Tag: Kevin Brennan

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will meet members of the Manufacturing Commission to discuss its report, entitled Industrial Evolution, published in October 2015.

Anna Soubry

The Government’s top priority is to continue creating a highly competitive business environment that makes the UK an attractive location for new manufacturing investment in sustainable processes. We are protecting spending on innovation and the cutting-edge smart manufacturing technologies that will encourage digital, virtual, resource-efficient factories in the future. The High Value Manufacturing Catapult has skills, expertise and equipment available to help partner companies improve the efficiency and sustainability of their processes. As part of Autumn Statement 2015, my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that funding to the nine existing Catapults would increase in real terms over the Spending Review period ensuring the UK remains a world leader in high-value manufacturing.

In addition, we are taking into account UK business opportunities during negotiations on the EU Circular Economy proposals which include aims to improve business sustainability, resource and energy efficiency.

At the Summer Budget 2015, the Chancellor announced a review of the business energy efficiency tax landscape and Government launched a consultation in September. The consultation set out proposals for delivering a simpler and more stable environment for business that will reduce administrative costs and improve incentives to invest in energy efficiency. This will help increase the productivity of UK businesses, save carbon emissions and ensure secure energy supplies. The Government is currently considering all consultation responses and is likely to publish its formal response at Budget 2016.

I would be delighted to receive further representations from the Manufacturing Commission on their recent Industrial Evolution report.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 14108, whether the Government has imposed binding conditions in previous privatisations.

Anna Soubry

A body such as the Green Investment Bank can only be classified to the private sector if it is not subject to significant government control over its corporate policy. That includes any control Government has over the body in terms of legislation, regulation and its contractual agreements.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to ensure that a privatised Green Investment Bank would be able to maximise the deployment of equity and debt from the European Fund for Structural Investment and other EU sources.

Anna Soubry

There is no reason why the Green Investment Bank (GIB) could not invest alongside the EFSI whether GIB is in public or private hands, as it seeks to gather the range of financing necessary to sponsor projects.

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 assessment he has made of the ability of a privatised Green Investment Bank to address market failures in the low carbon economy.

Anna Soubry

The Government’s position on this matter was set out in paragraphs 31 – 36 of our November 2015 policy statement on the future of the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) which can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.

This makes clear that 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.

There are other Government policy mechanisms in place aimed at promoting investment in more high risk projects and early stage technologies.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many workers who were transferred from the public sector to the private sector under previous privatisations will be covered by the Government’s proposed changes to exit payments in the Enterprise Bill.

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, what research has been commissioned by his Department into the effects of the extension of Sunday opening hours in each year for which data is available.

Anna Soubry

In 2006 Indepen were commissioned by the DTI to evaluate the economic costs and benefits of extending Sunday Trading hours, a copy of the report can be found on the GOV.UK website.

My Department has not commissioned any research since then into the effects of the extension of Sunday opening hours.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average penalty awarded against employers who failed to pay the national minimum wage was in each year since 2012.

Mr David Gauke

The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reviews all complaints that are referred to them.

Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker. A further increase in penalties will come into force in April 2016 and will increase the penalty percentage from 100% to 200% of the underpayments owed to each worker, up to the existing maximum.

In 2014/15, HMRC issued 705 penalties totalling £934,660. I refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 205613 for information on previous years.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department owed in late payments to small and medium-sized enterprises in each year for which data is available.

Anna Soubry

When making payments, the core Department does not differentiate between small, medium and large enterprises as many small and medium sized businesses can be found at various tiers of the procurement chain.

The Department takes prompt payment very seriously and records show that in the current financial year to the end of February 2016, 96.4% of all valid invoices (by volume) were paid within 5 working days. When looking at the overall value, this equates to 99.8% paid within 5 working days and 99.99% of invoices were paid within the 30 day standard contractual terms.

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 top five reasons were for imposing sanctions on jobseeker’s allowance claimants in each year for which data is available.

Priti Patel

The available information for the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance sanction decisions, by referral reason, is published and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html

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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 assessment he has made of which sectors of the British economy are most at risk from foreign export dumping; and what steps he is taking to protect those sectors from that activity.

Anna Soubry

Any industry or business can potentially be affected by dumping. Companies in all goods sectors can therefore seek protection from dumping or subsidy through the EU’s anti-dumping and anti-subsidy Regulations by providing evidence direct, or through a trade association, to the European Commission.

Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy actions by the European Commission have been taken against a wide range of imported products. The attached table shows the sectoral pattern of investigations conducted by the European Commission during the period 2011-2016.