Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 potential merits of extending the Green Homes Grant scheme until 31 March 2022.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme was designed to provide a short-term economic stimulus while tackling our contribution to climate change. However, it was not delivering at the rate and scale we had originally intended. The scheme closed on 31 March 2021 and will not reopen.
We will refocus efforts and funding on alternative approaches which will maximise delivery of home retrofits for consumers who are most in need.
The Government will be expanding its funding commitment for both the Local Authority Delivery element of the Green Homes Grant scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with £300 million of new funding.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 has issued guidance to local authorities to exclude coach tour operators from the Restart Payments; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has introduced an unprecedented package of support for businesses including grants for those businesses that are required to close or which are severely affected by the restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19 and save lives.
Coach Tour Operators are not eligible for the Restart Grant Scheme. This is because eligible businesses must offer in-person services, where the main service and activity takes place in a fixed rate-paying premises, in the relevant sectors.
However, they may be able to access discretionary support through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG). This funding gives Local Authorities the ability to provide support that suits their local area including to support those businesses not required to close but which have had their trade severely affected by the restrictions. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced an additional £425m will be made available via ARG meaning that more than £2bn has been made available to local authorities since November 2020.
Guidance was published for Local Authorities on 17th March for both the Restart Grants and the Additional Restrictions Grant, and guidance for the Additional Restrictions Grant identifies that group tour and coach operators can be considered for support through this funding.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether door-to-door selling is permitted during the period of covid-19 lockdown restrictions announced in January 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
Door-to-door sales should not take place during the national lockdown. Sales activities should be conducted remotely (such as by phone, online or e-mail) as set out in the business closures guidance.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 increase the competitiveness of the business environment to support the growth of the UK maritime industry.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government recognises the importance of the UK maritime sector to our economy. BEIS is working with the sector and other Government departments to facilitate access to innovation support via UKRI programmes.
BEIS will continue to work with the Maritime Enterprise Working Group, addressing issues of common concern to secure a truly competitive, sustainable and globally successful marine engineering and shipbuilding industry.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how his Department plans to support new businesses to ensure that they can access a Bounce Back Loan during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown period.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme, launched in May 2020, has been introduced to help smaller businesses impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19). It is designed to help businesses who were trading prior to 1 March 2020 and have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.
Other Government support is available for newer businesses during the pandemic, including the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans Scheme, which is available to individual who have founded businesses trading for less than two years. The Scheme offers access to affordable government-backed finance of between £500 and £25,000 per owner (limited to £100,000 per business) at a fixed 6% interest per annum.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 the letter of 13 November 2020 from the Leader of Kingston upon Hull City Council, Stephen Brady OBE, on the levels of covid-19 infection in the city, what plans he has to make discretionary support available to businesses in Hull and the East Riding once the November 2020 covid-19 restrictions end on 2 December 2020.
Answered by Paul Scully
Hull City Council has received £5,195,560 and East Riding of Yorkshire Council has received £6,823,460 in Additional Restrictions Grant funding. This is a discretionary grant which is being provided to local authorities in order to provide support to their business communities over and above the up to £3,000 per four week period grant available to all businesses that are required to close due to national or local restrictions. The Additional Restrictions Grant can be spent at any point up until the end of financial year 2021/22.
In addition, areas reverting to either Tier 2 or Tier 3 following the national lockdown would be eligible for both Local Restrictions Grant Support (Closed) for businesses that are required to close and Local Restrictions Grant Support (Open) that provides Local Authorities with a discretionary fund to support businesses that are not required to close but are severely impacted.
We are working closely with local authorities to roll out business support grant schemes as quickly as practicable and we are keeping levels of support under close review.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take steps against retailers that do not limit the number of customers in accordance with Government guidance on Working safely during coronavirus, last updated on 9 November 2020.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government guidance on working safely during coronavirus states that it is for each business to carry out its own risk assessment, in consultation with their workers, to inform the actions they should take to reduce the risks of COVID-19. All companies have the same obligations to protect the health and safety of their workers and other people who may be affected by their business.
Employers will need to consider how best to maintain social distancing at their workplace. This may include restricting the number of customers in a shop at any one time and making this clear to customers and other visitors.
If anyone has concerns that employers are not taking all reasonably practicable steps to reduce the risks of COVID-19, they should get in touch with their employee representative or union, or with the Health and Safety Executive.
If the enforcing authority finds that an employer is not taking action to properly manage workplace risk, a range of actions is open to them including specific advice or issuing enforcement notices.
The vast majority of employers are responsible and will join with the UK’s fight against COVID-19 by working with the government and their sector bodies to protect their workers and the public. However, inspectors are carrying out compliance checks nationwide to ensure that employers are taking the necessary steps.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether businesses who have been adversely affected by the Rule of 6 and 10.00pm curfew restrictions in tier 1 local covid alert level areas are eligible for covid-19 business grant support.
Answered by Paul Scully
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister addressed the nation on Saturday 31 October setting out new national restrictions. These restrictions will apply nationally for four weeks up to Wednesday 2 December, and will override the current Local Alert Level restrictions.
The Government will provide further financial support. The furlough scheme is being extended for a month with employees receiving 80% of their current salary for hours not worked. The mortgage holiday will also be extended to reassure homeowners. Business premises which are legally forced to close will receive grants worth up to £3,000 per month in England, and £1.1bn is being provided to Local Authorities to enable them to support businesses.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with (a) online retailers and (b) online retailing platforms on preventing the sale of counterfeit products.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government takes the protection of intellectual property seriously and supports a range of initiatives designed to reduce this illicit trade.
Officials from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) have been holding roundtable meetings with representatives from online platforms and rights holders to discuss the availability of counterfeits on their platforms and to help co-ordinate law enforcement action against sellers.
In September 2013, we launched a dedicated Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), run by the City of London Police. It is dedicated to tackling serious and organised online piracy and counterfeiting (affecting digital and physical goods) and protecting legitimate UK businesses. IPO provided funding of around £9 million over the period 2013-2019.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to provide support to businesses in the first quarter of 2021 when deferred payments and initial loan repayments become due.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has provided a comprehensive package of support to help businesses that have been affected by Covid-19. This package includes the small business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as well as deferral of income tax payments.
The Government will continue to work closely with local authorities, businesses, and business representative organisations to understand the impact of Covid-19 on businesses. This will include consideration of how payments for deferred VAT and loan repayments will impact businesses from March 2021.
We are developing a consistent industry-wide approach to the collections and recoveries of Bounce Back loans. This will ensure that lenders understand the full range of support they can provide to borrowers struggling to repay their loans.