Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they announced that they are no longer going to create a single enforcement body overseeing conditions in the labour market.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government remains committed to workers’ rights and enforcement but there is also real pressure on parliamentary time. We are reviewing what this means for the creation of the Single Enforcement Body which would be a significant organisational change and requires primary legislation. In the meantime, we continue to invest significantly in the existing labour market enforcement bodies and are working with the Director of Labour Market Enforcement to provide strategic oversight of the system as a whole.
The Government is supporting legislation to enhance workers’ rights. This includes backing five Private Members’ Bills on neonatal leave and pay, pregnancy and maternity discrimination, flexible working, carers’ leave, and tipping.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 much funding from the public purse has been provided to Post Office Ltd in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Government subsidy ensures that branches serving our rural communities that need additional support receive it so that they can stay open.
Government subsidy has been declining in recent years; this reflects the progress that the business has made. Post Office Limited returned to profit after 16 years of losses and has thereby reduced its reliance on the taxpayer.
The Government has provided the following funding to the Post Office over the last five years:
Year | Network Subsidy Payment (£ million) | Investment funding (£ million) |
|
|
|
2014/15 | 160 | 170 |
2015/16 | 130 | 150 |
2016/17 | 80 | 140 |
2017/18 | 70 | 70 |
2018/19 | 60 | 168 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 discussions he has had with Post Office Ltd on the agreement they reached with WHSmith’s following the closure of Crown Post Offices; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
BEIS Ministers and officials engage regularly with representatives of Post Office Limited on a range of strategic issues of mutual interest. While the Post Office is publicly owned, it is a commercial business operating in competitive markets. The Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office – to maintain a national network accessible to all and to do so more sustainably for the taxpayer – and allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. Therefore, issues relating to the Post Office network, including Crown Post Offices and franchising agreements with WHSmith, are all operational matters for Post Office Limited.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 discussions he has had with Post Office Ltd on the retention of the existing network; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
BEIS Ministers and officials engage regularly with representatives of Post Office Limited on a range of strategic issues of mutual interest. While the Post Office is publicly owned, it is a commercial business operating in competitive markets. The Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office – to maintain a national network accessible to all and to do so more sustainably for the taxpayer – and allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. Therefore, issues relating to the Post Office network, including Crown Post Offices and franchising agreements with WHSmith, are all operational matters for Post Office Limited.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 funding from the public purse will be provided to Post Office Ltd in the next three years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Draft Answer
Between 2010 and 2018 the Government provided nearly £2 billion to maintain and invest in our national network. This led to the most stable Post Office network in a generation, with 93% of the population living within 1 mile and over 99% within three miles of their nearest branch.
The funding was split into investment funding to support the modernisation of the network and the business and subsidy payment to sustain those branches that are not sustainable on a commercial basis. Government investment has also enabled the modernisation of over 7,500 branches, added more than 200,000 opening hours per week and established the Post Office as the largest network trading on Sunday.
The current Funding Agreement between BEIS and Post Office Limited runs until the end of March 2021. The funding provided by Government over FY 2019/20 & 2020/21 is as per below:
Year | Network Subsidy Payment (£ million) | Investment funding (£ million) |
|
|
|
2019/20 | 50 | 42 |
2020/21 | 50 | - |
|
|
|
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 discussions he has had with Post Office Ltd on the closure of Crown Post Offices; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
BEIS Ministers and officials engage regularly with representatives of Post Office Limited on a range of strategic issues of mutual interest. While the Post Office is publicly owned, it is a commercial business operating in competitive markets. The Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office – to maintain a national network accessible to all and to do so more sustainably for the taxpayer – and allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. Therefore, issues relating to the Post Office network, including Crown Post Offices and franchising agreements with WHSmith, are all operational matters for Post Office Limited.
Most of the UK’s Post Office network of over 11,500 branches (almost 98%) already operates successfully on a franchise or agency basis. Research by Citizens Advice (June 2017) found that franchised branches are delivering to the same, or better, standards.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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, when he next plans to meet international counterparts to discuss climate change; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The UK continues to demonstrate the strong leadership needed to tackle climate change, both at home and abroad. As an issue of significant public and international importance my rt. hon. Friends the Secretary of State and the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth regularly meet with their international counterparts to discuss a range of issues including climate change.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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, when he last met international counterparts to discuss climate change; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The UK continues to demonstrate the strong leadership needed to tackle climate change, both at home and abroad. As an issue of significant public and international importance my rt. hon. Friends the Secretary of State and the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth regularly meet with their international counterparts to discuss a range of issues including climate change.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 plans he has to inform young people of progress of the Government's Clean Growth Strategy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Our progress in delivering the Clean Growth Strategy is set out in detail in the Government Response to the Committee on Climate Change’s Annual Progress Report to Parliament, which includes an assessment of progress against key actions and milestones.
‘Delivering Clean Growth’, our response to the CCC’s 2018 Progress Report, highlighted our achievements in 2018 while establishing new stretching milestones for 2019 to continue to drive progress on our commitments. This can be read at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/committee-on-climate-changes-2018-progress-report-government-response
The Government welcomes and shares young people’s enthusiasm for tackling climate change. We engage with young people on these issues through a variety of channels, including as part of the first ever Green GB Week, which was held in October 2018 to showcase the benefits, opportunities and challenges of tackling climate change and driving clean growth. We look forward to engaging with young people when Green GB Week returns for a second week of clean growth action on 4 November 2019.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (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 targets the Government has set for the UK to reduce carbon dioxide emissions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The UK was the first country to introduce long-term, legally binding emission reduction targets through the Climate Change Act 2008, which set a 2050 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% relative to 1990 levels. The Act also introduced carbon budgets which cap emissions over successive 5-year periods and must be set 12 years in advance.
The UK carbon budgets already set in legislation are among the most stringent in the world. The level of each Carbon Budget is set out in the table below. Carbon budgets cover a range of greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide, measured in million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).
| Carbon Budget 1 | Carbon Budget 2 | Carbon Budget 3 | Carbon Budget 4 | Carbon Budget 5 |
2008-12 | 2013-17 | 2018-22 | 2023-27 | 2028-32 | |
Budget Level (MtCO2e) | 3,018 | 2,782 | 2,544 | 1,950 | 1,725 |
Following the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on the impact of global warming of 1.5°C in October 2018, the Government commissioned its independent experts, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), to provide their advice on the implications of the Paris Agreement for the UK’s long-term emissions reduction targets, including on setting a net-zero target. The CCC’s advice is due on 2 May and we will consider it carefully when it is received.