Tag: Jessica Morden

The parliamentary question asked by Jessica Morden, the Labour MP for Newport East, in the House of Commons on 2 February 2023.

Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)

What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to promote the use of UK-made steel in public procurement.

The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Alex Burghart)

The Government are ensuring a competitive future for the UK steel industry, and the reported value of UK-produced steel procured by the Government was up last year by £160 million, from £108 million to £268 million.

Jessica Morden

In last week’s Westminster Hall debate, the steel Minister, the hon. Member for Wealden (Ms Ghani), said

“there is huge scope for more procurement to take place in the UK.”—[Official Report, 25 January 2023; Vol. 726, c. 331WH.]

Will the Cabinet Office commit to publishing up-to-date data on the Government’s record in using UK steel, because it has not been good enough so far, and to adopting ambitious targets across Departments on the use of domestic steel in public projects?

Alex Burghart

I am pleased to tell the hon. Lady right now that 67% of the steel required for High Speed 2 is UK-produced, 94% of the steel used to maintain our rail track is produced in the UK and 90% of the steel used to build schools is produced in the UK. I understand there will be an urgent question after Question Time, which will give her the opportunity to ask a Minister from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy about this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit expiry dates on gift cards.

Nick Boles

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has no current plans to introduce legislation to prohibit the use of expiry dates on gift cards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on the issues raised by the Sheep Dip Sufferers Support Group at the meeting of 19 November 2015 relating to (a) organophosphate sheep dip and (b) missing medical records from 1992; and if she will send the minutes of that meeting to the Sheep Dip Sufferers Support Group.

George Eustice

Defra officials have been investigating this issue since the meeting in November and are in the process of finalising the information mentioned above for the Sheep Dip Sufferers Group. This is expected to be completed and released shortly.

The information will answer the actions from the meeting and include news releases from MAFF and the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) from 1992 and 1993. These explain why the decision was taken to end compulsory dipping and the conclusions of the VPC reviews of organophosphate sheep dips at the time.

A note of agreed actions from the meeting will be provided along with the information above.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2016 to Question 20831, when the DVLA plans to roll out the piloted scheme against non-payment of vehicle excise duty.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is continuing to work with police forces to address the issue of overstaying foreign registered vehicles.

The pilot that ran between November 2014 and February 2015 is now being taken forward as business as usual. A further seven police forces have requested the DVLA’s devolved powers to enable them to take action against non-compliant vehicles. On average around 100 foreign registered vehicles are impounded each month.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to halve the level of the Severn Bridge tolls inclusive or exclusive of VAT following the return of the Severn Bridge to public ownership.

Andrew Jones

After the end of the concession, the tolls will be 50% lower than the toll level when the concession comes to an end. This isn’t on top of the removal of VAT.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the cost and benefits of using (a) Green ISAs and Citizen Finance, (b) UK Pension Funds, (c) the European Investment Bank and (d) co-funding with devolved administrations as a means of increasing its capital base.

Anna Soubry

I assume that the Hon. Member’s question is referring to increasing the capital base of the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), rather than increasing the capital base of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The Government’s policy is to move the Green Investment Bank (GIB) into private ownership, minimising the Bank’s use of public funds, and where it will have the freedom to borrow and raise capital without impacting on public sector net debt.

a) Green ISAs and Citizen Finance

At present, GIB has insufficient track record for the retail market. Most of its portfolio is in relatively high risk construction projects that will not provide steady returns in the short term. More importantly, GIB’s current focus is growth, for which it will need to make regular cash calls on investors, which would be hard to meet in the public markets. However there is no reason why a privatised GIB could not raise capital through Green ISAs or other forms of citizen finance in the longer term.

(b) UK Pension Funds

Large scale institutional investors such as UK pension funds are likely to be interested in acquiring a stake in GIB, as part of the Government’s plans to move GIB into the private sector. GIB has already successfully attracted such investors into its managed fund for investment in Offshore Wind and other investments (e.g. Strathclyde local authority pension fund), many of whom are investing in green projects for the first time.

(c) The European Investment Bank (EIB)

The EIB’s focus is on providing debt products, rather than equity investment which is where GIB expects to concentrate. It is unlikely that the EIB would make an investment in GIB itself. However, GIB is already partnering with EIB as a co-investor (such as on the recent Galloper offshore wind investment) and it may continue to do so in future.

(d) Co-funding with devolved administrations

The Government’s policy is to move GIB into the private sector. Co-funding GIB with the devolved administrations would simply be another form of public sector funding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the level of the Severn Bridge tolls for each vehicle category in January (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Andrew Jones

The toll rates that will apply from January 2017 and January 2018 cannot yet be calculated, as they will depend on future rates of inflation which are not yet known. Tolls are set each January in accordance with the Severn Bridges Act 1992, which requires that tolls are increased in line with the Retail Price Index in the preceding September, compared to a baseline of March 1989, rounded to the nearest ten pence. This ensures that the tolls stay constant in real terms over time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what options were considered during the decision-making process of privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.

Anna Soubry

The Government considered a number of options for the Green Investment Bank’s (GIB) future but none were deemed to be as effective in meeting the Government’s objectives as the current proposals of moving GIB into majority private ownership.

These alternative options were set out in our policy paper of 18 November 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to protect members of the armed forces from bullying, sexual abuse and other crimes.

Mark Lancaster

Our Armed Forces are held in the highest esteem for their discipline, conduct and representation of our country. Any form of bullying or sexual abuse is utterly contrary to their culture, values and ethos. The Ministry of Defence strives to reduce crime and behaviour that impacts on victims and operational capability.

Senior Officers and all personnel continue to reinforce the zero tolerance approach and actively counter any form of behaviour which damages the reputation of our Armed Forces.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the proposed sale of the Green Investment Bank will include all assets of the bank.

Anna Soubry

The Government has made clear that we intend to sell the Green Investment Bank (GIB) as a going concern. The assets are an inherent part of that company.