Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
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 13 April 2017 to Question 70406, on energy intensive industries: trade competitiveness, whether such compensation funding has been allocated on a rolling basis until an exemption is secured or a set amount has been committed to the policy.
Answered by Jesse Norman
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount of business rates paid by state schools in England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of business rate relief for fee-paying schools in England for each of the last five years.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will hold discussions with the US Secretary of Commerce on the importance and value of UK steel exports to the US.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2017 to Question 68027, when his Department plans to respond to the discussion paper, Parking reform: tackling unfair practices.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
We have already taken steps to tackle rogue and unfair practices by private parking operators, including the banning of wheel clamping and towing.
Private parking companies receive DVLA data on the condition that it will only be used to help follow up alleged parking contraventions. It cannot be further processed for any other purpose. The audit by the Information Commissioner’s Office in March 2016, judged the DVLA’s procedures to offer high assurance that processes to mitigate the risks of non-compliance with the Data Protection Act are in place.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
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 15 December 2016 to Question 57226, on energy intensive industries: trade competitiveness, how much additional contingency funding has been allocated to the continuation of compensation for the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation and small-scale Feed-in Tariffs for energy intensive industries beyond 1 April 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The government is in continuing discussions with the European Commission on securing the remaining exemptions for energy intensive industries. Sufficient funding is in place to continue the current compensation for the indirect cost of the Renewables Obligation (RO) and small-scale Feed-in Tariffs (FIT).
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
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 15 December 2016 to Question 57227, on energy intensive industries: trade competitiveness, by what date his Department plans to introduce the exemption for energy intensive industries.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The government is in continuing discussions with the European Commission on securing the remaining exemptions for energy intensive industries. The intention is to introduce the exemptions once the necessary clearances have been secured. The current compensation for the indirect cost of the Renewables Obligation (RO) and small-scale Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) will remain in place in the meantime.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much public funding has been provided to (a) energy intensive industries and (b) UK steel producers under the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariff schemes in the last 12 months.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Renewables Obligation (RO) and small-scale Feed in Tariffs (FIT) schemes support the generation of renewable electricity and are funded from levies on electricity supply.
Over the past 12 months the government has provided over £190m in compensation payments to eligible businesses for the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO) and small scale Feed in Tariffs (FIT) schemes. Of this we have paid over £54m to the steel sector.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which nuclear energy stakeholders he consulted on whether the UK should seek to withdraw from the European Atomic Energy Community (a) before and (b) after the publication of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has had detailed discussions with nuclear sector stakeholders since the referendum. Both officials and Ministers have been in frequent contact with nuclear industry and research stakeholders, and we will continue to work closely with them as we take the negotiations forwards.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on the potential role of equivalence agreements in future trading relationships with the EU.
Answered by Robin Walker
Cabinet discussions are confidential. However, the whole Government is focused on seeking to negotiate a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the EU, which will include free-flowing trade in both goods and services. Currently, we have unprecedented levels of regulatory convergence with other EU Member States. That forms a strong starting point for a discussion about access to each other's markets.