Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many meetings he has held with representatives of the creative industries in relation to the Government’s decision to expand the text and data mining exception.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government conducted a full public consultation on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property 29 October 2021-7 January 2022, which included options on text and data mining. Creative industry views were well represented in the responses, but little quantitative evidence of impact was received. Creative industry representatives attended two of the six roundtable meetings which were held with different sectors as part of the consultation exercise. Other attendees included representatives of civil society, researchers and the tech sector.
The former minister for Science, Research and Innovation also discussed the exception with representatives of the Alliance for Intellectual Property at a meeting on 6 July.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many meetings he held with the creative industries before deciding to expand the text and data mining exception.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government conducted a full public consultation on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property 29 October 2021-7 January 2022, which included options on text and data mining. Creative industry views were well represented in the responses, but little quantitative evidence of impact was received. Creative industry representatives attended two of the six roundtable meetings which were held with different sectors as part of the consultation exercise. Other attendees included representatives of civil society, researchers and the tech sector
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential financial impact on the UK music industry of his decision to expand the text and data mining exception.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government asked specific questions about impact in the consultation on AI and IP, but received very limited quantitative evidence. An impact assessment will be published alongside the legislation when laid. The proposed exception will be targeted to limit negative impacts, and the government welcomes further evidence from rights holders on how to best achieve this
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
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 seeks references for candidates appointed to public positions which fall under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Answered by George Freeman
The Governance Code on Public Appointments sets out that advisory assessment panels must satisfy themselves that all candidates for appointment can meet the Seven Principles of Public Life and adhere to the Code of Conduct for board members of public bodies.
In accordance with the Governance Code, BEIS requires that candidates declare relevant interests at the point of application and these are discussed at interview. Where appropriate, BEIS has on occasion sought references for candidates appointed to public positions which fall under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.We also provide the panel with other information, for example open source material, that they may wish to consider in reaching a judgement in a fair and open way.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many items of written correspondence from hon. Members sent to Ministers in his Department have been (a) received and (b) replied to since 1 April 2020; and how many of those responses were responded to by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In the period 1 April 2020 to 6 July 2021, 21,594 items of written correspondence from Hon. Members were received by Ministers in the Department. This figure includes 4,415 items that fell outside the Department’s remit and were successfully transferred to the correct department for a response. Of the remaining items, 16,158 were replied to by Ministers and 529 were replied to by officials (and the remainder are still open cases).
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings he has had with representatives of the recorded music industry in 2021.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Departments publish quarterly details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations on GOV.UK. Details for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings.
Data for January to March 2021 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings the chief executive officer of the Intellectual Property Office has had with representatives of the recorded music industry in 2021.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Chief Executive Officer of the Intellectual Property Office has met with representatives of the recorded music industry two times in 2021 so far.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, what recent progress he has made on submitting the UK’s post-2020 Nationally Determined Contributions by the deadline of 31 December 2020.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Under the Paris Agreement, all Parties have committed to communicating or updating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2020 and every five years after that. We are considering the UK's NDC and will set this out by the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December 2020.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
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 ensure that business sectors which have been unable to access Government-backed finance in the past are able to access the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme and other Government-backed loan schemes.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has responded to helpful feedback to ensure that companies feel the full benefits of available support.
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is open to eligible businesses operating in most sectors. Unlike Enterprise Finance Guarantee, road haulage, fishery, aquaculture and agriculture businesses can access facilities up to the maximum of £5m available. Fishery, aquaculture and agriculture businesses may not qualify for the full interest and lender-levied fee payment paid by government.
The Government has:
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses in the (a) creative and (b) music sectors have received support under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme to date.
Answered by Paul Scully
As of 21 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, to over 16,600 businesses. At this time we cannot provide a breakdown of funding by sector, as we have given lenders a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let them focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.