Tag: Baroness Redfern

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are providing to workers affected by the recent job losses in the United Kingdom steel industry.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

We have announced packages of support worth up to £80 million to support people who have lost their jobs in Redcar and up to £9 million, with Tata, for people who have lost their jobs in Scunthorpe. We have also established Task Forces at both locations which are making good progress under the strong leadership of Amanda Skelton and Baroness Redfern respectively. I am pleased that we have recently agreed a number of support packages worth over £40million with the Redcar taskforce which will provide financial assistance to affected workers, fund retraining, rehouse fifty apprentices and support the wider local economy and supply chain. We are working closely with the Scunthorpe taskforce on how best to target support there.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is being done to increase the number of specially adapted homes in (1) North Lincolnshire, and (2) nationally, so that those with complex care needs can live independently for longer.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Since 2011 the Government has invested over a billion pounds into the Disabled Facilities Grant to fund adaptations to disabled people’s homes to help them live independently and safely at home for longer. This provides for around 40,000 adaptations each year and around 200,000 homes have been adapted since 2010. North Lincolnshire has received £5,143,717 of this funding over this period. Future funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant will rise to over £500 million in 2019-20.

The Government is also providing specialised housing for disabled and older people through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund and the Affordable Homes Programme and these will deliver 24 specialised homes in North Lincolnshire between 2011 – 2018.

In the Spending Review we have committed to £400 million of funding to deliver 8,000 specialist homes for the vulnerable, elderly or those with disabilities. A commitment to funding from Department of Health could deliver up to a further 7,500 homes over the Spending Review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether steps are being taken to amend European Union procurement rules to ensure more United Kingdom companies’ involvement in government projects.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The new EU Directive on Public Procurement was transposed in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, which came into effect earlier this year. The Regulations implement a range of reforms, including offering flexibility for contracting authorities to take into account relevant wider social and economic considerations, where consistent with best value for money, in Government procurement activities. We have also published new Cabinet Office guidance which will help steel suppliers compete on a level playing field with international suppliers for major government contracts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Chairman of Committees what assessment he has made of the case for creating a circular economy for leftover paint in Parliament, in the light of the recommendations made in the British Coatings Federation’s interim report published on 19 November 2015.

Lord Laming

No formal assessment has been made of the Report. The House keeps minimal base colours in stock for touch-ups etc. and orders specific quantities as job requirements dictate. Any leftover paint is dealt with in compliance with legal disposal requirements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to support the United Kingdom steel industry.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

There is no straightforward solution to the complex global challenges facing the steel industry. However, the Government has been extremely active advocating for and supporting the sector. On 16th October, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State chaired a Steel Summit, which was an important opportunity to bring the key players together. Since then we have been taking action to address the key asks of the steel industry, operating through three Ministerial led working groups. We are also supporting the metals sector more widely through the industry-led Metals Strategy, which will provide a platform for Government to work with the industry on some of the most pressing issues holding back the future growth of the sector.

We have taken EU and International level action on dumping and unfair trade practices. We supported and voted for the renewal of EU anti-dumping measures on wire rod and recently steel tubing and lobbied successfully for an investigation into cheap imports of Reinforcing Steel Bar. My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State had meetings with European Commissioners and spoke to key counterparts in other Member States on 28 October, calling for firmer, faster action against unfair trade practices. As a direct result, we secured agreement for an extraordinary meeting of the EU’s Competitiveness Council which took place on 9th November. At this Member States agreed that EU level action needed to be taken to address the challenges facing the steel sector. Specifically, the Council agreed to take action to address unfair trading practices, energy costs, investment for modernisation and retraining and the regulatory burden facing the sector.

The Government has confirmed to the steel industry that it will be able to take advantage of special flexibilities to comply with new EU rules on emissions.

Turning to energy costs, we have announced that we will bring forward our compensation package for the industry’s additional costs from climate change policies starting as soon as state aid approval is given by the European Commission. This means that Energy intensive industries will benefit from all compensation at the very earliest opportunity. We have also confirmed that compensation and mitigation arrangements for the costs of climate change policies for Energy Intensive Industries will continue for the whole of the Parliament giving the sectors greater investment confidence. This will save Energy Intensive Industries such as steel hundreds of millions of pounds over the next five years. This will come on top of the more than £50 million we have already paid to steelmakers in compensation for energy costs.

Finally, we are taking action to drive up the number of public contracts won by UK steel manufacturers and their partners through fair and open competition. The National Infrastructure Plan contains a significant number of projects which will use British steel, e.g. Crossrail – with four UK based companies providing over 50,000 tonnes of steel; and HS2 – where Government has already given notice of the thousands of tonnes of steel that will be needed. Following the first meeting of the steel procurement working group chaired by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, the Government published on 30 October new guidelines for departments to apply on major projects when sourcing and buying steel. The new instructions will help steel suppliers compete on a level playing field with international suppliers for major government projects.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage innovation in paint products to make better use of resources, and what steps they are taking to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and to create new markets for paint products.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

I am pleased to highlight a project by Akzo Nobel, Newlife Paints and Seymour Consulting supported through our delivery arm – Innovate UK – to industrialise the process of recycling paint through increased automation which has proved successful and could lead to significant commercial opportunities as well as a better environmental outcome.

Additionally, the Government’s Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund is supporting a RePaint project in Cheshire which is working across the local community to minimise the amount of paint going for disposal.

The disposal of liquid waste, including liquid paint, to landfill is banned under the Landfill Directive (Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste). The ban is implemented in England through the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (as amended) and is enforced by the Environment Agency through the environmental permits it issues to landfill operators.

The creation of new markets for paint products was one of the recommendations from the British Coatings Federation’s “Paintcare” initiative which was launched last year. The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is taking steps to encourage consumers to recycle/reuse household paint by providing information through the Recycle Now campaign. This includes a postcode locator to pinpoint local facilities and information on how to deal with paint.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of their measures to reduce long-term unemployment, and how many people previously classified as long-term unemployed have entered work since 2010, (1) nationally, and (2) in North Lincolnshire.

Lord Freud

Since 2010 long term unemployment has fallen by over a quarter of a million in the UK, and since the Work Programme began in June 2011, it has helped 459,370 long term unemployed people find sustained work. In North Lincolnshire alone, 1,550 long term unemployed people have found sustained work through the Work Programme.

The Department is continuing to modernise the way Jobcentre Plus delivers its services and has given responsibility to Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches – trusting them to assess the individual needs of people and offer the support and advice they think is best to get them back into work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that departments assist projects such as the British Coatings Federation’s PaintCare project.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government welcomes the PaintCare initiative and is working constructively with the British Coating Federation in relation to several aspects of the project. This includes identifying potential regulatory barriers to the recycling and re-manufacturing of paint and how these might be overcome, as well as providing opportunities to raise awareness of the potential benefits of PaintCare, for example at the G7 Alliance for Resource Efficiency conference in Berlin last October.

My Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), spoke at the Parliamentary launch of PaintCare’s interim report in November. The Waste and Resources Action Programme has also been working with PaintCare to provide information to consumers on how to recycle and dispose of household paint, through the Recycle Now campaign.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in reducing the number of young people not in employment, education, or training; and how they intend to support local authorities in reducing that number during this Parliament.

Lord Nash

The number of 16- to 18-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) is at its lowest level since 1994. This number has fallen by 51,900 since 2011. The government is determined to do more to encourage young people to participate in education and training, and to continue reducing the proportion who are NEET. That is why the government is investing £7 billion in 2015-16 to fund a place in education or training for every 16- to 19-year-old who wants one.

Under Raising the Participation Age (RPA), all young people are required to continue in education or training until at least their eighteenth birthday. The Department is working closely with local authorities to support and challenge them in implementing RPA and meeting their duties to track and support young people. This support includes collecting and analysing local authorities’ data and sharing good practice.

There are also a number of central initiatives which support local authorities in their work to reduce the number of young people NEET. These include a package to help improve the prospects of over 9,600 vulnerable young people through the Youth Engagement Fund and the Fair Chance Fund; the Youth Contract which continues to be available until March 2016 to support vulnerable young people; Jobcentre Plus pilots which are delivering in over 30 local authority areas to support 16- and 17-year-olds who are NEET; and provision funded by the European Social Fund which targets those who are NEET or at risk of being NEET. Broader work includes curriculum and qualifications reform, the 16-19 Bursary Fund, and improvements in the quality of careers advice and guidance.

These initiatives will help to continue reducing the number of young people NEET by removing barriers to participation and ensuring that young people are able to gain the skills and qualifications they need for their future employment or continuing education.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase awareness of different cancers and their symptoms through media sources, specifically radio, television, and internet advertising; and to encourage people with possible symptoms or concerns to visit their GP.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England (PHE) runs Be Clear on Cancer campaigns which are designed to raise the public’s awareness of specific cancer symptoms and encourage people with those symptoms to go to the doctor and diagnose cancer at an earlier stage.

Be Clear on Cancer campaigns are tested at a local and regional level and are subject to a comprehensive evaluation process, the results of which are assessed thoroughly before a decision is taken on whether to run campaigns nationally throughout England.

The campaigns run across a range of the media. Television advertising is commonly used as it is shown to be the best way to reach the target audience of people over the age of 50. Radio, press and outdoor advertising are used as supplementary channels, where appropriate for the audience. PHE has recently begun to advertise online, with a particular focus on social media such as Facebook, as audiences are increasingly using these services.

PHE works closely with the Department and NHS England to ensure that healthcare professionals are also targeted with campaign information to encourage earlier diagnoses and referrals.

To date, there have been national campaigns on Lung, Bowel, Bladder and Kidney, Oesophago-gastric cancers and Breast Cancer in older women. The next Be Clear on Cancer campaign will be “Blood in Pee” as a symptom of bladder and kidney cancers.