Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to page 15 of the report, The process of withdrawing from the EU, published on 29 February 2016, if he will place in the Library a copy of the UK Schedules of Commitments with 161 WTO members which would have to be updated were the UK to leave the EU.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The UK’s schedules of commitments under the WTO form part of the EU’s schedules of commitments and are publicly available on the WTO website.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the financial effect on businesses of the decision in Loch v British Gas has on, including payments of bonus and commission in the calculation of holiday pay.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is continuing to monitor the impact of Lock v British Gas and other court decisions relating to holiday pay. We are undertaking a formal assessment of the financial impact and will make that available as and when there is a quality assured estimate.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the balance of trade between the UK and the rest of the EU was in (a) sugars and confectionery, (b) beverages and tobacco, (c) animal products, (d) cereals and preparations and (e) fish and fish products using the same definitions as in the presentation of information on page 15 of The process of withdrawing from the EU, in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The trade balance between the UK and the rest of the EU in the above commodity groups in 2015 is given in the table below. These figures are sourced from HM Revenue and Customs’ Overseas Trade Statistics database and based on the same definitions as in the presentation of information on page 15 of ‘The process of withdrawing from the EU’.
Commodity (HS commodity code) | UK trade balance with the EU (£ million), 2015 |
Sugars and confectionery (HS 17) | -451 |
Beverages and tobacco (HS 2009, 2201-08) | -1,969 |
Animal products (HS 01, 02, 1601-02) | -3,465 |
Cereals and preparations (HS 0407-10, 10, 1101-04, 1107-09, 19, 2102-06, 2209) | -2,729 |
Fish and fish products (HS 03, 0508, 051191, 150410, 150420, 1603-05, 230120) | +84 |
Source: HM Revenue and Customs Overseas Trade Statistics database
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the working time regulations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills keeps the working time regulations under continuous review. We will continue to engage with interested parties to determine the best way forward in this area.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22397, on park homes and smart meters, what the maximum size is of park home sites which fall within the definition of small non-domestic business sites for the roll-out of smart meters; and what steps are being taken to ensure that residents at such sites are offered a smart meter.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Electricity sites are not determined by size, but are settled on their Profile Class. Licence conditions require energy suppliers to install smart meters (or in some circumstances, advanced meters) to all electricity sites in Profile Classes 1-4, and to gas sites where average annual consumption is below 732 MWh per year. We would expect most park home sites to fall into Profile Class 3 (Non-Domestic Unrestricted Customers) or 4 (Non-Domestic Economy 7 Customers).
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 18 January 2016 to Question 22397: park home owners of non-domestic sites have responsibility for any secondary metering equipment within their site and the decision to install smart meters for their tenants lies with them.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22396, on park homes and the Warm Homes Discount, what the budget is for expenditure on the pilot scheme and what proportion is being funded by energy suppliers.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Energy suppliers participating in the Warm Home Discount this year (2015/16) have been given the voluntary option to provide a rebate to mobile home residents who meet the qualifying benefit as part of the Industry Initiatives section of the scheme. This scheme called the Park Homes Warm Home Discount pilot scheme is funded by obligated energy suppliers in the scheme and is open to permanent park home residents in England, Scotland or Wales. Residents on a Park Home site who pay for their electricity through their park site owner and meet one of the qualifying eligibility criteria can apply. If successful, residents will receive a one-off rebate of £140 towards their electricity bill.
The pilot scheme opened in November and is only open for a limited period and once a certain number of applications have been received and are successful, the pilot scheme will close. The pilot is currently expected to deliver just over 1000 rebates. This translates to just over £140,000 of support being delivered before the 31st March 2016.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22396, on park homes and the Warm Homes Discount, when that pilot scheme started; when that pilot scheme is expected to end; and what she plans the terms of eligibility for park home residents to apply to that pilot scheme will be.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Energy suppliers participating in the Warm Home Discount this year (2015/16) have been given the voluntary option to provide a rebate to mobile home residents who meet the qualifying benefit as part of the Industry Initiatives section of the scheme. This scheme called the Park Homes Warm Home Discount pilot scheme is funded by obligated energy suppliers in the scheme and is open to permanent park home residents in England, Scotland or Wales. Residents on a Park Home site who pay for their electricity through their park site owner and meet one of the qualifying eligibility criteria can apply. If successful, residents will receive a one-off rebate of £140 towards their electricity bill.
The pilot scheme opened in November and is only open for a limited period and once a certain number of applications have been received and are successful, the pilot scheme will close. The pilot is currently expected to deliver just over 1000 rebates. This translates to just over £140,000 of support being delivered before the 31st March 2016.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the terms are of the Dorset Growth Deal; and how much funding from the public purse has been provided to the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership.
Answered by Anna Soubry
To date Dorset LEP has received £88.3m in funding (£79m from the Local Growth Fund and £9.3m from the Growing Places Fund) to support investment in schemes that drive local economic growth, along with £1.88m in grants.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 22596, what assessment he has made of the net negative impact on business of the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision in Bear Scotland and other court decisions relating to holiday pay.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Department has produced an Impact Assessment of the implications for business of holiday pay cases such as Bear Scotland. This was published alongside the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014, which limit backdated holiday pay claims to two years from 1 July 2015. The Impact Assessment can be found on the legislation.gov.uk web site at this link
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3322/impacts
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2015 to Question 657, what tangible progress towards the EU-US Free Trade Agreement had been made by the end of 2015; and whether any agreement in principle had been reached on that matter by that date.
Answered by Anna Soubry
There have now been eleven rounds of negotiations for the EU-US Free Trade Agreement also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). A significant step forward was taken last June when the US Congress passed the Trade Promotion Authority bill (fast track authority for trade agreements). The agreement reached at the end of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (in the Asia Pacific region) last October is further good news, and allows the US to increase focus on TTIP.
The last negotiating round took place in October. A significant milestone was reached with the exchange of revised tariff offers, which would see tariffs almost completely removed. Negotiators also discussed all aspects of market access in public procurement. This helps prepare the ground for the first exchange of procurement offers expected in February.
We are making tangible progress and our ambition remains to reach an agreement under the Obama presidency.