Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps her Department has taken to help support (a) pubs, (b) restaurants, (c) cafes and (d) other parts of the hospitality sector.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
My Department meets regularly with the sector through the Hospitality Sector Council to understand the challenges businesses are facing and help build the sector’s resilience.
In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a business rates support package worth £4.3 billion over the next five years to support small businesses. The small business multiplier will be frozen for a fourth consecutive year, and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief will be extended. It should be noted that the support monies provided for Scotland and Wales were not fully passed on to relevant businesses as intended.
At the Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that the government will freeze alcohol duty from 1 August 2024 until 1 February 2025, extending the six-month freeze announced at Autumn Statement 2023.
In addition, as part of our efforts to make regulation more effective and less burdensome for businesses, we are consulting on making it easier for bars and pubs to serve you a drink on a terrace.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether there are pending applications for arms export licences for arms to Israel as of 19 March 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
The most recent Official Statistics cover the period 1 April - 30 June 2023.
Information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 July – 30 September 2023 will be published after April 2024 and information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 October – 31 March 2024 will be published later this year.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps she has taken to support the hairdressing, barbering, and beauty sector.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Chancellor announced in the 2023 Autumn Statement business rates support worth £4.3 billion over the next 5 years, including an extension of the 75 per cent relief for retail properties – a £2.4bn tax cut building on the previous £3.7 billion worth of business rates relief and nearly £8 billion of energy support in 2021 and 2022, along with £16bn business rates support throughout Covid-19. We’re also working with the British Beauty Council and others on improving the sector's talent pipeline.
Overall, the sector is growing. The number of businesses in the sector in 2023 are 17% above 2017 levels[1], while output increased 1.1% in 2022 compared with 2021.[2]
[1] ONS - UK business: activity, size and location, 2023. Statistics relate to SIC 9602.
[2] ONS - GDP output approach – low-level aggregates, December 2023.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will have discussions with Royal Mail on the potential impact of the reduction in opening hours at Royal Mail customer service points on Royal Mail's ability to meet its (a) universal service obligation and (b) quality of service targets.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Decisions on the opening hours of customer service points are an operational matter for Royal Mail.
The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s operational or commercial decisions. It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards and decide how to respond should Royal Mail fail to meet its obligations.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps his Department has taken to support business activities which (a) improve the climate, (b) reduce poverty and (c) reduce inequality.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The government provides extensive support to all types of UK businesses, including those with activities focused on improving the climate and reducing poverty and inequality, through our Business Support Helpline, 38 Growth Hubs, Start Up Loans programme and Recovery Loan Scheme.
The Department for Business and Trade has dedicated teams in the UK and overseas that support clean growth technologies, such as renewable energy, to secure investment, grow in the UK and find export opportunities. We undertake a range of promotional activities working with businesses across the supply chain on an ongoing basis, including investment project support, targeted export campaigns and a network of UK and overseas based trade advisors to provide advice and support.
Internationally, the UK is committed to growing free and fair trade with developing countries, boosting economies, reducing poverty and supporting jobs in those countries as well as in ours. We achieve this by improving UK market access for businesses in developing countries through our Economic Partnership Agreements and the new Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which will come into force on 19 June. UK trade preferences reduce import costs for businesses by over £750m per year.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment the Government has made of the impact of the National Minimum Wage Apprentice Rate on the ability of apprentices to afford (a) housing and (b) food in (i) Putney constituency and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
On 1 April 2023, the Apprentice National Minimum Wage (ANMW) rate increased by 9.7% to £5.28. This is an above inflation increase and worth over £850 a year before tax for a full-time apprentice.
The ANMW is designed and set at a rate that acknowledges the particular costs for employers and benefits for young people involved in the provision of apprenticeships and which does not adversely affect apprenticeship opportunities in the labour market.
The Government has published a full impact assessment on gov.uk that assesses the regional impacts of the National Minimum Wage increases.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many overseas companies in the Register of Overseas Entities hold UK property assets through nominee arrangements on behalf of others; and whether the details of those natural persons ultimately controlling the underlying property are known to Companies House.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Overseas entities are required to provide information about their beneficial owners. If a beneficial owner is a nominee, the overseas entity in most circumstances is still required to provide information about the real beneficial owner, i.e., the person behind the nominee.
It is not possible to ascertain how many overseas entities hold assets through nominee arrangements. The Register will show the details of the registrable beneficial owners of the overseas entity, who may include both nominees and the natural persons behind them.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many beneficial owners listed in the Register of Overseas Entities are trusts based overseas; and for what reasons Companies House does not publish details about the beneficiaries and other parties of these trusts.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Currently, 8,857 registrable beneficial owners are recorded as either the trustees of a trust or having significant influence or control over a trust. An estimated 4,340 trusts have so far been registered with Companies House. Trusts associated with an overseas entity may or may not themselves be based overseas. Information about them is required to be provided to Companies House because they are associated with land held via an overseas entity. The figure provided relates to all trusts recorded on the Register of Overseas Entities.
Information about trusts is available to law enforcement and public authorities. Trusts are used for a wide range of purposes, including personal family arrangements, and providing for minors and vulnerable people. The Government needs to balance the right to privacy for these individuals against the value of transparency in combatting money laundering and economic crime.
NOTE
These figures are Companies House management information and are unaudited. They are subject to change and should be regarded as an indication only.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 prevalence of the use of nominee trust arrangements in the Register of Overseas Entities to avoid transparency declaration rules.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Overseas entities are not required to declare nominees to Companies House. This is because if a beneficial owner is a nominee, the overseas entity in most circumstances is still required to provide information about the real beneficial owner, i.e., the person behind the nominee.
Companies House keeps the information provided to the Register of Overseas Entities under review to ensure that it is accurate, and that overseas entities have met their legal obligations. The Registrar investigates where there is suspicion about the information provided to Companies House, and appropriate action will be taken if an overseas entity is found to have failed to provide accurate information.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the report by Transparency International entitled Through the keyhole, published in February 2023, what recent assessment the Government has made of that report's finding that almost 52,000 UK properties are owned anonymously; and whether the Government has taken recent steps to improve transparency in UK home ownership.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
There is already a high level of transparency. HM Land Registry holds publicly accessible records of the registered proprietors of land and buildings in England and Wales. If the registered proprietor is a UK company or overseas entity, information is publicly available from Companies House.
Over 28,000 overseas entities have complied with the requirements of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. HMRC and law enforcement agencies have access to all the information provided.
Further measures to enhance land transparency are being brought forward by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities via the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill.