Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of precarious work on the workforce.
Answered by Margot James
Atypical work arrangements, alongside traditional full-time employment, play a valuable role in today’s labour market.
This Government is live to the issues that come with new ways of working.
That is why Matthew Taylor was asked to undertake his independent review of modern employment practices, which is considering job security amongst a range of issues.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will respond to the request for an apology for actions by the UK Government in relation to industrial action at Cammell Laird in 1984 made by the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament in December 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Margot James
The treatment of the workers in the Cammell Laird case as a result of the industrial action taken and any possible miscarriage of justice is not a matter for the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many miners whose employment with British Coal ended before they reached the age of 50 had their entitlement to concessionary coal reinstated after the introduction of the National Concessionary Fuel Scheme in 2013.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In reference to employees solely employed by British Coal, there are no employees aged under 50 who have been reinstated as part of the 2013 announcement, which related specifically to employees of UK Coal who lost their entitlement following a fire at the company’s Daw Mill colliery in February 2013.
There will be some UK Coal beneficiaries who TUPE transferred from British Coal to UK Coal in 1995 under the age of 50, who continued their entitlements with the new company and then fell under the terms of the 2013 announcement. However, Capita, who administer the concessionary fuel schemes, do not hold this information.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
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 February 2016 to Question 24530, what methodology is used to calculate prices in connection with anti-dumping cases relating to the US and Russia.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The US and Russia are both treated as market economies in anti-dumping investigations by the European Commission. This means that, with some exceptions, dumping is calculated on the basis of prices prevailing in the US and Russian domestic market. The exceptions are set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 (the EU’s basic anti-dumping Regulation) and the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (the “AD agreement”).
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will make an assessment of whether prices of imported ceramic goods from China reflect the domestic costs of production.
Answered by Anna Soubry
It is for industry to demonstrate prima facie evidence of dumping to the European Commission. We encourage industry to present this evidence to the Commission where there is evidence of dumping. Where evidence is sufficient to justify an investigation the Commission will do so and present any proposals for imposing duties to Member States. Trade defence is an EU competence and for the Commission to investigate.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
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 whether China has met all of the technical Market Economy Status criteria as set by the EU.
Answered by Anna Soubry
According to the latest assessment by the European Commission China has not met all of the technical criteria for awarding Market Economy Status. However, these criteria were designed to inform decisions in the event that the EU decided to seek to award China MES before the end of the 15 year transition period specified by China’s protocol of accession to the WTO. As the transition period ends in December, the question facing the European Commission now is a legal one about the interpretation of article 15 of China’s protocol of accession to the WTO and whether it requires that China must now be granted MES.