Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has spent on business subsidies in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) January 2022.
Answered by Paul Scully
Information reported on the European Commission’s State Aid Transparency Public Search database for subsidies granted by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy only and, since January 2021, on the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy’s subsidy control transparency database is:
(a) 2019: £15,919,618.
(b) 2020: £3,756,963,591.
(c) 2021: £1,677,146,697.
(d) January 2022: £1,116,000.
The data from 2019 and 2020 reflects subsidy awards given under the EU State aid rules. The significant increase in subsidies in 2020 and 2021 is a result of Covid-19 related business support schemes such as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS), which provided government-backed finance to support businesses that had been impacted by the pandemic.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many manufacturing investment bids his Department supported in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021 and (d) to date in 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Department offers a wide range of support to business, including the manufacturing sector, under a number of targeted support schemes. Full details of all awards made under these schemes are published on an annual basis via the Cabinet Office Governments Grants Information system, which covers details of all HMG support activity.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 trends in the net flow of publishing scientists in relation to being domiciled in the UK and overseas in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Freeman
Science is a global co-operative endeavour and scientists circulate around the world to collaborate and learn from their peers. To further our ambitions as a science superpower, we need to ensure the UK is internationally competitive for this globally mobile talent, with reduced barriers to mobility. We have therefore set out actions to ensure the UK attracts, develops and retains talented individuals and strong teams in research and development, in the R&D People and Culture Strategy. The strategy also recognises the importance of mobility between sectors, including between academia and industry.
We do not hold information regarding the domicile of publishing scientists. Although information is available on their academic affiliations, scientists can be affiliated to multiple institutions in multiple countries at the same time.
International researchers continue to move to the UK: the Global Talent visa, introduced on 20 February 2020, accounted for 2,768 grants in the High Value visa category for the year ending September 2021, around half (50%) of all High Value visa grants. UKRI’s Endorsed Funder route for obtaining the Global Talent visa has endorsed 875 applications since April 2021, currently receiving 100 to 120 applications per month.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage publishing scientists to work in the UK following the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by George Freeman
We are continuously improving our approach to attracting global talent to the UK. Our R&D People and Culture Strategy set out actions to attract, retain and develop talented people, ensuring R&D careers in the UK are appealing to talented individuals and teams both domestically and internationally. The Global Talent visa, along with the forthcoming High Potential Individual and Scale-up visa routes announced in the Innovation Strategy, provides fast track visa routes for high skilled individuals and their teams.
Through the Office for Talent (OfT), we are delivering further visa reform and reviewing our talent offer to make sure that our programmes are among the best and most attractive in the world. BEIS has worked with the OfT and GREAT to launch an online service to attract highly skilled, international talent, providing key information on the UK offer and thus making it easier to come to the UK. This service is available at: https://greattalent.campaign.gov.uk/
The government will also launch a Global Talent Network, which aims to bring talented individuals to the UK in key science and tech sectors. The Global Talent Network will work with businesses and research institutions to identify UK skills needs and source Science and Tech talent in overseas universities and innovation hubs to bring to the UK.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many properties in England are owned by (a) off-shore companies and (b) off-shore companies registered in a Crown Dependency.
Answered by Paul Scully
HM Land Registry holds information on registered titles in England and Wales.
A dataset of Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales is publicly available via GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-overseas-companies-that-own-property-in-england-and-wales.
The dataset is a list of freehold or leasehold title registrations held by HM Land Registry, where the registered legal owner is an overseas company (a company incorporated outside of the UK).