The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with the Office for National Statistics on the issuing of special shares in the Green Investment Bank.
Anna Soubry
The Government is currently exploring with the Office of National Statistics whether there is scope to implement a special share style arrangement in a way that would not amount to a form of state control.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the public sector exit payments cap on morale in the Civil Service.
Matthew Hancock
The Civil Service has successfully changed the way it operates and become more efficient – it is now delivering far more, for less, than it did before 2010. The Government has delivered a range of policy changes over the last five years to modernise the Civil Service and save taxpayers money. During this time employee engagement rates have actually increased.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans to invest any unallocated funding held by the Green Investment Bank at its point of privatisation into green projects 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, if he will make it his policy to exempt employers from the proposed public sector exit payment cap if an employer can demonstrate that they are in the middle of an ongoing restructuring exercise.
Greg Hands
The Government made a manifesto commitment to end six-figure payouts in the public sector and wants to do so as soon as possible. These payments cost around £2 billion a year and it is important that they are fair, proportionate and provide value for money to the taxpayer that funds them. As such, the Government does not see any case for transitional arrangements to delay ending six-figure exit payments. However, the power for Ministers to relax the restrictions imposed by the cap provides the flexibility to do so in appropriate circumstances.
Automatic indexing would fail to offer the flexibility that the clause currently provides for. As it stands, the Government can amend the level of the cap to take into account all prevailing circumstances, and with the additional scrutiny of the affirmative resolution procedure in Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending trade defence instruments to add a further exemption to the lesser duty rules in cases of social and environmental dumping.
Anna Soubry
The Government supports the use of the lesser duty rule in trade defence cases, as it allows for protection against unfair trade while at the same time avoiding the imposition of disproportionate costs on the wider economy. We do not support changes that would lessen its effectiveness as a trade defence instrument.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of UK firms was owed money for late payments in each of the last ten years.
Anna Soubry
The Department does not hold the information required to make an estimate of proportion of UK firms owed money for late payments in each of the last ten years. As late payment affects so many different types of business in different ways, no single survey gives a full picture of the impact of late payment on businesses. The three sources that we look to as an indicator of late payment are the SME finance monitor, the regular BACs survey and Experian’s late payment index. BACS data shows that small and medium businesses were owed a total of £26.8 billion as at June 2015, and the average small business is waiting for £31,900 in overdue payments.
The Government recognises that late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK and is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts. This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the public and private sectors. Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to give general advice and to help small businesses resolve disputes relating to payment matters with larger businesses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made on implementing its plans to impose financial penalties of up to £20,000 per worker against companies who fail to pay the national minimum wage.
Nick Boles
From 26 May 2015, the maximum penalty for underpayment of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) increased from £20,000 per notice of underpayment (NoU) to £20,000 per worker.
From 1 April 2016 the penalty has been increased to 200% of the total underpayment for all of the workers specified in a NoU. By increasing penalties for underpayment of the NMW it is intended that employers, who could otherwise be tempted to underpay, comply with the law and working people receive the money they are legally due. The maximum penalty will remain at £20,000 per worker.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the quality of information and data used to inform his Department’s investment prioritisation process; and if he will make a statement.
Joseph Johnson
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is committed to ensuring that all of its key policies and programmes are based on high quality evidence and subject to robust monitoring and evaluation. The foundation for this vision was set out in the Department’s Evaluation Strategy published in December 2014 and the first update – BIS Evaluation Plan 2016.
A substantial amount of work is undertaken across the Department to better understand, and develop, the evidence underpinning investment options. For example, in preparation for Spending Review 2015, the Department thoroughly reviewed its evidence base, through Evidence Challenge Panels (ECP) and an Investment Gateway (IG) process. The ECP membership consisted of Directors of spend areas and provided senior peer review of work underway to address the key evidence gaps and to support longer term planning to develop BIS’ evidence base. The IG was set up to support prioritisation of spend and ensure investment decisions are based on robust business cases consisting of strategic, economic, financial, management and commercial assessments. The IG panel includes the chief analyst and DG finance. The ECP and IG in turn fed into the Department’s submissions to HM Treasury for the Spending Review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with his Bahraini counterpart the treatment of Hassan Mushiema.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of the case of Hassan Mushaima and we have raised it with the Government of Bahrain. We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to deliver on its international and domestic human rights commitments and to appropriately address all reports of ill-treatment of detainees. We also encourage all those with concerns about their treatment in detention to report these directly to the Ombudsman.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to his oral contribution of 18 April 2016, Official Report, column 712, on the national minimum wage, what correspondence his Department has received from employers asking not to be named and shamed for breach of the legislation in each year since that approach was implemented.
Nick Boles
Since the naming scheme began we have received 107 representations from employers asking not to be named: 1 in 2013, 35 in 2014 and 71 in 2015.