Tag: Jessica Morden

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her Oral Answer of 4 July 2016 to Question 905617, on Mindfulness in Schools, when she plans to publish the results of the national survey.

Edward Timpson

The survey will provide the first nationally representative assessment of activities carried out by schools and colleges to support their pupils’ and students’ mental health and development of character traits.

The fieldwork for the survey has now begun and the Department expects to publish the results early in 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will place in the Library any external advice given to his Department on green reporting to be undertaken by the privatised Green Investment Bank.

Anna Soubry

The Department has not received any external advice on green reporting to be undertaken by the privatised Green Investment Bank.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department has (a) spent on its contract with Concentrix and (b) received in revenue as a result of reviews of (i) tax credit and (ii) child tax credit claims carried out by Concentrix since that contract was signed.

Mr David Gauke

The estimate of commission paid for the HM Revenue and Customs contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix relating to error and fraud is 15.8m since the start of the contract.

The total savings to date in annually managed expenditure is £284.1m. We have no way to break down this figure any further and can only provide a combined CTC and WTC figure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department plans to include an undertaking to retain the staff of the Green Investment Bank as a condition when privatising that body.

Anna Soubry

It is the Department’s intention to sell the Green Investment Bank (GIB) as a going concern along with its business and staff. The GIB’s commercial value lies in its unique green specialism, including its green specialist staff. Any investor spending large sums investing in this bank will be investing precisely in this green specialism and staff.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time taken was to respond to email enquiries by the Security Industry Authority in each month since January 2016.

Brandon Lewis

The average time taken to respond to electronic (e-mail or online) enquiries is unavailable in the format requested prior to July 2016.

From July 2016, the Security Industry Authority began using a new IT system, which has enabled it to produce a range of metrics. The average time taken to respond to electronic enquiries in July and August was 7 days against their service standard of 10 days.