Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the fairness of the level of charges by insolvency firms on (a) business and (b) the public purse.
Answered by Paul Scully
Insolvency legislation provides that the remuneration and expenses of insolvency officeholders are subject to the approval of creditors, and to the overall control of the court. Creditors have the power to challenge remuneration by application to court.
Statutory objectives introduced in 2015 require insolvency regulators to ensure that Insolvency Practitioners provide high quality services, at a cost to the recipient which is fair and reasonable. A response to the Government’s call for evidence on insolvency regulation, which sought views on the impact and effectiveness of the objectives, will be published later in the year.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with industry on ensuring maximum production of electric vans in the UK.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government regularly engages with manufacturers and manufacturing trade associations on opportunities to support the growth and competitiveness of manufacturing sectors in the UK.
The Government consulted last year on bringing forward the end to the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans. We sought views on the phase out date, the definition of what should be phased out, barriers to achieving the proposals, the impact of the ambitions on different sectors of industry and society, and what measures were required by government and others to achieve the earlier phase out date.
As part of my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s ten point plan published in November 2020, we announced that we would phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, all new cars and vans must be zero emissions at the tailpipe. On 10 March, the Government published the full written outcome of the consultation including stakeholder views and the Government’s response. These ambitions will be supported by an accompanying package of £2.8 billion, with up to £1 billion to support the electrification of UK vehicles and their supply chains, £1.3 billion to accelerate the roll out of charging infrastructure and £582 million for plug in vehicle grants.
Between 2030 and 2035, any new cars and vans sold that emit from the tailpipe must have significant zero emission capability. This will be defined through consultation in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies are registered in (a) Sandwell and (b) the West Midlands.
Answered by Paul Scully
Please find below the number of companies and Limited Liability Partnerships for (a) Sandwell and (b) West Midlands as at Friday 14 May 2021:
Sandwell: 18,691 active companies registered;
West Midlands: 377,299 active companies registered.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
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 23 April 2021 to Question 180920 on Unite: Annual Reports, for what reason it was not feasible for the Certification Officer to publish the annual return for Unite from 18 December 2020 to early March 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 29th April 2021 to Question 187136.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the UK's CO2 emissions were in (a) in total and (b) per capita in (i) 1990 and (ii) 2019.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Over the last three decades, the UK has achieved record clean growth and has met its world-leading climate change commitments. The UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions were 809 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent (MtCO2e) in 1990 and decreased by 44% to 455Mt by 2019. Specifically for CO2, the figures were 608Mt in 1990 and 365Mt in 2019 – a 40% fall.
At the same time, the UK’s population grew by 16% between 1990 and 2019. This implies an approximate fall of over 50% in territorial greenhouse gas emissions per person, from 14.1tCO2e to 6.8tCO2e per person. Carbon dioxide emissions per capita fell from 10.6Mt per person to 5.5Mt.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
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 23 April 2021 to Question 180920 on Unite: Annual Reports, for what reason it was not feasible for the Certification Officer to publish the annual return for Unite between 18 December 2020 and early March 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
It was not feasible for the Certification Officer to publish the annual return for Unite between 18 December 2020 and early March 2021 due to staff absence. Throughout this period, copies of the annual return were made available for public inspection on application to her office.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies are registered in (a) Sandwell and (b) the West Midlands.
Answered by Paul Scully
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt. Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the UK CO2 emissions were in (a) in total and (b) per capita in (i) 1990 and (ii) 2019.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt. Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
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 10 March 2021, what reasons the Certification Officer has provided for the length of time taken between receiving the 2019 annual return for Unite on 18 December 2020 and publishing that return in March 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Certification Officer published the Unite annual return as soon as it was feasible to do so. There is no statutory requirement for the Certification Officer to publish annual returns within a particular period.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
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 did the Certification Office not publish page 36 of the Unite 2019 return regarding compensation for key management personnel as referenced in Note 4 on page 14 of the notes to the consolidated accounts.
Answered by Paul Scully
Page 36 of the notes to the consolidated accounts for year ending 31 December 2019 was not provided to the Certification Officer by Unite. There is no statutory requirement for Unite to supply the Certification Officer with a complete set of notes to the consolidated accounts.