Tag: Kevin Brennan

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 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding his Department has provided for big data projects in the last 10 years.

Joseph Johnson

The Government recognises the potential of Big Data and is taking steps to ensure the UK is at the forefront of research and innovation in this field.

Figures are only available from 2011, and since that time, the Government has invested over £520 million in developing the UK’s big data and high-performance computing capital infrastructure.

This includes major investments in specialist centres such as the Alan Turing Institute, the Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research, the Higgs Centre for Innovation, and the Hartree Centre at the Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department’s Graduate Development Scheme will take place in 2016; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID will be running a Graduate Development Scheme for 2016. Recruitment is due to launch in May 2016.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the value was of publicly-procured British steel in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

Matthew Hancock

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Clacton on 4 May to UIN: 35702.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many fines were issued for disability discrimination against blind people with guide dogs by licensed taxi drivers in each year for which information is available.

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he, his ministers and his officials have had with the European Commission on the situation in the steel industry.

Anna Soubry

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills has engaged with the European Commission and our European partners. He has spoken with a number of European Commissioners in Brussels; Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom (Trade), Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska (Internal Market) and Vice President Jyrki Katainen (Jobs and Competitiveness), and stressed the importance of this issue. He has had positive talks with the Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on progressing the approval of the UK’s Energy Intensive Industries compensation scheme.

I raised the issue with Matthias Machnig, State Secretary for the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. In addition, the Secretary of State hasraised the issue with his EU counterparts, including those in Luxembourg, France, Italy and Spain. ​Hecalled for an urgent EU Council meeting on steel, and I am pleased that the Luxembourg Presidency has scheduled a Competitiveness Council on9 November specifically to discuss the EU steel industry.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to respond to Question 18667, tabled on 3 December 2015.

Nick Boles

The proposals in the Bill are not about party funding. The Trade Union Bill is about employment and industrial relations. We are introducing a greater level of transparency into union activities by requiring union members to make an active decision to contribute to a union’s political fund.

If union members want a political fund, this will not necessarily lead to a reduction in the funds available. Therefore no assessment has been made in relation to the impact on the finances of any political party.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 14108, if he will place in the Library a copy of the preliminary feedback on his announcement of the privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.

Anna Soubry

The preliminary feedback to which my earlier answer refers is the outcome of private informal conversations that the Green Investment Bank (GIB) and our financial advisers have had with a number of potential investors on an in‑confidence basis to help gauge market appetite for acquiring a stake in GIB. The substance of these conversations is commercially sensitive and not for publication. The Government does, though, intend to report to Parliament setting out our detailed plans for a sale and to provide a further report following completion of a transaction and any subsequent transactions.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has undertaken an impact assessment under section 149 of the Equalities Act 2010 of the Government’s proposals relating to exit payments for public sector workers in respect of older workers.

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 Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has carried out benchmarking of the public sector exit payment cap against comparable private sector roles.

Greg Hands

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.

Exit payment terms vary significantly across the private sector, and there will be examples of terms that match or even exceed those in the public sector. However, the Government has seen no evidence that redundancy terms such as employer-funded early retirement, which are widely available across the public sector and often cost employers tens, or even hundreds of thousands of pounds per person, are replicated to anything like the same extent in the private sector.

The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years.

However, as the average cost of an exit in the public sector in recent years has been around £25,000 the vast majority of exits are below the level of the cap. For example, less than 2% of recent exits in local government were above the level of the cap.