Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 take steps to encourage the payment of invoices by large firms to small businesses within 30 days; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The government is clear that large companies should lead by example in paying their suppliers promptly and fairly, and believes that 60 days is the maximum acceptable payment terms in the vast majority of cases. The Prompt Payment Code sets best practice in payment standards and commits signatories to undertake to pay suppliers within a maximum of 60 days, in all but exceptional circumstances, and to work towards adopting 30 days as the norm.
Government is supporting businesses, particularly small businesses, throughout the supply chain - the Public Contracts Regulations ensure public sector buyers require 30-day payment terms be passed down the supply chain. At Spring Statement, the Chancellor announced that BEIS will launch a call for evidence to assess what further steps and intervention may be needed to ensure small businesses are not subject to unfair payment practices.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to improve energy efficiency for pensioners living in park homes.
Answered by Claire Perry
Park homes are eligible for energy efficiency improvements under the Energy Company Obligation, which is worth £640m per year. Within this envelope, support was re-balanced from April 2017 towards the Affordable Warmth element, with an increased focus on tackling fuel poverty and supporting those on low incomes and vulnerable to cold.
Government has also taken action to ensure that financial support is available to park home residents through the Warm Home Discount Scheme. The scheme, now in its third year enables park home residents who pay for their electricity through their park or as part of their pitch fees to apply for a £140 rebate on their energy bill.
In addition, all pensioner households, including those living in park homes, receive £100-£300 through the Winter Fuel Payment and Government is also bringing an end to high energy prices by putting in place a price cap on standard variable and default tariffs.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what financial support is available for pensioners living in park homes to assist with the costs of implementing energy efficiency measures.
Answered by Claire Perry
Park homes are eligible for energy efficiency improvements under the Energy Company Obligation, which is worth £640m per year. Within this envelope, support was re-balanced from April 2017 towards the Affordable Warmth element, with an increased focus on tackling fuel poverty and supporting those on low incomes and vulnerable to cold.
Government has also taken action to ensure that financial support is available to park home residents through the Warm Home Discount Scheme. The scheme, now in its third year enables park home residents who pay for their electricity through their park or as part of their pitch fees to apply for a £140 rebate on their energy bill.
In addition, all pensioner households, including those living in park homes, receive £100-£300 through the Winter Fuel Payment and Government is also bringing an end to high energy prices by putting in place a price cap on standard variable and default tariffs.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
In 2016, renewables share of total generation was nearly 25% of UK electricity generation, and we are on track to meet our ambition of delivering 30% of the UK’s electricity from renewables in 2020-21. Recent steps to continue this progress include the latest Contracts for Difference round in which we secured a further 3.3GW of renewable electricity, enough to power 3.6 million homes.
Just last week I was pleased to announce that up to £557 million will be made available for less established renewable electricity projects as part of the government’s Clean Growth Strategy, to drive economic growth and clean up the energy system. The next Contracts for Difference auction is planned for spring 2019.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assistance from the Regional Growth Fund is available to companies based in England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Margot James
The Regional Growth Fund (RGF) was established in 2011 and ran over six competitive rounds supporting a wide range of individual company projects, as well as both national and regional business support schemes. The RGF is on track to deliver £16bn of private sector investment and 557,000 jobs by the mid-2020s.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 greater use of solar panels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Solar PV is a UK success story, with rapid deployment over the last 7 years, over 99% of the UK’s solar PV capacity has been deployed since May 2010.
We are exceeding our historic projections on solar deployment. In 2013 we estimated that solar capacity would reach 10-12GW by 2020. We now expect Government support to bring forward around 13 GW by 2020. Support for solar comes directly from people's bills, so when costs come down, so should support. Therefore we have taken steps to control the costs of support schemes and put solar on a path to delivering without subsidy.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 take steps to ensure that the Groceries Adjudicator can take evidence of alleged breaches of the supermarket code from all producers and not just from the suppliers of supermarkets.
Answered by Margot James
Anyone can make a complaint to the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), this includes: retailers, suppliers, trade bodies, other organisations and individuals. However, the GCA may investigate whether a large retailer has broken the Groceries Code, if the Adjudicator has reasonable grounds to suspect that a retailer has broken the Groceries Supply Code of Practice.
At present, the Groceries Code regulates agreements as between a direct supplier and the supermarket. However, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy is currently running a call for evidence regarding the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator. This is open until 10 January 2017 and we would encourage any interested party to respond.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the cap is on the turnover of businesses to be covered by the Groceries Adjudicator.
Answered by Margot James
The Groceries Supply Code of Practice applies to retailers with a turnover exceeding £1 billion for sales of groceries in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) legal status is and (b) statutory powers are of the Groceries Adjudicator.
Answered by Margot James
The Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013 established the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) and gave the GCA powers to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice which regulates aspects of the relationship between the 10 largest grocery retailers and their direct suppliers. These powers allow the GCA to:
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 29 November 2016 to Question 54778, what estimate he has made of the total number of tied pub tenants in England and Wales.
Answered by Margot James
The Department does not hold figures on the total number of tied pub tenants in England and Wales.