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Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Disclosure of Information
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what percentage of Subject Access Requests are fully answered by government departments within the legal time limit.

Answered by Dean Russell

The Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as Data Controller for BEIS is only responsible Subject Access Requests (SARs) processed by the department.

100% of SARs processed by BEIS for 2022 have met the statutory deadline set down in UK data protection legislation.


Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Disclosure of Information
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many subject access requests his Department has (a) received and (b) responded to within the statutory limit in the last five years.

Answered by Dean Russell

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has received 17,459 Subject Access Requests (SARs) in the last 5 years (01 January 2017 to 31 July 2022 inclusive).

All SARs were responded to within the statutory deadline set down in UK data protection legislation.


Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Remote Working
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of staff in his Department work from home.

Answered by Dean Russell

The Department’s hybrid working policy states that all staff can only work up to a maximum of 60% of their time at home over a 4 week period, on the condition that business needs are prioritised. On average, most staff work at least 2 days a week, each week in an office. Last week between 3 -7 October, 16% of staff were working at home or on annual or other sorts of leave.


Written Question
Art Works: Royalties
Thursday 14th July 2022

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many artists have received royalties through the artist's resale right.

Answered by Jane Hunt

Artist’s Resale Right is administered by the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) and the Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS). Since the right was introduced in 2006, DACS reported in 2019 to paying out royalties to 5,424 artists and artists’ estates and ACS reported in 2020 to paying out royalties to 780 artists and artists’ estates.


Written Question
Energy: Data Protection
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department is giving to customers of energy companies that have gone into administration to retrieve their personal data.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

When an energy supplier fails the customers are transferred by Ofgem to a new supplier under the Supplier of Last Resort process. This includes the personal data necessary to set up an account with the new supplier and ensure the customer’s credit balance with the failed supplier is honoured.

Insolvency practitioners are appointed to administer the failed company and must comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act in relation to any personal data that remains within the failed company. Customers rights regarding data protection and access to personal data remain unaffected.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 28th March 2022

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he will respond to correspondence from the hon Member for Rhondda to the Green Deal team on 16 September 2021 and subsequent correspondence to his Department on 1 November 2021, 22 November 2021, 17 December 2021, 21 January 2022 and 25 February 2022.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department has no record of such correspondence regarding the Green Deal. The Hon. Member is invited to re-send the correspondence to the Department or direct to the Green Deal team at: gdconsumers@beis.gov.uk.


Written Question
Coal: Mining
Monday 22nd February 2021

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many disused coal tips there are in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

There are 2144 coal tips in Wales, with continued refinement of information ongoing.

There is no central assessment of the number of Tips in England but the Coal Authority own 7 tips in England and these are kept under regular monitoring.


Written Question
Coal: Mining
Monday 22nd February 2021

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

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 adequacy of the Mines and Quarries Act 1969 for securing disused coal tips in England and Wales.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Welsh Government has asked the Law Commission to evaluate current legislation relating to coal tip safety with a view to identifying gaps, inconsistencies and approaches which are unhelpful or have become outdated. It will identify options for alternative regulatory models appropriate for adoption in Wales, and consider the features needed to ensure that any proposed system is effective. The project is expected to take between 13 and 15 months.

The majority of Tips in England are lower risk as the topography is flatter in England and more have been economically restored/developed as they are more suitable for that and there has been more economic drivers. Following the Tylorstown slip in Wales local authorities in England were asked to check any tips they owned and report any concerns. No concerns were reported.


Written Question
Coal: Mining
Monday 22nd February 2021

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the cost of securing disused coal tips in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

£9m from UK funding has been allocated for coal tip safety in Wales in 2020/21. The UK and Welsh Governments are discussing longer term funding.

The Coal Authority budget an average of £10k per tip per annum for ongoing maintenance and inspection for the tips they own across the UK (26 in Wales, 7 in England). There can be additional costs on individual tips if more extensive work is identified.


Written Question
Mining: Floods
Thursday 27th February 2020

Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Coal Authority has to tackle (a) landslides on and (b) the flooding of former coal sites.

Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng

As part of its statutory responsibilities the Coal Authority, one of the Department’s Partner Organisations, has regular contact with Local Authorities in former coal field areas on a range of issues relating to liabilities arising from former coal workings. Following the recent floods, the Coal Authority will be writing to all Local Authorities to remind them of their responsibilities in relation to the management and oversight of coal sites, offering support and advice where required.

The Coal Authority are already working with the Wales Office, the Welsh Assembly Government, Local Authorities and Natural Resource Wales to assess the risks in relation to coal tips in Wales where there have been specific concerns raised.