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1305602

registered interest
date	24/03/2021
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Weddings: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether wedding ceremonies can take place at private wedding venues with up to 30 guests, under Step 3 of the roadmap out of covid-19 restrictions.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	174907
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/04/2021 answer text <p>In the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021" target="_blank">COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021</a>, the Government has set out the gradual and cautious approach to reopening different sectors in England, guided by science and the data.</p><p> </p><p>We understand the unique significance that marriages and civil partnerships hold in people’s lives, but we have to take necessary steps to limit transmission of COVID-19. This includes restrictions on wedding and civil partnership ceremonies, as well as other forms of social contact. By their very nature, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are events that bring families and friends together, making them particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19.</p><p> </p><p>Alternative wedding ceremonies are permitted in line with the regular wedding or civil partnership rules, in the same locations, at each step.</p><p> </p><p>From 29 March, wedding and civil partnership ceremonies have been able to take place indoors or outdoors in COVID-Secure venues that are not expressly closed by the Regulations, or where a broader exemption applies. From 12 April, 15 people are permitted to attend. This approach allows couples to marry in legally binding licensed venues for wedding ceremonies (where outdoor options are limited) while remaining in line with the reopening of sectors and venues as set out in the roadmap. Wedding ceremonies should follow government guidance to reduce the risk of transmission.</p><p> </p><p>Receptions (of up to 15 people) can resume from 12 April. The evidence shows that it is safer for people to meet outdoors rather than indoors. That is why receptions are only permitted outdoors at this Step and should be in a COVID-Secure venue.</p><p> </p><p>From Step 3, no earlier than 17 May 2021, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are permitted for up to 30 people in COVID-Secure venues that are not required to close, or where a broader exemption applies. Receptions can also proceed with up to 30 people in a COVID-Secure indoor venue, or outdoors, which includes private gardens.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance for wedding and civil partnership receptions and celebrations can be found here - <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-wedding-and-civil-partnership-receptions-and-celebrations" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-wedding-and-civil-partnership-receptions-and-celebrations</a></p><p> </p><p>At each step, the limits on the number of attendees includes children of all ages, but not workers.</p><p> </p><p>For further information, please refer to the guidance for small marriages and civil partnerships - <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt grouped question UIN 174888 176049 176050 176051 question first answered 13/04/2021 13:47:21 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1303949

registered interest
date	18/03/2021
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Social Distancing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Rule of Six restriction on social contact that will come into place on 29 March 2021, as part of the easing of covid-19 restrictions, includes infants and children.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	171660
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2021 answer text <p>Subject to Parliamentary approval of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021, the ‘rule of six’ will apply to children of all ages. In recognition of the need for greater flexibility for families, the Regulations provide for people to meet outdoors in a group larger than six people if everyone present is from the same two households.</p><p>The Government will keep the rule of six restrictions under review in keeping with its commitment to remove current restrictions based on the data.</p> answering member constituency Mid Bedfordshire answering member printed Ms Nadine Dorries question first answered 25/03/2021 10:41:47 answering member 1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1302195

registered interest
date	12/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Building Safety Fund
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his Department's timeframe is for the outcome of each Building Safety Fund application.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	167905
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>The rate at which applications to the Building Safety Fund are advanced will be dependent on the readiness of building owners to provide the required information. Following registration, MHCLG contacts building owners or the responsible person to ask for supporting evidence for their technical eligibility for the fund. This will include evidence of the height of the building and materials that are in place. <br> <br>It is disappointing that almost 900 building owners – who are responsible for making sure their buildings are safe – have been unable to provide any of this basic information<em>.</em> We have engaged with registrants and industry bodies to understand the challenges they have in meeting our deadlines and criteria requirements. To address their concerns we have extended the deadlines for the fund to the end of June 2021, giving building owners more time to submit full applications but still reflecting the importance of these critical safety works.</p><p>As of 5 March 2021, 978 decisions on the Building Safety Fund have been made on the basis of sufficient supporting information received. Of these, 624 registered buildings are proceeding with an application for full funding and 354 have been shown to be ineligible. An additional 349 registrations have been withdrawn by applicants. So far, the total amount allocated from the Building Safety Fund is £226.8 million. Further details can be found on the Building Safety Fund Registrations Statistics at: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics</a>. <br> <br>We are also providing expert construction consultation support to actively engage with those planning and undertaking remediation work under the Building Safety Fund to increase the pace of remediation. We expect all buildings with an existing application to be started on site by September 2021.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher grouped question UIN 167906 question first answered 22/03/2021 16:19:14 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1302196

registered interest
date	12/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Building Safety Fund
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the average time taken to approve applications to the Building Safety Fund.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	167906
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>The rate at which applications to the Building Safety Fund are advanced will be dependent on the readiness of building owners to provide the required information. Following registration, MHCLG contacts building owners or the responsible person to ask for supporting evidence for their technical eligibility for the fund. This will include evidence of the height of the building and materials that are in place. <br> <br>It is disappointing that almost 900 building owners – who are responsible for making sure their buildings are safe – have been unable to provide any of this basic information<em>.</em> We have engaged with registrants and industry bodies to understand the challenges they have in meeting our deadlines and criteria requirements. To address their concerns we have extended the deadlines for the fund to the end of June 2021, giving building owners more time to submit full applications but still reflecting the importance of these critical safety works.</p><p>As of 5 March 2021, 978 decisions on the Building Safety Fund have been made on the basis of sufficient supporting information received. Of these, 624 registered buildings are proceeding with an application for full funding and 354 have been shown to be ineligible. An additional 349 registrations have been withdrawn by applicants. So far, the total amount allocated from the Building Safety Fund is £226.8 million. Further details can be found on the Building Safety Fund Registrations Statistics at: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics</a>. <br> <br>We are also providing expert construction consultation support to actively engage with those planning and undertaking remediation work under the Building Safety Fund to increase the pace of remediation. We expect all buildings with an existing application to be started on site by September 2021.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher grouped question UIN 167905 question first answered 22/03/2021 16:19:14 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1302197

registered interest
date	12/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Housing: Fire Prevention
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has made in response to the potential future identification of residential buildings being found not to be fire safe.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	167907
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>Through the Building Safety Bill, the Fire Safety Bill and changes to the Fire Safety Order, we are proposing a package of legislative changes that are going to ensure the problems identified with the current building and fire safety regime are rectified and residents are safe.</p><p>To focus the regime on risk, the intention is the scope of the new building safety regime will start with residential buildings with rates of fire which are considerably higher: apartment blocks over 18m. The new building regime is designed to be flexible, and to follow a proportionate, risk-based approach that keeps the scope of the regime under review by the new building safety regulator.</p><p>The building safety regulator will also have wide responsibilities for overseeing the performance of building control bodies and the safety of all buildings including identifying patterns of regulatory failure and making recommendations for improving standards. This will drive up continuous improvement in the performance of all buildings to ensure the safety of occupants.</p><p>We are working with Home Office to ensure the new regime aligns with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, known as the Fire Safety Order (FSO), which covers fire safety in business or other non-domestic premises including where vulnerable people live and sleep. We will ensure that the two regimes work cohesively as the scope of the regulator expands.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 22/03/2021 16:25:06 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1302198

registered interest
date	12/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Fire Extinguishers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of new fire extinguishing technologies, such as internal ventilation systems, to delay or prevent fires from spreading.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	167908
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>The Government continues to assess new and emerging fire protection technologies through both ongoing industry engagement and through participation in the development of standards (e.g. the British Standards Institution committee FSH/18 - fixed fire-fighting systems).</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 22/03/2021 16:25:27 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1302199

registered interest
date	12/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Fire Extinguishers: Research
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much Government funding has been provided for the development of new fire extinguishing technologies.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	167909
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>My Department is not providing any Government funding for the development of new fire extinguishing technologies.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 22/03/2021 16:11:59 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1301311

registered interest
date	10/03/2021
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Azores: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of current low levels of covid-19 infection in the Azores on its status as a red list country.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	166487
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2021 answer text <p>Azores was removed from England’s red list on 19 March. The flight and maritime ban from Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores, has also been removed, following evidence that shows the risk of importing a variant of concern from these destinations has reduced.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 27/04/2021 09:51:39 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill previous answer version 90421 answering member constituency Mid Bedfordshire answering member printed Ms Nadine Dorries answering member 1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1293538

registered interest
date	01/03/2021
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: Driving Instruction
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of allocating funding for driving lessons for jobseekers to help enable them to find work.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	160736
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2021 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of the potential merits of allocating specific funding for driving lessons<strong>.</strong></p><p> </p><p>Service Leaders in Jobcentres can allocate funding for driving lessons through the Flexible Support Fund, where they feel this is an appropriate use of funds. Each request is considered on a case by case basis.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 08/03/2021 17:50:04 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1290332

registered interest
date	26/02/2021
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Self-employment Income Support Scheme: Maternity Leave
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that women who previously took maternity leave are not unfairly treated in their applications to the Self Employed Income Support Scheme.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	159335
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2021 answer text <p>The Government is aware that some people’s eligibility for SEISS was affected if they had taken time out of their trade while pregnant or to care for their new-born or newly adopted child, and so had not submitted a tax return for 2018-19 or had trading profits in 2018-19 that were less than their other income and were therefore ineligible for the SEISS.</p><p> </p><p>Taking parental leave does not mean that the trade has ceased and should not therefore affect a person’s eligibility for SEISS if they intend to resume trading after the leave is taken.</p><p> </p><p>In June 2020 the Government announced that HMRC would determine the eligibility and grant amount for people in this situation using either their 2018-19 self-assessment return or the average of their 2016-17 to 2018-19 returns. Claimants still had to meet the other standard eligibility criteria for support under the SEISS.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has now announced a fourth and fifth round of SEISS. HMRC now have tax returns covering 2019-20, and will include these returns when calculating eligibility for the SEISS and the grant amount. The arrangements that ensured that people were not made ineligible for previous rounds of the SEISS as a result of parenthood have been replicated for the fourth and fifth rounds.</p><p> </p><p>For those who had a new child in 19/20 which either affected their trading profits or total income or meant that they did not submit a Self-Assessment tax return in 2019/20, they may still be able to make a claim.</p><p> </p><p>If new parents are in this position and are applying for SEISS 4, their eligibility will be determined based on either their 2018-19 self-assessment return or an average of their 2016-17 to 2018-19 returns, to determine both their eligibility and grant calculation. They will also need to meet the other standard eligibility criteria for support under the SEISS.</p><p> </p><p>The amount of the SEISS grant is determined based on the applicant’s average profits from self-employment in the previous four tax years, as reported through their tax returns. By calculating the grant on a four-year average of profits, the SEISS supports individuals who may have had fluctuating profits for any reason and gives the best average of an individual's usual trading profits.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 08/03/2021 12:53:24 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith