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Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support the steel industry in the light of the director of UK Steel’s statement that the steel industry is in crisis.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

There is no straightforward solution to the complex global challenges facing the steel industry; however, the Government has been extremely active in advocating for, and supporting the sector. On 16th October, we held a Steel Summit, which was an important opportunity to bring the key players together and since then we have been taking urgent action to address the ‘5 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.

Firstly, we are tackling unfair trade practices where clear evidence exists. We supported and voted for the renewal of EU anti-dumping measures on wire rod, and lobbied successfully for an investigation into cheap imports of Reinforcing Steel Bar. The Business Secretary had meetings with European Commissioners and spoke with key counterparts in other Member States on 28 October, calling for firmer, faster action against unfair trade practices. As a direct result, an extraordinary meeting to the European Competitiveness Council is taking place on steel.

In addition, the Prime Minister discussed steel with President Xi during his recent visit. The Chinese President recognised the UK’s concerns and will be taking action to address Chinese overcapacity

Secondly, 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. These are now awaiting final approval by the Commission.

Thirdly, the steel industry has been invited to present detailed evidence on issues affecting the business environment at the next meeting of the steel working group on competitiveness and productivity chaired by the Treasury Commercial Secretary.

Fourthly, with regard to energy costs, following the meeting between the Business Secretary and the Competition Commissioner on 23 October, we are now expecting to have state aid approval to provide relief to our Energy Intensive Industries for the cost of renewables policy by the end of this year. Further to that, the Prime Minister announced on 28th October that we will make an additional £45m available to commence compensation for the costs of the Renewables Obligation from the date of state aid approval, alongside providing relief to these sectors from the costs of the small Feed in Tariffs. An exemption for the costs of the Contracts for Difference will also commence early next year. This is on top of over £50 million of support already given to the steel industry to mitigate increasing electricity 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.

01/12/2022

Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2013-05-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people employed on zero-hours contracts in each government office region.

Mr Nick Hurd

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

01/12/2022

Alun Cairns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alun Cairns on 2013-05-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how his Department scrutinises the Fundraising Standards Board; when a review was last conducted; and what the outcome was of this review.

Mr Nick Hurd

Lord Hodgson assessed the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) as part of his review of the Charities Act 2006 and concluded in his report ‘Trusted and Independent: Giving charity back to charities’ that it had broadly met 10 of the 12 success criteria set out when it was established in 2006. The FRSB and Cabinet Office are members of the Steering Committee established in response to Lord Hodgson’s recommendations to drive forward further progress in strengthening self-regulation.

01/12/2022

Margaret Curran – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Curran on 2013-05-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the total loss to the economy as a result of underemployment in Scotland.

Chloe Smith

This is not a matter for Cabinet Office Ministers.

01/12/2022

Mr Clive Betts – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Clive Betts on 2013-05-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to consult on eligibility for free school meals ahead of the introduction of universal credit.

Mr David Laws

We are working very closely with other departments, including the Cabinet Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, to simplify free school meals criteria under universal credit, while ensuring that free lunches continue to be available to the families who need them most. These discussions, which include consideration of a phased implementation timetable, are in recognition of the significant number and complexity of passported benefits across Government, most of which have different eligibility criteria.

We will allow good time to enable schools, local authorities and children’s charities to comment on our proposals before we introduce new entitlement criteria for free school meals under universal credit.

01/12/2022

Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregg McClymont on 2013-05-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with officials in his Department on how the accounting officers’ conventions would apply to investment in Scotland in advance of the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.

Danny Alexander

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Treasury.

The UK Government is not planning for independence as it believes that people in Scotland will vote to remain within the UK. As such, the Government has made no assessment of the risk of losses to the public purse, and has no plans to change accounting officers conventions

01/12/2022

Fiona Bruce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2013-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what powers and freedoms relating to (a) skills and employment, (b) housing and (c) economic development have been devolved since May 2010 to (i) local government and (ii) local enterprise partnerships.

Kris Hopkins

[Holding Reply: Monday 1 July 2013]

The Government is taking considerable steps to devolve power and freedom to local government and Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Through the Localism Act, councils now have the general power of competence that enables them to do anything that an individual might do, apart from that which is specifically prohibited. In addition we have radically reformed the local government finance system putting levers and incentives in the hands of local authorities, for instance:

· The removal of ring-fencing from local government grants has given councils the freedom and flexibility over the money they receive and allows them to work with their residents to decide how best to make their spending decisions to fit their local priority needs.

· rewarded places that deliver growth, through the New Homes Bonus and Business Rate Retention.

· Local authorities now directly retain 50% of business rates locally which amounts to nearly £11 billion, instead of returning it to Whitehall.

· We established five pilot Rural Growth Networks aimed at tackling the barriers to economic growth in rural areas, such as a shortage of work premises, slow internet connectivity and fragmented business networks. These pilots expect to create up to 3,000 new jobs and support up to 700 new businesses, offering a local approach to local problems. We will share the lessons they learn with other Local Enterprise Partnerships and Local Authorities to help them promote growth in other rural areas.

We have also given councils the ability to borrow against their Housing Revenue Account.

Through the city deals programme we have devolved powers and responsibilities to 26 cities. For example we have:

•provided levers to deliver the skills and jobs that local businesses and people need;

•created joint investment programmes; and

• devolved greater financial powers and incentives to invest in growth to all cities.

As we made clear in our response to Lord Heseltine’s review of Growth, we intend to go further. We have committed to negotiating Growth Deals with every Local Enterprise Partnership through which we will allocate the Local Growth Fund and negotiate broader powers, freedoms and flexibilities where a strong case for decentralisation can be made. The Local Growth Fund brings together funding from skills, housing and transport and we have committed £2 billion in 2015/16 and it will continue to be at least £2 billion a year up to 2021. The Local Growth Fund includes:

over £6 billion of transport funding;
£300 million of additional Housing Revenue Account borrowing;
£50 million of Local Infrastructure Funding for housing developers; and
£300 million skills capital funding.

We are also for the first time putting £5 billion of European Structural Investment Funds for the 2014-20 period under the strategic direction of Local Enterprise Partnerships, bringing the total resource (including the Local Growth Fund) under the control of Local Enterprise Partnerships to over £17 billion up until 2020.

01/12/2022

Mr Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Gareth Thomas on 2013-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funding was allocated from Homes and Community Agency to (a) develop new affordable housing and (b) bring empty homes back into use in Harrow in each of the last five years.

Kris Hopkins

[Holding Reply: Thursday 7 November 2013]

The figures for affordable housing are as follows for the London Borough of Harrow area:

2008-09	£22 million
2009-10	£45 million
2010-11	£26 million
2011-12	£15 million
2012-13	£13 million

Since April 2012, allocations from the Affordable Housing Programme have been overseen by the Greater London Authority rather than the Homes and Communities Agency. There have been no specific allocations on empty homes over this period.

As outlined to the hon. Member in the answer of 7 January 2013, Official Report, Column 121W, I would note that the new Affordable Rent model now allows for more affordable housing to be delivered with lower levels of taxpayer capital subsidy and lever in more private investment.

As the National Audit Office has observed: “The Department selected the best delivery model open to it for the funds it had available” and “The Department has so far achieved its policy objective to maximise the number of homes delivered within the available grant funding” (National Audit Office, “Financial viability of the social housing sector; introducing the Affordable Homes Programme”, 4 July 2012, HC465, pp.6-7).

I also note that the Mayor’s proposed Housing Strategy states: “£1.8 billion of public funding has been secured by the Mayor which will unlock an estimated additional £3.7 billion of other investment for London to enable 55,000 affordable homes to be delivered between 2011-15” (Mayor of London, “The Revised London Housing Strategy”, December2011, p.35).

Across England, 170,000 affordable homes have been delivered so far since April 2010, and a total of £19.5 billion of public and private investment is being spent on affordable housing over the current Spending Review period.

01/12/2022

Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2013-11-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, his Department has made in each year since 2010; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip.

Brandon Lewis

Role of the Department

Reflecting our responsibilities for local government, housing, planning and communities across England, the work of the Department involves staff travelling to different parts of the country.

Improved procurement has reduced our average domestic hotel rate in the UK by 8% between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Moreover, domestic flights for longer journeys can avoid the need for paying for staff to stay in a hotel overnight.

Since 2011-12, the Department accepted responsibility for some new functions outside of London, including residual functions following the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions and then oversight of the European Regional Development Fund following the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies. As these business functions relate to work in areas outside of London and to the European Commission, this has therefore increased our travel spend compared to the base of 2010-11. However, this is far more than offset by the very significant savings to taxpayers of the abolition of these regional bodies.

Based on current estimates (which reflect accounting consequences from machinery of government changes) the DCLG Group is reducing its annual running costs by around 40% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15. This equates to net savings of at least £532 million over this spending review period and includes savings of around £420 million from the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions.

In addition to this, I note that the Regional Development Agencies were spending in the region of £246 million a year on administration (as cited in 11 March 2009, Official Report, Column 592W).

Spending data

The tables below list spending on travel by financial year. Figures for 2009-10 are from July 2009, as this is when the department’s current approved travel agent contract commenced; those figures are therefore only for three-quarters of the financial year, and the full year is likely to be proportionately higher.

	Overseas Travel	Overseas Accommodation	Overseas Subsistence	Total
July 2009 – March 10	£408,621	£19,847	£79,574	£508,042 (part-year)
2010-11	£56,304	£21,759	£27,798	£105,861
2011-12	£69,463	£21,204	£19,946	£110,613
2012-13	£78,474	£29,224	£21,911	£129,609

	UK Travel	UK Accommodation	UK Subsistence	Total
July 2009 – March 10	£621,028	£309,260	£174,888	£1,105,176 (part-year)
2010-11	£434,467	£199,563	£81,315	£715,345
2011-12	£980,307	£162,544	£71,913	£1,214,764
2012-13	£1,030,710	£166,149	£74,424	£1,271,283

Explanatory notes:

– Overseas subsistence costs can include accommodation, meals and travel tickets purchased locally.

– The costs of internal travel abroad are not routinely recorded in the form requested and this information could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

– Data on cost per trip is not centrally held in the form requested.

– For car hire, the data from our finance systems do not separate out expenditure for domestic and international car hire and this could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

– For helicopter hire, our records show that the Department has incurred no expenditure on this since 2010-11.

– Figures contained in this answer may differ from previous answers to Parliamentary Questions, as the data extracts have been re-run and reflect ongoing accruals and data. Delays in billing or crediting transactions can sometimes have an effect on the spend data between the financial years.

Taken in the whole, we have reduced overall travel spending compared to the last Administration, and delivered substantive savings for taxpayers’ from the abolition of regional government in England.

01/12/2022

Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2013-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the cost of travel within the UK was for his Department in each year since 2010; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence.

Brandon Lewis

Role of the Department

Reflecting our responsibilities for local government, housing, planning and communities across England, the work of the Department involves staff travelling to different parts of the country.

Improved procurement has reduced our average domestic hotel rate in the UK by 8% between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Moreover, domestic flights for longer journeys can avoid the need for paying for staff to stay in a hotel overnight.

Since 2011-12, the Department accepted responsibility for some new functions outside of London, including residual functions following the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions and then oversight of the European Regional Development Fund following the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies. As these business functions relate to work in areas outside of London and to the European Commission, this has therefore increased our travel spend compared to the base of 2010-11. However, this is far more than offset by the very significant savings to taxpayers of the abolition of these regional bodies.

Based on current estimates (which reflect accounting consequences from machinery of government changes) the DCLG Group is reducing its annual running costs by around 40% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15. This equates to net savings of at least £532 million over this spending review period and includes savings of around £420 million from the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions.

In addition to this, I note that the Regional Development Agencies were spending in the region of £246 million a year on administration (as cited in 11 March 2009, Official Report, Column 592W).

Spending data

The tables below list spending on travel by financial year. Figures for 2009-10 are from July 2009, as this is when the department’s current approved travel agent contract commenced; those figures are therefore only for three-quarters of the financial year, and the full year is likely to be proportionately higher.

	Overseas Travel	Overseas Accommodation	Overseas Subsistence	Total
July 2009 – March 10	£408,621	£19,847	£79,574	£508,042 (part-year)
2010-11	£56,304	£21,759	£27,798	£105,861
2011-12	£69,463	£21,204	£19,946	£110,613
2012-13	£78,474	£29,224	£21,911	£129,609

	UK Travel	UK Accommodation	UK Subsistence	Total
July 2009 – March 10	£621,028	£309,260	£174,888	£1,105,176 (part-year)
2010-11	£434,467	£199,563	£81,315	£715,345
2011-12	£980,307	£162,544	£71,913	£1,214,764
2012-13	£1,030,710	£166,149	£74,424	£1,271,283

Explanatory notes:

– Overseas subsistence costs can include accommodation, meals and travel tickets purchased locally.

– The costs of internal travel abroad are not routinely recorded in the form requested and this information could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

– Data on cost per trip is not centrally held in the form requested.

– For car hire, the data from our finance systems do not separate out expenditure for domestic and international car hire and this could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

– For helicopter hire, our records show that the Department has incurred no expenditure on this since 2010-11.

– Figures contained in this answer may differ from previous answers to Parliamentary Questions, as the data extracts have been re-run and reflect ongoing accruals and data. Delays in billing or crediting transactions can sometimes have an effect on the spend data between the financial years.

Taken in the whole, we have reduced overall travel spending compared to the last Administration, and delivered substantive savings for taxpayers’ from the abolition of regional government in England.

01/12/2022

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