Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
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 plans to support the expansion of the offshore wind industry to the south-east coast.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government set out in the British Energy Security Strategy its ambition to deliver up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030. The South-East stands to benefit from the growth of this sector with, for example, RWE developing the 1.2GW Rampion 2 project off the Sussex coast.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's definition of a SME is; whether micro-businesses, defined as a business that contracts ten or fewer employees, are included in his Department’s SME programmes; and whether those programmes are adjusted to meet micro-businesses specific requirements.
Answered by Paul Scully
There is no single formal definition of an SME used by the UK government in designing government schemes. Schemes have different eligibility criteria depending on their aims. All businesses, including micro-businesses can apply to government schemes if they believe they meet the eligibility criteria.
The Government provides a range of support that all businesses, including micro businesses can access. These include information on starting up and running a business on GOV.UK, one to one advice via our free Business Support Helpline and through 38 Growth Hubs across England, government backed Start-Up Loans, and businesses with 5 or more employees can access our Help to Grow schemes.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to help increase the survival rate of micro-businesses in rural and isolated communities.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is providing a range of support to help small and medium-sized businesses across the UK with rising costs, including those in rural communities. The Government has cut fuel duty for 12 months, raised the Employment Allowance to £5,000, and is zero-rating VAT on energy-saving materials. This builds on existing support, including business rates relief worth £7 billion over five years.
Additionally, Help to Grow programmes will enable eligible SMEs to mitigate the effects of rising costs by providing financial discounts on approved digital technologies up to a value of £5000 and improving SME leadership and management skills though subsidised courses.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of price variations in the cost of units of gas and electricity between low use and high use periods; and what assessment his Department has made of the effect of that matter on average domestic fuel bills.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The setting of tariff rates, including the price variation between peak and off-peak periods for time-of-use tariffs such as Economy 7 is a commercial matter for individual supply companies. Electricity-only households who are on their supplier’s default or standard variable tariffs are protected by the energy price cap. The price cap methodology used by Ofgem enables a separate rate to be set for households who heat their homes using electric storage heaters. These households will also receive £200 discount on their electricity bill this autumn, as part of the Government’s package of support worth £9.1 billion to help domestic energy customers with the cost of rising energy bills.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses that are owed significant rent arrears as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government will introduce legislation to support the orderly resolution of rental payments accrued by commercial tenants affected by the pandemic. The legislation will ringfence rent debt accrued during the pandemic by businesses affected by enforced closures. The legislation will also set out a process of binding arbitration to be undertaken between landlords and tenants. This is to be used as a last resort after bilateral negotiations have been undertaken and only where landlords and tenants cannot otherwise come to a resolution.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the planned timescale is for the auction process for tidal wave energy; and when the parameters for that auction process will be published.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced through the 10 Point Plan, the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round will open in late 2021. This is set to be our biggest auction yet, with the aim of securing up to double the renewable electricity capacity of previous rounds.
We remain on course with this timetable and plan to publish draft auction parameters roughly five months ahead of round opening, with final parameters set just before round opening. These parameters will cover all technologies eligible to compete in this auction, including wave and tidal energy.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has made for the transition away from table service in wet-led pubs as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 22nd February, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister published the Government’s ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’. The roadmap is a step-by-step plan to ease restrictions in England.
With regard to the reopening of the hospitality sector, Step 2 will take place no earlier than 12 April, when hospitality venues will be able to open for outdoor service, with no requirement for a substantial meal to be served alongside alcoholic drinks, and no curfew. The requirement to order, eat and drink while seated (‘table service’) will remain.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
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 meet the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight and representatives of Solent LEP to discuss the future of MHI Vestas' site on the Isle of Wight.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
I should be very happy to meet with the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight and representatives of Solent LEP, by teleconference, to discuss the future of the MHI Vestas’ site. My office will be in touch to arrange a suitable date.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
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 his Department has allocated to programmes overseas that is not part of Official Development Assistance in each of the last three years; and how much such funding his Department plans to allocate in each of the next two years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s expenditure in the last three years on overseas programmes that are not part of Official Development Assistance is set out in the table below.
2016-17 Actual | 2017-18 Actual | 2018-19 Year-to-Date | 2018-19 Forecast |
£591m | £575m | £355m | £515m |
Funding for 2019/20 and periods covered by the Spending Review 19 have not yet been agreed.