Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 is taking steps to implement the recommendations of the report by the Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce entitled Breaking the Class Barrier: Recommendations for Building a More Socio-Economically Diverse Financial and Professional Services Sector, published in November 2022.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy alongside HM Treasury commissioned the City of London Corporation to set up an industry led Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce in 2020. The report presented a powerful case for the benefits to business of such diversity and BEIS welcomes the recommendations of the report. BEIS has set up an action plan following the recommendations and will work with industry through the Professional & Business Services Council membership and other Government Departments to support progress.
BEIS will promote the recommendations through the Professional & Business Services Council Skills and Inclusion working group. This group is focused on access to skills, understanding future skills needs and career development for the sector including social mobility and economic diversity.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 taken recent steps to help increase socio-economic diversity in the leadership of (a) financial and (b) professional service companies.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy alongside HM Treasury commissioned the City of London Corporation to set up an industry led Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce in 2020. The report presented a powerful case for the benefits to business of such diversity and BEIS welcomes the recommendations of the report. BEIS has set up an action plan following the recommendations and will work with industry through the Professional & Business Services Council membership and other Government Departments to support progress.
BEIS will promote the recommendations through the Professional & Business Services Council Skills and Inclusion working group. This group is focused on access to skills, understanding future skills needs and career development for the sector including social mobility and economic diversity.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 make an assessment of the potential impact of increased socio-economic diversity in the (a) financial and (b) professional services industry on the wider economy.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy alongside HM Treasury commissioned the City of London Corporation to set up an industry led Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce in 2020. The report presented a powerful case for the benefits to business of such diversity and BEIS welcomes the recommendations of the report. BEIS has set up an action plan following the recommendations and will work with industry through the Professional & Business Services Council membership and other Government Departments to support progress.
BEIS will promote the recommendations through the Professional & Business Services Council Skills and Inclusion working group. This group is focused on access to skills, understanding future skills needs and career development for the sector including social mobility and economic diversity.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 role of SMEs in meeting the UK's net zero targets.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Business and industry account for 25% of UK territorial emissions and SMEs alone account for around 50% of business energy use. This makes the Government’s efforts to support SMEs to reduce their emissions crucial to meeting the UK’s net zero target. The Government is continuing to support UK businesses to meet their net zero commitments via the UK Business Climate Hub. Small UK businesses are encouraged to join the UN’s ‘Race to Zero’ initiative – a global effort to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we all generate to zero by 2050. More than 3,782 UK small businesses have joined this initiative.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 made an assessment of any potential barriers discouraging SMEs from investing in net zero.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The British Business Bank’s recent representative survey of SMEs found that costs were the most significant barrier referenced by respondents (at 35%) with upfront costs (21%) being cited as the most challenging component. In March 2019, the Government published the outcome of a Call for Evidence entitled ‘Helping Businesses to improve the way they use energy’, which also highlighted the barriers faced by SMEs in terms of reducing their energy usage.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 made an assessment of any potential barriers to increasing diversity on the boards of businesses.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since 2011 the Government has sponsored a series of business-led independent reviews supporting increased diversity on boards. This has led to a rise in women’s representation from 9.5% FTSE-350 board members in 2011, to 37.6% to the end of 2021. In 2022 the UK was ranked second only to France, on public listed companies’ boards gender balance. Representation of ethnic minorities on board has also increased with over 90% of FTSE 100 companies reporting at least one member of an ethnic minority on their boards to the end of 2021. The Parker Review next reports in March of this year.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had discussions with International Distribution Services on the reasons for ending the cross-subsidy arrangements from GLS group used to fund the Universal Service Obligation.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials meet with International Distribution Services regularly to discuss a range of issues in its role as the universal postal service provider.
As a private business, Royal Mail’s strategic decisions are matters for its Board and shareholders. The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s business decisions.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 implications for his policies of additional costs incurred by households with disabled children due to rising energy prices.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is delivering the Energy Bills Support Scheme, a £400 non-repayable grant to support all families with their energy bills. In addition, families with disabled children are also entitled to a one-off £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment. The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will save a typical household in Great Britain £900 this Winter. The Government is currently reviewing the EPG. This consultation will explore the best ways to ensure that vulnerable high energy users, such as those with medical requirements, are not put at risk of having to pay more.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department had with relevant stakeholders prior to the decision to close the Help to Grow: Digital Programme in February 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department has had ongoing and regular engagement with relevant stakeholders throughout the life of the Help to Grow Digital Programme. Help to Grow Digital has supported businesses to grow, but with take-up lower than expected, the government cannot justify the continued cost of the scheme to the taxpayer.
The Government continues to support small businesses, such as through Help to Grow: Management and the government-backed British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans, which are available to help aspiring entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses have (a) expressed interest in, (b) enrolled in and (c) completed the Help to Grow Management scheme in (i) each English region, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales and (iv) Northern Ireland since August 2021.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Help to Grow schemes have supported over 5,000 businesses so far. We will release data on the uptake of both the Help to Grow schemes in due course after Help to Grow Digital has closed.