Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of geo-blocking on (a) UK businesses and (b) digital subscribers and consumers in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The EU Geo-Blocking Regulation will take effect in EU and UK law in December 2018. In the event of a “no deal” exit from the EU, and without specific action on the part of the Government, the Geo-Blocking Regulation would continue to exist on the UK statute book as “retained EU law”. The Government will release its plans for the Geo-Blocking Regulation in the event of a “no deal” exit from the EU in due course.
Digital subscribers to ebooks, movies, video games and music sold electronically on sites elsewhere in the EU will not be affected by the Geo-Blocking Regulation, as it does not apply to wholly online services which are copyright protected.
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households in the (a) London Borough of Enfield, (b) Enfield North constituency and (c) Greater London area spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel bills.
Answered by Claire Perry
In England, approximately 2.36 million households spent more than 10 per cent of their full income on fuel bills in 2015. This is around 10.4 per cent of all households. In London, approximately 0.30 million households (8.9 per cent), spent more than 10 per cent of their full income on fuel bills. Data is only available at the regional level and is not broken down further to Local Authority level.
Fuel poverty is based on the low income high costs (LIHC) indicator. In 2015, around 2.50 million households were in fuel poverty. This is around 11.0 per cent of all households. In the London Borough of Enfield, 11,300 households (9.3 per cent) were considered fuel poor. In the Enfield North constituency, 3,500 households (8.6 per cent) were considered fuel poor. In London, 335,200 households (10.1 per cent) were considered fuel poor.
These figures are based on the fuel poverty dataset. The methodology for this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fuel-poverty-statistics-methodology-handbook
The sub-regional figures can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sub-regional-fuel-poverty-data-2017
This is based on data the English Housing Survey which is run by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The methodology for this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/english-housing-survey-guidance-and-methodology
Asked by: Joan Ryan (The Independent Group for Change - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent consideration he has given to the findings of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills on the issue of skills shortage vacancies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
We are investing in apprenticeships to meet identified skill needs across all sectors. We are committed to reaching 3 million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020 and will ensure they deliver the skills employers and the economy need for growth. We have also announced plans for ground-breaking reforms to technical and professional education, working in direct partnership with employers to ensure the new system provides the skills most needed for the 21st century. Together with creating 5 National Colleges, supporting a new network of Institutes of Technology and rolling out more degree and higher level apprenticeships, we are helping to equip people with the higher and technical level skills that are in demand.
Our aim is for all local areas to take a leading role in skills provision to ensure it is responsive to local economic priorities and devolution deals with areas around the country are a big step towards this ambition so that they can secure the training and skills that local employers need.