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, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals on increasing penalties for online copyright infringement.

Mr Edward Vaizey

A consultation was held during summer 2015 on proposals to increase the maximum custodial sentence for online copyright infringement from two to ten years, to harmonise it with the penalty available for physical infringement. The responses to that consultation have been analysed and officials at the IPO are now giving consideration to future direction and timing and will advise Ministers accordingly.

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 representations he has received on the proposed privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.

Anna Soubry

The Government has received a small number of representations from interested parties since the Government’s announcement to bring in private capital to the Green Investment Bank (GIB) in June 2015.

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills met my hon Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) and representatives from E3G and Aldersgate Group in October, and I have met with the Member separately this month. The Government also meets GIB management regularly to discuss this and other issues.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department issues on conducting public consultations during the summer recess.

Mr Oliver Letwin

Cabinet Office publishes Consultation Principles, which it expects all government departments to follow. They were most recently updated on 14 January in response to feedback from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee.

Principle G includes the line:

‘When the consultation spans all or part of a holiday period, consider how this may affect consultation and take appropriate mitigating action, such as prior discussion with key interested parties or extension of the consultation deadline beyond the holiday period’.

The Principles also make clear that formal consultation should only form part of the engagement process and that departments should make use of new digital tools and consider whether an iterative approach is appropriate.

The Principles can be found online on gov.uk and a copy can be found in the House of Commons Library.

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 has made an assessment of the projects with which the Green Investment Bank has been involved which would not have gone ahead without investment from that Bank.

Anna Soubry

One of the UK Green Investment Bank’s (GIB’s) objectives is to invest in green projects that would not go ahead, or would not go ahead as quickly, without investment from GIB. The majority of the projects GIB supports fall into this category.

Where GIB has invested in projects that are already operational, this has been for the purpose of building a secondary market for such assets which releases the funds of project developers to invest in new construction projects

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consider allowing public bodies to continue to have the right, under the Local Government Pension scheme, to allow individuals to access an unreduced pension on compassionate grounds under the proposed public sector exit payments cap.

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 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support the Government plans to provide to local authorities for implementation of the extension of primary authority under the Enterprise Bill.

Anna Soubry

The Government has engaged extensively with local authorities to ensure that Primary Authority is modelled around how local authorities engage with businesses.

We will continue to work closely with local authorities, including providing free training and guidance materials to local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the illicit tobacco trade in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

Damian Hinds

Estimates of tax revenue losses associated with illicit tobacco are published every year. The latest estimates, for the years 2006/7 to 2014/15, are published in ‘Tobacco Tax Gap estimates 2014-15’.

This can be accessed via the GOV.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-tax-gap-estimates

HM Revenue and Customs makes no other estimate of the value of the illicit tobacco trade.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to conduct a systematic analysis of existing science and research-based infrastructure in the UK for the purpose of guiding his Department’s future investment priorities.

Joseph Johnson

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is considering the National Audit Office’s recent report on capital investment in science projects, and will respond in due course.

All funding decisions are subject to BIS and HM Treasury’s rigorous scrutiny process and must pass a robust business case process before spending is approved.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what value and proportion of central government procurement was made by each department in each year since 2010.

Matthew Hancock

Total central government procurement spend is published as part of the annual reporting of spend with small and medium-sized businesses at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2014-to-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of democracy and human rights in Bahrain.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We welcome the progress made by Bahrain on their reform programme particularly in the areas of youth justice, the establishment and increasing effectiveness of the Ombudsman’s office, the Prisoner and Detainees’ Rights Commission and the reformed National Institute of Human Rights. Some challenges remain and we regularly discuss human rights and reform with the Government of Bahrain. I did so most recently when I met the Bahraini Ambassador to the UK, Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, on 8 March 2016.