Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason hairdressers were not included in the additional grant for hospitality and leisure businesses impacted by the covid-19 omicron variant over the 2021-22 winter period.
Answered by Paul Scully
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Batley and Spen on 27 January 2022 to Question 110644.
While the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant focused on sectors where social mixing was a primary motivation for consumers, Local Authorities were encouraged to support the personal care sector through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme. Local Authorities reported that close to 750,000 payments of ARG, worth a total of over £2 billion, had been made to businesses by 31 March 2022, the scheme closure date.
The additional measures announced on 21 December 2021 reinforced the existing package of wider Government support.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps she plans to take to support people in fuel poverty following the removal of the £20 uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government recognises that approximately 3.1 million households in England are experiencing fuel poverty. This is why we have committed £1.3 billion this year alone to improving the efficiency of fuel-poor and other low-income homes through stimulus schemes such as the Local Authority Delivery Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund and the Home Upgrade Grant.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
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 help ensure that hospitality businesses in (a) Kingston upon Hull North constituency and (b) the UK do not close down as a result of covid-19 restrictions in advance of those restrictions being eased.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has brought forward a substantial package of financial support for the hospitality sector over the last year. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer will be making further announcements on the next phase of our economic support package in his Budget on 3 March.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support Kingston upon Hull to become the location of Europe’s first rare earth processing plant.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 26th January, Pensana Rare Earths plc submitted a planning application for a proposed rare earth oxide separation facility at the Saltend Chemicals Park, Humber, Yorkshire. This will create Europe’s first rare earth processing plant, generating 100 new jobs and establishing a UK source of critical materials for the powerful magnets needed for offshore wind turbines and electric vehicles.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
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 plans to increase statutory paid paternity leave from two weeks.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is currently carrying out an evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme, collecting and analysing information from a variety of sources, including a large scale survey of around 4,500 parents.
This will provide information on various entitlements to family-related time off work, including Paternity Leave and Pay. We expect to report on the findings of the evaluation later this year.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many former hon. Members hold (a) paid and (b) unpaid roles within his Department as of 17 July 2018.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We do not hold a central record of all employees, either paid or unpaid, who have previously been Members of Parliament.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2018 to Question 155725 on Energy: Environment Protection, whether he plans to publish a Clean Energy Sector Deal in (a) 3 months, (b) 6 months, (c) 9 months, (d) 12 months.
Answered by Claire Perry
Pursuant to the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 27th June 2018 to Question 155725, there is no timetable for sector deals.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for his Department to publish the Clean Energy Sector Deal.
Answered by Claire Perry
Sector Deals are a new approach to the way Government works in partnership with industry to improve the productivity of their sector. Since the publication of the Industrial Strategy, four Deals have already been announced and there are more in discussion.
Several sectors, including those in the clean energy sector, have expressed interest in a Sector Deal and we expect to progress with further Deals that best meet the expectations set out in the White Paper in due course.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
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 groups (a) 871, (b) 872, (c) 873 and (d) 874, Division 87 (Residential Care Activities), (e) 881, Division 88 (Social Work Activities Without Accommodation), Section Q, Table A1c of the Insolvency Service dataset Insolvency statistics January to March 2018 industry breakdown, published on 27 April 2018, what this date is by NUTS 1 region.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Insolvency Service does not hold data at this level of geography.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much money the Rutherford Fund has allocated to each NUTS 1 region in each year since its creation.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Rutherford Fund will invest more than £100m from 2017/18 to 2020/21, to attract world-leading research talent to the UK, mostly through fellowships at UK universities. The Fund is delivered through partners including the four National Academies, the British Council, Research Councils (and UKRI from April 2018), and others. The Fund makes individual appointments based principally on the quality of research. Government has not set any requirement for delivery partners to allocate funding on a regional or NUTS 1 basis.