in Universal Credit. Further support will be available through Youth Hubs with specialist Youth Employment Coaches.
- Expansion of the Work and Health Programme – to introduce additional voluntary support for those on benefits in England and Wales that have been unemployed for more than 3 months.
- Flexible Support Fund (FSF) – increase the funding for the FSF by £150m to increase the capacity of the Rapid Response Service (RRS), supporting those facing redundancy.
- Expanding sector based work academies – increase participation in our sector-based work academy programmes, offering training, work experience and a guaranteed interview. We will establish bespoke opportunities, working with employers and training providers to support claimants to fill job vacancies and pivot into new careers, including in priority sectors such as construction and social care.
- Job finding support service – £40 million to fund additional capacity to introduce an online, one-to-one service to help those who have been recently unemployed.
Taken together, the package will ensure that we can get Britain back into work quickly.
Questioner: Jessica Morden
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming the universal credit disability component under standard rules have died within six months of making their claim in each year since 2015.
Answer (Justin Tomlinson)
A breakdown by year could only be provided at disproportionate cost for the same reasons as given in PQs 69500 and 69501.
Questioner: Claire Hanna
Question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the draft (a) list of priority areas and (b) timetable for common frameworks his Department plans to agree with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.
Answer (Chloe Smith)
The Cabinet Office and Departments across Whitehall continue to work closely with their counterparts in the devolved administrations, including the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to ensure common approaches are implemented in a range of areas as we leave the EU. Updates on progress will be made in the usual way.
Questioner: Claire Hanna
Question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has for stakeholder engagement on common frameworks
Answer (Chloe Smith)
The Cabinet Office and Departments across Whitehall continue to work closely with their counterparts in the devolved administrations, including the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to ensure common approaches are implemented in a range of areas as we leave the EU. Updates on progress will be made in the usual way.
Questioner: Lord German
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 29 June (HL Deb, col 464), when they expect to publish their White Paper on community justice and sentencing.
Answer (Lord Keen of Elie)
We intend to publish a Sentencing White Paper this year ahead of legislating next year.
Questioner: Judith Cummins
Question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on (a) opinion polling and (b) focus groups in (i) March, (ii) April, (iii) May and (iv) June 2020.
Answer (Julia Lopez)
I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQs 62462, 62526 and 62463 on 25 June 2020.
Questioner: Chi Onwurah
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on the finances of universities of a reduction in the income derived from international students; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that universities are able to replace that income.
Answer (Michelle Donelan)
The government recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak will have an unparalleled impact on all elements of the global and UK economy. The higher education (HE) sector, including student recruitment, is no exception. We understand that a possible reduction in international student numbers poses significant challenges but stand ready to help the sector with various mitigations.
The UK’s world-leading universities remain open to international students and we are working as a priority to make processes as flexible as possible to allow them to study at UK institutions in 2020-21. The UK’s new International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith, will assist with opening up export growth opportunities for the whole UK education sector, which will include attracting international students to UK universities.
The government is committed to continuing to improve our offer to international students, which is why we have announced the new graduate route, to be introduced in summer 2021. The graduate route will be simple and light-touch and will permit graduates at undergraduate and masters level to remain in the UK for 2 years and PhD graduates to remain in the UK for 3 years after they have finished their studies and to work or look for work at any skill level - a significant improvement in our offer.
On 4 May, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced the package of measures to stabilise university admissions this autumn and ensure sustainability in HE at a time of unprecedented uncertainty. We are pulling forward an estimated £2.6 billion worth of forecast tuition fee payments to ease cashflow pressure this autumn and are bringing forward quality-related research funding for HE providers in England in the current academic year by £100 million. Full details of the package have been published on GOV.UK: www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students.
On 27 June, the government announced a further package of support to research-active universities. This includes £280 million of government funding and a package of low-interest loans with long pay-back periods supplemented by a small amount of government grants, which will be available from autumn. In sharing responsibility for the future of science and research with our world-leading university system, the government will cover up to 80% of a university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 2020/21, up to the value of their non-publicly funded research activity.
The government has confirmed that HE providers in England are eligible to apply for its support packages, including business loan support schemes. The Office for Students estimates that these schemes could be worth at least £700 million to the sector.
In such instances, we will work with providers to review their circumstances and assess the need for restructuring and any attached conditions. We will only intervene further where we believe there is a case to do so and where we believe that intervention is possible and appropriate and as a last resort. The department will be working with HM Treasury and other government departments, and with the devolved administrations, to develop this restructuring regime.
Questioner: Ms Lyn Brown
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to improve access for legal representatives to clients in custody during the relaxation of regime restrictions on the custodial estate in England and Wales.
Answer (Lucy Frazer)
Alongside the closure of courts, the government suspended all but exceptional visits to prisons in March 2020. This was to ensure the safety of both prisoners and our staff through the pandemic.
HM Courts and Tribunal Service and HM Prison and Probation Service are working closely to reduce the backlog of court cases. As a result, crime recovery work is now moving at pace and we are operating jury trials in 41 crown courts. This has been a significant achievement, involving close working with public health partners. Further crown courts will be resuming jury trials throughout the course of this month. Throughout the pandemic, crown courts have continued to deal with pre-trial preparation hearings, case management and sentencing custody cases, among other hearings.
Despite the absence of physical visits, prisoners do maintain the right to access legal advice, and we have looked to ensure that prisoners continue to have the tools to make contact with their legal representatives via telephone, video link or written correspondence.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic we have enhanced the capability of prison videoconferencing facilities, particularly to support priority court work such as sentencing hearings and prisoners approaching their parole hearing dates. We have made use of the additional 1,250 mobile phones issued to prisons without in-cell telephony in order to facilitate private conversations with legal advisors, alongside encouraging governors to ensure prisoners can have conversations with their representatives in confidence.
We are also taking steps to increase the available capacity of video conferencing across the estate through increased operating hours to include longer hours during the weekdays, and at some locations on Saturdays. This will sit alongside renewed guidance to all governors on the importance of making sure that adequate time for legal advice is made available to prisoners where possible. Alongside this work, we are increasing the physical number of video link outlets at some critical sites where capacity is limited, as well as to support specialist courts, including youth and women’s prisons, together with the re-purposing of some unused spaces within prisons for more video link capacity.
As stated in our National Framework for recovery in prisons, we are adapting aspects of prison regime, in consultation with trade unions and health partners, to restart key services. We are consulting representatives of the legal profession on the resumption of legal visits so that they can resume in a safe manner.
The measures set out above seek to minimise potential delays or adjournments due to defence counsel being unable to receive instructions from their clients and therefore minimise the impact on victims caused by delays in their cases being heard in court.
Questioner: Ms Lyn Brown
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on access to timely justice for victims of limits on access for legal representatives to clients in custody as a result of the restricted regime on the custodial estate in England and Wales.
Answer (Lucy Frazer)
Alongside the closure of courts, the government suspended all but exceptional visits to prisons in March 2020. This was to ensure the safety of both prisoners and our staff through the pandemic.
HM Courts and Tribunal Service and HM Prison and Probation Service are working closely to reduce the backlog of court cases. As a result, crime recovery work is now moving at pace and we are operating jury trials in 41 crown courts. This has been a significant achievement, involving close working with public health partners. Further crown courts will be resuming jury trials throughout the course of this month. Throughout the pandemic, crown courts have continued to deal with pre-trial preparation hearings, case management and sentencing custody cases, among other hearings.
Despite the absence of physical visits, prisoners do maintain the right to access legal advice, and we have looked to ensure that prisoners continue to have the tools to make contact with their legal representatives via telephone, video link or written correspondence.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic we have enhanced the capability of prison videoconferencing facilities, particularly to support priority court work such as sentencing hearings and prisoners approaching their parole hearing dates. We have made use of the additional 1,250 mobile phones issued to prisons without in-cell telephony in order to facilitate private conversations with legal advisors, alongside encouraging governors to ensure prisoners can have conversations with their representatives in confidence.
We are also taking steps to increase the available capacity of video conferencing across the estate through increased operating hours to include longer hours during the weekdays, and at some locations on Saturdays. This will sit alongside renewed guidance to all governors on the importance of making sure that adequate time for legal advice is made available to prisoners where possible. Alongside this work, we are increasing the physical number of video link outlets at some critical sites where capacity is limited, as well as to support specialist courts, including youth and women’s prisons, together with the re-purposing of some unused spaces within prisons for more video link capacity.
As stated in our National Framework for recovery in prisons, we are adapting aspects of prison regime, in consultation with trade unions and health partners, to restart key services. We are consulting representatives of the legal profession on the resumption of legal visits so that they can resume in a safe manner.
The measures set out above seek to minimise potential delays or adjournments due to defence counsel being unable to receive instructions from their clients and therefore minimise the impact on victims caused by delays in their cases being heard in court.
Questioner: Ms Lyn Brown
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on the backlog of criminal cases in the courts of limits on access for legal representatives to clients in custody as a result of the restricted regime on the custodial estate in England and Wales.
Answer (Lucy Frazer)
Alongside the closure of courts, the government suspended all but exceptional visits to prisons in March 2020. This was to ensure the safety of both prisoners and our staff through the pandemic.
HM Courts and Tribunal Service and HM Prison and Probation Service are working closely to reduce the backlog of court cases. As a result, crime recovery work is now moving at pace and we are operating jury trials in 41 crown courts. This has been a significant achievement, involving close working with public health partners. Further crown courts will be resuming jury trials throughout the course of this month. Throughout the pandemic, crown courts have continued to deal with pre-trial preparation hearings, case management and sentencing custody cases, among other hearings.
Despite the absence of physical visits, prisoners do maintain the right to access legal advice, and we have looked to ensure that prisoners continue to have the tools to make contact with their legal representatives via telephone, video link or written correspondence.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic we have enhanced the capability of prison videoconferencing facilities, particularly to support priority court work such as sentencing hearings and prisoners approaching their parole hearing dates. We have made use of the additional 1,250 mobile phones issued to prisons without in-cell telephony in order to facilitate private conversations with legal advisors, alongside encouraging governors to ensure prisoners can have conversations with their representatives in confidence.
We are also taking steps to increase the available capacity of video conferencing across the estate through increased operating hours to include longer hours during the weekdays, and at some locations on Saturdays. This will sit alongside renewed guidance to all governors on the importance of making sure that adequate time for legal advice is made available to prisoners where possible. Alongside this work, we are increasing the physical number of video link outlets at some critical sites where capacity is limited, as well as to support specialist courts, including youth and women’s prisons, together with the re-purposing of some unused spaces within prisons for more video link capacity.
As stated in our National Framework for recovery in prisons, we are adapting aspects of prison regime, in consultation with trade unions and health partners, to restart key services. We are consulting representatives of the legal profession on the resumption of legal visits so that they can resume in a safe manner.
The measures set out above seek to minimise potential delays or adjournments due to defence counsel being unable to receive instructions from their clients and therefore minimise the impact on victims caused by delays in their cases being heard in court.
Questioner: Marion Fellows
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) parents with care and (b) children are registered with the child maintenance service in (i) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, (ii) North Lanarkshire, and (iii) Scotland.
Answer (Mims Davies)
The number of Receiving Parents using the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the number of associated children subject to a CMS arrangement, in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, North Lanarkshire and Scotland in March 2020 are given in the following table:
Number of Receiving Parents using the Child Maintenance Service and the number of associated children, March 2020
| Receiving Parents | Children |
|
|
|
Scotland | 36,500 | 52,500 |
North Lanarkshire | 2,700 | 3,900 |
Motherwell and Wishaw | 700 | 1,100 |
|
|
|
Source: Child Maintenance Group administrative data
Notes:
Questioner: Marion Fellows
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much child maintenance was (a) paid and (b) owed in the second quarter of 2020 in (i) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, (ii) North Lanarkshire, and (iii) Scotland.
Answer (Mims Davies)
Child Maintenance statistics are published quarterly and the latest statistics to March 2020 are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-the-2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme
Statistics covering the second quarter of 2020 will not be published until September 2020.
Questioner: Marion Fellows
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of parents registered with the child maintenance service (a) paid and (b) did not pay maintenance in the second quarter of 2020 in (i) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, (ii) North Lanarkshire, and (iii) Scotland.
Answer (Mims Davies)
Child Maintenance statistics are published quarterly and the latest statistics to March 2020 are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-the-2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme
Statistics covering the second quarter of 2020 will not be published until September 2020.
Questioner: Sir John Hayes
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there were in Magistrates' and Crown courts for all the offences mentioned in section 24 of the Immigration Act 1971 in each of the last five years.
Answer (Chris Philp)
The Ministry of Justice has published information on convictions at offence level up to December 2019. The number of convictions for offences under section 24 of the Immigration Act 1971 at all courts can be found in the ‘Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data tool’, available here:
In the pivot table, filter the Offence code field to the following Home Office offence codes:
07804 Non-British citizen, by means including deception, obtaining or seeking leave to enter or remain in the UK or postponement, avoidance or revocation of enforcement action against him
19401 Non-citizen entering UK in breach of a deportation order
19402 Non-citizen entering UK without leave
19403 Non-citizen having only a limited leave remaining in UK beyond the time limit.
19404 Non-citizen failing to observe conditions of leave
19405 Non-citizen entering United Kingdom as a member of a crew of a ship or aircraft and who is required to leave on the ship or aircraft remaining in the United Kingdom beyond the time allowed
19406 Non-citizen failing to comply with requirements to report to a medical officer or to submit to a test or examination required by such an officer
19407 Non-citizen failing to observe any restrictions as to residence or to reporting to police or an immigration officer
19408 Non-citizen disembarking in the United Kingdom from a ship or aircraft after being placed on board with a view to removal from United Kingdom
19409 Non-citizen embarking in contravention of a restriction imposed by Order in Council
Convictions can be found in row 32 of the pivot table. If an offence code does not appear in the drop-down box then there were no prosecutions or convictions for that particular offence in the time period covered by the table.
The figures given in the pivot table relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Questioner: Fleur Anderson
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to tackle age discrimination.
Answer (Kemi Badenoch)
The Equality Act 2010 provides protection for adults against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment, the provision of goods, services, public functions and in private clubs. The 2010 Act makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee or a job applicant because of their actual or perceived age or the age of someone they are associated with. Similar rules apply to service providers.
A person who believes that they have experienced discrimination because of age may take their case to an employment tribunal or a County Court (Sherriff’s Court in Scotland) in non-employment cases. The Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), the helpline for anyone who believes that they have been discriminated against in the provision of goods, services and public functions, can provide free bespoke advice and in-depth support. The EASS can be contacted via its website - www.equalityadvisoryservice.com, by telephone on 0808 800 0082, or by text phone on 0808 800 0084. Acas can assist in relation to employment discrimination issues, their number is 0800 464 0979.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) also deals with discrimination complaints relating to employment. Acas provides authoritative and impartial advice free to employees or employers via their website (http://www.acas.org.uk) and telephone helpline 0300 123 1190 or text relay service 18001 0300 123 1190. Acas also provides employees and employers with Early Conciliation to help them resolve/settle their workplace dispute without going to court.
Questioner: Marion Fellows
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many cases child maintenance was not collectable as a result of a Child Maintenance Service administrative error when a deduction from earnings request was made to the armed forces in each quarter of the last three years.
Answer (Mims Davies)
The Child Maintenance Service does not record this data as there is no facility on the Child Maintenance System to record instances when a Deduction from Earning Request has been rejected by MoD or where an administrative error occurred.
As the information requested is not collated centrally it would require examination of individual cases and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Questioner: Rachel Hopkins
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2020 to Question 63565 on Travel: Coronavirus, whether the Government plans to reimburse all costs incurred by local authorities in supporting incoming travellers without accommodation to meet quarantine regulations.
Answer (Mr Simon Clarke)
Most arrivals to the UK will have appropriate accommodation for when they arrive and should make such arrangements before they travel. For the small minority that do not, Border Force can help make suitable arrangements, at the traveller’s own expense, and anyone without the ability to self-isolate should approach Border Force upon arrival. The Government plans to discuss with local authorities how best to make arrangements to support incoming travellers who are without the means to self-isolate effectively. Furthermore, the re-opening of the hospitality sector provides new arrivals with even more options to make arrangements before they travel to the UK. Finally, the list of countries which are exempt from these requirements is growing and therefore new arrivals should check the rules which apply from 10 July to see if they need to self-isolate.
Questioner: Dr Lisa Cameron
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what conversations he has had with his (a) Australian and (b) Canadian counterparts on the merger the of the Department for International Development with his Department.
Answer (James Duddridge)
We will learn from the examples of Australia and Canada, who run generous and respected development programmes from their foreign ministries. There are lessons we can draw from the experiences of other countries, but ultimately we will do this in a way that works best for the UK.
Questioner: Steve McCabe
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance has been provided to social clubs that hold bingo sessions on the restarting of those sessions from 4 July.
Answer (Mr Simon Clarke)
Since 4 July, multi-purpose community facilities have been opened more widely for a range of activities, including social clubs. Guidance on how such buildings can be opened safely can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-multi-purpose-community-facilities/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-multi-purpose-community-facilities .