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1132544

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Historic Buildings: Health Hazards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the protections introduced in Germany and Austria for workers renovating or demolishing buildings against the risk of breathing in historical man-made mineral fibres which are now considered to pose a serious risk to health, what steps she is taking to introduce similar protections for UK workers.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	265555
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is aware of the guidelines that have been produced in Germany and Austria, advising companies on the measures they should take to protect workers against risks of breathing in historic man-made mineral fibres (MMMFs).</p><p>In Great Britain there is a statutory framework in place to protect workers who may be exposed to any hazardous substance, such as MMMFs, regardless of how that exposure occurs. This framework includes the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 which places a general duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of people affected by their work activities.</p><p> </p><p>The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH), places specific duties on employers and implements several EU Directives on worker protection, ensuring our standards meet those required of all EU Member States. COSHH requires employers to carry out a risk assessment to establish the hazards associated with the tasks and processes they are undertaking and put in place suitable arrangements to either prevent or control those risks. Such a risk assessment would need to be carried out for workers renovating or demolishing buildings to enable suitable controls to be put in place for any hazardous substances that may be present or that may be produced, including MMMFs. HSE provides guidance, to help businesses comply with their legal duties.</p><p> </p><p>The regulatory framework, supported by guidance, is sufficient to control occupational exposure to MMMFs.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 24/06/2019 14:39:07 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1132577

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants awarded personal independence payment under the special rules for terminal illness made an advanced new claim towards the end of their existing award in each of the last five years; and how many of those claimants had motor neurone disease.
	tabling member constituency	Mansfield
	tabling member printed	Ben Bradley
	uin	265610
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 24/06/2019 14:41:19 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4663 label Biography information for Ben Bradley

1132397

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Employment: Mental Health
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to strengthen protections for mental health at work under health and safety legislation.
	tabling member constituency	Knowsley
	tabling member printed	Sir George Howarth
	uin	265450
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>In October 2017, the Prime Minister welcomed and accepted the recommendations of the <em>Thriving at Work: The Stevenson / Farmer review of mental health</em> <em>and employers</em>. This recognised that employers should develop a comprehensive approach to managing mental health that includes implementing activity on preventing mental ill health caused by work, promoting good mental health in the workplace and supporting individuals who experience poor mental health. Actions to implement this comprehensive approach are described within the mental health standards developed by the reviewers and accepted by Government.</p><p> </p><p>Existing duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 contribute by requiring employers to put in place measures to prevent causes of work-related mental ill health. Specifically, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to undertake a risk assessment and act on that assessment by removing or putting in place reasonable steps to control the causes of work-related mental ill health. Additionally, under the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981, employers have a responsibility to consider the mental health needs of their staff as part of their ‘first aid needs assessment’ and decide on what support is necessary. This assessment enables employers to put in place measures that will directly respond to their employee needs and allows businesses flexibility where those needs may change. Supporting individuals in distress until professional help arrives is an important feature of any first aid event regardless of its nature. It is a key component in the first aid syllabus contained in the regulations and meets the NHS recommended approach for assisting an individual who is experiencing a mental health crisis.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Government is committed to working with key stakeholders, public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes implement the mental health standards, comply with their legal duties and realise the benefit of healthy inclusive workplaces.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 24/06/2019 14:32:11 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	481 label Biography information for Sir George Howarth

1132556

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: County Durham
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce the 12-week waiting time for a mandatory reconsideration for personal independence payments in County Durham.
	tabling member constituency	Easington
	tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
	uin	265491
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>We always aim to make the right decision as early as we can. The MR process was introduced as an opportunity to review the original decision and consider any additional evidence provided by the claimant since the original decision was made.</p><p>There has been an increase in outstanding PIP MR clearance times in recent months. Measures to reduce the number of outstanding MRs include:</p><ul><li>Age profiles of outstanding work are managed at a national level to ensure that cases which have been outstanding for longest are actioned first.</li><li>Resource levels dedicated to the clearance of MRs have been regularly reviewed with significant recruitment, training and redeployment undertaken to support reduced clearance times.</li></ul><p>MR is a key element of the decision making process for both the Department and claimants, and whilst ensuring they make quality decisions, decision makers work hard to clear applications without delay. Gathering the right evidence is critical at the MR stage if decisions are not to go to appeal; and we are reviewing our processes to not only obtain this, but to do so whilst continuing to make decisions timeously.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 24/06/2019 14:29:40 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1132585

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 May 2019 to Question 255354 on Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions, when the Government plans to publish its review on its idling policy.
	tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
	tabling member printed	Catherine West
	uin	265618
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>As part of our response to the Joint Committee on Air Quality, the Government committed to republishing guidance for Local Authorities on idling enforcement. Idling policy is currently under consideration and following the conclusion of this, the guidance will be updated to reflect any policy changes.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 24/06/2019 12:42:31 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1132483

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what employee incentives are included in the work contracts of Highways England employees to help ensure timely completion of those works.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	265501
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>Highways England provides a Performance Related Pay (PRP) incentive scheme for its employees. Payments made under the scheme are directly aligned to Highways England’s performance against eleven Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), which include timely completion of works.</p><p> </p><p>The KPI’s provide equal focus across a range of areas that are considered integral to the success of Highways England, encouraging collaborative behaviours in achieving successful delivery. The KPI’s include targets related to areas such as major project delivery, safety, road user satisfaction and road incident management.</p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 24/06/2019 13:05:47 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1132486

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his Department’s policy to ensure that all Highway England’s works are carried out 24 hours a day subject to health and safety issues.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	265502
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>As part of improving road users’ experience through roadworks, Highways England considers working patterns such as 24 hours a day on an individual scheme basis. There are a number of factors that influence Highways England’s ability to adopt this approach such as: maintaining the safety of road workers and road users, location, type of work being undertaken, needs of road users and neighbouring communities, availability of resources within the construction industry and any cost implications.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 24/06/2019 13:12:15 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Michael Ellis
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1132479

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Road Traffic Offences
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the laws relating to traffic offences are effectively enforced.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	265425
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The responsibility for the enforcement of criminal law, including traffic offences, is a matter for the Police who work under Home Office guidance. Decisions on how the Police deploy resources is a matter for the Police and Crime Commissioners and the Chief Constables for each police force.</p><p> </p><p>The detailed statistics on prosecutions and convictions for motoring offences between 2010 and 2017 have been fairly stable. However there has been an increase in Police using education courses under the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) from 467,601 courses in 2010 to 1,445,817 in 2018.</p><p> </p><p>The National Speed Awareness Course impact evaluation, published in 2017, found that participation in the course was more effective at preventing speed reoffending than fines and penalty points over a period of 3 years following the initial offer to attend. The National Speed Awareness Course is now offered by most police forces in England and Wales.</p><p>In March 2018, we provided a grant of £370,000 to PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety) to run a competition to encourage the development of mobile evidential breath testing instruments which will meet the Home Office type approval requirements. Phase 2 of this competition closes at the end of June 2019.</p><p> </p><p>The DfT has recently invested £100,000 to support the digital capacity of the police to enable them to handle dash and helmet cam evidence in respect of road traffic offences.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Northampton North answering member printed Michael Ellis question first answered 24/06/2019 12:38:55 answering member 4116 label Biography information for Michael Ellis
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1132579

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Thameslink Railway Line
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide the (a) punctuality and (b) reliability data for the Thameslink service between Bedford and London stations for each month of 2019 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Bedford
	tabling member printed	Mohammad Yasin
	uin	265612
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department holds performance data on a rail period (13 four-week periods per year) basis, rather than according to calendar months.</p><p>For punctuality we hold the data as the Public Performance Measure (PPM), the percentage of trains arriving at their destination within five minutes of schedule. For reliability we hold the data as Cancellations and Significant Lateness, the percentage of services that are cancelled or delayed by more than thirty minutes.</p><p>The periodic results for the Thameslink route between Bedford and London, covering all days of the week in both directions, are contained in the table below. This does include the vast majority of services that passengers from Bedford would use, except for a small number of services which stop at all stations south of St Albans, which are counted in a separate ‘metro’ category. As this is data for the entire service group, it will include some trains that did not run the full length of the route.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Period</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>PPM</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>CaSL</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>9 December 2018 – 5 January 2019</p></td><td><p>85.6%</p></td><td><p>4.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6 January 2019 – 2 February 2019</p></td><td><p>83.0%</p></td><td><p>4.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 February 2019 – 2 March 2019</p></td><td><p>85.9%</p></td><td><p>4.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 March 2019 – 31 March 2019</p></td><td><p>83.7%</p></td><td><p>5.8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 April 2019 – 27 April 2019</p></td><td><p>88.4%</p></td><td><p>4.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>28 April 2019 – 25 May 2019</p></td><td><p>86.4%</p></td><td><p>3.0%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 24/06/2019 12:46:41 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
	tabling member	4598 label Biography information for Mohammad Yasin

1132688

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
	answering dept id	36
	answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
	answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
	hansard heading	Political Parties: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether the Electoral Commission plans to review the ability of UK political parties and campaigns to receive micro-funding from overseas donors.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff South and Penarth
	tabling member printed	Stephen Doughty
	uin	911478
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>Electoral law allows parties to adopt a fundraising strategy that focusses on raising funds in small amounts. A positive aspect of this is broad engagement of people in politics.</p><p>Parliament set a threshold of £500, above which donations must be from permissible sources. This is to limit influence from outside the UK on our elections and democracy. Below the threshold, sums given to parties and campaigners are not considered to be donations under law, but recipients still need to satisfy themselves who is giving these sums. Multiple sums from a single source could aggregate to above £500 triggering the permissibility rules. This would exclude overseas donors not on the UK electoral register.</p><p>Parties must have systems in place to comply with the rules, and the Commission provides advice to parties and campaigners about how to ensure that they do. If the current law is complied with, there is no reason why micro funding would result in impermissible donations from overseas donors. However, if it is considered that confidence in this needs to be improved by more transparency, the level of the £500 threshold could be lowered by Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Houghton and Sunderland South answering member printed Bridget Phillipson question first answered 24/06/2019 09:58:46 answering member 4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson
	tabling member	4264 label Biography information for Stephen Doughty