Tag: Kevin Brennan

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Best in Class, published by the CBI in December 2015, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of Swedish four box grid approach to analysing the attractiveness of international markets.

Anna Soubry

In CBI’s Best in Class report, the reference to the Swedish four box grid approach was part of a wider recommendation on allocating overseas resources for business support.

The UK Government recognises that it has a crucial role to play in supporting businesses that export and invest in international markets.

The Government is committed to focusing UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) overseas resources for business support in those markets that can deliver greatest benefit for the UK. UKTI uses similar publicly-available market data to Sweden (including GDP growth, political risk and the ease of doing business) in its assessment of export markets, but importantly this is just one input into the opportunity-focused, five-year rolling business planning process being developed to guide resource decisions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many UK Trade and Industry (UKTI) staff have direct experience of working in private sector exporting companies before taking up their employment at UKTI.

Anna Soubry

UK Trade & Investment does not hold information on staff with direct experience of working in private sector exporting companies. I can however confirm that a large number of its staff have been recruited from the private sector.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost of retail crime was to businesses in each year for which data is available.

Karen Bradley

The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

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 fraud, in the latest year.

In order to keep the length of the survey, and hence the burden on respondents, to a minimum, businesses are only asked about the cost of the latest incident of each crime type experienced in the year. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an aggregate cost of fraud or overall crime to businesses in the retail sector.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses that have registered for (a) VAT and (b) PAYE in each region and nation of the UK between 2010 and 2014.

Mr David Gauke

The Office for National Statistics publishes a breakdown of the number of businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE by region:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/ukbusinessactivitysizeandlocation/2015-10-06#business-counts-by-uk-region

Previous releases of this publication including data from 2010 onwards can be found here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/ukbusinessactivitysizeandlocation/previousReleases

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to examine measures other European countries have taken to protect their steel industries against dumping to inform his policies.

Anna Soubry

Anti-dumping policy is agreed at EU level so all EU member states adopt identical trade measures to protect EU industry from dumping. These measures are only imposed following an investigation by the European Commission, which in turn must be prompted by a complaint from European industry. The EU currently has 37 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures in place on steel and steel products.

As part of the International Comparisons Working Group, established following the Steel Summit on 16 October 2015, the Government has, in conjunction with representatives of the UK steel industry, examined the anti-dumping policies of some non-EU countries. The work was informed, in part, by European Commission’s own evaluation of its trade defence instruments published in 2012[1], which included a detailed comparison of the trade defence policies of other countries.

[1] Evaluation of the European Union’s Trade Defence Instruments. BKP Development and Research 2012. Vol 1 and 2.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings and discussions he has had with representaives of the PrescQIPP Programme since May 2015.

Alistair Burt

The Department is not aware of any discussions or meetings the Secretary of State for Health has had with representatives of PrescQIPP.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to inform public sector workers of the implications of the public sector exit payment cap.

Greg Hands

The Government announced on 31st July 2015 that it intended to end six-figure exit payments for public sector workers, acting on its manifesto commitment. A public consultation over the summer of 2015 asked for views on the details of the policy, which received over 4,000 replies.

The public sector exit payment cap has now been legislated for in the Enterprise Act. The Government intends to publish draft regulations over the summer setting out the detail of how the policy will be introduced, alongside accompanying guidance. All affected parties, including public sector workers, will have a further opportunity to comment on the regulations and supporting guidance during that time.

The regulations implementing the public sector exit cap will not come into force before 1 October 2016 at the earliest. They will apply to bodies in England and those in Wales where the workforce is not devolved in this context. It will be for Welsh Ministers to determine when they bring into force the regulations in the Enterprise Act for bodies devolved to Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the differences are in the requirements for proposed new grammar schools and existing grammar schools for fairer access.

Nick Gibb

On 12 September, the department launched the consultation ‘Schools that work for everyone’, which sets out proposed requirements that could be placed on new and existing selective schools to ensure fair access. This can be found at https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will list the (a) location and (b) dates of visits he has made to food banks since May 2010.

Justin Tomlinson

DWP Ministers have visited a number of third sector organisations, faith groups, civil society organisations and charities, including food banks since May 2010.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what impact assessment the Government has undertaken on its decision to privatise the Green Investment Bank.

Anna Soubry

The Government is moving UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) into private ownership so it can continue operating in the same way it does now only funded with private capital rather than relying on taxpayers’ support. The detailed background and supporting case for this move was set out in the policy statement we published on 18 November. Decisions on the proposed sale are being taken in accordance with best practice to ensure all available options are properly examined in a detailed business case and that a robust valuation process is followed. The process does not involve preparation of an impact assessment as there are no regulatory or significant cost impacts of a majority sale of GIB, or changes to pre-existing policy goals for GIB.