Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 holds data on the number of public rights of way footpaths that have been removed from Ordnance Survey maps since 2015.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ordnance Survey (OS) does not hold data which records the number of public rights of way footpaths that have been removed from OS maps since 2015.
From the 1 April 2015 to 31 January 2023 OS received 5,585 Orders for changes to the cartographic depiction of public rights of way from the relevant order-making authority, typically a Local Authority. 353 of these Orders included an instruction to make a deletion. It is possible that some of these orders for deletions were accompanied by an instruction to add a public right of way.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the process is for requesting that Ordnance Survey includes a lost public right of way in future map editions.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Applications for edits to the Definitive Map of public rights of way (including the addition of lost public rights of way) are made to the relevant order-making authority, typically a Local Authority. If accepted, the edits are made to the Definitive Map by the relevant order-making authority, whereby public rights of way are added and/or removed. The order-making authority should then notify Ordnance Survey (OS) of the edit and on receipt of the notification, OS will cartographically record the changes required and include in future map editions.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 support small and medium enterprises.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Businesses will have benefitted from the Government’s reversal of the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs approximately £4,200 on average, the cut to fuel duty for 12 months and raising the Employment Allowance to £5,000.
The Energy Bill Relief and Energy Bill Discount Schemes will protect SMEs from high energy costs over the winter. The Autumn Statement announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs.
Support is available to SMEs across the UK through the Recovery Loan Scheme and the Start-Up loan scheme. The latter has provided 100,228 SMEs with Start-Up loans to the value of £941,064,690.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 tackle fire and rehire practices.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is taking action to address the practice of fire and rehire. On 24 January, we launched a twelve-week consultation on a draft Statutory Code of Practice that will deter employers from using controversial tactics and failing to engage in meaningful consultations with employees and their representatives.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 conducted an economic impact assessment of the most recent industrial strike action.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department is conducting an economic impact assessment of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which takes the most recent industrial action, as well as other instances of industrial action, into consideration. This will be published shortly.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 protect UK intellectual property holders from unlicensed use of their IP globally.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s Counter-Infringement Strategy sets out its ambitions for intellectual property (IP) enforcement internationally.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) works with multilateral bodies including the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to improve the prevention of, and enforcement action against, infringement of IP.
The IPO also works bilaterally with countries including China, Brazil, and India, across North America, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Its IP Attaché Network supports UK businesses and improves IP protection in key export markets.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 discourage British businesses from undertaking commercial partnerships with companies known to infringe on intellectual property deliberately.
Answered by George Freeman
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) works to ensure British businesses understand the impact of intellectual property infringement and can make informed decisions when entering into partnerships and collaborations, both domestically and internationally.
The IPO has developed free digital resources to educate businesses about intellectual property and provides a programme of webinars and events.
The IPO also works with business support providers across the UK to ensure IP guidance and support is integrated into their services, including through the IPO’s regional advisors.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 offer energy bills support to charities after 31 March 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the review has concluded.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what criteria his Department plans to apply to determine which sectors will receive support with their energy bills after 31 March 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In January 2023 the Government will publish a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
The review will focus on identifying the most at risk non-domestic customers. It will consider how effective the scheme has been in giving support to at risk non-domestic customers and which groups of non-domestic customers (by sector, size or geography) remain particularly at risk to energy price rises, considering the latest price position and other cost pressures.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether initiatives in Solihull constituency will receive funding as part of his Department's support for clean electric vehicle auto-growth.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government has allocated almost £650m to the Advanced Propulsion Centre in support of projects, worth more than £1.3bn, including in Solihull, to support the research, development and manufacture of zero emission vehicles and technologies.
The Government is committed to developing an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain. The Automotive Transformation Fund supports late-stage R&D and capital projects, unlocking private investment and helping to create well-paid green jobs in our industrial heartlands.