Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the effect on the energy supply of the downgrade in the forecast for oil demand growth in 2019.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Indigenous oil production was equivalent to around 70 percent of the UK’s oil demand in 2018 and plays an important role in meeting our energy needs. The UK also benefits from diverse sources of supply through access to a global market for crude oil and refined oil products. Growth in global oil demand is expected to be lower than originally forecast for 2019, helping to ensure there are healthy levels of global oil stocks and resilience to global oil supply disruptions.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how he plans to use the Northern Powerhouse strategy refresh to improve productivity in the North of England.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Government’s continued commitment to the Northern Powerhouse, and the North’s vital role in improving the country’s productivity, is reflected in my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s recent decision to make the Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth a joint appointment between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and and Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. This builds on the commitment at Autumn Budget 2018 to refresh the Northern Powerhouse Strategy.
The Strategy will be developed across government and in partnership with external stakeholders, including mayoral combined authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and civic and business leaders, to ensure the whole of the North of England benefits from government investment with a clear plan for improved productivity and prosperity. It will also reflect the development of Local Industrial Strategies across the North, the first of which was published last month by Greater Manchester with government.
The refreshed Northern Powerhouse Strategy will be published in due course.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
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 music collecting societies on reducing the cost of a licence for playing music in small business premises.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Department’s agency, the Intellectual Property Office, has regular discussions with a range of music collecting societies. Collecting societies are private, commercial organisations and, although the Government regulates them in some respects, it plays no role in setting their licence tariffs. Businesses that are dissatisfied may have recourse to the Copyright Tribunal, an independent judicial body which adjudicates on the price and terms of copyright licences.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Government has to secure payments to subcontractors and suppliers owed money for work undertaken for Carillion prior to its liquidation; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending the Insolvency Act 1986 to protect small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Decisions regarding payments to subcontractors and suppliers to Carillion are the responsibility of the court-appointed Official Receiver. In his role as liquidator, the Official Receiver is an officer of the court and independent of Government.
The Government has also taken swift action to put in place support to those affected by this insolvency event. The Banks have made provision for nearly £1 billion of support to those affected and the British Business Bank will provide support of up to £100 million of lending to small businesses through its Enterprise Finance Guarantee programme. HMRC will provide practical advice and guidance to those who were contracted to Carillion and are now concerned about their ability to pay tax.
In its response to the Insolvency and Corporate Governance consultation on 26 August 2018, the Government announced that it will increase the current £600,000 cap on the proportion of funds that can be ring-fenced and paid over to unsecured creditors, including small and medium-sized enterprises, ahead of the usual order of priority in an insolvency. The increase will be in line with the impact of inflation on the current cap since it came into effect in 2003, increasing the cap to approximately £800,000.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much was paid in student loans to students from each other EU member state in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics showing the number of EU domiciled students receiving student support for Higher Education courses in England are published annually by the SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Support for Higher Education in England’.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx
Overall, £11.0 billion was paid in loans for students on full-time courses through the English student support system in the academic year 2014/15. Of this, around 3% was paid in Tuition Fee Loans for EU domiciled students. A breakdown of these payments by EU country of nationality in each of the last 5 years can be found in the table.
The growth in payments over the series largely reflects the increasing proportion of the student population who are drawing the larger fee loans that have been available to students starting courses from September 2012, rather than the number of students.
Evidence shows that these students are net contributors to the UK economy. Universities UK estimate that EU students are worth £3.7 billion to the UK economy and support over 34,000 jobs.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many nationals of other EU member states (a) have student loans outstanding to repay, (b) are currently making payments on those loans and (c) have completed their course of study and are not making student loan repayments.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics covering English loans to EU domiciled borrowers are published annually by SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/england.aspx
Information on the repayment statuses of EU domiciled borrowers, who are liable for repayment, can be found in table 3B of the SFR.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many nationals of other EU member states have taken out student loans but have made no repayments to date; and if he will estimate the total financial value of such loans.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics covering English loans to EU domiciled borrowers are published annually by SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/england.aspx
Data provided by SLC shows that there were a total of 21,600 EU domiciled borrowers who had not yet made a repayment, of those who are liable to repay, with at least one tax year processed at the end of the financial year 2014-15. The balance remaining on these loans was £154 million.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many nationals of other EU member states have defaulted on their student loans; and what amount of such loans is not recoverable.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics covering English loans to EU domiciled borrowers are published annually by SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/england.aspx
Information on the repayment statuses of EU domiciled borrowers, who are liable for repayment, can be found in table 3B of the SFR.
The SLC has established repayment arrangements for borrowers who move overseas and will pursue those who do not repay what is due.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many nationals of other EU member states with loans outstanding are uncontactable; and what estimate he has made of the amount of outstanding loans owed by such people.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics covering English loans to EU domiciled borrowers are published annually by SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/england.aspx
Information on the repayment statuses of EU domiciled borrowers, who are liable for repayment, can be found in table 3B of the SFR. Information on the balances of those loans are not available in the format requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
SLC has arrangements in place to collect repayments from borrowers who move away from the UK; SLC establishes a 12 month repayment schedule based on the borrower’s income and provides information on the methods of repayment available.
SLC sets up fixed repayment schedules for borrowers who do not remain in contact and will place those borrowers in arrears, further action, including legal action, can then be taken to secure recovery. European Commission regulations allow the SLC to obtain judgments in UK courts, which can be enforced by courts in other EU countries.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of (a) regional development funds and (b) structural funds that the UK is due to receive in each year to 2020 under the current EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The amounts allocated by year for each operational programme for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF) in the UK for the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework is set out in table 1.6 of the United Kingdom’s Partnership Agreement with the European Commission which can be found on GOV.UK at ‘European Structural and Investment Funds: UK Partnership Agreement’. The table is attached. Each annual allocation needs to be spent within three years.