Tag: Kevin Brennan

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.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consult public sector organisations which would be affected by the proposed exit payment cap on the technical considerations of that cap.

Greg Hands

The Government maintains that £95,000 is a significant amount of money for anyone to be receiving for an exit, while the large majority of exit payments are already significantly below the level of the cap. Voluntary redundancy and workforce restructuring is not contingent upon access to six-figure exit payments. As such, we do not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy, and believe the cap will enable public sector employers to retain the tools to effectively make organisational changes to their workforce whilst offering those made redundant generous provisions for loss of employment.

The consultation on the public sector exit payment cap ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015, and received over 4000 responses. These responses included representations from public sector organisations. The Government will publish draft regulations and invite comment on them in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many shop workers were assaulted in each of the last six months for which figures are available.

Mr John Hayes

The data requested is not available broken down by month. However, the Home Office runs an annual Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) which asks business premises in different sectors about their experience of various crime types, including assaults and threats (a combined category) in the last year.

In 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, there were around 410,000 assaults and threats against businesses in the wholesale and retail sector. The 2015 figures will be published on 28th April.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also publish annual figures on the number of violent incidents in the workplace based on findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales. However, this information is not available just for shops. According to the 2013/14 crime survey, there were an estimated 583,000 incidents of violence at work, comprising 269,000 assaults and 314,000 threats. HSE will publish figures for 2014/15 on 31st March.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which companies have failed to pay the national minimum wage since the introduction of the new naming and shaming regulations on 1 October 2013.

Nick Boles

Since the introduction of the revised naming and shaming scheme, details of employers who have failed to pay the National Minimum Wage have been published on gov.uk. Details can be found via the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed-february-2016

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed-october-2015

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed (July 2015)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed (March 2015)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-and-shames-largest-ever-number-of-national-minimum-wage-offenders (February 2015)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-and-shames-37-national-minimum-wage-offenders (January 2015)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-employers-who-fail-to-pay-the-national-minimum-wage (November 2014)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-employers-who-fail-to-pay-minimum-wage (June 2014)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-gets-tough-with-employers-failing-to-pay-minimum-wage (February 2014)

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of differences in mortality rates for (a) permanent and (b) temporary workers.

Nick Boles

My Department has not made an assessment of the differences in mortality rates for permanent and temporary workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the net earnings were from direct investment in UK companies in each year since 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether employers who pay the proposed apprenticeship levy and provide training will be able to use levy vouchers in their own organisations.

Nick Boles

Employers will be free to spend levy money on apprenticeships training which they judge best meets their needs. If the employer is a registered training provider, they could use the levy money on in-house training which meets the required quality standards for an apprenticeship.

Where an employer wishes to provide their own in-house training, they must be registered on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Training Organisations. All providers are subject to inspection and reports by Ofsted on apprenticeship training provision.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many Renewables Obligation Certificates have been issued to steel producers who have recycled energy in their steel plants.

Andrea Leadsom

The Renewable Obligation is designed to support investment in renewable electricity to meet our EU renewables target and contribute towards our wider low carbon goals. It only supports electricity generated from renewable non-fossil sources. This definition is taken from the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC and is set out in the Renewables Obligation Order 2015.

To date, no steel producer has accredited under the Renewable Obligation and so no Renewable Obligation Certificates have been issued to steel producers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average fine is for people found guilty of breaking the law by not allowing the transport of blind people and their guide dogs in licensed taxis under the Equality Act 2010.

Dominic Raab

It is an offence under section 168 of the Equalities Act 2010 to refuse to take an assistance dog in a taxi or private hire vehicle. The maximum penalty is a level 3 fine (up to £1,000).

The number of offenders sentenced at all courts (with fines and average fines specifically identified) for failure to comply with a section 168 duty in relation to an assistance dog for a disabled person, in England and Wales, from 2011 (earliest separately identifiable information available) to 2015 can be viewed in table 1.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for failure to comply with a section 168 duty in relation to an assistance dog for a disabled person, listed by local authority prosecuting the case in England and Wales, from 2011 (earliest separately identifiable information available) to 2015 can be viewed in table 2.

Centrally held data by the Ministry of Justice includes information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. Data on whether a guide dog for the blind or a different type of assistance dog was involved in such a case is not held centrally, or reliably recorded where there is no operational reason to do so.