Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses have closed in Morley and Outwood constituency since March 2020.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Office for National Statistics has published information on business closures up to September 2020, but this is at a regional level and is not broken down to a constituency level. Information at a regional level for quarter 2 2020 (April to June 2020) and quarter 3 2020 (July to September 2020) on business closures forms part of ‘Business demography, quarterly experimental statistics, UK: July to September 2020.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
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 effect of covid-19 restrictions on local economies in the Wakefield area.
Answered by Paul Scully
Just over £66 million has been provided to businesses in Wakefield via the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund in the Financial Year 2020/21 Leeds City Region Growth Hub has been allocated £780k to engage and support businesses, including in Wakefield.
The Government has made clear that where businesses are required to close as part of localised restrictions being put in place to manage the spread of covid-19, further financial support will be made available.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
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 effect of covid-19 restrictions on local economies in the Leeds area.
Answered by Paul Scully
Just over £155 million has been provided to businesses in Leeds via the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and in the Financial Year 2020/21 Leeds City Region Growth Hub has been allocated £780k to engage with businesses in this area.
The Government has made clear that where businesses are required to close as part of localised restrictions being put in place to manage the spread of covid-19, further financial support will be made available.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
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 take steps to encourage (a) shops and (b) hospitality businesses to measure the temperature of customers before they enter their premises during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Our approach is clinically led, based on the expert advice of the UK’s Chief Medical Officer for England, the NHS and Public Health England. Putting the safety of all workers at the forefront of this guidance. We are led by the evolving science in this work and as the scientific and medical advice changes, the guidance will be updated to reflect this.
Businesses will want to do all they can to keep their staff and customers safe. They must conduct thorough risk assessments on how best to do that and ensure they can keep their business going. Guidance for businesses can be found at www.gov.uk/workingsafely.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his timetable is for the reopening of beauty salons.
Answered by Paul Scully
We have now provided other close contact services like beauty salons in England, except Leicester, with the certainty they need to reopen from Monday 13 July, subject to them following the COVID-secure guidelines.
We need to be confident services are able to reopen in a COVID-secure way for the staff and customers. Our approach is guided by the scientific and medical advice, and our guidance has been developed with input from firms, unions, industry bodies and the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and in consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will publish the data it holds on the level of carbon emissions during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions data are compiled and published according to international requirements. We will be publishing provisional estimates of 2020 emissions in March 2021 based on provisional energy use data, and final estimates of 2020 emissions in February 2022. The greenhouse gas emission statistics we publish are available from the following webpage: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistics.
The Department has however published data on energy use [link] during 2020 which shows for example that petrol and diesel sales in the seven weeks after 23 March 2020 were 39% the average levels of the prior eight weeks. The Committee on Climate Change’s 2020 Progress Report estimates that the UK’s daily CO2 emissions were around 30% lower than mean 2019 levels during the peak of the lockdown in April and May 2020 [link].
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
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 implications for his policies of the potential collapse of Sirius Minerals; and what support is available to shareholders in that company.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The offer made by Anglo-American to acquire Sirius Minerals is a commercial matter between the companies and their shareholders; therefore, it would not be appropriate for me to comment.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect on UK businesses of COVID-19.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is closely monitoring developments of COVID-19 in relation to potential economic impacts on UK businesses, supply chains, and the wider economy.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the use of pressure selling techniques.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Legislation prohibits traders from using misleading or aggressive selling practices towards consumers. Preventing consumer rips offs like these is a key priority for the Government, and we will consult early this year on strengthening consumer enforcement arrangements further. Consumers who believe they have been a victim of pressure selling should report the matter through the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 (www.citizensadvice.org.uk). Consumers living in Scotland should report the matter through Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 (www.consumeradvice.scot/).
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will bring forward proposals for a new financing model for the nuclear power industry to increase levels of funding in that sector.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We are committed to looking at alternative funding models that could improve the value for money of new nuclear projects. We have consulted on a Regulated Asset Base funding model as an option that could attract private sector capital at a lower cost to consumers. The consultation closed on 14 October 2019 and we are currently considering the feedback.