Theresa Villiers

The Government is committed to helping consumers with the cost of living, particularly high energy prices. Therefore, we are implementing a scheme to provide £400 to help domestic electricity customers with energy bills over the coming winter, in addition to measures specifically targeted to help vulnerable consumers.

Mechanisms are already in place to ensure that the electricity demand from the transition to electric vehicles can be met, both in terms of electricity generation capacity and electricity network capacity.

The market is already set up to bring forward investment in new generation capacity. The Contracts for Difference scheme supports investment in new low carbon generation, and additional demand can be managed through adjustments to the amount of capacity secured through the Capacity Market auctions.

Ofgem, as the independent regulator, uses the price control framework to ensure that electricity network companies provide the required infrastructure to deliver the capacity to meet both current and future demand on the network. Additionally, electric vehicles offer new opportunities for consumers to be part of a smarter and more flexible energy system. Smart charging during off-peak periods when electricity demand is low reduces the need for additional generation capacity and network reinforcement.

My Rt. Hon. Friend will be unsurprised to hear that I welcomed the radical and ground-breaking report from TIGRR. On 16 September, my Noble Friend the Rt. Hon. Lord Frost outlined the Government’s overall response to the report. This included the list of recommendations which BEIS agreed to take forward. Lord Frost also wrote to my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green. These can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/brexit-opportunities-regulatory-reforms

BEIS is continuing work to implement the agreed recommendations, subject to parliamentary time allowing.

Recent public consultations relevant to the agreed TIGRR recommendations include:

Offshore Networks Coordination – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/offshore-transmission-network-review-proposals-for-an-enduring-regime; and

Reforming the framework for better regulation – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-the-framework-for-better-regulation.

We are analysing responses to the consultations and will announce more in due course. The conclusions of the latter consultation in particular – on which we are working closely with Lord Frost’s Brexit Opportunities Unit – will allow us to modernise our approach to regulatory design and deliver the aims for regulation in the Plan for Growth: to cut red tape, unlock cutting-edge technologies and boost competition.

The Government has confirmed we are preparing for a booster programme to take place later this year. We have secured early access to 397 million vaccines doses through supply agreements with six separate vaccine developers, of which four have been approved for use and three are currently in deployment. This includes agreements with:

• Pfizer/BioNTech for 100 million doses
• University of Oxford/AstraZeneca for 100 million doses
• Moderna for 17 million doses
• Novavax for 60 million doses
• Janssen for 20 million doses
• Valneva for 100 million doses

In addition, the Government has a reservation agreement with GlaxoSmithKline/Sanofi Pasteur for 60 million doses and a non-binding agreement with CureVac for 50 million doses.

Final decisions on what a booster programme would look like – including which vaccines will be used - will depend on the data from ongoing clinical trials, such as the COV-Boost trial, and advice from the independent medical experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

The Government has confirmed we are preparing for a booster programme to take place later this year. We have secured early access to 397 million vaccines doses through supply agreements with six separate vaccine developers, of which four have been approved for use and three are currently in deployment. This includes agreements with:

• Pfizer/BioNTech for 100 million doses
• University of Oxford/AstraZeneca for 100 million doses
• Moderna for 17 million doses
• Novavax for 60 million doses
• Janssen for 20 million doses
• Valneva for 100 million doses

In addition, the Government has a reservation agreement with GlaxoSmithKline/Sanofi Pasteur for 60 million doses and a non-binding agreement with CureVac for 50 million doses.

Final decisions on what a booster programme would look like – including which vaccines will be used - will depend on the data from ongoing clinical trials, such as the COV-Boost trial, and advice from the independent medical experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

We are working closely with the fashion and textiles sector to ensure businesses get the support they need around specific aspects of our new trading relationship with the EU.

We are operating export helplines, running webinars with policy experts and offering businesses support via our network of 300 international trade advisers. In addition, we invested millions to expand the customs intermediaries sector.

When EU-based traders trade in or target their activities at the UK, UK standards will apply. Otherwise, the protection consumers have within the EU after the end of the transition period will depend on the consumer’s contract and the laws of the relevant Member State.

The Government carried out a detailed examination of the business which demonstrated a rational commercial case for investment. As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out, even with substantial cuts to OneWeb's base case financial projections, the investment would have a positive return.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State confirmed that the Government will invest $500 million and take a significant equity share in OneWeb. This investment is made alongside Bharti Global Ltd. Bharti will provide the company commercial and operational leadership and bring OneWeb a revenue base to contribute towards its future success.

The Government announced the introduction of the Small and Micro Business Assessment (SaMBA) in June 2013. It requires that Impact Assessments provide clear evidence of the potential impact of regulations on small and micro businesses.

The default assumption under SaMBA is that there will be a legislative exemption for small and micro businesses where a large part of the intended benefits of the measure can be achieved without including them. As a result of this policy, small firms can have confidence that future regulation will be more manageable for them and that they will not face disproportionate regulatory burdens.

The Department is currently reviewing the way we account for regulatory impacts on business and considering options for future policies, and more detail will be announced in due course.

The Government is leading efforts to find and manufacture a vaccine, working with industry and experts, both here in the UK and internationally?to?ensure?we are in the best position possible to support the discovery, manufacture and mass-deployment of a successful vaccine?should a candidate prove successful. A number of?agreements to procure millions of doses of vaccines have been made, ensuring the greatest possible chance of securing access to a safe and effective vaccine.?The UK has now secured access to 6 different candidates, across 4 different vaccines types, including University of Oxford’s vaccine being developed with AstraZeneca and agreements with?BioNTech/Pfizer alliance, Valneva, Novavax, Janssen and GSK/Sanofi Pasteur.

Opening up more of Britain in a COVID-Secure way is only possible if everyone continues to stay alert to the risks of Coronavirus by keeping 2m apart where possible (or 1m with precautions if not), washing their hands regularly, following the rules when they are visiting businesses and, crucially, getting a test immediately if they develop symptoms and self-isolating if they are instructed to by NHS Test and Trace.

Government has set out COVID-Secure guidance to help businesses – like pubs – take the measures that will protect themselves and their customers.

We are taking a phased approach to further reopening of sectors in the economy, in line with prevailing public health conditions. Our approach is guided by the scientific and medical advice, and every step is weighed against the evidence.

The Government has had regular engagement with a wide range of stakeholders from across the hospitality industry, including the pub sector. The Department will continue to engage with a variety of representatives from the sector to discuss how to support pubs through this challenging period.

The Government will not be publishing additional guidance in relation to this. However, the Government is reviewing existing guidance in light of the updated information from Public Health England.

Employers proposing to make 20 or more employees redundant from one establishment are required to consult employees or their representatives:

- at least 45 days before the first dismissal takes effect where 100 or more redundancies are proposed.

- at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect where 20 or more redundancies are proposed.

The consultation must include consultation on ways to avoid redundancies, reducing the numbers of redundancies, or mitigating their impact. Where an employer has failed to adequately consult with their employees about impending redundancies, those employees may apply to an Employment Tribunal for a Protective Award.

Within the same timescales, the employer must notify my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of the proposed collective redundancies. Failure to notify is an offence.

If special circumstances exist making it unreasonable for the employer to comply with the consultation or notification obligations, the employer must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to comply.

The Pubs and Restaurants taskforce is considering a range of measures to support the reopening of this sector as soon as it is safe to do so.

The taskforce consulted with a cross-section of the sector to develop guidance, with representation from trade bodies to small and medium sized operators, unions, as well as the supply chain. We consulted these stakeholders due to their expertise and real-life knowledge and experience of the challenges faced by the industry during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The guidance will be published in due course.

The Government recognises the significant impact on pubs caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and has announced measures, included in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, to prevent landlords from using aggressive debt recovery tactics.

These measures include a temporary ban on statutory demands and winding up orders where a company cannot pay its bills due to coronavirus, to ensure they do not fall into deeper financial strain. Government is also laying secondary legislation to provide tenants with more breathing space to pay rent by temporarily preventing landlords using Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery.

However, while landlords are urged to give their tenants the breathing space needed, the Government calls on tenants to pay rent where they can afford it, or what they can, in recognition of the strains felt by commercial landlords too.

A working group has been established by the government with the commercial rental sector to develop a code which encourages fair and transparent discussions between landlords and tenants over rental payments during the coronavirus pandemic and guidance on rent arrear payments.

The Government has published guidance to help employers, employees and the self-employed understand how to work safely during the coronavirus pandemic. If businesses are not required to close at this time, they can use this guidance to consider how they can operate to keep employees and customers safe.

Businesses should carry out a risk assessment to identify sensible measures to control risk in the workplace, wherever that might be. General guidance on how to complete risk assessments is available on the Health and Safety Executive website, and the guidance we published on 11 May sets out the steps employers should consider in relation to the risks of COVID-19. The guidance can be accessed at www.gov.uk/workingsafely.

On 11^th May we published our COVID-19 recovery strategy, which sets out a roadmap to a phased recovery. Over the coming months, the Government will introduce a range of adjustments to current social distancing controls, timing these carefully according to both the current spread of the virus and the Government’s ability to ensure safety. Each step may involve adding new adjustments to the existing restrictions or taking some adjustments further.

The ambition at step three of the roadmap is to?open at least some of the remaining businesses and premises that have been required to close, including personal care?(such as hairdressers and beauty salons), and we will work with the sector to develop safe ways for them to open at the earliest point at which it is safe to do so. The Government’s current planning assumption is that this step will be no earlier than 4 July.

Although the UK has left the EU, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU State Aid rules continue to apply in the UK until the end of the Transition Period.

It is not possible for the UK (or indeed any EU Member State) to unilaterally suspend the EU State aid rules.

However, it should be noted that the European Commission has introduced some flexibilities into the rules to deal with the impacts of the Coronavirus, in the form of a Temporary Framework.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is a State Aid approved scheme under the Temporary Framework. Companies that are in difficulty are eligible for support, in recognition of the impact of Coronavirus, unless they were in difficulty on 31 December 2019, prior to the outbreak.

CBILS does include a provision enabling banks to make the facility available on a de minimis basis to businesses that would not otherwise be eligible, for example because they were in difficulty as at 31 December 2019.

However, the British Business Bank is establishing a new Future Fund to support the UK’s innovative businesses currently affected by Covid-19. This will launch in May and is intended to help businesses that have been unable to access other government business support programmes, such as CBILS, because they are either pre-revenue or pre-profit and typically rely on equity investment. The £500m scheme will deliver an initial commitment of £250m of new government funding which will be match funded by private investment.

Although the UK has left the EU, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU State Aid rules continue to apply in the UK until the end of the Transition Period.

Although the European Commission declined to suspend the State aid rules because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Commission introduced flexibilities into the rules to deal with the impacts of the Coronavirus, in the form of a Temporary Framework. This facilitates aid going to the companies who need it most, quickly and with more efficiently.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme was approved by the Commission (on 25th March) under this Temporary Framework. No exemption from the State Aid rules is required.

Since the launch of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Government has received a lot of helpful feedback on how the scheme has been working. We have been working with the financial services sector to ensure that companies feel the full benefits from this support. The Government will continue to seek to identify new areas for improvement across the scheme as a whole.

The successful delivery of COP26 will require widespread diplomatic engagement with our international partners at all levels. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, along with the Prime Minister and Cabinet colleagues, will meet a number of international leaders at key moments throughout the year in order to encourage greater climate ambition and achieve an ambitious, shared outcome at COP26.