Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of compensation available to the providers of electricity, gas and water when the supply of such services has been affected as a result of damage caused by third parties, such as interruptions caused by road works or agricultural machinery.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A specific assessment of this sort has not been carried out by Government, as far as can be established. Compensation in this type of circumstance is likely to be a civil matter between the relevant parties.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the delays to, and (2) the costs of, the South Somerset District Council and Opium Power Limited energy storage plant project.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made any such assessment. This is a matter for the parties involved.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what analysis, if any, they have conducted into whether there is any relationship between increases in the number of university students in the UK and levels of productivity over the last 20 years; and what were the results of any such analysis.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Office of National Statistics estimates that around a fifth of the rise in productivity between 1994 and 2019 can be attributed to improvements in the quality of the workforce. This is largely as a result of an increase in the share of overall hours worked by people with higher education qualifications. That is to say: more graduates in the labour market has led to an increase in productivity. This is consistent with other studies
Productivity is the main driver of long-run economic growth, and a key determinant of standards of living; in the long-run, the UK’s ability to improve living standards is almost entirely dependent on its ability to raise productivity. The Government’s Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs and increase the earning power of people throughout the UK with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure. The Government recently published the Business Productivity Review in response to the Industrial Strategy’s core priority of addressing the UK’s productivity issue.
The Government is investing £406 million in STEM and technical education and an additional £400 million in further education; the Government is also considering the recommendations of the Post 18 education funding review panel chaired by Sir Phillip Augar. This looked at how the post 18 education system can help deliver the skills the economy needs and improve UK productivity.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the democratic accountability of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.
Answered by Lord Henley
The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership is a private and public sector partnership to support growth and productivity. It brings together business and civic leaders to help drive local decision-making.
All strategic decisions, including funding decisions, are made by the Mayors and Leaders of the four Local Authority members of the Local Enterprise Partnership. The Mayors and Leaders are democratically elected and represent their constituents’ views and needs which inform their decision making.
Through a £283.5m Growth Deal programme, the Local Enterprise Partnership is funding projects ranging from infrastructure to business incubation spaces, to help grow the West of England economy.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Post Office branches provide automatic telling machines for customers.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Post Office provides a network of around 2,500 free to use ATMs in its branches. Also, through an agreement with all major banks, cash withdrawal and deposit banking services are available over the counter in every one of its 11,600 branches. This means that over 99 per cent of UK personal bank customers and over 95 per cent of SME customers can do their day-to-day banking at the post office.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 19 October (HL1971), when they expect to receive the results of their research on the use of share buy-backs by public companies; and when they intend to publish their final conclusions in this regard.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy expects to receive the results of this research during the first quarter of 2018. The Government will set out publicly any further areas of enquiry or action soon after this.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of public company share buybacks on the economy.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
In its response of 29th August to the Corporate Governance Reform green paper consultation, the Government stated that it will take forward its manifesto commitment to commission an examination of the use of share buy-backs by public companies. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will shortly be commissioning research to underpin this work. The research will consider the impact of share buy-backs both on executive remuneration outcomes and on investment by public companies.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park on 4 May (HL8001), whether they have requested that the taskforce set up by Universities UK includes members of those minorities subject to harassment and hate crime, representatives of the relevant law and order agencies, and independent members with no direct university involvement.
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The taskforce, established by Universities UK, is looking at all forms of violence and harassment affecting students. Its task is to bring together students, university experts and external organisations to consider the current evidence and what universities are currently doing to address issues of harassment and hate crime, including anti-Semitism, and what more needs to be done.
The taskforce have had meetings with or received evidence from a wide range of organisations which includes the Union of Jewish Students, Rape Crisis, Tell Mama and Stonewall. In regards to anti-Semitism, the Taskforce has also received evidence from the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Community Security Trust. In terms of law and order agencies, evidence has been received from a number of lawyers and from the police via PAHELO (Police Association of Higher Education Liaison Officers).
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the comments by the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, quoted in The Sunday Times on 8 May, that "the Zionist bashing" at universities "has gone unchallenged".
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Government is clear that there is absolutely no place in higher education or anywhere else in society for bigotry, hatred or any form of racism such as anti-Semitism.
Recent reports of anti-Semitism are extremely concerning and must be met with a decisive response. We expect all universities and all bodies with a role in English higher education to be absolutely clear in their opposition to racism in all its forms, and to have robust policies in place to tackle such hatred and support victims.
At the Government’s request, Universities UK has set up a taskforce to examine what more can be done to tackle harassment and hate crime on campus, and this includes anti-Semitism within its remit.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 21 April (HL7530), what is their assessment of the state of trade relations between the UK and Poland.
Answered by Lord Price
The UK-Poland trade relationship is strong and is set to get stronger. In 2014, the value of UK exports to Poland amounted to £3.84billion and UK imports from Poland £7.84 billion.
The Government’s focus on trade and investment with Poland is on 6 strategic sectors which we believe offer most opportunity for UK exporters. These are defence and security, energy, infrastructure, financial services, healthcare & life sciences and advanced manufacturing.
Our Embassy in Warsaw works in close collaboration with a recently established Overseas Business Network (OBN) partner to identify business opportunities for British firms and then to help them make the most of them. In 2015-2016, they were directly involved in winning contracts worth almost £450 million.