Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people (a) signed up to and (b) have been actively involved with the National Trading Standards' Friends Against Scams initiative in the past twelve months.
Answered by Paul Scully
The National Trading Standards Annual Report (2020-21) states that between April 2020 and March 2021, 324,296 ‘Friends’ have signed up and pledged their action as part of the initiative, which has recently celebrated its fourth anniversary. This brought the total number of ‘Friends’ to 738,440 by the end of March 2021. The initiative gained an additional 292 ‘SCAMchampions’, who drive the initiative forward for example by running in person awareness sessions to recruit ‘Friends’, bringing the total to 2,088. The initiative also gained 5 ‘SCAMbassadors’, who are MPs and senior officials who use their influence to raise the profile of the work and highlight scams at a national level, bring that total to 211. A further 31 national and local organisations have pledged their support to the initiative across the UK, bring that total to 269. Finally, an additional 400 ‘Scam Marshals’ have signed up, who are former targets of scams who help to fight back using their own experiences, bringing that total to 1920.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on the North Sea Transition Deal.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Immediately following the publication of the Deal in March this year, we met with industry, government and regulator members of the North Sea Transition Forum in April to agree our approach to implementing and overseeing the Deal. We have established governance mechanisms to identify near term and longer-term priorities, and to drive progress. As committed in the Deal, we have set up a government-led group to address barriers to electrification of oil and gas platforms. We continue to make progress on the business case for the Global Underwater Hub in Aberdeen and on proposals for spending the £2m allocated in the Budget for the Deal.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 long term viability of town centre retailing in response to changes in purchasing behaviour during the covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises and values the diversity of the retail sector and is clear that it wants to see the sector continue to thrive in all forms and settings, including town centres.
Retail remains a key part of the high street and thriving town centres will need a strong retail offering. While the trend towards online shopping has been accelerated by Covid-19, 72% of retail sales in 2020 took place in stores and physical retail will remain an important route to consumers.
The Retail Sector Council remains a key part of working to address the challenges the sector faces and on 15 July. The Government published the Build Back Better High Streets Strategy, which sets out our long-term plan to support the evolution of high streets into thriving places to work, visit and live. The report can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/build-back-better-high-streets.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the budget is of the Green Jobs Taskforce in each of the next three years.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The independent Green Jobs Taskforce has concluded its work, with the publication of its recommendations to government, industry and skills sector on the 14th July 2021. Government will now consider these recommendations as part of the development of our Net Zero Strategy, building on the work already underway to deliver the skills for net zero.
The Government has already invested in a variety of initiatives that will boost green skills and jobs across the country, including a wide range of green apprenticeships; Green Skills Bootcamps; the Emerging Skills Electrification Project; and, Free Courses for Jobs, backed by £95 million from the National Skills Fund, to allow adults to take a Level 3 qualification for free. Additionally, as part of our initial response to the Taskforce's independent report, we have announced a cross-cutting delivery group to oversee the development and delivery of the Government’s plans for green jobs and skills.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what changes have been introduced as a result of the investigation by the Financial Reporting Council into NMC Health’s insolvency in 2020.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Financial Reporting Council’s investigation into the audit of the accounts of NMC Health for the year ended 31 December 2018 was launched in May 2020 under the FRC’s Audit Enforcement Procedure and is ongoing. The Government is committed to restoring trust in audit and corporate governance as set out in the white paper published in March this year. The Government will consider the findings of the Financial Reporting Council’s investigation when it is concluded.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of young people who will benefit from the increase in the national minimum wage announced in April 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
Through the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage, the Government protects the lowest paid within our society. On 1 April 2021, the Government increased the minimum wage rates for all age groups. Young people and apprentices saw above inflation increases in the National Minimum Wage rates of between 1.5% and 3.6% on 1 April 2021. In addition, the reduction in the National Living Wage age threshold from 25+ to 23+ gave an extra 71p per hour to those aged 23 and 24 – the largest individual increase for this group ever.
Our best estimates suggest that over 300,000 workers aged 16-24 benefitted from the rise in the National Minimum Wage. This consists of under 100,000 23-24 year olds, over 100,000 21-22 year olds, approximately 90,000 18-20 year olds and around 20,000 16-17 year olds. Furthermore, around 30,000 Apprentices of all ages also received a pay rise as a result of the April 2021 uprating.
Further details on the impact of the rate increases on young people are contained in the 2021 Impact Assessment here.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding from the public purse the Government plans to disburse in Northern Ireland through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio in each of the next three years.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) is open to all regions of the UK, including Northern Ireland. The Government’s £1bn investment in innovation through the NZIP will support levelling-up and will support the best ideas and organisations, wherever they are based.
All grants through the programme will be awarded on the basis of fair and open competition. As a result, we cannot determine how much grant funding will go to any particular region.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many loans have been issued under the Bounce Back Loan scheme and to what value in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Paul Scully
A breakdown on the number of loans issued through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme as of 10 January 2021 is in the table below.
| Value of Loans Offered (£) | Number of Loans Offered |
England | 38,387,275,292 | 1,253,376 |
Scotland | 2,496,404,756 | 86,062 |
Wales | 1,524,813,850 | 55,094 |
Northern Ireland | 1,172,538,374 | 38,181 |
Updated figures will be published in due course.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 take further steps to support the travel agency sector in the context of the continuing uncertainty for airline travel as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Paul Scully
We recognise that these are very challenging conditions for businesses in the travel sector, including travel agents, which is why we have provided a range of measures to support the sector.
In total, over £25bn has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks. On top of the Government’s wider economic support package, we have extended business rates relief and introduced new Restart Grants of up to £18,000 for many in the sector.
We have also extended the cut in VAT for tourism and hospitality activities to 5% until the end of September. To help businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate, a 12.5% rate will then apply for a further six months.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if will make an assessment of the potential merits of including Solar PV and Battery Storage in the Green Homes Grant scheme.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We are listening to feedback on the Green Homes Grant, including on the type of technologies included in the scheme. The list of technologies currently included in the scheme reflects our assessment of the best balance between economic stimulus and maximising value for householders and taxpayers. We will assess potential technologies under consideration against the following broad policy criteria - job creation, carbon savings, fuel poverty, delivery confidence, value for money, along with BEIS’ wider departmental objectives.