Asked by: Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many financial penalties have been awarded in relation to a company's duty to keep a register of secretaries under section 275(6) of the Companies Act 2006 since 1 January 2015.
Answered by Margot James
No financial penalties have been awarded in relation to the section referred to since 1st January 2015
Asked by: Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many financial penalties have been awarded in relation to failure to deliver annual returns under section 858(1) of the Companies Act 2006 since 1 January 2015.
Answered by Margot James
During the period the Court imposed 4,701 fines on companies in relation to failure deliver annual returns under section 858(1) of the Companies Act 2006. The total value of the fines levied was £671,906
Asked by: Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK's decision to leave the EU on UK-based medical research.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The UK will maintain its status as a global centre for research and innovation. The Government has already committed to protect science funding with a total investment of £26.3 billion over the period FY 2016/17 – FY 2020/21. In addition, the Autumn Statement announced an extra £2 billion a year in research and development by the end of this Parliament. The Treasury decision to underwrite the grants of competitively bid for EU research funding while we remain a member of the EU will give British participants and their EU partners the assurance and certainty needed to plan ahead for collaborative projects that can run over many years. We are committed to ensure that the UK continues to be a world leader in international science, including medical research.
Asked by: Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the value for money case for Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon; and whether that assessment has been shared with the Hendy Review team.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department’s assessment as to whether the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon can be considered to be value for money is currently underway. No assessment has been provided to the Hendry Review team.
Asked by: Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of making the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry legally-binding upon employers in the construction industry.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has no plans to intervene in the National Agreements used in the engineering construction industry. These agreements are voluntary between employer trade associations and trade unions.
Asked by: Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to promote the take-up of employee ownership schemes by small and medium-sized businesses in each nation of the UK.
Answered by Anna Soubry
In 2012, the previous Government asked Graeme Nuttall to advise on what more could be done to increase the number of businesses with employee ownership. The Nuttall Review identified 28 recommendations to address three main constraints: lack of awareness of the concept; lack of resources to support the model; and actual or perceived legal, tax and other regulatory barriers. The action taken to address the recommendations is explained in the ‘The Nuttall Review of Employee Ownership - One Year On’ report published in November 2013 and available on the gov.uk website.
The Government now expects the private sector to make the business case for this model through organisations such as the Employee Ownership Association – the representative body for employee-owned businesses.
Ongoing encouragement for employee ownership is provided through four approved share schemes which have tax-advantages for both employees and employers. These are the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP), Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), Save As You Earn (SAYE) and Share Incentive Plan (SIP) which are administered by HMRC. In 2013-14 the total value of shares and options awarded under these schemes was around £3.45bn with over £1bn of income tax and national insurance relief given.