The measures set out in the Government\u2019s statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, as well as the almost £2 billion being invested in cycling and walking over the current Parliament, will help boost the use of e-bikes as well as the use of conventional bikes. The Department has recently published refreshed cycle to work guidance to make it easier for employers to provide employees with cycles, including e-bikes, worth over £1,000. The Government is also encouraging the use of e-cargo bikes through the £2m e-cargo bike grant programme which contributes 20% of the purchase price of a new e-cargo bike up to the first £5,000 of any purchase price.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4116", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Michael Ellis"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Northampton North"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Michael Ellis"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-03", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-03T15:04:34.567Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "27"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Transport"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Transport"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-28", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Electric Bicycles"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of e-bikes.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"} ], "uin" : "270799"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1135592", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1135592/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The two-year qualifying period for entitlement to statutory redundancy pay strikes the balance between providing fairness to employees who have demonstrated commitment to their employer and avoiding undue financial burdens on employers or the National Insurance Fund.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
The statutory redundancy scheme is intended to provide a minimum \u201csafety net\u201d of entitlement for vulnerable employees, and the legislation leaves the parties free to negotiate and agree improvements on the statutory entitlement according to their own priorities, needs and circumstances, and what can be afforded.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-03", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-03T16:13:17.807Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-28", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Redundancy Pay"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has plans to reduce the minimum time served as an employee before entitlement to statutory redundancy pay begins.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"} ], "uin" : "270804"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134805", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Defence"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134805/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Before April 1975, there was no legal requirement for a pension scheme to preserve pension rights for those who left service before reaching the normal retirement age.<\/p>
The issue of pre-1975 pensions does not just affect the Armed Forces but is common to all other public service schemes in existence prior to the Social Security Act 1973.<\/p>
It has been the policy of successive Governments not to make retrospective changes to pension schemes.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bournemouth East"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Tobias Ellwood"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-03", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-03T14:36:08.417Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "11"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-26", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Armed Forces: Pensions"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if her Department will review the right to preserved pensions for members of the armed forces who retired before the introduction of the armed forces pension scheme 1975.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"} ], "uin" : "269737"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134810", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134810/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government has taken a number of steps to increase employers\u2019 awareness of their legal obligations to pregnant employees. This has included working with ACAS to develop comprehensive advice and guidance and updating the content on the GOV.UK website. The Government\u2019s recent consultation on pregnancy and maternity discrimination also asked how effective the current approach is in helping employees and employers to understand their rights and obligations. We will be publishing the Government response in due course.<\/p>
The Equality Advisory and Support Service advises and assists individuals on issues relating to equality and human rights, across England, Scotland and Wales. Where an employer fails to meet its obligations, a pregnant employee can seek redress through an employment tribunal.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "269739"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-02T14:09:42.793Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-26", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Employment: Pregnancy"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that employers meet their legal obligations to pregnant employees.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"} ], "uin" : "269738"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134811", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134811/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government has taken a number of steps to increase employers\u2019 awareness of their legal obligations to pregnant employees. This has included working with ACAS to develop comprehensive advice and guidance and updating the content on the GOV.UK website. The Government\u2019s recent consultation on pregnancy and maternity discrimination also asked how effective the current approach is in helping employees and employers to understand their rights and obligations. We will be publishing the Government response in due course.<\/p>
The Equality Advisory and Support Service advises and assists individuals on issues relating to equality and human rights, across England, Scotland and Wales. Where an employer fails to meet its obligations, a pregnant employee can seek redress through an employment tribunal.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "269738"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-02T14:09:42.843Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-26", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Employment: Pregnancy"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what action will be taken against employers who do not meet their legal obligations to pregnant employees.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"} ], "uin" : "269739"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134217", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134217/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Ministry of Housing, Commnunities and Local Government does not collect any statistics on the number of homeless camps who have been forcibly removed by local authorities.<\/p>
The Guardian article on 17 June 2019 says the estimate is based on a Freedom of Information request to all councils in the UK about how many homeless encampments they had cleared since 2014, how many complaints about encampments they had received and details on charges for confiscated tents and possessions. The article says \u2018an encampment was defined as a location where one or more homeless people were living in the area in private or public land\u2019. 336 local authorities out of total of 408 in the UK provided a response. No further details about the overall quality and robustness of these statistics is provided so we are unable to make an assessment of the accuracy of these findings.<\/p>
The Guardian article is available at the following link: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/17/removal-of-homeless-camps-trebles-as-charities-warn-of-out-of-control-crisis<\/a><\/p> These statistics do not adhere to same rigour as government statistics. The Rough Sleeping Statistics, published on 31 January 2019, which are produced in compliance with the UK Statistics Authority\u2019s Code of Practice for Statistics, include people sleeping rough in makeshift camps but no separate figures about the types of sites where people are sleeping rough are recorded or whether they have been forcibly removed by local authorities.<\/p> These statistics show the total number of people counted or estimated to be sleeping rough in each local authority area in England, on a single night in Autumn 2018 was 4,677. This was down by 74 people or 2 per cent from the 2017 total of 4,751 and was up 2,909 people or 165 per cent from the 2010 total of 1,768. Local authorities use a specific definition to identify people sleeping rough. This includes people sleeping or who are about to bed down in open air locations and other places including tents, cars, and makeshift shelters. The full definition of people sleeping rough is as follows:<\/p> People sleeping, about to bed down (sitting on/in or standing next to their bedding) or actually bedded down in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments). People in buildings or other places not designed for habitation (such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or \u201cbashes\u201d which are makeshift shelters, often comprised of cardboard boxes). The definition does not include people in hostels or shelters, people in campsites or other sites used for recreational purposes or organised protest, squatters or travellers. Bedded down is taken to mean either lying down or sleeping. About to bed down includes those who are sitting in/on or near a sleeping bag or other bedding.<\/em><\/p> This Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy which sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. This year, Rough Sleeping Initiative investment totals £46 million and has been allocated to 246 areas \u2013 providing funding for an estimated 750 additional staff and over 2,600 bed spaces.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4053", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Derbyshire"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mrs Heather Wheeler"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-01T14:56:03.507Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Homelessness"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the finding, reported in the Guardian on 17 June 2019, that the number of homeless camps forcibly removed by local authorities across the UK has risen from 72 in 2014 to 254 in 2018; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "true", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"}
], "uin" : "268596"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134218", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1134218/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not issue guidance on the removal of tents containing homeless people. Each local authority, together with the police, will make their own plans and decisions about how to best support rough sleepers and ensure their safety in their own area, based on local circumstances. This can include the removal of encampments, alongside support. Encampments can present serious safety risks for the people living in encampments and it is right that local authorities, who know their area best, have the powers they need to respond. A summary of the powers that public bodies have to help them deal with illegal and unauthorised sites, published in 2015, is available at:<\/p>
These statistics are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2018<\/a>.<\/p>