Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether local authorities are legally empowered to enforce compliance with energy efficiency standards for homes.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Since 1 April 2020, The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”) require that, subject to certain exemptions, all domestic private rented sector landlords improve their properties to a minimum energy efficiency standard of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band E. Local authorities have a range of powers under the Regulations to enforce compliance with the minimum energy efficiency standard, including the ability to serve a compliance notice, a financial penalty and/or a publication penalty that makes details of the breach available to the public.
The Department has launched a landlord exemptions register (“the PRS Exemptions Register”) which is used by local authorities to help target their enforcement activity, and is conducting enforcement pilots with local authorities to develop best practice around enforcement of the Regulations.
In addition, local authorities use the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (“HHSRS”), a health-based, risk assessment framework, to evaluate 29 specific hazards, including excess cold, in homes. For private rented sector properties, if a HHSRS assessment identifies a hazard at 'category 1' level, then local authorities have a duty to take formal enforcement action, ranging from a Hazard Awareness Notice to an Emergency Remedial Action (where remedial works are carried out immediately by the local authority and the landlord billed). The HHSRS also forms part of the Decent Homes Standard, the minimum standard that social housing should meet.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government has taken to support energy suppliers in meeting smart meter installation targets during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Ofgem wrote to energy suppliers on 8 April 2020 to provide them with flexibility to temporarily deprioritise non-essential meter installations. This enabled energy suppliers to focus on: ensuring that customer needs were met, particularly the most vulnerable; maintaining secure, reliable and safe supplies of energy to consumers in the short to medium term; and ensuring the safety and protection of consumers and their workforces.
The Government is working with energy suppliers to re-mobilise the roll-out of smart meters, further to guidance published on 11 May 2020 on working safely in people’s homes during COVID-19.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to make installation of smart meters in residential homes mandatory to help ensure targets for installation of that technology are met.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government has consulted on proposals for a new policy framework to continue to drive market-wide rollout of smart meters after the current duty on energy suppliers ends in December 2020.
We are carefully considering the range of responses and evidence submitted, ahead of publishing a Government response. We will see seek to do this as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making it compulsory for new build homes to be fitted with smart meters.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The New and Replacement Obligation (NRO) in requires energy suppliers to take all reasonable steps to install a compliant smart meter where a meter is fitted for the first time including in new build properties.
The Government has consulted on proposals for a new policy framework to continue to drive market-wide rollout of smart meters after the current duty on energy suppliers ends in December 2020. This consultation sought views from stakeholders about what policy measures the Government should consider in order to complement the proposed market-wide rollout obligation.
We are carefully considering the range of responses and evidence submitted, ahead of publishing a Government response. We will see seek to do this as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether brewery businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be eligible for payments from the Discretionary Fund for local authorities announced on 2 May 2020.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has announced that up to £617 million is being made available to Local Authorities in England to allow them to provide discretionary grants as part of the suite of Business Support grants to support businesses and local economies across England.
The additional Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs but not liable for business rates or rates reliefs. We are asking local authorities to prioritise businesses in shared spaces, regular market traders, small charity properties that would meet the criteria for Small Business Rates Relief, and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates.
Local Authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for this fund and may choose to make payments to other businesses based on local economic need, subject to those businesses meeting the specific eligibility criteria. Businesses seeking information should refer to their Local Authority for further information on their discretionary scheme. Businesses already in receipt of the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF), Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) or Self-employed Income Support Scheme are not eligible.
Guidance, intended to support Local Authorities in administering the Discretionary Grants Fund, was published 13th May.
Guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-business-support-grant-funding
This will not replace existing guidance for the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) or the Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF).
Guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-grant-funding-guidance-for-businesses
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an exemption for pubs with a rateable value of £51,000 or above to enable them to be eligible for local authority business support grant funding.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) businesses in England that would have been in receipt of the Expanded Retail Discount (which covers retail, hospitality and leisure) on 11 March 2020, with a rateable value of less than £51,000, will be eligible for cash grants of up to £25,000 per property. Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or over are not eligible for this scheme.
Businesses which are not eligible for the grants schemes should be able to benefit from other measures in the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including:
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of British Beer and Pub Association statement that at the end of April 2020 only 40 per cent of pubs had received local authority business support grants for which they were eligible.
Answered by Paul Scully
As of 3 May, over 697,000 business premises have received grants across the Small Business Grants Fund and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund, totalling over £8.6 billion. We do not receive management information from local authorities broken down by sector. We have, however, published, a full breakdown of grant funding allocated to and distributed by each local authority here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.
Government has made £12.3 billion available to businesses under the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund. On 1 May, the Government announced a further £617 million available to help those small businesses with high fixed property-related costs that are not eligible for the current grant schemes. We will be issuing Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund guidance for local authorities in due course. Local authorities are responsible for delivering these grants to businesses and government is working closely with all local authorities to help deliver grants as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the level of additional business support grants required by businesses in sectors that will remain closed for an extended period after the lockdown is eased.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) are just a part of the Government’s unprecedented package of support for businesses to help with their ongoing business costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19.
On 1 May 2020 the Business Secretary announced that up to £617 million is being made available to Local Authorities in England to allow them to provide discretionary grants. This is an additional 5% uplift to the £12.33 billion funding previously announced for the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF).
The additional Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs but not liable for business rates or rates reliefs.
We are asking local authorities to prioritise businesses in shared spaces, regular market traders, small charity properties that would meet the criteria for Small Business Rates Relief, and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates.
Local Authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for this fund and may choose to make payments to other businesses based on local economic need, subject to those businesses meeting the specific eligibility criteria. Businesses already in receipt of the Small Business grant, a Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grant or Self-employed Income Support Scheme payment are not eligible.
Businesses which are not eligible for the grants schemes should be able to benefit from other measures in the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including:
o An option to defer VAT payments by up to twelve months;
o The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, now extended to cover all businesses including those which would be able to access commercial credit;
o The Bounce Back Loan scheme, which will ensure that small and micro businesses can quickly access loans of up to £50,000 which are 100% guaranteed by the Government;
o The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, to support businesses with their wage bills;
o The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, to provide support to the self-employed.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits on an application to the European Commission for a derogation of State Aid rules in relation to local authority business support grant payments.
Answered by Paul Scully
Although the UK has left the EU, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU State aid rules continue to apply in the UK until the end of the Transition Period.
Whilst the European Commission has declined to suspend the State aid rules because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Commission has introduced some welcome flexibilities into the rules to deal with the impacts of the Coronavirus, in the form of a Temporary Framework. This facilitates aid going to the companies who need it most, quickly and efficiently.
Following work by BEIS officials, the COVID-19 Temporary Framework was approved by the Commission under the Temporary Framework on 6 April. This allows public authorities to introduce their own aid measures without the necessity of obtaining an individual Commission approval. This provides cover for measures such as the Retail Hospitality and Leisure grants from local authorities.
I would also add that other local authority support, such as Small Business grants, can be given under the normal de minimis rules. These allow up to EUR 200,000 to be given to a business in a three-year period. De minimis aid can be received in addition to Temporary Framework aid.
The combination of these and other measures constitute an unprecedented programme of Government support for business to address the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether pub businesses with fewer than 50 employees are eligible for payments from the discretionary fund for local authorities announced on 2 May 2020.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 1 May 2020 the Business Secretary announced that up to £617 million is being made available to Local Authorities in England to allow them to provide discretionary grants. This is an additional 5% uplift to the £12.33 billion funding previously announced for the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF).
The additional Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs but not liable for business rates or rates reliefs.
Pub businesses with less than 50 employees, not directly liable for business rates and thus not eligible for either Small Business or Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants, could be in-scope subject to them being in business on 11th March, not having received any other Government grant funding, having ongoing relatively high fixed building-related costs (e.g. rent and service charges) and experiencing a significant loss of income due Covid-19 impacts. Local authorities will run these schemes locally.