Tag: 2016

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps fully to implement the Energy Intensive Industry Compensation package.

Anna Soubry

On 14 December, the EU Commission approved our first state aid case – to commence relief from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation and small-scale Feed-in-Tariff . Eligible companies are now able to apply for compensation. Scheme guidance and application forms were published on 19 January 2016 and details can be found on the GOV.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewables-obligation-and-small-scale-feed-in-tariffs-apply-for-compensation. We continue to be in dialogue with the EU Commission on the second element of our State Aid Application to compensate competitors of eligible Electricity Intensive Industries (EII) to ensure they do not face competitive distortions. Compensation paid under the EII scheme is in addition to the £148 million of support the Government has already given to EIIs to mitigate the impact of climate policy.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has undertaken an impact assessment under section 149 of the Equalities Act 2010 of the Government’s proposals relating to exit payments for public sector workers in respect of older workers.

Greg Hands

The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on the potential impacts of the cap and sets out which organisations the Government intends to capture within scope of the public sector exit payment cap. The final policy is in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

The consultation ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. Over 4000 responses were received. These representations were considered during and after the consultation to inform the Government response that was published on 16 September 2015.

The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf

An impact analysis was published within the exit payment cap consultation document which respondents had an opportunity to comment on. Further, the Government worked with departments and took into account consultation responses received after the official deadline to inform the impact of a public sector exit payment cap set at £95,000 in different sectors and for different categories of workers. This assessment gave due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The exit payment cap is intended to capture organisations classified as public sector by the Office for National Statistics with few exceptions as identified in the consultation response.

The Government does not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy.

At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.