Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 charity funded medical research programmes that have been affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government recognise that this is a particularly difficult time for medical research charities, given the impact of COVID-19 on their fundraising activities. We appreciate the globally recognised expertise of these charities, and the substantial contributions they make to our world-leading life sciences sector.
The Government already provides significant funding to charities’ research, for example through Research England’s Quality Related (QR) charity support funding. This year charity QR will amount to £204 million, to support charity funded research in universities in England and equivalent support is provided in Scotland through devolved funding arrangements.
The Government has demonstrated its ambitions for research by committing £14.9 billion to R&D in 2021/22. This funding will support the life sciences sector within which medical research charities operate alongside other research areas.
BEIS and DHSC regularly discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on charity-funded research with the Association of Medical Research Charities in order to review how we might provide support for medical research charities this financial year.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 women in business in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry and (c) England.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has put in place a range of business measures that support all businesses, including those run by women. The Government loan schemes have provided a lifeline to thousands of businesses across the UK during the pandemic – helping them to survive and protecting millions of jobs.
Businesses have been supported in all regions through the Covid-19 pandemic via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS). As of January 2021, the value of support given to businesses in the Coventry North East constituency regarding CBILS and BBLS is more than £65 million. Many of the businesses receiving this support will be led by women or employ women.
The Start Up Loans Programme, part of the Government-backed British Business Bank, offers loans up to £25,000, repayable at 6% per annum across 1-5 years. Across the UK, 81,608 loans have been made, worth over £707.6m between the programme’s launch in 2012 and the end of February 2021. Over the same period, in the Coventry North East constituency, 136 loans have been made worth £1,120,370. In the Coventry City Council area, 377 loans have been made to a value of £3,436,907. And in England 71,207 loans have been made worth 83,038. Of all Start Up Loans issued across the United Kingdom to January 2021, 40% of all loans went to women who make up 17% of the overall SME population. In 2021/22 Start Up Loans is expanding to 11,000 loans per year, which will further support women entrepreneurs.
This Government is also committed to supporting our entrepreneurs and this is why all the Government’s business finance schemes and COVID support schemes, are open to eligible businesses from all regions and backgrounds, including female entrepreneurs.
In addition, the Government’s business advice pages on GOV.UK also provide information and guidance relevant to starting, growing and maintaining a business which women can benefit from. All details can be found online: www.gov.uk/browse/business. The ‘Business Finance Finder’ also on GOV.UK is an online tool which firms can tailor by region and to suit the size and stage of their business and the type of finance needed: www.gov.uk/business-finance-support.
The Alison Rose review was an independent review of women entrepreneurs commissioned by government which shed renewed light on the barriers faced by women starting and growing businesses and identified ways of unlocking this untapped talent. In response, the government announced an ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030, equivalent to nearly 600,000 additional female entrepreneurs. The Rose Review report and government response set out the steps being taken by government and industry to help achieve this ambition. Over the past year, great progress has been made in delivering on the 8 initiatives of the Rose Review. HM Treasury has launched the Investing in Women Code. To date, the code has 22 signatories. NatWest launched a £1bn fund on 24th January 2020 to support female entrepreneurs. There is more to do and we look forward to continuing the work to deliver the 8 initiatives.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 improve energy efficiency in homes in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recently announced an extra £300 million of funding to be invested to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s homes through energy efficiency and low carbon heating schemes, delivered through the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery (LAD) Scheme and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF). This brings the total government funding for energy efficiency and low carbon heating in 2021/22 to over £1.3 billion.
Through the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme, £500m has now been granted to Local Authorities in Phase 1 and Local Energy Hubs for Phase 2. Delivery has begun and will upgrade the energy efficiency of around 50,000 homes of low-income households across England. The full list of projects awarded funding under the Local Authority Delivery scheme so far can be found here:
In addition to the Local Authority Delivery scheme, the SHDF (Demonstrator) project launched in 2020 and has subsequently awarded £62m of funding to social landlords across England and Scotland. The full list of projects awarded funding under the SHDF (Demonstrator) scheme can be found here:
Building on the SHDF (Demonstrator), there will be around £160m of further funding for the first wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in 2021/22. This will be launched in the autumn, and represents an increase from the £60m funding announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Autumn 2020 Spending Review.
In addition, the Home Upgrade Grant has been allocated an initial £150m to specifically support low-income households with upgrades to the worst-performing off-gas-grid homes in England. The Home Upgrade Grant is due to commence delivery in early 2022.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 trends in the regional spread of business debt in (a) each of the last five years and (b) during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Covid-19 outbreak did not substantially alter the trends in the regional spread of business debt.
The following figures are taken from UK Finance data and are taken as a share of the value of loan facilities of small and medium enterprises in England.
Between Q1 2017 and Q1 2020:
During the covid-19 outbreak, between Q1 2020 and Q4 2020:
These shares compare to the following table for Regional GDP:
Table: Regional GDP (2018 data) and SME lending (Q4 2020) shares in England.
Area | GDP share for each region (source: ONS) | SME lending share for each region (source: UK Finance) |
England | 100% | 100% |
North East | 3.4% | 3% |
North West | 11.3% | 12% |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 7.7% | 8% |
East Midlands | 6.8% | 6% |
West Midlands | 8.7% | 10% |
East of England | 10.1% | 7% |
London | 26.5% | 25% |
South East | 16.9% | 16% |
South West | 8.6% | 13% |
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 provide (a) advice, (b) support and (c) services for small business owners in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England planning on developing their businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
An unprecedented package of support for businesses has been in place since March 2020, including measures such as loans, grants, and tax deferrals to support businesses required to close or severely affected by restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19.
The Spring Budget 2021 set out the next phase of the Government’s response, providing additional support worth £65 billion to help businesses get going again. This includes Restart grants and Recovery Loans to help businesses plan ahead and safely relaunch trading as restrictions are relaxed, extension of the furlough scheme and support for the self-employed. Extension of VAT reductions and business rates relief are also part of this package, whilst the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) continues to enable local authorities to put in place discretionary business support that suits their local area.
The Start Up Loan Scheme, part of the government-backed British Business Bank, was launched in 2012 and offers free mentoring and low-interest personal loans to help start or grow new business. Entrepreneurs in the UK can borrow up to £25,000 in their first 24 months of business, repaying over 5 years. In the financial year 2020/21 to the end of February, the programme has made 19 Start Up loans worth £264,500 in the Coventry North East constituency, and in the West Midlands has made 110 loans worth £964,353. In the UK, a total of 10,251 loans have been made worth £123,598,056 over the same period.
The Government’s new ‘Help to Grow’ scheme will help small businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach new customers and boost profits. Starting in June, small businesses will be able to access Help to Grow: Management, a 12 week-programme delivered by leading business schools across the UK. The programme will combine a practical curriculum, with 1:1 support from a business mentor, peer-learning sessions and an alumni network. In the Autumn, government will launch Help to Grow: Digital, a new online platform where businesses can access advice on software that could help them save time and money while running their businesses, and a voucher to discount software.
Businesses that have been unable to access support, or who are unsure about the support available, can contact their nearest Business Growth Hub for advice. The Government has established a network of 38 of these hubs, led by each Local Enterprise Partnership in England, where expert advisers can offer impartial tailored advice to firms of any size. Contact details are available at: www.lepnetwork.net/local-growth-hub-contacts/.
The Business Support Helpline offers free impartial advice to businesses across England (FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098).
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 amount of funding allocated from the public purse to businesses in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry to encourage (i) economic growth and (ii) employment.
Answered by Paul Scully
We aim to make the UK the best place in the world to start, run and grow a business. The Government provides a wide range of support and information for small businesses including on the GOV.UK website. Free and impartial advice is also available via the Business Support Helpline on FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098 and via the network of 38 local Growth Hubs in England.
The Start Up Loans Programme, part of the Government-backed British Business Bank, offers loans up to £25,000, repayable at 6% per annum across 1-5 years. Across the UK, 81,608 loans have been made, worth over £707.6m from the programme’s launch in 2012 to the end of February 2021.
Over the same period, in the Coventry North East constituency, 136 loans have been made worth £1,120,379. In the Coventry City Council area, 377 loans have been made to a value of £3,436,907. And in England 71,207 loans have been made worth £617,745,993.[1]
The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) self-reported that in 2019-20, its Growth Hub engaged with 66,452 businesses/individuals (including via digital channels); directly supported 1,798 businesses, of which 77 received over 12 hours of high-level support; and helped 648 individuals start a business.
Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have benefitted from £131.84m in Local Growth Fund, over 3 Growth Deals, and the investments have secured over £28m in private sector investment. The LEP are also working with local partners to develop and implement a newly focused, partnership-led Strategic Framework to reset the local economy for a successful, inclusive, and resilient future. The LEP are committed to driving activities to minimise the negative economic impacts of Covid-19 in Coventry and Warwickshire. This includes the Growth Hub, which offers one-to-one advice and ongoing support to local businesses.
Coventry has also received over £8m funding to support it as the City of Culture 2021. The City of Culture events in Coventry are due to start in May of this year, which will benefit the city in many ways. In previous years this has included increases in investors opening new businesses and more opportunities to support the local community.
The Government’s new ‘Help to Grow’ scheme will help small businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach new customers, and boost profits. Help to Grow: Management will provide intensive management skills support to 30,000 small businesses whilst Help to Grow: Digital could support 100,000 small businesses with online advice and a voucher for software costs. BEIS will be engaging with stakeholders shortly but businesses can register their interest now at https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk/.
[1] Figures do not include regions not able to be specified. For these regions,113 loans were made worth 1,205,641 since 2012 to end February 2021.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on levels of business debt in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Paul Scully
Across all areas of the country, businesses have taken advantage of the Government’s covid loan schemes to keep them going through the covid-19 outbreak. This has naturally led to an increase in business debt whilst safeguarding livelihoods.
The figures below are according to UK finance data by postcode[1] which often do not align perfectly with administrative boundaries. These figures are the latest data for outstanding loans to small and medium enterprises only, up to Q3 2020:
The figures below are according to UK finance data for outstanding loans for small and medium enterprises by region, up to Q4 2020:
[1] www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data/business-finance/sme-lending-within-uk-postcodes
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of working from home during the covid-19 outbreak on the average cost of household energy bills in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; what assessment he has made of the number of households in those areas that have fallen into arrears with their energy supplier during the outbreak; and what steps his Department is taking to protect vulnerable households in energy arrears.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Provisional data for 20201 shows an increase in average UK gas and electricity consumption of 5% and 4% respectively, relative to 2019, once temperature effects have been removed. The price falls in both fuels, however, mean that the average dual fuel bill decreased in real terms by 5%.
Data is not available by city or constituency, but provisional 20202 data shows that the West Midlands was in the lower half of UK regions for both gas and electricity bills.
The Department does not hold figures on the number of customers newly in arrears due to COVID. This data will be reported in Ofgem’s Supplier Obligations Reporting later this year.
In order to support vulnerable customer in arrears, the Government secured an industry-wide agreement to a set of principles to support consumers impacted by Covid-19 including to identify and prioritise customers at risk, support customers who are impacted financially, and support prepayment meter customers to stay on supply.
Additionally, the Government is extending the Warm Home Discount Scheme with over 2 million households provided with a £140 rebate off their energy bill each winter. The Energy Company Obligation has supported low income and vulnerable households with upgrading 2.2 million homes and delivering over 2.7 million energy efficiency measures.
1https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics
2https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 the covid-19 outbreak on the automotive sector; and what steps his Department is taking to (a) aid recovery, (b) protect and create jobs in and (c) boost the competitiveness of the UK’s car manufacturers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We have provided comprehensive support during the pandemic, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the trade credit insurance guarantee, and tax deferrals. In total, we have provided £2.4 billion in COVID Corporate Financing Facility support to the automotive sector.
The Government has invested around £1.5 billon to support the research, development, and manufacture of zero and low-emission vehicles to date. This investment has created thousands of jobs in the sector and its supply chain, saved millions of tonnes of CO2, and has helped the UK to lead the charge towards a low carbon automotive future.
In late 2020, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced in his 10 Point Plan nearly £500 million of funding for the Automotive Transformation Fund over the next four years to develop and embed the next generation of cutting-edge automotive technologies in the UK. This is part of a £2.8 billion package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles. In addition, we are investing in schemes to support the delivery of chargepoint infrastructure to homes, workplaces, on residential streets, and across the wider roads network.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 boost business investment in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Paul Scully
We aim to make the UK the best place in the world to start, run and grow a business. The Government provides a wide range of support and information for small businesses including on the GOV.UK website. Free and impartial advice is also available via the Business Support Helpline on FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098 and via the network of 38 local Growth Hubs in England.
The Start Up Loans Programme, part of the Government-backed British Business Bank, offers loans up to £25,000, repayable at 6% per annum across 1-5 years. Across the UK, 81,608 loans have been made, worth over £707.6m from the programme’s launch in 2012 to the end of February 2021.
Over the same period, in the Coventry North East constituency, 136 loans have been made worth £1,120,379. In the Coventry City Council area, 377 loans have been made to a value of £3,436,907. In England, 71,207 loans have been made worth £617,745,993.[1]
My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that a further £5bn is being made available through Restart Grants to help businesses as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. This means a total of £25bn has been allocated to direct business grants during the course of the pandemic.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) self-reported that in 2019-20, its Growth Hub engaged with 66,452 businesses/individuals (including via digital channels); directly supported 1,798 businesses, of which 77 received over 12 hours of high-level support; and helped 648 individuals start a business.
Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have benefitted from £131.84m in Local Growth Fund, over 3 Growth Deals, and the investments have secured over £28m in private sector investment. The LEP are also working with local partners to develop and implement a newly focused, partnership-led Strategic Framework to reset the local economy for a successful, inclusive, and resilient future. The LEP are committed to driving activities to minimise the negative economic impacts of Covid-19 in Coventry and Warwickshire. This includes the Growth Hub, which offers one-to-one advice and ongoing support to local businesses.
Coventry has also received over £8m funding to support it as the City of Culture 2021. The City of Culture events in Coventry are due to start in May of this year, which will benefit the city in many ways. In previous years this has included increases in investors opening new businesses and more opportunities to support the local community.
The Government’s new ‘Help to Grow’ scheme will help small businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach new customers, and boost profits. Help to Grow: Management will provide intensive management skills support to 30,000 small businesses whilst Help to Grow: Digital could support 100,000 small businesses with online advice and a voucher for software costs. BEIS will be engaging with stakeholders shortly but businesses can register their interest now at https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk/.
[1] Figures do not include regions not able to be specified. For these regions,113 loans were made worth 1,205,641 since 2012 to end February 2021.