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1217543

registered interest
date	24/06/2020
answering body	Scotland Office
answering dept id	2
answering dept short name	Scotland
answering dept sort name	Scotland
hansard heading	Basic Income: Scotland
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of devolving sufficient powers for the Scottish Government to undertake a national basic income experiment per the recommendations of Basic Income Scotland’s Report on the feasibility of Scottish Citizens’ Basic Income pilots published in June 2020.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	64254
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>Since 2016, the Scottish Government have had the power to provide assistance for social security purposes in areas of devolved responsibility. Scotland has significant tax and welfare powers and can top-up existing benefits, pay discretionary payments and create entirely new benefits altogether.</p><p> </p><p>The funding of the Scottish Government’s social services programmes is entirely a matter for them out of the funds allocated to it for that purpose. Where the Scottish Government introduces a new policy which has expenditure implications it is for them to find the appropriate funding, including through their own tax raising powers where appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Dumfries and Galloway answering member printed Mr Alister Jack question first answered 29/06/2020 13:21:09 answering member 4619 label Biography information for Mr Alister Jack
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1217702

registered interest
date	24/06/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Chemicals: Regulation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff the Government plans to recruit to (a) the Environment Agency and (b) the Health & Safety Executive to deliver the proposed post-transition Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH); and (i) what positions that recruitment will fill and (ii) what the timescale for that recruitment is.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
uin	64285
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The continued effective and safe management of chemicals to safeguard human health and the environment is our overarching objective now that we have left the EU. The preparations we made for the possibility of a no deal exit mean that we are well placed to be ready with our own independent regulatory regime for 1 January 2021. This includes ensuring that both the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA) have the necessary capability and capacity to carry out their responsibilities. Once we have staffed up to full operating capability we expect to spend about £13 million per year on the UK’s new REACH regulatory system. This figure covers the following costs:</p><p>Operation and maintenance of the REACH IT system; and staff resourcing in Defra, HSE and EA to ensure:</p><ul><li>the necessary levels of technical specialist input into risk and socio-economic assessment of chemicals for the UK (for example, authorising the use of and restricting chemicals as appropriate);</li><li>high quality policy advice can be provided; and</li><li>we can increase UK and international stakeholder engagement.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 29/06/2020 13:29:13 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1216855

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
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	Universities: Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan 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, how many universities have accessed the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle
tabling member printed	Emma Hardy
uin	63471
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>As of 21 June, a total of 50,482 loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), with a value of £10.53 billion.</p><p> </p><p>Issuing new loans is the priority for lenders and the Government. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on providing regular and transparent data publication going forward, including sectoral breakdowns.</p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 29/06/2020 14:03:05 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4645 label Biography information for Emma Hardy

1216977

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Women's Prisons: Self-harm
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm have been recorded in women’s prisons since 31 March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	63447
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>We publish data on the number of incidents of self-harm recorded across the prison estate as part of our Safety in Custody statistics. Figures for the period up to 31<sup>st</sup> March 2020 will be published on 30th July 2020.</p><p>The most recent quarterly figures (up to December 2019), showed an increase in self-harm incidents in women’s prisons with 3243 incidents recorded, compared with 2995 incidents in the quarter up to September 2019.</p><p>The level of self-harm in women’s is too high and we are determined to address this. Our women’s estate psychology services (WEPS) have previously developed specialist interventions designed to support the most complex women within our care, and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic they have continued to support both staff and residents where it is safe to do so.</p><p>We are continuing to provide care and support to people at risk of self-harm or suicide through ACCT (Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork) case management. We have issued guidance to establishments during the pandemic so they can ensure that ACCT processes continue during the restricted regimes.</p><p>Across the prison estate, we have also given over 25,000 staff better training to spot and prevent self-harm and are investing an extra £2.75 billion to modernise prisons, combat drug use and improve the environment in which prisoners live.</p><p>As well as this, we have refreshed our partnership with the Samaritans which supports the excellent Listeners scheme, through which selected prisoners are trained to provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 29/06/2020 14:10:51 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1217009

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
answering body	Department for International Trade
answering dept id	202
answering dept short name	International Trade
answering dept sort name	International Trade
hansard heading	Open Individual Export Licences: USA
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to page 673 of the 2018 Strategic Export Controls Country Pivot Report, if she will publish all end user data associated with Open Individual Export Licence 16P to the USA (2008).
tabling member constituency	Islington South and Finsbury
tabling member printed	Emily Thornberry
uin	63264
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2020 answer text <p>The purpose of compliance visits is to get assurance that exporters holding open licences meet the terms and conditions of the licences they use. The frequency of compliance visits takes into account several factors, including the track record of compliance by the exporter and their previous compliance levels, the types of licences utilised and the knowledge and experience of the business in relation to export controls. We are satisfied that there is no need to undertake an urgent inspection at this time.</p><p> </p><p>The Rt. Hon. Lady will know that standard end user conditions for all Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) are available to view on GOV.UK and, under this licence, the exporter may only export to a government directly or companies using the listed goods in fulfilment of a government contract. Furthermore, export under this licence is restricted to the armed forces and the police.</p><p> </p><p>Compliance records are commercially sensitive and therefore cannot be published, but I can confirm that a compliance visit has been undertaken in relation to this licence.</p> answering member constituency North East Hampshire answering member printed Mr Ranil Jayawardena grouped question UIN 63265 63266 63267 63268 question first answered 26/06/2020 15:24:41 answering member 4498 label Biography information for Mr Ranil Jayawardena
tabling member	1536 label Biography information for Emily Thornberry

1217015

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Economic Growth: Environment Protection
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that changes to regulations and environmental protections designed to stimulate economic activity do not undermine environmental targets set out in (a) the 25-Year Environment Plan, (b) the Environment Bill, (c) the Agriculture Bill and (d) net zero legislation.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	63296
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Government has no current plans to amend regulations and environmental protections in order to stimulate economic activity.</p><p> </p><p>However, as we rebuild our economy in response to the coronavirus pandemic, we are working to deliver a fairer, greener and more resilient future. We will ramp up our world-leading work on our ambitious legislative agenda through our landmark Environment and Agricultural Bills. These bills will work hand in hand to protect and recover our precious natural environment and diverse ecosystems in line with our 25 Year Environment Plan to leave the environment in a better place than we have inherited it.</p><p> </p><p>The 25 Year Environment Plan will be adopted as the first statutory Environmental Improvement Plan under the Bill. The Environment Bill also creates a power to set long-term, legally-binding environmental targets. It requires Government to set, and achieve, at least one long-term target in four priority areas: air quality, biodiversity, water, and resource efficiency and waste reduction. We want them to be ambitious, credible, and supported by society. As a first step we expect to publish a Target Policy Paper over the coming months which will include further details about the target-setting process that we will be implementing.</p><p> </p><p>The net zero challenge remains and we need to transform our economy over the next three decades to end our contribution to climate change. In the UK we’ve already shown how to grow the economy while cutting emissions and we will continue to lead the world as we respond to the economic impacts of COVID-19 and develop our net zero strategy in advance of COP26.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 63557 question first answered 29/06/2020 11:53:21 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1217024

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will respond to the proposal of April 2020 from the University and College Union for the Government to urgently provide a sector-wide funding guarantee to protect universities against financial losses as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	63441
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The government recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak is bringing significant financial challenges to the higher education (HE) sector and we have been working closely with the sector in England to monitor the likely impacts. Financial sustainability of providers in the devolved administrations is the responsibility of the relevant devolved government.</p><p>On 4 May 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a package of measures to ensure sustainability in HE at a time of unprecedented uncertainty.</p><p>We are pulling forward tuition fee payments, expected to be worth £2.6 billion, for providers so that they receive more cash in the first term of the 2020/21 academic year. This will have no impact on students but will allow providers to better manage financial risks over the autumn. This will be available to all providers across the UK. In reprofiling these payments, we are clear in our expectation that providers should use the cashflow benefits appropriately, taking significant steps to improve efficiencies and manage their finances in order to avoid cashflow problems in the future. Reprofiling in this way is a one-off intervention for the autumn term only, to help providers take all necessary steps now to prepare for the future.</p><p>In England, we will also be bringing forward £100 million of quality-related research funding for providers to the current academic year to help to address some of the immediate pressures faced by university research activities.</p><p>The department will consider purchasing land and buildings where they can be used for new or expanding schools and colleges in England. This will take place as part of existing programmes and using established procedures. This financial year (across purchases from all suitable vendors, including but not limited to HE providers), we have budgeted up to £100 million to acquire sites for planned projects in England. Details are available on GOV.UK at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students</a>.</p><p>The government has also confirmed that HE providers in England are eligible to apply for its support packages, including business loan support schemes, which the Office for Students (OfS) the regulator in England, estimates could be worth at least £700m to the sector.</p><p>We will only intervene further where we believe there is a case to do so and where we believe intervention is possible and appropriate and as a last resort.</p><p>In such instances, we will work with providers to review their circumstances and assess the need for restructuring and any attached conditions. The department will be working with HM Treasury and other government departments to develop this restructuring regime, and with the devolved administrations.</p> answering member constituency Chippenham answering member printed Michelle Donelan question first answered 29/06/2020 14:32:25 answering member 4530 label Biography information for Michelle Donelan
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1217044

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Beverage Containers: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government is taking steps to discourage businesses from using plastic non-reusable cups during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	63450
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>In line with the waste hierarchy, the Government encourages the use of reusable cups and containers where possible to avoid waste and increase resource efficiency.</p><p> </p><p>However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to follow the latest safety guidelines and only allow them where it is safe to do so. It is up to individual businesses to decide whether to allow the use of reusable cups or containers during this period. If reusable cups or containers are used, they should be washed thoroughly in hot, soapy water, or in a dishwasher, if suitable. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) provides further guidance in its business portal:</p><p><a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/reopening-and-adapting-your-food-business-during-covid-19" target="_blank">www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/reopening-and-adapting-your-food-business-during-covid-19</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The FSA advises making sure staff do not touch the customer’s equipment. Businesses can ask customers to leave their cups on the counter and then pour the drink into the cup from their own containers or ask staff to wash the container and their hands in hot soapy water.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 29/06/2020 13:06:53 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1217098

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Business Rates: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the value of business rates relief allocated to UK supermarkets; whether supermarkets have experienced an (a) expansion or (b) contraction in retail revenue since the start of the covid-19 outbreak; and by what criteria are (i) supermarkets eligible and (ii) food and drink wholesalers not eligible for business rates relief.
tabling member constituency	New Forest East
tabling member printed	Dr Julian Lewis
uin	63198
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Government has provided enhanced support through business rates relief worth almost £10billion to businesses occupying properties used for retail, hospitality and leisure that are accessible to visiting members of the public, given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.</p><p> </p><p>Recent ONS figures show that, in the three months to May 2020, the volume of retail sales decreased by a record 12.8%, with declines across all stores except food and non-store retailing. The proportion spent online rose to the highest proportion on record in May 2020 at 33.4%.</p><p> </p><p>A range of further measures to support all businesses, including those not eligible for the business rates holiday, such as food and drink wholesalers, has also been made available.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman grouped question UIN 63199 question first answered 29/06/2020 14:38:42 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	54 label Biography information for Sir Julian Lewis

1217123

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Business Rates: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons business rates relief (a) has been granted to businesses in the hospitality sector and (b) has not been granted to food and drink wholesalers; what assessment has been made of the effect of this decision on the food and drink supplies of (i) hospitals and (ii) schools; and if he will discuss with Ministerial colleagues the applications of business rates relief to the food and drink wholesale sector.
tabling member constituency	New Forest East
tabling member printed	Dr Julian Lewis
uin	63199
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Government has provided enhanced support through business rates relief worth almost £10billion to businesses occupying properties used for retail, hospitality and leisure that are accessible to visiting members of the public, given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.</p><p> </p><p>Recent ONS figures show that, in the three months to May 2020, the volume of retail sales decreased by a record 12.8%, with declines across all stores except food and non-store retailing. The proportion spent online rose to the highest proportion on record in May 2020 at 33.4%.</p><p> </p><p>A range of further measures to support all businesses, including those not eligible for the business rates holiday, such as food and drink wholesalers, has also been made available.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman grouped question UIN 63198 question first answered 29/06/2020 14:38:42 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	54 label Biography information for Sir Julian Lewis