Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
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 has allocated to support Sir John Parker in his report on diversity on corporate boards.
Answered by Margot James
The secretariat to Sir John’s review is provided by private sector sponsors and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have been very supportive of the review and providing support at ministerial and official level.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timescale is for completion of Sir John Parker's report on diversity on corporate boards.
Answered by Margot James
Sir John Parker is conducting an independent review. We expect he will report his findings by the end of the year.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what consultation the Oil and Gas Authority has undertaken on nuclear decommissioning; and whether that authority is subject to the Cabinet Office's Consultation Principles, published in January 2016.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is responsible for decommissioning and clean-up of UK’s nuclear legacy sites. The Oil and Gas Authority has no remit for nuclear decommissioning.
All OGA consultations will consider the Cabinet Office’s consultation principles where relevant.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the oral contribution by the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise on 28 October 2015, Official Report, column 476, if his Department will extend the remit of the Lord Davies review of diversity on boards to include ethnicity.
Answered by Anna Soubry
To complement the work on Women on Boards, Sir John Parker has established a business led diversity initiative to end mono-cultural boards in the FTSE 100 boards by 2020.
The Government has also asked Baroness McGregor-Smith to undertake a review examining the issues faced by business in developing BME talent from recruitment through to the executive level. She will be reporting findings by the end of 2016.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to further regulate the use of fireworks.
Answered by Anna Soubry
I am aware of recent concerns about the use of fireworks in some parts of the country. However, I believe that the majority of people enjoy fireworks sensibly, responsibly and in accordance with the current restrictions on their use and I therefore have no immediate plans to review the legislation already in place.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the contribution of the Prime Minister on 17 October 2012, Official Report, column 316, what steps the Government has taken to bring forward legislative proposals to compel energy companies to give the lowest tariff to their customers.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government introduced powers in the Energy Act 2013 to give effect to the Prime Minister’s commitment. These powers enabled the Government to make changes to supplier standard licence conditions to ensure that customers are on the cheapest tariff that is in line with their preferences. However as the necessary changes to supplier licence conditions were introduced by Ofgem in 2013, the Government has not had to exercise these powers.
Ofgem has since referred the GB energy market to the Competition and Markets Authority for a full market investigation which is due to conclude in June 2016 following the publication of the Provisional Decision on Remedies on 10 March. The Government has committed to taking forward the CMA’s recommendations.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to paragraph 36 of the Competition and Markets Authority report on energy market investigation published on 10 March 2016, if her Department will prioritise customers with dumb prepay meters in the smart meter rollout.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Competition and Market Authority provisional decision on remedies published on 10 March 2016 recognises the key contribution smart metering will make to strengthening retail competition and consumer engagement in the energy market, but did not recommend prioritising the roll-out of smart meters to prepayment customers.
There is a clear incentive for suppliers to offer smart meters to prepayment customers early, because prepayment customers who have ‘traditional’ meters currently cost more to serve. A number of energy suppliers are already offering or trialling smart prepayment services and offering a more competitive range of prepay tariffs to consumers.