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 (1) of, aside from the Crown and the UK Government, which (a) person, (b) family, (c) organisation, or (d) charity, is the largest landowner in England and Wales; and (2) of how many acres are held by that landowner.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
None. HM Land Registry holds the database that records the legal ownership of registered land in England and Wales. While the register currently holds some 87% of the freehold surface area by individual land owner, the data is not structured in a way that makes it practical to assess the largest single landowner.
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 - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.