Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to progress the government's work to protect intellectual property in relation to music and film.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government is continuing its work with the music industry to improve music streaming for creators and Ministers will shortly be updating the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is also considering evidence about how to implement the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, which will secure additional protections for British performers abroad. A public consultation on this is planned for the new year.
Additionally, in February 2022, the IPO published its 5 year IP Counter Infringement Strategy setting out its ambition to make IP infringement socially unacceptable and which includes measures to reduce copyright infringement, including of music and film.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government is planning any further national schemes like the Year of Engineering in 2018 to encourage more young people into STEM careers.
Answered by George Freeman
Through UKRI, BEIS currently funds a variety of national programmes open to young people in all parts of the UK, to encourage them to take up the study of STEM subjects and to consider STEM careers.
These include the STEM Ambassadors programme, a nationwide network of over 30,000 volunteers representing over 7,000 employers, who engage with young people to increase their interest in STEM subjects and to raise awareness of the range of careers that science qualifications offer. BEIS also supports the CREST Awards, the UK’s largest national award scheme for project work in STEM subjects is based on enquiry-based learning principles which encourage motivation and engagement.
Programmes such as this are critical to inspiring more young people from all backgrounds to study STEM subjects and take up relevant careers. UKRI is currently reviewing these youth engagement programmes and their impacts to ensure that they remain effective in encouraging moreyoung people into research and innovation careers.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on the Cutting Red Tape programme since 2015.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Cutting Red Tape Programme ran from 2015 – 2016 and published six sector based reviews of regulations. There have been no new Cutting Red Tape reviews since 2016.
The published reports presented a series of findings to the responsible policy Departments who then worked with their stakeholders and regulators to address those findings and implement any changes. The Government is currently considering its approach to regulatory reform in the current Parliament.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what sum his Department has spent on the UK space sector since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The UK Space Agency was established on 1 April 2011.
The net operating expenditure for the period is £2.253bn, between the Agency’s establishment, up to and including the 2017/18 budget allocation.
Financial year | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18* | Total |
Net operating expenditure | 256 | 237 | 323 | 316 | 350 | 371 | 399 | 2,253 |
*Budget allocation for the financial year |
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Key segments of investment are subscriptions to the European Space Agency (ESA) which results in ESA expenditure with UK companies under the ‘juste retour’ policy, National Programme grants and other International Partnerships e.g. ODA delivered through UK companies.
Further information can be found in the published UK Space Agency Annual Report and Accounts for each financial year.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
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 the research and development of alternative methods of powering vehicles.
Answered by Claire Perry
On the 27 November the Government set out the future of mobility as one of four grand challenges in order to put the UK at the forefront of a profound change in how we move people, goods and services around our towns, cities and countryside. The way we are powering our vehicles is changing. This is driven by extraordinary innovation in engineering, technology and business models. The Government has adopted a technology neutral stance and welcomes any innovative thinking that helps us to decarbonise road transport and reduce emissions. We are supporting fuel cell, battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, natural gas and biofuels.
The Government has strengthened the R&D framework with £500m committed over 10 years, matched by industry, to the Advanced Propulsion Centre to accelerate the development of affordable low-carbon, vehicle technologies, with a further £200m through Innovate UK to support R&D of low emission vehicles.
The Government’s Hydrogen for Transport Advancement programme is providing capital funding for early refuelling stations. £5m has been allocated to build or upgrade 12 stations to support the launch of fuel cell electric vehicles by vehicle manufacturers. This has helped secure the UK as one of five global launch markets for fuel cell electric vehicles. To support the early market for these vehicles, the Government is also providing £2m to facilitate their deployment in public and private sector fleets. In March 2017 the Government announced £23m of additional funding to increase the uptake of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and grow hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. This programme will support the development of the hydrogen for transport market until 2020.
The Faraday Battery Challenge was launched in July 2017. Government will commit £246m over 4 years into battery technology. This will ensure the UK builds on its strengths and leads the world in the design, development and manufacture of electric batteries and will be delivered via a coordinated R&D programme.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what comparative assessment he has made of the contribution of (a) the licensed hospitality sector and (b) other sectors to the economy.
Answered by Claire Perry
The latest data available shows that accommodation services and food and beverage services (both licensed and unlicensed) accounted for around 3.0% of total UK gross value added and 6.7% of total UK employment in 2016.
Economics Estimates of Accommodation and Food and Beverage Services 2016
| GVA (£bn) | % of UK Economy | Employment (000’s) | % of UK Economy |
Accommodation Services | 13.6 | 0.8 | 514 | 1.5 |
Food and Beverage Services | 39.2 | 2.2 | 1,784 | 5.2 |
Total | 52.8 | 3.0 | 2,241 | 6.7 |
Source: ONS GDP(O) Low Level Aggregates, Employee Jobs, Self-Employed Jobs
Unfortunately data on accommodation services is not subdivided by licensed and unlicensed status but approximate estimates for licensed restaurant, licensed clubs and public houses and bars are available from the Annual Business Survey. Currently the latest data available from this source pertains to 2015.
Licensed Food and Beverage Services 2015
| GVA 2015 (£bn) | Employment 2015 (‘000s) |
Licensed Restaurants | 7.6 | 442 |
Licensed Clubs | 0.8 | 87 |
Public Houses and Bars | 9.2 | 450 |
Source: ONS Annual Business Survey 2015
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to monitor the difference between the wholesale cost of petrol and diesel fuel and the price paid for those fuels by consumers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) closely monitors average retail petrol and diesel prices and publishes these data regularly. This is available at:
www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/oil-and-petroleum-products-weekly-statistics.
Using commercial reports of the wholesale fuel prices, analysis by the Department suggests that on average, at a national level, wholesale price changes are fully passed through into pump prices within 4-5 weeks. This time represents wholesale contractual arrangements and the time taken for fuel to be delivered to filling stations through the supply chain. There is no evidence to suggest that, for given changes in wholesale prices, retail prices rise faster than they fall.
BEIS analysis shows that the gross retail margins (retail price less tax and wholesale price, which includes distribution and retail costs as well as profit) have remained broadly stable around 8 pence per litre for the past few years.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
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 at international level to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government believes that international aviation emissions, given their global nature, are best tackled at the global level. The Department for Transport leads on this issue, working closely with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
In October the UK and the 190 other States agreed to introduce a global measure to address CO2 emissions from international aviation in the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Under the deal, which is a major step to ensure international aviation contributes to the Paris Agreement’s wider climate objective of keeping the global temperature rise below 2°C, airlines will offset their emissions with reductions from other sectors and activities, with the aim of delivering carbon-neutral growth of international aviation from 2020. The UK’s focus will now be on ensuring the measure is implemented successfully across the world.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage businesses to offer flexible working conditions to (a) improve productivity and (b) reduce transport congestion.
Answered by Margot James
In June 2014 the Right to Request Flexible Working was extended to all employees with 26 weeks continuous service with their current employer. As part of this change, we made it easier for employers to consider requests for flexible working. The more onerous statutory procedure was replaced by a duty on employers to consider requests ‘in a reasonable manner’ – supported by a statutory Code of Practice and Acas guidance. Employers are now able to use their own informal processes for considering requests, as long as they can show that the way they considered the request was 'reasonable' in the circumstances.
Flexible working is good news for business and the economy as well as individual employees. It ensures employers have access to the widest possible pool of talent, and the ability to recruit and retain this talent helps make a contribution to the productivity of individual businesses and the economy generally.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy that consumers who wish to switch energy providers only have to make contact with the new provider.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The process for switching supplier is set out in industry codes, in the formulation of which the Government has no role. The Energy Switching Guarantee was launched in June this year and can be reached via https://www.energyswitchguarantee.com/. This makes switching energy supplier easier for consumers and guarantees that it will be done within 21 days. The guarantee also ensures that the new supplier will handle the whole transfer process for the consumer.