Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that chemicals that can be used in the manufacture of choking agents are (a) tracked and (b) not sent to Russia.
Answered by Alan Mak - Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury)
We have sanctioned the export of all chemicals and biochemicals of concern to Russia.
This is in addition to our existing export controls, which already restrict the export of certain chemicals, pathogens and toxins.
Sanctions and export controls are impacting Russia’s economy and depriving its military of key components, and we are going further by extending our capabilities..
My department has recently announced the creation of the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) to strengthen enforcement and support industry compliance.
We are also working closely with Ukraine and international partners to coordinate efforts to thwart Russia’s efforts to circumvent sanctions to gain access to technology to support its invasion.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential reasons for skills shortages.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The workforce is more highly qualified than 15 years ago, but adult participation in further education has declined significantly. This has left us with a gap in higher technical skills: only 4% of young people achieve a qualification at higher technical level by 25 compared to 33% who get a degree or above. We know through our work with investors and businesses that we do not have enough technicians, engineers or health and social care professionals to meet our challenges. Therefore, the Government are investing an additional £3.8 billion into skills and further education over this Parliament to help workers develop the skills businesses need.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of including titanium on the list of metals that are sanctioned when originating from Russia.
Answered by Alan Mak - Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury)
Metals are Russia’s biggest export after oil and gas. The UK Government is leading on efforts to restrict imports to the UK of Russian metals, delivering on G7 commitments.
In December last year, we introduced further restrictions on several base metals, including copper, aluminium, and nickel. These added to existing sanctions on products including iron and steel.
The UK Government does not comment on future sanctions policy as to do so could reduce its impact. We will continue to apply pressure against Putin and his regime, until Ukraine prevails or Putin ends his war of choice.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Motor Ombudsman at helping motorists to (a) resolve disputes with and (b) obtain redress in disputes about vehicles.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Motor Ombudsman is a non-statutory ombudsman, set up as a voluntary scheme by the industry and independent of government. The Motor Ombudsman is accredited and regularly audited by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute against key principles including neutrality and effective complaints handling.
The Motor Ombudsman's activities are documented in their annual reports, complying with the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015. These reports are accessible on its website.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent estimate her Department has made of the amount of money owed by insolvent businesses under the (a) Bounce Back Loan Scheme, (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and (c) Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Department does not have a recent estimate of the amount of money owed by insolvent businesses under (a) Bounce Back Loan Scheme, (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and (c) Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Scheme. This is because the Department does not have full data on any partial repayments which were made by businesses before they entered insolvency proceedings.
The Insolvency Service is taking action to address any wrongdoing in this area: as of 31 March 2023, the number of directors disqualified for this misconduct related to these schemes totals 602 and the number of bankruptcy restrictions totals 163. In addition, 6 criminal Prosecutions for allegations related to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme had concluded, with 3 immediate custodial sentences and 3 suspended custodial sentences.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Competition and Market Authority's regulatory enforcement powers at ensuring competition within the supermarket sector.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues in the UK falls to the independent Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that companies are behaving anti-competitively in a market. The Government is strengthening these powers further as part of the reforms in the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Bill.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Competition and Markets Authority's press release entitled CMA update on action to help contain cost of living pressures, published on 15 May 2023, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the Competition and Markets Authority's regulatory enforcement powers in respect of ensuring businesses respond to the authority's requests for evidence.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Competition and Markets Authority has powers to issue civil sanctions for failures to comply with a requirement to produce information under Part 1 of the Competition Act 1998 and Parts 3 and 4 of the Enterprise Act 2002. The Government is strengthening these powers as part of the reforms in the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Bill, including increasing the maximum penalty that can be imposed on a business.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a consumer rights and support service ombudsmen.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Government published its response to the 2021 ‘Reforming Competition and Consumer Policy’ consultation in Spring 2022. This set out Government’s intention to continue to consider ways in which consumers can be supported in finding routes to redress, working with Citizens Advice, enforcers and Alternative Dispute Resolution providers to achieve this.
Consumers should report problems to the Government funded Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133, www.citizensadvice.org/. The helpline offers free advice to consumers on their rights and how to take their complaints forward. The service can also refer on complaints to Trading Standards for further appropriate enforcement action.