Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
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 publish the amount charged by the Land Registry in fees for each of the (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory functions it fulfils in each financial year since 2016; and how much was raised in fees (i) nationally, (ii) from registrations in London and (iii) from registrations in Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in each financial year since 2016.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
HM Land Registry publishes information on its fees and charges on its website at GOV.UK.
Nationally for 2015/2016 HM Land Registry received £290,389,000 in statutory fee income and £4,983,000 in non-statutory fee income.
Nationally for 2016/2017 HM Land Registry received £305,858,000 in statutory fee income and £5,567,000 in non-statutory fee income.
Fee data is not held at regional or constituency level and obtaining that would be at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to publish the latest estimates made by HM Revenue and Customs on the (a) number and (b) proportion of workers in (i) the adult care sector and (ii) each other sector who were paid below the level of the national minimum wage.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Estimates of the number of jobs paid below NMW/NLW are available in Chart 3 on page 10 of the 2017 Government evidence to the LPC report- https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630197/nmw-nlw-lpc-evidence-compliance-enforcement-2017.pdf
The Government will publish new evidence to the Low Pay Commission containing ASHE 2017 estimates of jobs below minimum wage rates and enforcement stats for 2017/18 later this year.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the consultation Property ownership and public contracting by overseas companies: improving transparency, published by his Department on 4 March 2016, what steps his Department has taken following the results of that consultation.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published a summary of responses to the consultation on Property ownership and public contracting by overseas companies: improving transparency on 5 April 2017. On the same day, the Department published a call for evidence on an Overseas companies and other legal entities beneficial ownership register. The Government response to the call for evidence will be published shortly. On 24 January this year the Government issued a written ministerial statement confirming the timetable for implementation of this register. The Government will publish a draft Bill before the summer recess this year. We intend to introduce the Bill to Parliament early in the second session. Following Royal Assent and the making of secondary legislation to implement some of the technical details, the register will be operational in 2021.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
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 ensure that disabled people with high energy costs receive support through the Warm Home Discount scheme.
Answered by Claire Perry
Some disabled people are able to receive the Warm Home Discount currently if they are in receipt of qualifying benefits or if they meet the criteria determined by their energy supplier. Government will be consulting shortly on changes to the Warm Home Discount for 2018/19.
We will also be consulting soon on the Energy Company Obligation proposing reforms to focus the whole scheme on low income and vulnerable households.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the consumer green paper will include additional costs incurred by disabled people.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
We will issue a Consumer Green Paper in due course that will tackle areas where markets are not working for consumers.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the UK leaving Euratom on medical treatments provided by the NHS.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government considers the continuity of supply of medical radioisotopes as well as other medicines to be a high priority matter following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The Government has made clear that Euratom imposes no restrictions on the export of medical radioisotopes outside the EU. A cross-Departmental effort has already been underway since the summer of 2017 to coordinate and deliver a unified approach towards ensuring continuity of supply for medical radioisotopes after EU exit.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many calls the Pay and Work Rights helpline received in 2016-2017; and how much funding that helpline received in each year between 2015 and 2017.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Since April 2015, the Acas Helpline has been, in addition to their usual services, answering queries previously handled by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH). This includes calls on the National Minimum Wage, working for an employment agency, working hours, rest breaks and holidays, agricultural workers’ rights and working for a gangmaster.
Anyone who has any questions about their employment rights or workplace issues is now able to obtain this information in one place by contacting the Acas Helpline. The cost of running Acas Helpline Services, including advice provided by telephone and digitally, are:-
Year | Cost (£ thousands) |
2014/15 | £13,191 |
2015/16 | £13,748 |
2016/17 | £14,162 |
The Acas helpline answered 886,929 calls in 2016/17 on employment matters. 115,151 queries were recorded relating to topics previously handled by the former Pay and Work Rights Helpline.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated from the public purse to the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate since 2016; and how many FTE staff that inspectorate has employed on an annual basis since that date.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The table below details the budget for the Employment Agency Standard’s (EAS) Inspectorate and the number of staff employed by EAS since 2016:
Year | Employment Agency Standard Inspectorate Budget | Number of Full Time Equivalent Staff for each year |
2015/16 | £500,000 | 11 |
2016/17 | £500,000 | 11 |
2017/18 | £725,000* | 12 |
*The increase in budget was provided to purchase new IT systems to increase casework productivity and support EAS’ intelligence capability.
Full information regarding the activity of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate can be found in in their annual reports. These can be found at the following location:
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (a) how much funding was allocated to and (b) how many full time equivalent staff have been employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate since 2016.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The table below details the budget for the Employment Agency Standard’s (EAS) Inspectorate and the number of staff employed by EAS since 2016:
Year | Employment Agency Standard Inspectorate Budget | Number of Full Time Equivalent Staff for each year |
2015/16 | £500,000 | 11 |
2016/17 | £500,000 | 11 |
2017/18 | £725,000* | 12 |
*The increase in budget was provided to purchase new IT systems to increase casework productivity and support EAS’ intelligence capability.
Full information regarding the activity of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate can be found in in their annual reports. These can be found at the following location:
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many calls the Pay and Work Rights helpline received in 2016-2017; and how much funding that helpline received in each year between 2015 and 2017.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Since April 2015, the Acas Helpline has been, in addition to their usual services, answering queries previously handled by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH). This includes calls on the National Minimum Wage, working for an employment agency, working hours, rest breaks and holidays, agricultural workers’ rights and working for a gangmaster.
Anyone who has any questions about their employment rights or workplace issues is now able to obtain this information in one place by contacting the Acas Helpline. The cost of running Acas Helpline Services, including advice provided by telephone and digitally, are:-
Year | Cost (£ thousands) |
2014/15 | £13,191 |
2015/16 | £13,748 |
2016/17 | £14,162 |
The Acas helpline answered 886,929 calls in 2016/17 on employment matters. 115,151 queries were recorded relating to topics previously handled by the former Pay and Work Rights Helpline.