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Written Question
Business Premises: Coronavirus
Monday 28th November 2022

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether it was their policy that tenants’ confidential commercial information used as evidence in arbitration could then be used in rent reviews or renewals under the terms of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Confidential information disclosed as part of the arbitration proceedings should be used only for the purposes of the proceedings and the making of the arbitration award. However, there are exceptions to the general principles of confidentiality applying to arbitration, including where disclosure to a third party is reasonably necessary to protect legitimate interests, which could include disclosure reasonably necessary to establish or protect a party’s legal rights.


Written Question
Business Premises: Coronavirus
Monday 28th November 2022

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether it was their policy that arbitrators direct tenants to divulge trading information to their commercial landlords, under the terms of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Confidential information disclosed as part of the arbitration proceedings should be used only for the purposes of the proceedings and the making of the arbitration award. However, there are exceptions to the general principles of confidentiality applying to arbitration, including where disclosure to a third party is reasonably necessary to protect legitimate interests, which could include disclosure reasonably necessary to establish or protect a party’s legal rights.


Written Question
Business Premises: Coronavirus
Monday 28th November 2022

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what communication they have had with the Approved Arbitration bodies established as a result of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy engaged with the arbitral bodies and with stakeholders to keep oversight of uptake of the scheme and to determine if initial stakeholder concerns about cost and capacity had any substance. We reminded parties in August of the closing deadlines for the submission of cases.

The deadline for the submission of cases recently passed on 23 September 2022 and arbitrators are in the process of considering the cases submitted and will be publishing the outcomes as required by the Act. The assessment of the impact of the Act is ongoing and will be published in due course.


Written Question
Business Premises: Coronavirus
Monday 28th November 2022

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made as to whether the aim of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 to “share in the impacts of pandemic” has been achieved; and what evidence they used to reach their conclusion.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy engaged with the arbitral bodies and with stakeholders to keep oversight of uptake of the scheme and to determine if initial stakeholder concerns about cost and capacity had any substance. We reminded parties in August of the closing deadlines for the submission of cases.

The deadline for the submission of cases recently passed on 23 September 2022 and arbitrators are in the process of considering the cases submitted and will be publishing the outcomes as required by the Act. The assessment of the impact of the Act is ongoing and will be published in due course.


Written Question
National Security
Tuesday 25th January 2022

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many referrals have been called in to date following the implementation of the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The National Security and Investment Act 2021 commenced on 4 January 2022 and represents the biggest shake-up of the UK’s investment screening regime in 20 years, while keeping the country firmly open for business.

The Act requires the Government to publish an annual report setting out information about the numbers and types of trigger events that it has been notified about and those it subsequently called in for a national security assessment. The first annual report will be published later in 2022, after the conclusion of the financial year.

We have ensured that we have the people, the technology and the processes we need so that the Investment Security Unit is as effective and efficient as possible.


Written Question
National Security
Tuesday 25th January 2022

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many referrals have been received, and (2) what is the average wait time for processing cases, following the implementation of the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The National Security and Investment Act 2021 commenced on 4 January 2022 and represents the biggest shake-up of the UK’s investment screening regime in 20 years, while keeping the country firmly open for business.

The Act requires the Government to publish an annual report setting out information about the numbers and types of trigger events that it has been notified about and those it subsequently called in for a national security assessment. The first annual report will be published later in 2022, after the conclusion of the financial year.

We have ensured that we have the people, the technology and the processes we need so that the Investment Security Unit is as effective and efficient as possible.


Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Staff
Tuesday 25th January 2022

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many additional people have been recruited by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to staff the monitoring unit following the implementation of the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The National Security and Investment Act 2021 commenced on 4 January 2022 and represents the biggest shake-up of the UK’s investment screening regime in 20 years, while keeping the country firmly open for business.

The Act requires the Government to publish an annual report setting out information about the numbers and types of trigger events that it has been notified about and those it subsequently called in for a national security assessment. The first annual report will be published later in 2022, after the conclusion of the financial year.

We have ensured that we have the people, the technology and the processes we need so that the Investment Security Unit is as effective and efficient as possible.


Written Question
Suez: Veolia Environment
Wednesday 28th April 2021

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Competition and Markets Authority following Veolia's agreement to acquire SUEZ Group.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Competition investigations into mergers are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is an independent non-Ministerial department. In the normal course of an investigation, the CMA may reach out to relevant stakeholders, including other regulators or relevant government departments to assist in its understanding of the market. The CMA is currently considering whether to refer Veolia’s acquisition of a minority shareholding in Suez and Veolia’s proposed public takeover bid for the remaining share capital of Suez for an in-depth review. The CMA will publish updates on its review of this transaction on its website.


Written Question
Suez: Veolia Environment
Wednesday 28th April 2021

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had about possible anti-trust issues following Veolia's agreement to acquire SUEZ Group.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Competition investigations into mergers are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is an independent non-Ministerial department. In the normal course of an investigation, the CMA may reach out to relevant stakeholders, including other regulators or relevant government departments to assist in its understanding of the market. The CMA is currently considering whether to refer Veolia’s acquisition of a minority shareholding in Suez and Veolia’s proposed public takeover bid for the remaining share capital of Suez for an in-depth review. The CMA will publish updates on its review of this transaction on its website.


Written Question
Data Protection
Thursday 6th August 2020

Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to instruct the Competition and Markets Authority to undertake an anti-trust investigation into the practices of companies providing consumer Internet of Things devices, following reports of restrictive practices regarding data access and interoperability that may be designed to distort competition.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the independent non-Ministerial department responsible for investigating competition issues in the UK. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that companies are behaving anti-competitively in a market.