Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the details of any sponsorship agreements which exist between the East of England Energy Group and (a) his Department and (b) the Oil and Gas Authority.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has no sponsorship agreements with the East of England Energy Group.
The Oil and Gas Authority wishes to develop Bacton gas terminal as an energy transition hub and has engaged the East of England Energy Group to facilitate a number of Special Interest Groups for which a contribution has been agreed.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many new manufacturing facilities the Government has funded in order to facilitate contracts involving the transfer of covid-19 vaccine technology to UK based manufacturers; and whether those new manufacturing facilities will remain in public ownership.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has invested over £300 million in securing and scaling up the UK’s manufacturing capabilities to be able to respond to this pandemic. This has included:
The Government has step in rights during pandemics at both VMIC and CGTC Braintree.
In addition, the Government has partnered with industry – for example Wockhardt where we have secured fill and finish reservation in the UK to support our vaccine programme.
As a result of these investments, and ongoing support of the Vaccine Taskforce three of the UK's eight COVID-19 vaccines (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Novavax and Valneva) are being or will be manufactured in the UK. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is delivered through a majority UK supply chain. The contracts for supply agreements with these vaccine companies are available on the Contracts Finder website.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many contractual commitments the Government has made with pharmaceutical companies involving the transfer of covid-19 vaccine technology to UK based manufacturers; and if he will publish the terms and conditions of those contracts.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has invested over £300 million in securing and scaling up the UK’s manufacturing capabilities to be able to respond to this pandemic. This has included:
The Government has step in rights during pandemics at both VMIC and CGTC Braintree.
In addition, the Government has partnered with industry – for example Wockhardt where we have secured fill and finish reservation in the UK to support our vaccine programme.
As a result of these investments, and ongoing support of the Vaccine Taskforce three of the UK's eight COVID-19 vaccines (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Novavax and Valneva) are being or will be manufactured in the UK. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is delivered through a majority UK supply chain. The contracts for supply agreements with these vaccine companies are available on the Contracts Finder website.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has undertaken an impact assessment on potential economic costs for the UK in the event that the proposed World Trade Organisation TRIPS Waiver is not approved.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK Government does not consider waiving IP rights to be an appropriate course of action to boost the manufacturing of safe, effective and quality vaccines.
The existing intellectual property framework has mobilised research and development to deliver a host of new medicines and technologies, to detect, treat and defend against COVID-19. The incentives and access mechanisms provided by the IP framework have been integral to this success, without which we would not have seen the impressive surge of R&D and the unprecedented scaling up of production.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential for local electricity generation schemes in East Anglia.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
In 2017 as part of the Local Energy Programme, BEIS provided funding to all Local Enterprise Partnerships to develop an energy strategy. New Anglia’s strategy was part of the tri-LEP approach including Greater Cambridgeshire, Greater Peterborough and Hertfordshire LEPs. This strategy identified, assessed and prioritised low carbon energy projects including local energy generation across the region.
The Local Energy Programme also funds 5 local energy hubs covering all of England to support the development of energy projects. The Greater South East hub is based in Greater Cambridgeshire, Greater Peterborough and supports projects across New Anglia.
BEIS has also allocated over £2.5m to the Greater South East region to support rural communities develop renewable energy schemes under the Rural Community Energy Fund.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport on 3 June 2020, official report, column 847, that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, what steps the Government is taking to prevent employers from using that scheme to fund the wages of employees only for those employers to put the same staff on notice of redundancy during the furlough period.
Answered by Paul Scully
An employer can opt to make a worker redundant under certain conditions, if they deem this to be the best course of action to take for their business. The employee will maintain rights against unfair dismissal and to redundancy payments during the period of furlough. Any redundancy process should be fair and reasonable, with appropriate equalities considerations.
Pay during the redundancy notice period is based on the individual’s rights under their contract of employment and the statutory right to notice pay (under section 86 and the following sections of the Employment Rights Act 1996).
In these difficult times, we would not expect an employer to take advantage of CJRS, which has brought benefit to employers and employees alike, to make someone redundant on less favourable terms than they would otherwise have received. Please visit the Gov.uk page for updates and changes to the scheme at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what criteria his Department used to decide which organisations would be consulted as part of the working group on the re-opening of pubs as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Pubs and Restaurants working level Technical Group comprised stakeholders from a cross-section of the sector, with representation from trade bodies to small and medium sized operators, unions, as well as the supply chain. We consulted these stakeholders due to their expertise and real-life knowledge and experience of the challenges faced by the industry during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Public Health England and the Health and Safety Executive also took part in the Technical Group discussion to ensure the COVID-19 secure guidance for restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaway services is consistent with the latest scientific and health and safety advice.
In addition to the Technical Group, we consulted over 400 stakeholders from the hospitality sector in the development of the guidance. This includes ongoing discussions that I have had with business leaders.