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Written Question
Carillion
Tuesday 18th January 2022

Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)

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 in the investigation into Carillion; and when that investigation is planned to conclude.

Answered by Paul Scully

The Official Receiver investigated the failure of Carillion plc (“the Company”) and reported to the Secretary of State in relation to the conduct of the Company’s directors. Consequently, director disqualification proceedings were issued on 12 January 2021 against 8 directors and former directors of the Company. The proceedings are ongoing.


Written Question
Weddings: Coronavirus
Thursday 13th January 2022

Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support the Government has made available for local authorities to support wedding industry businesses and those in the supply chain for that sector that have been affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Paul Scully

The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant provides local councils with one-off grant funding to support  hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses in England.  Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-the-omicron-hospitality-and-leisure-grant.

The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) provides local councils with grant funding to support businesses that are severely impacted by coronavirus and the rise of the Omicron variant, which are not eligible for other grant funding. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-the-coronavirus-additional-restrictions-grant.


Written Question
Local Government: Coronavirus
Wednesday 12th January 2022

Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to review the effectiveness of the issuing of covid-19 support funding by local authorities to (a) the wedding sector and (b) other sectors.

Answered by Paul Scully

As for previous schemes, data on the funding provided to councils to support their local businesses through the COVID-19 business support grants is published and available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.

As for previous schemes, we will also monitor and publish data on funding spent per Local Authority as it becomes available. This will also depend on Local Authorities having the capacity to report back to Central Government.

We have commissioned an external evaluation of the Business Support Grant programme, for the effectiveness of its delivery.


Written Question
Satellites: North East
Monday 1st November 2021

Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to support the North East Space Hub.

Answered by George Freeman

The recently published National Space Strategy set out our commitment to supporting businesses across all parts of the UK, helping to develop clusters based on areas of local excellence and addressable market opportunities.

The UK Space Agency has co-funded a Centre of Excellence for Satellite applications in the North-east, in partnership with the Satellite Applications Catapult, since 2014. This has helped to forge collaborative partnerships across the region’s space sector.

This has provided a strong platform and evidence base for the Northeast Space Hub and the region clearly has an important role to play to achieve our ambitions of making the UK one of the most innovative and attractive space economies in the world.