Tag: Lord Taylor of Warwick

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve broadband networks in the UK to support small businesses.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Since 2010 the proportion of households and businesses with access to superfast broadband has risen from 45% to 83%. Thanks to the Government’s investment this will rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. In addition, the Government’s Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has been a tremendous success. More than 55,000 small businesses across the UK have taken up the offer, many of which are already seeing significant boosts to their business as a result of improved broadband speeds.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to promote gender diversity in the UK film industry.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

This Government is committed to promoting diversity in the film industry. We support the British Film Institute’s (BFI) newly launched £1 million Diversity Fund, which works to provide professional development opportunities to people from underrepresented groups, as well as funding to organisations that are looking to support diversity projects. As part of the recent London Film Festival, the BFI supported the Geena Davis Institute’s symposium on Gender in the Media, and has also recently extended its Diversity Standards to cover all Film Fund Lottery schemes which support film development, production and distribution, and widen access to film in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support female start-up company founders in the light of the study by MIT, Harvard and Wharton Universities in 2014 showing that males are 60 per cent more likely to get funding.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The UK is a great place to start a business, with an increase of 760,000 businesses between 2010 and 2014. There are more women-led businesses in the UK than ever before – around 1 million (20%) of all Small and Medium sized Enterprises. But we know more needs to be done to ensure we create the right environment for women to start and grow their own businesses.

Women can benefit from the full range of wider business support available from government. This includes Start-Up Loans which provides funding and intensive support to new entrepreneurs (38% of Start-Up Loans have been awarded to women); and the New Enterprise Allowance which provides a business mentor and access to financial support for Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants who want to start their own business (37% of NEA loans have been awarded to women).

We have developed a specific web page on the Business is Great website for potential and existing female entrepreneurs to find out what help is available to them (http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/women-in-enterprise/). We are also currently undertaking research to increase our understanding of the best way to reach female entrepreneurs.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to increase business confidence, in the light of uncertainty regarding the global economy and the EU referendum.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union.

As part of these negotiations, we secured a firm commitment to drive an ambitious agenda of economic reform within the EU to help unleash the full potential of the Single Market and create growth and jobs.

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-04-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent data from Begbies Traynor showing that the number of British manufacturers that are struggling financially has risen by 20 per cent.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

We have not made an assessment of this report. The UK has some of the best manufacturing in the world, and we are focussed on a competitive tax regime and supporting science and innovation to make the UK an even better place to do business. There are a number of global headwinds which are currently placing significant pressures on UK manufacturing, making it more important than ever that we stick to our long term economic plan for sustainable growth.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK leaving the EU on the level and availability of European funding for UK clean energy projects and other big infrastructure schemes.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

As the Prime Minister has made clear, while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged. It will be for the government under the new Prime Minister to begin the negotiation to exit the EU and set out the arrangements they will put in place for recipients of EU funding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of calls for food manufacturers to be forced to put traffic-light nutrition labels on the front of packs.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The United Kingdom’s voluntary scheme for colour coded front of pack nutrition labelling has been developed in compliance with Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, but the regulation does not permit national mandatory front of pack labelling.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the slowing of economic growth in Q3.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The Government’s economic plan is working. In Q3 2015, the economy grew 0.5 per cent – the 11th consecutive quarter of quarter-on-quarter growth – and 2.3 per cent in the year to Q3 2015. The economy is now 12.4 per cent larger than at the start of the 2010. The UK is forecast by the OECD to be the joint fastest growing economy in the G7 in 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take, if any, to help Britain’s aerospace and defence industry in the light of Rolls-Royce’s fifth profit warning in 21 months.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government is working with Britain’s aerospace and defence industry through the Aerospace Growth Partnership and the Defence Growth Partnership to remove barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high value jobs.As part of this work we are supporting the industry’s investment in technology, competitiveness and productivity, and skills, to help ensure the UK remains one of the world’s leading aerospace and defence nations

At the Spending Review, the Government protected and extended spending on the Aerospace Technology Institute.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports that BAME civil servants struggle more than their white counterparts to reach senior positions in Whitehall.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Government is committed to ensuring a diverse Civil Service that is representative of Modern Britain at all levels.

In 2014, we commissioned external research undertaken by Ethnic Dimension to identify the barriers to progression experienced by talented BAME Civil Servants. The findings informed the Talent Action Plan Refresh published in March 2015 outlining clear actions to develop a greater pool of diverse talent.

Specific actions include a commitment to expand the Positive Action Pathway programme, designed to identify and develop talented BAME employees to secure promotion.

We also plan to introduce Accelerate, an ambitious new talent programme to boost development of the pipeline for future leaders for key Director and Director General roles.