Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the reduction in VAT on solar batteries, what plans they have to rectify the current shortage of such batteries.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan, published in July 2021 by government, jointly with Ofgem, outlines how the Government will deliver the flexibility technologies needed for a net zero system, including actions for removing barriers to the deployment of storage.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decision of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to retain the fine money levied on KPMG and one of its then partners by the Financial Reporting Council, rather than paying it to the Silentnight pension scheme which lost out as a result of KPMG’s actions.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) undertook the investigation into Silentnight under its accountancy scheme as the Silentnight investigation was into KPMG’s accounting services. This requires fines and any costs recovered to be paid to the chartered accountancy body that funded the investigation and sanctions process.
In this case the fines and costs were paid to the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The same would be true if ICAEW had taken forward the investigation and sanctions process itself.
Accountancy bodies may make private arrangements as to the use of fine income for the benefit of groups that have suffered losses as a result of an insolvency.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help the hospitality sector fill job vacancies in that sector.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has launched the first-ever hospitality strategy to support the reopening, recovery and resilience of England’s pubs, restaurants, cafes and nightclubs. As part of this, we have set up the Hospitality Sector Council to oversee the delivery of the strategy, including working with the sector to make hospitality a career option of choice and looking at the labour and skills shortages.
In order to help address the immediate challenges of labour shortages in the hospitality sector, the Department for Work and Pensions is working hard to fill ongoing vacancies by using work coaches to help find local talent, and Plans for Jobs programmes, such as Kickstart and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes. The Department for Education has also added hospitality and catering qualifications to the Free Courses for Jobs, as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee. Additionally, we are increasing employer-led apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by 2024-25, extending the £3,000 incentive payment for every apprentice a business hires up until 31 January 2022, and improving the apprenticeship system for employers.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential consequences of a takeover of Bacanora Lithium by Ganfeng Lithium; and in particular, whether such a takeover could restrict the UK's access to lithium supplies.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Mergers and takeovers are primarily commercial matters for the parties involved. The Government has powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to intervene in transactions which raise national security concerns. The Government has recently strengthened those powers through the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
The Government is aware of this proposed transaction and is monitoring developments closely.
The Government recognises the strategic importance of securing the UK’s access to lithium supplies and is supporting the domestic extraction of critical “rare earth” materials, including lithium. For example, we are part funding Cornish Lithium and Geothermal Engineering to build a zero carbon, lithium extraction pilot plant at an existing site in Cornwall through the Government’s Get Building Fund.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of existing transparency requirements of public company directors regarding takeover approaches; and what plans they have, if any, to require such directors to disclose to shareholders any such approaches at the earliest appropriate time.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Takeover Code, which has a statutory basis under the Companies Act 2006, sets out a clear and orderly framework for takeovers, including measures to ensure fairness to stakeholders.
The Code sets out rules regarding disclosure of takeover offers made, including that a public announcement must be made when a firm intention to make an offer is notified to the board of the offeree company by or on behalf of an offeror, irrespective of the attitude of the board to the offer.
The Code is issued and administered by the independent Panel on Takeovers and Mergers. The Panel has enforcement powers for breaches of the Code. Changes to the Code itself are a matter for the Panel.