Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the official evaluation of Operation Tacit to be published; and what steps they are planning in response.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) has undertaken an independent review of Operation Tacit. The objectives of the upcoming report can be found here Review of Operation Tacit - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The DLME will publish her findings in due course. The Home Office will consider all recommendations and respond appropriately.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the establishment of gigafactories to support future levels of vehicle manufacturing.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
We continue to work with industry via the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) to support the creation of an internationally competitive zero emission vehicle supply chain in the UK, including gigafactories.
As part of the Advanced Manufacturing Plan, we have announced over £2bn of capital and R&D funding over five years to 2030 in zero emission vehicles, batteries and the wider supply chain, boosting the UK's competitiveness and unlocking strategic investments in our automotive industry.
In the last year we have seen high levels of committed investment by our vehicle and EV battery producers, including JLR, Nissan and BMW Mini.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department has taken to find an alternative producer of batteries for electric vehicles for the vacant Cambois site since the collapse of Britishvolt and Recharge Industries.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The administration is a matter solely for the administrators. The Government has no formal role in the process.
There are a number of factors that investors take into account when deciding on the location of a gigafactory, but ultimately this remains a commercial matter.
We continue to work with industry via the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) to support the creation of an internationally competitive zero emission vehicle supply chain in the UK, including gigafactories.
As part of the Advanced Manufacturing Plan, we have announced over £2bn of capital and R&D funding over five years to 2030 in zero emission vehicles, batteries and the wider supply chain, boosting the UK’s competitiveness and unlocking strategic investments in our automotive industry.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of warnings from drugs companies on impending supply problems for certain products; and what steps her Department is taking to help ensure stability of supply for essential medications.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are approximately 14,000 medicines licensed for supply in the United Kingdom, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. The medicine supply chain is complex, global, and highly regulated, and supply issues can be caused by a range of factors. For example, suppliers can encounter manufacturing problems, difficulty accessing raw materials, and surges in demand. These are commonly cited as the drivers of recent supply issues, which have affected many countries, not just the UK.
The number of supply issue notifications received by the Department has remained relatively stable through 2022 and 2023. This followed an initial increase in 2021 following the introduction of a new reporting portal for manufacturers, in October 2020, which is used to notify the Department of potential issues, shortages, and discontinuations.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs), and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take legislative steps to enable subsidies equivalent to those from the US and EU to help attract manufacturers to build gigafactories in the UK.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
We continue to work with industry via the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) to support the creation of an internationally competitive zero emission vehicle supply chain in the UK, including gigafactories.
As part of the Advanced Manufacturing Plan, we have announced over £2bn of capital and R&D funding over five years to 2030 in zero emission vehicles, batteries and the wider supply chain, boosting the UK’s competitiveness and unlocking strategic investments in our automotive industry.
In the last year we have seen high levels of committed investment by our vehicle and EV battery producers, including JLR, Nissan and BMW Mini.
Written Evidence May. 01 2024
Committee: Environmental Audit CommitteeFound: Our George ESG strategy consists of five key pillars: Responsibly Sourced Fibres; Sustainable Manufacturing
Written Evidence May. 01 2024
Committee: Environmental Audit CommitteeFound: carbon-saving initiatives. 2.For our supply chain, we monitor the environmental impact of our Tier 1 (manufacturing
Oral Evidence May. 01 2024
Committee: Environmental Audit CommitteeFound: You subsequently and recently decided to close the manufacturing facility in Leicester.
Oral Evidence May. 01 2024
Committee: Environmental Audit CommitteeFound: You subsequently and recently decided to close the manufacturing facility in Leicester.
Found: These inc lude manufacturing or distribution problems and increased demand for medicines .