Tag: Kevin Brennan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make business expenditure on resource and energy efficiency measures tax deductible.

Damian Hinds

The government already provides support for businesses who want to invest to become more energy efficient. The annual investment allowance (AIA) lets businesses deduct up to a total of £200,000 of their investment in plant and machinery from annual profits before tax.

In addition, enhanced capital allowances (ECAs) let businesses that invest in certain energy-saving equipment write off the total cost of the equipment against their taxable profit as a 100% first-year capital allowance.

A review into the business energy efficiency tax landscape concluded in November. The government is considering all responses submitted to this consultation and is likely to publish its formal response at Budget 2016.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will remove plant and machinery from business rate calculations.

Mr David Gauke

The Government is considering the treatment of plant and machinery as part of the business rates review in England. The review will be fiscally neutral and will report at Budget 2016. Business rates are devolved in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the amount of (a) public and (b) private sector investment needed to fulfil Government targets for low-carbon infrastructure and supply chain investment in each year to 2025.

Andrea Leadsom

The National Infrastructure Pipeline provides annual estimates of investment in the Energy Sector. The 2015 publication of the National Infrastructure Pipeline [1] estimates £141bn worth of investment up to 2020/21 with a further £103bn post 2020/21. The figures do not distinguish between private and public investment.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will allocate all funds raised by privatisation of the Green Investment Bank to green technologies in the UK.

Anna Soubry

The Government has put paying down our debt while investing in infrastructure at the heart of our long term economic plan. Proceeds from a sale of UK Green investment Bank plc (GIB) will help us deliver on both those objectives. Any proposal to allocate Government funding to other types of intervention to achieve green policy objectives would need to be considered individually on its merits.

GIB’s remit has always been to invest in green projects on fully commercial terms to help demonstrate green investment can be profitable and attract additional private sector investment into green sectors from mainstream finance providers. GIB will continue to perform that role in private ownership. Details of the other Government policy mechanisms in place aimed at promoting investment in more high risk projects and early stage technologies are provided at paragraphs 31 – 36 of our November 2015 policy statement on the future of GIB which can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government’s proposals to cap public sector exit payments will explicitly exclude those workers who are retiring due to ill-health.

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 which organisations and types of payments the Government intends to capture within the scope of the public sector exit payment cap. This accords with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

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

The exit payment cap will apply to payments made as a result of an employee leaving their employment. It will not affect any pension a person has earned through their years of service or have any impact on accrued pension rights or pension lump sum entitlements on retirement. It will capture contributions, made by the employer, to fund early access to an unreduced or partially reduced pension. This is because such costs are ultimately funded by the tax payer.

The Government has been clear that early retirements relating to ill health are outside the scope of the cap and will not be affected. Additionally, any payments directed by a Court or Tribunal will not be included in the scope of the cap.

Exits on compassionate grounds are not such a clearly defined concept as exits related to ill health or redundancy. There will generally be a large degree of employer discretion on the terms of such exits, and on any payments. In these cases there will be discretion available to relax the cap in individual cases, subject to relevant Ministerial or local council approval, as will be set out in further detail in forthcoming Treasury guidance and directions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his proposals for the extension of Sunday trading hours has passed the family test.

Anna Soubry

The Government’s Family Test is not a pass or fail measure.

The Government has conscientiously considered the impact on families and the evidence on this presented during the consultation. The Government will publish the Impact Assessment, including the Family Test, shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the running costs were for the 56 capital based science projects which his Department has funded for each year since 2007, referred to in the NAO Report entitled BIS’s capital investment in science projects, HC 885, published on 10 March 2016; and what the projected running costs for those projects are for each year to 2020-21.

Joseph Johnson

Running costs for 2014-15 for the 56 projects are given in Appendix 3 of the NAO Science Capital report where facilities are operational. These figures come from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and its Partner Organisations and provide an indication of annual running costs of these projects.

Project level management and allocation of funding for the majority of ongoing science projects is done at Partner Organisation level, in accordance with the delivery responsibilities of the Partner Organisations BIS funds. BIS does not hold this level of information centrally and it would not be possible to collect this information for each of the years since 2007, and estimates for future years, without disproportionate cost. However, the Government has protected the science and research budget in real terms in the 2015 spending review to ensure science spending remains on a sustainable footing and continues to deliver world-class research.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much central government infrastructure investment was in each region of the UK since 2010.

Greg Hands

Historic data for regional infrastructure investment by government is not currently available. However historical capital expenditure figures including government’s infrastructure investment can be obtained from the following link :

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/country-and-regional-analysis-2015

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509735/NIDP_2016-2021_final_web.pdf

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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 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to encourage the National Infrastructure Commission to investigate ways in which the UK supply chain can be used to help the UK steel industry.

Anna Soubry

My officials continue to work with HM Treasury on the establishment of an independent National Infrastructure Commission, including the basis upon which it will consider economic growth and the impact of UK infrastructure on the wider economy.

On 30 October, we published guidance – Procurement Policy Note 16/15: Procuring steel in major projects, to ensure that Central Government takes into account relevant social and economic issues when procuring steel. This was followed, on 3 November, by more detailed instructions on how to apply social issues in steel procurement. These principles are being extended to the wider public sector, including Local Authorities and the NHS.