Tag: Kevin Brennan

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many responses his Department received to the consultation on the exit payments cap for public sector workers; and how long his Department took to analyse and respond to those responses.

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 the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of differences in the ability of the Green Investment Bank to promote the (a) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, (b) advance of efficiency in the use of natural resources, (c) protection or enhancement of the natural environment, (d) protection of enhancement of biodiversity and (e) promotion of environmental sustainability as a (i) public and (ii) private sector organisation.

Anna Soubry

The Green Investment Bank (GIB) contributes to UK green policy objectives by mobilising much needed private capital into green sectors, demonstrating that green investment can be profitable.

GIB will continue to perform that role in private ownership – increasing investment and making profits from green sectors that are relatively mature but nevertheless suffer from a lack of investment.

In private hands, GIB will have access to much more capital than if it remained in Government hands and will be able to have a bigger impact.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons Bradford and Bingley, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock as publicly-funded banks are exempted from the public sector exit payments cap in the provisions of the Enterprise Bill.

Greg Hands

The Government’s partial ownership of Bradford and Bingley, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock as is a temporary measure following the financial crisis and they will be returned to the private sector in due course. The Government believes this is fundamentally different to public sector bodies that receive ongoing funding from the taxpayer.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) number and (b) proportion of civil servants will be affected by the Government’s proposed exit payment cap.

Matthew Hancock

To remain the best in the world, the Civil Service needs to respond to both the challenges and opportunities of our times. The Civil Service continues to require new and different skills to respond to the fiscal environment, global competition and changes in technology, whilst at the same time delivering better services more efficiently: in short, doing more for less.

The numbers of civil servants affected by the Government’s action to end six figure pay outs in the public sector will depend upon the terms applicable when the staff leave and which staff are exited.

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

To ask the Leader of the House, how many and what proportion of each Department’s Named Day Questions have been answered on the named day in the most recent period for which data is available.

Chris Grayling

The last submission from the Government on Parliamentary Written Questions performance was sent to the Procedure Committee on 4 November 2015 and covered the 2014-2015 Parliamentary Session. It is available at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/procedure/Letter-fro.pdf!docid=2617780!.pdf.

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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, how many jobs each of the 56 science capital projects his Department has funded since 2007 has created.

Joseph Johnson

BIS’s investment in science capital projects supports the UK’s world class research base, which directly employed around 260,000 researchers in 2013 and delivers a significant return to the economy. Further jobs are supported by investment, for example through construction of advanced facilities or improved Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills. However, job creation is not the primary aim of science capital projects, and has not been measured for each project, so it is not possible to provide the information requested.

The Government recognises that research is vital to our wellbeing and future economic success. This is why the science capital budget was increased to £1.1bn in 2015/16 and will rise with inflation to a total of £6.9bn over the period 2015 to 2021.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he takes to monitor the economic effect of projects his Department has funded.

Anna Soubry

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has taken a number of steps to embed systematic monitoring of our policies and programmes, including economic effects. The Department’s vision for monitoring and evaluation is outlined in our Evaluation Strategy, found on the GOV.UK website.

In particular:

1. For all new spending the Department ensures fit for purpose monitoring and evaluation plans are embedded before policy implementation.
2. The Department publishes an updated summary of the monitoring and evaluation coverage for each policy area on an annual basis. The BIS Evaluation Plan 2016 was published in January and is the second annual publication of BIS’s evaluation coverage, also found on the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much was received in the UK in net earnings from direct investment in companies based outside the UK in each of the last five years.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the reasons are for the reduction in the proportion of his Department’s budget spent with small and medium-sized enterprises between 2013 and 2015.

Anna Soubry

It is an established convention that Ministers of one Administration cannot see the documents of a previous Administration. I am therefore unable to provide the information requested by the hon Member.

However, the Department continues to improve its data collection so that the full extent of indirect spending with SMEs is captured, working closely with the Crown Commercial Service and prime contractors. The Department actively explores the possibility of contracting directly with SMEs throughout its procurement processes whilst adhering to the relevant public procurement regulations.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of innovation, research and development to the future viability of the British steel industry.

Anna Soubry

The UK is a world leader in advanced manufacturing sectors such as automotive and aerospace, which continue to grow rapidly. These industries all require high value, continually improving steel products in order to remain competitive, and therefore innovation will continue to play an important role in the future of the UK steel industry. The Steel Council recognises this; UK Steel are leading the Future Capacity and Capabilities working group which is currently undertaking work to better identify where innovation and R&D is needed to meet future requirements for steel products, and how industry and Government can work together to support this.

Since 2010 we have been supporting the steel sector by offering grants totalling £29 million and loans totalling £33 million towards projects including:

o The development of facilities, such as the R&D centre at Warwick University.

o Development of new products.

o And investment in training, skills and apprenticeships.