Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she had made of the potential implication for her policies of Vanguard Group Inc's decision to rescind on its commitments to Net Zero 2050 targets in the context of that Group being a signatory to the Stewardship Code.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The UK Stewardship Code sets high standards for stewardship practice and disclosure. Signatories must explain their approaches to investment, including with regard to systemic risks such as climate change, and report annually on the outcome of their stewardship activities. It is for individual companies to decide which initiatives or commitments they pledge to fulfil. The Code does not require signatories to be committed to specific initiatives or targets. The Government welcomes the continued growth of the UN-convened Net Zero Asset Managers Alliance, which now has 301 signatories representing $59 trillion assets under management.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to publish draft legislation to establish the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Government has not set a date for publication of draft legislation relating to the establishment of the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority. The Government is committed to legislating when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen the UK Stewardship Code 2020.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) sets the UK Stewardship Code and revised it in 2020 to promote better reporting on stewardship outcomes. Research in 2022 found strong evidence of positive changes in stewardship practice under the revised Code. Signatories to the Code have to submit a new report each year to maintain their signatory status.
The FRC’s terms and conditions for the Stewardship Code outline the circumstances in which the FRC may remove an organisation from the list of signatories, including provision of information which is later discovered to be false or inaccurate, or investigation by a regulatory body.
From this autumn, the FRC plans to work with the Financial Conduct Authority, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Pensions Regulator to review the regulatory framework for stewardship, including the operation of the Stewardship Code. The review will assess how far the Code is creating a market for effective stewardship and the need for any further regulation in this area.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the application by Vanguard Asset Management Ltd to be admitted to the UK Stewardship Code 2020; and whether she has had discussions with the Financial Reporting Council on this issue.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) sets the UK Stewardship Code and has an independent and robust process to ensure that each applicant seeking to or remain a Code signatory has sufficiently demonstrated how they have applied the Principles of the Code. As part of this, signatories must report annually on how they have followed the Code and these reports are reviewed by the FRC.
The FRC does not comment on individual applicants or signatories to the Stewardship Code.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the UK Stewardship Code 2020 to reflect the actions of signatories after it has been signed.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) sets the UK Stewardship Code and revised it in 2020 to promote better reporting on stewardship outcomes. Research in 2022 found strong evidence of positive changes in stewardship practice under the revised Code. Signatories to the Code have to submit a new report each year to maintain their signatory status.
The FRC’s terms and conditions for the Stewardship Code outline the circumstances in which the FRC may remove an organisation from the list of signatories, including provision of information which is later discovered to be false or inaccurate, or investigation by a regulatory body.
From this autumn, the FRC plans to work with the Financial Conduct Authority, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Pensions Regulator to review the regulatory framework for stewardship, including the operation of the Stewardship Code. The review will assess how far the Code is creating a market for effective stewardship and the need for any further regulation in this area.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of lithium resources available (a) in the UK, (a) in deposits in Cornwall and (b) from recycling on supply chain resilience.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
As part of the Critical Minerals Strategy, we are committed to exploring the UK’s geological potential for critical minerals (including lithium) as reflected by the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre’s (CMIC) report published on 17 April, “Potential for Critical Raw Material Prospectivity in the UK.” It is a preliminary assessment, and the Government is working with the British Geological Survey to understand next steps.
In the case of minerals for electrical vehicle batteries, end-of-life recycling is expected to provide less than 1% of UK demand in 2030. However, by 2040, recycling is expected to account for 10-20% of battery mineral demand for electrical vehicles.
To promote recycling and recovery, the Government is funding the £30 million National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme, and UKRI has launched the Circular Critical Materials Supply Chains (CLIMATES) fund, with an initial £15 million to bolster UK rare earth element supply chain resilience.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2023 to Question 181548 on Equal Pay: Ethnic Groups, if she will provide instances in which ethnicity pay gap reporting may be inappropriate for tackling disparities in employment.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
In April 2023 the Government published guidance to employers on voluntary ethnicity pay reporting.
As the guidance explains, ethnicity pay reporting is a complex measure and can be affected by many factors meaning it is easy for the data to be misinterpreted or misunderstood. One reason for this is that, while gender pay analysis involves a comparison between two groups, ethnicity pay analysis can potentially involve many more ethnic groups. Additionally, employers may also have to decide how to best combine different ethnic groups to ensure both reliable results and protect confidentiality.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking in response to the US Inflation Reduction Act to safeguard UK electric vehicle and battery manufacturing industries; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of that Act on the motor industry in the North East.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
As automotive manufacturing is vital in delivering the Government’s agendas including levelling up in regions such as the North East, we are determined to ensure the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for the sector.
The Government continues to work both internationally and domestically to understand and minimise the impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act on British business. Building on existing interventions we will take decisive action in the coming months to ensure future investment in zero emission vehicle manufacturing.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason the duties of maritime and shipbuilding were transferred from the Office of the Minister for Science and Investment Security to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Aviation, Maritime and Security.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Responsibility for the business and trade aspects of maritime and shipbuilding is held by the Minister for Industry and Economic Security in the Department for Business and Trade, as set out on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-for-industry-and-economic-security
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will take steps to ensure that manufacturers cannot label hair relaxers as containing no-lye if they include sodium hydroxide in the ingredients list; and if he will make an assessment of the prevalence of this practice.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Cosmetic Regulations state that a cosmetic product can not imply that the product has a characteristic or function which it does not have. Additionally, it requires products to include a full list of ingredients on the product’s label. Lye is the common name for sodium hydroxide. To be compliant with the regulations a product that contains lye as an ingredient must include this information on the label.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards, in its role as the regulator for cosmetic products, will take appropriate action to ensure the safety of consumers should non-compliance with the Cosmetic Regulations be identified.