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1125592

	registered interest
	date	09/05/2019
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Rape: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on victims of rape of CPS rape and sexual offence legal guidance in relation to disclosure of medical records and counselling notes.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	252498
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>All complainants are entitled to protection from unnecessary and unjustified invasion of their private lives. Medical records and counselling notes will routinely engage an individual’s Article 8 ECHR right to privacy.</p><p> </p><p>CPS guidance is clear that where it is a reasonable line of enquiry in the investigation, the police should obtain the complainant’s informed consent to gain access to these records and, in the limited circumstances where it is appropriate, to enable disclosure of material to the defence. Where records amount to unused material, prosecutors will robustly apply the relevant statutory provisions when deciding whether such material should be disclosed to the defence.</p><p> </p><p>The CPS is working with the police and stakeholders to ensure complainants are aware of why their records are required and how they will be used to allow them to make an informed decision.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 16/05/2019 14:49:01 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1125348

	registered interest
	date	08/05/2019
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Business: ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the public sector has the required IT infrastructure in place to enable a paperless society.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	251969
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government Digital Service works with departments across central government to build digital capability, develop and implement common tools and standards, and ensure government remains focused on the needs of end users when designing digital services.</p><p> </p><p>The Local Digital Declaration is a set of principles and commitments by which central and local government will work together to share tools and best practice in order to help get more public services online.</p><p> </p><p>Over 16 million customers now access their Personal Tax Account online; over 90% of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Association’s (DVLA) transactions (over 1 billion in 2017/18) are now completed online; and over 5.7 million people have used the voter registration digital service.</p> answering member constituency Hertsmere answering member printed Oliver Dowden question first answered 13/05/2019 16:52:05 answering member 4441 label Biography information for Oliver Dowden
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1104835

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	New Businesses: Families
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department is providing to entrepreneurs with family care responsibilities.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	236313
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting all entrepreneurs to start and grow a business and is a key aspect of our ambitious Industrial Strategy. The Government supports diversity in all its forms in business and recognises the valuable contribution they make to our economy.</p><p>On 6th March BEIS launched the Young Entrepreneurs Review, independently led by the Prince’s Trust. The Review will close in September 2019 and will seek to better understand young entrepreneurs, the specific barriers and opportunities they face, and what more can be done to support them to start and grow a business, including young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.</p><p>The Department ensures that the Shared Parental Leave and Pay Scheme enables eligible couples to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay, in the first year.    We are currently evaluating the scheme and have commissioned both quantitative and qualitative data on the level of take-up; barriers to take-up; and how the scheme is being used in practice. Last year, GEO and BEIS ran a joint £1.5m campaign to promote awareness and take-up of Shared Parental Leave and Pay and a campaign to raise awareness launched last month. We are exploring options for improving tools and guidance for parents.</p><p>Pregnant women and new mothers who are self-employed may qualify for Maternity Allowance (a benefit which is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions). Where they do not intend to use their full entitlement to Maternity Allowance they can ‘create’ up to 50 weeks of Shared Parental Leave and up to 37 weeks of Statutory Shared Parental Pay for an employed father or partner to take (subject to eligibility conditions).</p><p>Employed directors can qualify for a range of employment rights including Maternity Leave and Pay (or Maternity Allowance), Paternity Leave and Pay, Adoption Leave and Pay and Shared Parental Leave and Pay. Maternity and Adoption Leave are ‘day 1’ rights. Other family related employment entitlements are subject to eligibility conditions.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 01/04/2019 12:12:03 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 110835 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1104840

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	New Businesses: Females
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage UK-based institutional and private investors to invest in female entrepreneurs.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	236318
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/04/2019 answer text <p>On 8 March, HM Treasury published the Rose Review into Female Entrepreneurship which explored the barriers women face when starting a business and what can be done to overcome them.</p><p>In response to Alison Rose’s findings, the government is setting out an ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030. This will require an additional 600,000 female entrepreneurs, and concerted efforts from both the private and public sector.</p><p>We are establishing a new Investing in Women Code, which will report annually, and see financial institutions sign up, track how they are currently doing and take steps to improve how they allocate funding to female entrepreneurs.</p><p>I will also sponsor an industry-led taskforce alongside Treasury Ministers that will drive forward work to encourage greater investment in female entrepreneurs by all types of finance provider.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 01/04/2019 12:12:19 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 110837 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1109037

	registered interest
	date	02/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Self-employed: Billing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to tackle late payments to freelancers.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	239900
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/04/2019 answer text <p>Government is clear that unfavourable payment practices is a serious issue. That is why we have a range of measures in place with the aim to address the imbalance in market power between parties, increase transparency and encourage better payment practices through culture change.</p><p> </p><p>The Payment Practices and Performance Reporting Requirement requires large businesses to report biannually on their payment practices and performance. Businesses must publish this information on gov.uk, providing transparency in payment practices and making payment behaviour a reputational, board room issue. To date over 13,000 reports have been submitted.</p><p> </p><p>Government continues to support the Prompt Payment Code as a best practice in payment standards. Last year the Secretary of State announced a new, tough and transparent compliance regime to ensure the Code is rigorously enforced. The Secretary of State also announced that he had appointed the Small Business Commissioner to the Prompt Payment Code Compliance Board.</p><p> </p><p>Last year Government launched a Call for Evidence to assess what further steps and intervention may be needed to create a responsible payment culture. A full response will be published shortly and will contain a full package of policy measures.</p><p> </p><p>At Spring Statement Government announced that it will require large company’s Audit Committees to review payments practices and report them in their annual accounts. This will elevate payment practices to Board level and increase transparency.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 11/04/2019 15:00:12 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 112703 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1109340

	registered interest
	date	03/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Self-employed
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support freelancers.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	240521
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government’s December 2018 Good Work Plan sets out the vision for the future of the labour market and the ambitious plans for implementing the recommendations arising from the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has committed to legislate to improve the clarity of the employment status tests, reflecting the reality of modern working relationships. This will help to ensure that both businesses and individuals understand their rights and obligations.</p><p> </p><p>Employment status is a complex issue and so it is only right that we take time to consider how best to achieve change that works for all. We will bring forward detailed proposals on status in due course.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 08/04/2019 16:07:41 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1111111

	registered interest
	date	10/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Carbon Emissions: EU Emissions Trading Scheme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether carbon trading remains a valid approach to controlling carbon dioxide pollution.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	243363
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2019 answer text <p>As the Clean Growth Strategy clearly sets out, we remain firmly committed to carbon pricing as an emissions reduction tool whilst ensuring energy and trade intensive businesses are appropriately protected from any detrimental impacts on competitiveness.</p><p> </p><p>Carbon pricing is an effective tool to reduce emissions through the market. Cap-and-trade guarantees that emissions targets are met and emissions reductions take place where it is most cost-effective to do so.</p><p> </p><p>The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been instrumental in driving the adoption of emissions trading systems worldwide. While the EU ETS remains the world’s first and largest cap-and-trade system, similar systems exist or are in development across the world including in California, Quebec, New Zealand, South Korea and China. The EU ETS is on course to achieve emissions reductions of 21% by 2020 against 2005 levels in the traded sector in line with agreed EU targets.</p> answering member constituency Devizes answering member printed Claire Perry question first answered 23/04/2019 16:28:30 answering member 3974 label Biography information for Claire Perry
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1122065

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Consumers: Internet
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the (a) accuracy and (b) integrity of consumer reviews on major retail websites.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	245672
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2019 answer text <p>The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) prohibit traders giving consumers false or misleading information about goods and services including reviews on their websites. It also prohibits the practice of falsely representing itself as a consumer. Enforcement of the legislation is by local authority trading standards services.</p><p> </p><p>The Advertising Standards Authority through its code of advertising practice has recently published guidance for marketers on making claims in testimonials and endorsements. A copy of the guidance can be found at: <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/testimonials-and-endorsements.html" target="_blank">https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/testimonials-and-endorsements.html</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Citizens Advice consumer service provides consumers with free advice and information on their rights. The helpline can be contacted on 03454 04 05 06 (<a href="http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/" target="_blank">www.citizensadvice.org.uk/</a>). However, if the consumer resides in Scotland, they should contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 (www.consumeradvice.scot).</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 30/04/2019 09:39:17 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1122419

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Heating: Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage householders to change from gas heating to (a) electric heating, (b) heat pumps and (c) hydrogen-burning radiators.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	246479
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2019 answer text <p>Transforming how we heat our homes is one of the most difficult decarbonisation challenges facing the country. A number of options have the potential for achieving this, including heat networks, heat pumps, hydrogen and biogas. We need to continue exploring and testing different approaches to heat decarbonisation.</p><p> </p><p>Through the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme we are spending £4.5 billion between 2016 and 2021 to support innovative low-carbon heat technologies in homes and businesses, including heat pumps. BEIS is considering the future policy framework for supporting electrification of heat and we are looking to launch an electrification of heat demonstration project in 2019 to inform our thinking on the feasibility of a large-scale transition to heat pumps.</p><p> </p><p>For hydrogen as an option for decarbonising heat, more work is needed to prove the safety and feasibility case as well as to gain a better understanding of the costs and benefits. BEIS is currently working towards building a programme of work to address these evidence gaps in partnership with industry, academia and other key stakeholders. This includes the £25m BEIS-funded Hy4Heat programme, which is exploring the safety of using 100% hydrogen for heating in buildings and the development of domestic hydrogen boilers.</p> answering member constituency Devizes answering member printed Claire Perry question first answered 08/05/2019 15:03:22 answering member 3974 label Biography information for Claire Perry
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1122766

	registered interest
	date	24/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Nuclear Power
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) cost and (b) environmental consequences of nuclear energy.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	246955
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>All nuclear new build projects are assessed on a case by case basis to ensure they provide value for money for taxpayers and consumers. Before a new nuclear power station can be built and operated, the operator must apply for and obtain a number of permissions from the independent regulators and from Government. The assessment of environmental impact is an important consideration in regulators deciding whether relevant permissions should be issued and what conditions should be attached to the permissions. In addition, potential new nuclear technologies are considered under the Justification Regulations, with ‘Justification’ being the process by which Government determines whether the potential benefits of a practice making use of ionising radiation outweigh its potential risks. Furthermore, all developers of new build stations are required to have a Funded Decommissioning Programme approved by the Secretary of State before nuclear-related construction can begin. This ensures the taxpayer does not bear the burden for future costs of turning the station into a greenfield site once generation has ceased.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Pendle answering member printed Andrew Stephenson question first answered 29/04/2019 15:22:59 answering member 4044 label Biography information for Andrew Stephenson
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly