Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which projects have underspent in order to contribute departmental budget from (a) climate finance and (b) foreign aid in order to fund lethal aid to Ukraine; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Hunt
Around £100m from the BEIS International Climate Finance budget in 2022-23 has been identified to be handed back to HM Treasury.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on Royal Mail’s decision to add barcodes to its postage stamps; and what assessment has been made of the impact of that decision on consumers with unused non-barcoded and Christmas stamps after they cease to be valid in January 2023.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department has regular discussions with Royal Mail on a wide range of issues. However, the development of stamp products is an operational matter for Royal Mail, a private company, and the Government is not involved in Royal Mail’s operational or commercial decisions.
Royal Mail launched a ‘Swap Out’ scheme for regular non-barcoded stamps on 31 March and has clarified that special issue and Christmas stamps will continue to be valid and will not need to be swapped out.
Further information about its plans for barcoded stamps is available on Royal Mail’s website: www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 taken out loans under the Bounce Back Loan scheme in Sutton Coldfield constituency; and what the total value is of those loans.
Answered by Paul Scully
As of 10 January 2021, 2,057 loans have been offered at a value of £62,409,360 in the Sutton Coldfield constituency, through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated through the (a) Small Business Grant Fund and (b) Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund to businesses in the West Midlands.
Answered by Paul Scully
In March 2020, the Government put forward an initial and unprecedented package of support to help businesses with their ongoing business costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. This included the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF). These schemes closed in August last year.
Over the lifetime of the two schemes, more than £11.12 billion was paid out to 906,620 businesses in England. In the West Midlands region, Local Authorities have reported to the department that a total of £1.11 billion was paid to 94,265 business premises under these schemes.
A full breakdown of grant funding allocated to and distributed by each Local Authority is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support the hospitality sector in (a) Sutton Coldfield and (b) England during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Paul Scully
We are providing the hospitality sector with a wide package of support. On 5 January, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a one-off top up grant for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses. A £594 million discretionary fund is also being made available to Local Authorities to help them support other impacted businesses.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps she has taken to help tackle (a) age-bias in recruitment and (b) ageism in the workplace.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Equality Act 2010 provides strong protection against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment and makes it unlawful for an employer or an employment service provider such as a recruitment agency, to discriminate against any employee or job applicant because of their age. This applies both to when the employer is making arrangements to fill a job and in respect of anything done during the course of a person’s employment. To be lawful, any differential treatment based on age must be objectively justified.
In order to tackle outdated perceptions about older workers, the Government has appointed Andy Briggs as Business Champion for Older Workers, to spearhead the Government’s work to support employers to retain, retrain and recruit older workers. His team will actively promote the benefits of older workers to employers across England, both strategically and through the provision of practical advice.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on corporate transparency and register reform.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Corporate Transparency and Register Reform Consultation was launched on the 5th May 2019 and closed on the 5th August 2019. It received a significant number of responses. The Government plans to publish the response in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for introducing the Registration of Overseas Entities Bill.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Registration of Overseas Entities Bill has undergone Pre-Legislative Scrutiny by a joint parliamentary committee. The final Bill will reflect many of the committee’s recommendations to ensure that the legislation is as effective as possible in tackling the use of UK property for money laundering. The Bill will be introduced when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 support self-employed people in the West Midlands.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
We want to make sure that the UK is the best place in the world to work and grow a business. Our long-term plan is to support entrepreneurs, including self-employed individuals who are running or considering starting up a business, not just in the West Midlands, but in all parts of the UK.
That’s why we are backing businesses right across the country, with 381,000 new businesses starting last year, and the government-owned British Business Bank supporting over 91,000 SMEs with £7 billion of finance.
The British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme provides?loans to entrepreneurs seeking to start and grow their own businesses. The British Business Bank delivered more than 69,000 Start-Up Loans?since 2012, providing more than £558m of funding, in every part of the United Kingdom
The West Midlands has received 5,788 loans totalling over £44.8m and your constituency of Sutton Coldfield has received 101 loans totalling over £878,000.
Additionally, self-employed business people can access tailored advice and support through the 38 local Growth Hubs. They can also access support?through our Gov.uk website and the Business Support Helpline (0300 456 3565).
The West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy, published in May 2019, sets out a shared ambition to build on the region’s distinctive strengths to drive growth and ensure that all communities benefit from that growth, including the self-employed.
Self-employed mothers who qualify for Maternity Allowance are also now able to share parental leave and pay with an employed father or partner.
In addition, the Government has increased the personal allowance from £11,500 to £12,500 (benefiting employed and self-employed taxpayers) and self-employed people are now able to build their entitlement to the new State Pension at the same rate as employed people.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 prevent pub closures in the West Midlands.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government recognises the importance of pubs to the economy and to community life in providing a place to socialise and encourage responsible drinking and welcomes recent data from the Office of National Statistics that suggest an increase in the number of pubs and bars in the UK for the first time in a decade. In order to provide support for pubs, the Government announced a freeze on beer duty at Budget 2018 which, together with previous cuts and freezes to alcohol duty, means a typical pint of beer is estimated to cost 14p less than it otherwise would have since ending the beer duty escalator in 2013.
Some 2,000 pubs have been listed as Assets of Community Value across the country in recognition of the positive role they play in their local areas and to allow the community to bid for those pubs should they be put up for sale. The Government has committed to help community groups to take over local community assets which are under threat, including pubs, by establishing a new £150m Community Ownership Fund.
In addition, many pubs will benefit from the business rates retail discount announced at Budget 2018, which cuts bills for eligible businesses by one third for two years from April 2019. The Government has committed to increasing the discount to 50% in 2020/21.