Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
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 his Department’s press release entitled Millions of Britons to be able to request flexible working on day one of employment, published 5 December 2022, how many and what proportion of people undertake more than one job in (a) Newcastle and (b) the North East as of 6 December 2022; and what estimate he has made of how those numbers may change in the context of the right to request flexible working arrangements.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The planned reform to the right to request flexible working will bring an estimated 2.2 million more employees in scope of the entitlement. This is based on the 2019 average number of people who had been employed for less than 26 weeks with their employer.
The reform to the use of exclusivity clauses will ensure around 1.5 million low paid workers can top up their income by working multiple short-term contracts.
We have made no assessment of the number and proportion of people undertaking more than one job or the number and proportion of people working remotely by region as a result of the proposed legislation.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
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 his Department’s press release, Millions of Britons to be able to request flexible working on day one of employment, published on 5 December 2022, if he will estimate the number and proportion of people in (a) Newcastle and (b) the North East who will work remotely as a result of the proposed legislation.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The planned reform to the right to request flexible working will bring an estimated 2.2 million more employees in scope of the entitlement. This is based on the 2019 average number of people who had been employed for less than 26 weeks with their employer.
The reform to the use of exclusivity clauses will ensure around 1.5 million low paid workers can top up their income by working multiple short-term contracts.
We have made no assessment of the number and proportion of people undertaking more than one job or the number and proportion of people working remotely by region as a result of the proposed legislation.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on how many homes in Newcastle Central constituency had solar power panels installed as of 1 December 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
At the end of October 2022, there were 931 domestic installations of solar panels recorded in Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which legal firm will administer the Group Litigation Order compensation scheme for postmasters who helped expose the Post Office Horizon scandal; and whether that firm has previously advised the (a) Government and (b) Post Office.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Procurement of legal advisors will begin shortly. Firms with a conflict of interest will not be considered.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, from which budget funds for the Group Litigation Compensation scheme will be taken from.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The funds will be drawn from underspending in other Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy budgets or, if necessary, from the Reserve.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2022 to Question 97527 on Research: Investment, what assessment he has made of the impact of not having regional data on funding for science.
Answered by George Freeman
The ONS November 2022 R&D expenditure data release allows comparison of overall R&D expenditure in London, the South East and the East of England with that in other parts of England and the UK, which helps track progress. Furthermore, ONS and BEIS are working towards more granular regional data on R&D in 2023, such as regional breakdowns of government R&D funding.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2022 to Question 82299 on Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Departmental Responsibilities, whether the Minister for Investment Security will hold responsibility for the Office for Life Sciences.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
I am Minister for Industry and Investment Security, and Life Sciences is one of the sectors within my portfolio. This includes the Office for Life Sciences.
The portfolios have been published in full on www.gov.uk/government/ministers.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to 93536 on Research: Finance, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the reduction of the European Regional Development Fund's regional science spend.
Answered by George Freeman
Funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is due to finish by the end of 2023. The Government has launched its domestic successor fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which will ramp up to £1.5bn in 2024-25, matching EU structural fund receipts. UKSPF is being planned and delivered locally and includes provision for interventions that support local businesses to thrive, innovate and grow.
The Government is committed to supporting regional growth across the UK and, to this end, has pledged to increase domestic public investment in R&D outside the Greater South East by at least 40% by 2030.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2022 to Question 93537 on Research: Investment, at what geographic level the further detailed data on regional spend will be aggregated; when he plans to publish this data; and what steps he is taking to assess the progress of policies to level up science investment.
Answered by George Freeman
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is an independent body. I will encourage them to publish in due course as much regional detail on where R&D expenditure is taking place as they can, at least for the nine English regions as well as for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
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 the (a) Office for National Statistics and (b) Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on gathering data to measure levelling up of science investment.
Answered by George Freeman
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy officials are working closely with the Office for National Statistics, the Government Office for Science and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to improve the granularity of R&D data, in particular to publish data for the first time in early 2023 on the location of performed R&D funded by the government, in support of the Levelling Up White Paper R&D mission.