The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value was of (a) jobseeker’s allowance and (b) employment and support allowance sanctions imposed by his Department in each of the last five years.
Priti Patel
The Department does not make an estimate of the value of benefit withdrawn as a result of benefit sanctions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much funding his Department provided to each of its partner organisations in each year from 2010; and what the (a) type and (b) sector of those organisations is.
Joseph Johnson
Table 1 sets out the total funding provided to the Department’s partner organisations for each financial year since 2009-10. Funding includes grant-in-aid funding or an increased equity investment.
Table 2 sets out these partner organisations according to type and sector.
Since 2010 the Department has significantly reduced its number of partner organisations down to 44. We committed to further reductions as part of the BIS2020 programme of departmental transformation to make the Department cheaper and simpler, and to deliver better services to users.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for how long the proposed apprenticeship levy vouchers will be valid.
Nick Boles
Levy funds will expire 18 months after they enter an employers’ digital apprenticeship service account unless they are spent on apprenticeship training. This will also apply to any top-ups in the account. Expiration will take place automatically, but an employer’s digital apprenticeship service account will let them know in good time when any funds are due to expire so that the funds can be spent if the employer wishes to do so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what meetings he has had with the European Commissioner for Competition on EU state aid rules and support for energy-intensive industries.
Anna Soubry
Over the past year, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has met and called several times with Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, to discuss EU state aid rules and energy-intensive industries. I as Minister of State for Business, Industry and Enterprise attended the energy intensive industries high level stakeholder conference in Brussels in February. Senior officials from the Department have also had regular meetings with Commission Competition officials to discuss these issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect on the economy in Northern Ireland of the UK leaving the EU.
Mr Ben Wallace
The Government is clear that we are safer, stronger and better off in the EU.
Reports by HM Treasury are clear that leaving the EU would bring serious economic costs that would affect businesses, jobs, living standards and public finances for decades to come.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on the Northern powerhouse of the closure of the Business Growth Service.
Anna Soubry
We do not expect closure of the Business Growth Service to have an impact on the growth of Small and Medium sized Enterprises or the Northern Powerhouse.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 902718, what transfer arrangements are in place for the 70 green specialists employed by the Green Investment Bank should they be transferred to the private sector.
Anna Soubry
Private investors will be buying the Green Investment Bank company and employees will continue to be employed by that company. No transfer arrangements are therefore required.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for which departments and organisations which receive public funding it is his policy that exit payment caps for public sector workers as proposed in the Enterprise Bill should not apply.
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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to ensure that a privatised Green Investment Bank will support the UK’s cities, regions and nations in creating robust low carbon economies.
Anna Soubry
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) can best contribute to UK green policy objectives by doing what it does best – achieving the demonstration effect and mobilising much needed private capital into green sectors.
GIB will continue to perform that role in private ownership – getting more investment into green sectors that are relatively mature but nevertheless suffer from a lack of investment
In private hands, GIB will have access to much more capital than if it remained in Government hands – and will be able to have a bigger impact.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what mechanisms he plans to put in place to measure and monitor (a) value for money for the public purse and (b) the effect on the green economy of a privatised Green Investment Bank; and if he will report regularly to the House on those aspects.
Anna Soubry
Details of why the Government believes moving UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) into private ownership represents the best way to enable the company to deliver its ambitious green business plan and have a greater impact on green investment while minimising burdens on the UK taxpayer are provided in our November 2015 policy statement on the future of GIB and are further set out in the Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on the future of GIB which was laid in Parliament on 2 February. Both documents can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.
The Government has committed to report to Parliament setting out our plans for a sale of GIB and will provide a further report following completion of a transaction and any subsequent transactions.