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1278829

registered interest
date	20/01/2021
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Retail Trade: Protective Clothing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to enforce covid-19 regulations and protect retail staff against infection from customers who refuse to wear a face covering in shops.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	140795
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2021 answer text <p>Throughout the pandemic, the Government has worked closely with retail representatives to ensure that regulations are understood and correctly implemented within their establishments. Shops have worked hard to adhere to Government guidance to ensure that their stores are as Covid secure as possible, protecting both customers and retail staff.</p><p>The Government introduced requirements to wear face coverings in relevant public settings including shops and supermarkets (24 July) in England. This requirement was later extended to include staff in all shops and supermarkets (24 September). The requirements apply unless an individual is exempt or has a reasonable excuse not to wear a face covering.</p><p>Businesses are encouraged to take reasonable steps to encourage customers to follow the law, including through signs and providing other information in store. The police have been given formal powers to address non-compliance including directing individuals to wear a face covering, directing individuals to leave the relevant place, and issuing a fixed penalty notice of £200 doubling upon repeat offences up to a maximum of £6,400.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 25/01/2021 15:37:36 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1275780

registered interest
date	12/01/2021
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	Care Homes: Visits
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to update the guidance on visiting care home residents following the administering of the (a) first and (b) second dose of the covid-19 vaccine to (i) care home residents and (ii) their visitors.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	136510
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2021 answer text <p>We recognise how important it is to allow care homes residents to meet their loved ones safely, especially for those at the end of their lives. We appreciate the particular challenges visiting restrictions pose for people with dementia, people with learning disabilities and autistic adults, amongst others, as well as for their loved ones.</p><p>Guidance documents are informed by expert advice before publication to ensure that they are based on the latest evidence. As the COVID-19 vaccine deployment continues, we will review and update the care homes visiting guidance in line with the latest evidence.</p> answering member constituency Faversham and Mid Kent answering member printed Helen Whately question first answered 18/01/2021 14:58:41 answering member 4527 label Biography information for Helen Whately
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1274181

registered interest
date	06/01/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the latest rate of infection with covid-19 of (a) teachers, (b) teaching assistants, (c) non teaching school staff, (d) staff in registered childcare settings, (e) college staff and (f) university staff.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	133815
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Department does not hold data on infection rates amongst (a) teachers, (b) teaching assistants, (c) non teaching school staff, (d) staff in registered childcare settings,<ins class="ministerial"> and</ins> (e) college staff<ins class="ministerial">.</ins> <del class="ministerial">and (f) university staff.</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">For (f) university staff, the department has asked higher education (HE) providers to share information on their staff numbers and the number of staff COVID-19 cases that have been reported to them. For the 183 HE providers which provided this information to us for the 7 days between 10 and 16 December, our estimate is that there were 56.7 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 non-academic and academic staff in HE providers for that period.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Estimates for more recent weeks are not available due to: i) a pause in data collection over the winter break and ii) inconsistencies arising from the effect of the national lockdown that began this month.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Advice from the Children's Task and Finish group is that children are at very low risk of serious illness from the virus, and there is also no current evidence that staff<ins class="ministerial"> in schools and colleges</ins> are at higher risk of infection than those working in other sectors. This advice can be accessed here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948617/s0998-tfc-update-to-4-november-2020-paper-on-children-schools-transmission.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948617/s0998-tfc-update-to-4-november-2020-paper-on-children-schools-transmission.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The safety and wellbeing of staff, pupils and students in education settings is always our priority. The Government is doing all it can to minimise the risks to those working and studying in our nurseries, schools, colleges, and universities in this unprecedented situation, while mitigating the impact on education.</p><p> </p><p>On 7 January, the Department published guidance to universities and students returning to higher education in the spring term. This guidance sets out how we will support higher education providers to enable students to return as safely as possible following the winter break, by staggering this process following the period of national lockdown and to facilitate testing for all. The guidance is available here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950367/Students_returning_to_and_starting_higher_education_in_Spring_Term_2021.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950367/Students_returning_to_and_starting_higher_education_in_Spring_Term_2021.pdf</a>.</p><p>The Department also published ‘guidance: Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak’, which sets out what all schools will need to do during the COVID-19 outbreak from January 2021. The guidance is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak</a>.</p><p> </p><p>On 7 January, the Department published guidance for all early years settings and local authorities in England, which provides information on how the national lockdown restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 will impact early years and childcare settings. This guidance is available here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950653/Education_and_childcare_settings_-_national_lockdown_from_5_January_2021_.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950653/Education_and_childcare_settings_-_national_lockdown_from_5_January_2021_.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>On 8 January, the Department published guidance on actions for further education colleges and providers during the COVID-19 outbreak: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will continue to keep our plans under review and ensure our position is informed by the latest evidence.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 11/01/2021 17:32:00 question first ministerially corrected 25/01/2021 18:30:13 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb previous answer version 71906 answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1274392

registered interest
date	06/01/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Computers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by what date he estimates children who require laptops to assist them with home learning will receive them.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	133818
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Government is investing over £300 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing over one million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people.</p><p>This includes over 560,000 laptops and tablets that have already been delivered to schools, trusts, and local authorities in 2020.</p><p>Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts, or local authorities who can lend these to children and young people who need them most, during the current COVID-19 national restrictions.</p><p>From Saturday 2 January, all secondary schools have been able to order their full allocation of devices. As a result of orders placed since then, we dispatched over 100,000 laptops to schools by the end of last week.</p><p>By the end of this week, we expect to have delivered three quarters of a million devices.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 11/01/2021 17:26:37 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1273327

registered interest
date	30/12/2020
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	Ashworth Hospital
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what risk assessment has been made of the decision to stop weekly testing of the all-clear siren at Ashworth high-security hospital.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	132887
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2021 answer text <p>Ashworth High Secure Hospital continues to test its escape alarm siren at 9am each Monday morning for a five-minute duration. This has been the case for the last 30 years. The hospital has never sounded an all clear alarm therefore no risk assessment was required.</p> answering member constituency Mid Bedfordshire answering member printed Ms Nadine Dorries question first answered 21/01/2021 10:53:31 answering member 1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries previous answer version 72766 answering member constituency Mid Bedfordshire answering member printed Ms Nadine Dorries answering member 1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1273460

registered interest
date	30/12/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to ensure that staff in schools are given the highest priority for the covid-19 vaccine.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	132889
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the UK should use and provide advice on who should be offered them.</p><p>JCVI advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age.</p><p>Regarding the next phase of vaccine rollout, JCVI have asked that the Department of Health and Social Care consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other Government departments. The Department for Education will input into this cross governmental exercise.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 132923 question first answered 11/01/2021 15:56:41 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1272243

registered interest
date	17/12/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what payments have been made to schools in Sefton Central constituency to cover out-of-scope covid-19-associated costs.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	131257
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The first window for schools to claim funding back for exceptional costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak, between March and July 2020, closed on 21 July. Payments against claims made within the published scope of the fund were made to schools and academies in September. The funding is targeted towards the costs we have identified as the biggest barrier to schools operating as they needed to between March and July to support vulnerable children and children of critical workers. No payments have been made to any schools, including those in Sefton Central, for claims outside the published scope of the fund.</p><p>Schools in Sefton Central have received the following payments for claims made within the published scope.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>School Name </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Payment for claims within published scope</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aintree Davenhill Primary School</p></td><td><p>£7,795</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hudson Primary School</p></td><td><p>£12,442</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Northway Primary School</p></td><td><p>£7,081</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Woodlands Primary School</p></td><td><p>£4,106</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Summerhill Primary School</p></td><td><p>£6,029</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Freshfield Primary School</p></td><td><p>£1,323</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Green Park Primary School</p></td><td><p>£3,658</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Redgate Community Primary School</p></td><td><p>£2,512</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Melling Primary School</p></td><td><p>£3,369</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Valewood Primary School</p></td><td><p>£2,970</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lydiate Primary School</p></td><td><p>£73</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Luke's Church of England Primary School</p></td><td><p>£3,535</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Luke's Halsall Church of England Primary School</p></td><td><p>£1,651</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Nicholas Church of England Primary School</p></td><td><p>£7,551</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St George's Catholic Primary School</p></td><td><p>£5,392</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Mary's Catholic Primary School</p></td><td><p>£6,204</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St William of York Catholic Primary School</p></td><td><p>£1,031</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Gregory's Catholic Primary School</p></td><td><p>£5,914</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Ursuline Catholic Primary School</p></td><td><p>£949</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Jerome's Catholic Primary School</p></td><td><p>£623</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Holy Rosary Catholic Primary School</p></td><td><p>£9,905</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maricourt Catholic High School</p></td><td><p>£7,029</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Holy Family Catholic High School</p></td><td><p>£18,875</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Crosby High School</p></td><td><p>£1,510</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Newfield School</p></td><td><p>£18,661</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Trinity St Peter's CofE Primary School</p></td><td><p>£1,797</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Formby High School</p></td><td><p>£1,775</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maghull High School</p></td><td><p>£4,930</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Deyes High School</p></td><td><p>£5,505</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Michael's Church of England High School</p></td><td><p>£7,246</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Thomas Church of England Primary School, Lydiate</p></td><td><p>£4,767</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>St Andrews Church of England Primary School, Maghull</p></td><td><p>£1,809</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Schools continue to be able to access existing support for financial issues, including a wide range of school resource management tools, and, in serious circumstances, additional funding or advances from local authorities for maintained schools, or Education and Skills Funding Agency for academies.</p><p>Schools were able to claim in a second claims window that ran in December, for any costs which they did not claim for during the first window relating to the March to July period. We will shortly process those claims and make payments to maintained schools in February and academies in March.</p><p>In addition to this, the Department has announced details of a new COVID-19 workforce fund for schools and colleges to help them remain open: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-workforce-fund-for-schools/coronavirus-covid-19-workforce-fund-to-support-schools-with-costs-of-staff-absences-from-1-november-2020-to-31-december-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-workforce-fund-for-schools/coronavirus-covid-19-workforce-fund-to-support-schools-with-costs-of-staff-absences-from-1-november-2020-to-31-december-2020</a>.</p><p>It will fund the costs of teacher absences over a threshold in schools and colleges, and is intended for those with high staff absences that are also facing significant financial pressures. The Department expects schools to be able to claim for workforce costs relating to November and December 2020 in spring 2021. Schools will be able to incur additional costs, backdated to November, in the knowledge that they will be reimbursed if they meet the relevant criteria.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 11/01/2021 16:19:49 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1270786

registered interest
date	14/12/2020
answering body	Department for International Trade
answering dept id	202
answering dept short name	International Trade
answering dept sort name	International Trade
hansard heading	Digital Technology: Overseas Trade
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans she has to publish a strategy on trade in digital services.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	128939
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2020 answer text <p>HM Government aims to make the United Kingdom a global leader in digital services trade, with a network of international agreements that drive productivity, jobs and growth across the United Kingdom.</p><p> </p><p>The United Kingdom is already one of the world’s largest exporters of services, with remotely delivered services exports worth £207 billion in 2019. To build on this, we will use our independent trade policy to shape the future of global rules on digital trade. Bilaterally, we are looking for advanced digital services chapters in areas like data and digital in all of the trade negotiations we are currently engaged in.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier this month, my Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade announced our intention to negotiate a ground-breaking Digital Economy Agreement with Singapore.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Hampshire answering member printed Mr Ranil Jayawardena question first answered 17/12/2020 09:52:56 answering member 4498 label Biography information for Mr Ranil Jayawardena
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1260245

registered interest
date	10/12/2020
answering body	Department for International Trade
answering dept id	202
answering dept short name	International Trade
answering dept sort name	International Trade
hansard heading	Data Protection: Japan
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what protections are in the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to ensure that citizens’ data is protected in the event that companies decide to transfer that data abroad; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	128148
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2020 answer text <p>The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) ensures that data can flow between the countries while maintaining high data protection standards. The deal does not mandate that data must flow, but rather the provisions clear the way for the flow of data between both countries for business purposes; when data needs to flow across a border it can do so without coming up against unjustified barriers. CEPA does not interfere with the high level of protection afforded to personal data when it is transferred out of the UK under the UK's data protections laws.</p> answering member constituency Chelsea and Fulham answering member printed Greg Hands question first answered 15/12/2020 14:53:49 answering member 1526 label Biography information for Greg Hands
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1260246

registered interest
date	10/12/2020
answering body	Department for International Trade
answering dept id	202
answering dept short name	International Trade
answering dept sort name	International Trade
hansard heading	Data Protection: Japan
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the exemptions for public procurement in (a) Article 8.84 3(a), (b) Article 8.85 3(a), (c) Article 8.73 3(a), (d) Article 8.73 3(b) and (e) footnote [2] in the Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Japan for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership include the processing of (i) data, (ii) data flows, (iii) data transfer, (iv) access to data, (v) source code and (vi) algorithms in (A) present and (B) future forms of public data created by (I) artificial intelligence, (II) automated decision-making and (III) digital technology; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
uin	128149
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2020 answer text <p>Articles 8.73 (Source Code), 8.84 (Cross-border transfer of information by electronic means) and 8.85 (Location of computing facilities) of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) contain exemptions for government procurement. These exemptions create a derogation from some or all the obligations contained in Articles 8.73, 8.84 and 8.85 for government procurement activities falling within the scope of these Articles. This derogation would apply to government procurement activities regarding artificial intelligence, automated decision-making and digital technologies to the extent such activities would otherwise be prohibited by these Articles.</p> answering member constituency Chelsea and Fulham answering member printed Greg Hands question first answered 18/12/2020 11:08:29 answering member 1526 label Biography information for Greg Hands
tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson