Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the risk posed by coal tips and other mining spoil in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Coal Authority, one of BEIS’s Partner Organisations, owns and manages 40 coal tips across the United Kingdom. Full details of the regulatory of inspections for each site, and when they were last inspected, can be found on the GOV.UK website:
The vast majority of coal tips are under private or Local Authority ownership.
Following the Tylorstown slip in Wales in February 2020, the Coal Authority has undertaken work for the Welsh Government to identify the location and ownership of all the coal tips in Wales. Local authorities in England and Scotland were asked to check any tips they owned and report any concerns. No concerns were reported. There are no coal tips in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with local authority representatives on the effectiveness of criteria for the disbursement of the Additional Restrictions Grant.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Additional Restrictions Grant is a discretionary scheme for which Local Authorities set eligibility criteria in the way that best fits their local area. Guidance makes clear that Local authorities may use this funding for grants or for other related business support.
The Government is working closely with local authorities in England to support the implementation of business grants during the Covid-19 pandemic and monitor the distribution of grant funds. Officials have engaged with the local government sector, including the Local Government Association, throughout the pandemic. This engagement has been through local government working groups and live-streams with all 314 local authorities managing grant schemes. In addition to the scheme guidance, we publish Frequently Asked Questions documents to help local authorities with their administration of grant schemes.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether a state aid limit operates on payments to businesses made after 31 December 2020; what the value of that limit is; and over what time period that limit is applied.
Answered by Paul Scully
EU State aid limits, which vary depending on the basis on which aid is granted, no longer apply to subsidies granted from 1 January 2021 in the UK. The only exception is aid within scope of the Withdrawal Agreement, specifically Article 10 of the Northern Ireland Protocol and Article 138 in relation to aid for EU programmes and activities within the Multiannual Financial Framework. Instead, the principles and conditions in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) must be followed, for example, any subsidies must be appropriate, proportionate, and limited to what is necessary to achieve the economic or policy objective. The TCA does not apply to subsidies below 325,000 Special Drawing Rights, approximately £345,000, given to a single enterprise over three fiscal years.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which local authorities have received or are in the process of receiving funding under the Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) announced on 9 September provides support to businesses required to close as part of localised restrictions to control Covid-19. On 9 October, government increased the cash grants to businesses eligible under the LRSG to up to £3,000 per month for each hereditament required to close as a result of restrictions. Grants will be issued for each two-week period that a business is closed following the implementation of statutory localised restrictions and business closures.
Business closures in Bolton triggered the LRSG on Wednesday 30 September. We have worked closely with Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council to ensure they can distribute grants to eligible businesses as quickly as possible and will adjust their funding allocation so businesses are able to benefit from the increased grant amount from the beginning of their closure period. We continue to monitor local restrictions across the country and are ready to provide LRSG funding to other local authorities as appropriate.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the five per cent top-up for discretionary business support that can be received by local authorities in receipt of funds under the Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme, on what basis the five per cent is calculated; and at what stage local authorities are notified of the size of the five per cent top-up.
Answered by Paul Scully
The 5% discretionary element of the Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme is designed to help those businesses that are required to close but are not on the ratings list, as well as those affected by closures or indirectly forced to close due to restrictions. This funding will only be available in areas that have triggered the main Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme element.
The Government will work with the affected Local Authority to assess the number of businesses in a Local Authority area in scope for the business rate element of the scheme. This will enable a figure to be calculated for that part of the grant fund. An additional 5% of this figure will be supplied to cover the discretionary element of the fund. This will apply for each two-week qualifying period.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what advice the Government has provided to employers of clinically extremely vulnerable employees, who have not used the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for a three-week period prior to the 30 June 2020, and who cannot return safely to work from the 1 August 2020, and who cannot work from home either.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has published clear guidance for employers to help ensure workplaces are as safe as possible for all staff including those vulnerable or clinically extremely vulnerable workers.
This can be found under section 2, ‘Who should go to work’, within the guides: www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to planned reforms to the UK insolvency framework, when the new restructuring procedure and new temporary moratorium announced in August 2018 will be implemented.
Answered by Paul Scully
Government will bring forward legislation for these measures at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many employers that were identified as non-compliant by the national minimum wage enforcement unit were not publicly named.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The current NMW Naming Scheme commenced in 2013; employers named for National Minimum Wage (NMW) non-compliance since then, and the policy document which sets out how the scheme operates, can be found on gov.uk.
Following a recommendation from the Director of Labour Market Enforcement, the NMW Naming Scheme is currently under review and the Department will shortly publish the outcome of that work. This will detail any changes we are making to the scheme to ensure its continued effectiveness as a deterrent to non-compliance.
All employers who meet the eligibility criteria for naming are given a chance to make a representation as to why they should not be named. Exemptions to naming can be granted in line with the published exemption criteria. In the most recent naming round in July 2018, 95% of eligible cases were ultimately named.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which employers have been named by the national minimum wage enforcement unit for non-compliance in the last three years; and what criteria her Department uses to decide on naming an employer.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The current NMW Naming Scheme commenced in 2013; employers named for National Minimum Wage (NMW) non-compliance since then, and the policy document which sets out how the scheme operates, can be found on gov.uk.
Following a recommendation from the Director of Labour Market Enforcement, the NMW Naming Scheme is currently under review and the Department will shortly publish the outcome of that work. This will detail any changes we are making to the scheme to ensure its continued effectiveness as a deterrent to non-compliance.
All employers who meet the eligibility criteria for naming are given a chance to make a representation as to why they should not be named. Exemptions to naming can be granted in line with the published exemption criteria. In the most recent naming round in July 2018, 95% of eligible cases were ultimately named.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what sanctions her Department has introduced for landlords that do not lift their properties out of (a) G and (b) F energy ratings after receiving funding from the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 require that, since April 2018, domestic and non-domestic private landlords ensure their properties have an energy efficiency rating of at least an E at the point at which they issue a new tenancy, or renew or extend an existing one.
While landlords are free to explore third-party funding options, such as local authority grants, no specific funding is available to help them meet their legal obligations, and landlords are expected to draw on their own funds to finance improvements, subject to a number of cost-effectiveness tests. The regulations set separate cost-effectiveness test for landlords of domestic and non-domestic property.
The regulations give enforcement powers to local authorities in respect of the domestic provisions, and to local weights and measures authorities in respect of the non-domestic provisions. Enforcement authorities have a range of penalty options for tacking non-compliance, up to and including the issuing of financial penalties. For domestic property, financial penalties are capped at £5,000 per breach; for non-domestic property, financial penalties are capped at £150,000 per breach.