Tag: Chuka Umunna

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will commission an investigation into the reasons for the proportion of Taser incidents which involve black people; and if she will make a statement.

Mike Penning

The Government supports the need for transparent and accurate data on how the police are using force. That is why the Home Secretary asked Chief Constable David Shaw to carry out an in depth review of Taser data and other use of force. The review will present options for collecting, collating and publishing data on how force including Taser is being used by the police, who it is being used on, and what the outcomes are. Chief Constable David Shaw’s Use of Force Data Review is expected to report to the Home Secretary later this year. As with sensitive powers like stop and search, the police use of force warrants proper accountability and transparency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will carry out an investigation into allegations of misselling to businesses by lenders relating to loans made under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme.

Matthew Hancock

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has been pro-active in its engagement with Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) lenders, with regular audits of the use of the scheme since its launch. In February 2014 BIS wrote to all lenders participating in the EFG scheme reiterating their operational responsibilities, including the way in which it is presented to their front line staff and customers. Following evidence of concerns of lending by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in August 2014, BIS officials asked RBS to instigate an internal review into this issue.

My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has met with RBS to discuss these findings, and I have asked the British Business Bank – which now administers the programme on behalf of the Department – to continue to closely monitor the action being taken by RBS to address these issues. I have been given assurance from RBS that they will put right any cases where they are at fault to ensure that no detriment is suffered by either the borrower or the taxpayer.

The Enterprise Finance Guarantee remains a valuable programme which helps viable businesses gain access to finance where they have insufficient security or an inadequate track record to access finance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the review by Lord Myners of the process of privatisation of Royal Mail will be published in full; and when this report will be completed.

Matthew Hancock

The review is intended to inform wider HMG considerations about alternatives to bookbuilding, as recommended by the National Audit Office in its report on the Royal Mail Initial Public Offering (IPO). It will help my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in his own assessment of the system the Government operates for the sale of its assets through IPOs to ensure that Government can meet its full objectives whilst achieving value for money.

It is not a public review but my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for BIS will make the key findings of the review public.

It is expected that the noble Lord Myners will complete his review later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many bids to the Export Refinancing Facility have been (a) received and (b) approved since its launch; and how many firms have received funds under the scheme to date.

Matthew Hancock

The Export Refinancing Facility (ERF) was launched on 30 April 2014 in order to support UK bids for projects that require finance above £50m.

The ERF does not provide funds directly to firms but a commitment to banks funding loans to overseas buyers of UK exports to take-out that loan if it has not been possible for the bank to refinance it commercially.

UK Export Finance officials have held several discussions with exporters, overseas buyers and banks in relation to ERF, with one case currently under discussion.

It is likely that ERF will be most relevant during periods of constrained liquidity in the banking market. Given current market conditions, export credit transactions are less likely to require ERF in order to take place but the facility remains an important product in UKEF’s portfolio giving it the ability to respond quickly to changes in those market conditions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the total value is of all bids made in each region to each round of the Regional Growth Fund including the Exceptional Regional Growth Fund; how much has been committed to winning bidders in each such region in each such round; and how much such funding has been drawn down.

Greg Clark

The tables below provide a breakdown of the value of Regional Growth Fund (RGF) by region and round for RGF applications; the committed allocation of RGF to projects and programmes following due diligence. This data excludes those projects and programmes that have withdrawn. The third table sets out the amount drawn down by operational RGF awards to date and the financial years in which the remaining RGF and eRGF is committed through to 31^st March 2017. The data is correct as at 2^nd October 2014.

Projects and programmes in Rounds 1 to 4 have until 31 March 2015 to draw down their funding and projects and programmes in Round 5 will be able to draw down funding until 31 March 2017. The Department agrees a draw down profile with each organisation when they sign their grant offer letter that matches the beneficiary’s own investment schedules and job commitments. The subsequent rate of draw down is then subject to the beneficiaries meeting the conditions.

RGF Applications (£ million)

	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Exceptional	Total
East Midlands	231	529	124	163	56		1,103
East of England	115	131	61	50	43		400
London	74	117	26	32	4		253
North East	343	335	353	215	98	34	1,378
North West	519	535	414	322	81	9	1,880
South East	185	154	145	191	24	22	721
South West	144	232	322	219	57	15	989
West Midlands	569	282	419	176	70	16	1,532
Yorkshire and The Humber	327	434	345	240	26		1,372
Nationwide	215	315	565	282	241		1,618
TOTAL	2,722	3,064	2,774	1,890	700	96	11,246

RGF Committed

	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Exceptional	Grand Total
East Midlands	2	64	27	35	20	0	148
East of England	14	35	25	15	5	0	95
Nationwide	175	95	176	50	107	0	602
North East	34	61	111	30	55	21	313
North West	20	182	105	86	20	5	418
South East	0	60	54	25	6	11	155
South West	4	71	82	13	22	5	197
West Midlands	89	95	151	55	30	17	437
Yorkshire and The Humber	47	78	93	40	27	0	285
Grand Total	385	742	834	349	291	58	2651

RGF Drawn Down by year (£ million)

Financial Year	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	Total
Actual paid – year to date	465	161	551	252*			1,428
Planned for whole financial year				1165	167	133	2,642

The difference between the totals in tables 2 and 3 arises because RGF applicants have not always claimed the full grant available to them.

*This is the actual amount paid to beneficiaries as of 2^nd October 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his letter of 2 May 2014 which was placed in the Library, on what date agreement was reached with each of the pilot fishing investors in Royal Mail on share allocations.

Matthew Hancock

The allocations to pilot fishing investors was finalised for all these investors on 8 October 2013.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff (a) in his Department and (b) its executive agencies are currently working wholly or in part on the issue of Sunday trading.

Jo Swinson

a) No staff in BIS are currently working full time on the issue of Sunday Trading. There are two policy staff and one lawyer that have Sunday Trading as part of their wider portfolio e.g. providing briefing on policy and employment aspects, answering PQs, drafting responses to Bill amendments and information requests, providing correspondence advice. In addition there are 2 staff that deal with standard correspondence some small proportion of which will include responding to letters referring to Sunday Trading legislation.

b) We are not aware of any staff in Executive Agencies of BIS that are specifically assigned to work on the issue of Sunday Trading.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many firms have received assistance under the Direct Lending Scheme to date.

Matthew Hancock

There has been significant interest in UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) Direct Lending Facility (DLF) since its enhancements were announced in the Budget. Since it was relaunched on 30 June 2014, the pipeline of potential export contracts has developed and now involves 28 UK-based exporters of varying size and export experience. As it stands, the pipeline has 35 potential export contracts that range from £3m to over £350m. Most importantly, the DLF pipeline is growing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the current ownership of shares in Royal Mail.

Matthew Hancock

Maintaining and updating the Royal Mail shareholder register is the responsibility of the company.

A number of financial market Information providers publish information about company shareholders including Royal Mail.

The Government does not hold any information that cannot be obtained from these sources.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assurances were sought from priority investors ahead of the privatisation of Royal Mail on long-term holding of shares by (a) Ministers in his Department (b) Officials in his Department (c) the Financial Adviser to the Government and (d) the banking syndicate working on the privatisation.

Matthew Hancock

No assurances were sought from the priority investors ahead of the sale of shares in Royal Mail.

Any mechanism which requires a buyer to give up the rights normally associated with shares, such as a restriction on the right to sell those shares for a period of time, would be reflected in the price investors would be prepared to pay for those shares.

These investors gave the Government confidence to take forward the IPO which raised nearly £2bn for the tax payer and reduced the risk that the tax payer to support the universal postal service.