Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many businesses have gone into liquidation following the non-payment of a loan through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Department for Business and Trade has not made an estimate of the number of businesses that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) that have since ceased trading. This will be considered as part of the scheme's ongoing evaluation, which will consider the impact of CBILS on business survival.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much the Government will receive as a result of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme interest rate being higher than the Bank of England base rate.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is a delegated scheme; as such, interest rates will depend on the specific loan agreements between a borrower and their lender.
The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed, partial guarantee (80%) against the outstanding balance. The Government does not benefit from interest repayments on loans through the CBILS scheme.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reasons the rate of interest on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme has increased to eight per cent.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is a delegated scheme; as such, interest rates will depend on the specific loan agreements between a borrower and their lender.
The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed, partial guarantee (80%) against the outstanding balance. The Government does not benefit from interest repayments on loans through the CBILS scheme.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of charities that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme have outstanding monies to pay.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Department for Business and Trade has not made an estimate of the number of charities that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and so does not have an estimate on the proportion of charities which have an outstanding balance on their loan.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to reply to the email of 21 February 2023 from the right hon. Member for Leeds Central to the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of a constituent, which was transferred to her Department on 24 February 2023, referenced MC 2023/14593.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The correspondence in question was transferred to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Andrew Bowie, the Minister for Nuclear and Networks, responded to the letter on 24th May 2023.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Written Statement of 10 May 2023 on Regulatory Reform Update, HCWS764, what changes to EU-derived reporting requirements could save businesses £1 billion a year.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Government published an impact assessment on reducing the administrative burden of record keeping requirements under the Working Time Regulations which can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/retained-eu-employment-law-reforms
The 10 May announcement is a down payment on the Government’s plans to reduce regulatory burdens for business, helping to unlock economic growth. It will be followed by further announcements setting out our ambitions for reform across the UK economy.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of mechanisms to enable companies to remove (a) potentially defamatory reviews and (b) threatening comments from online review sites.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The government introduced in Parliament the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Bill on 25 April which includes a delegated power to amend a list of automatically unfair practices set out in the Bill.
Government plans to address fake and misleading reviews by adding these practices to that list of banned practices, following consultation this year. This will give greater clarity to business and consumers and, where fake reviews or misleading reviews are posted, allow enforcers to take effective action quickly.
The threatening communications offence in the Online Safety Bill, will capture communications which convey a serious threat of harm to a likely audience.
This includes communications such as a threat to life, rape, or serious injury; or causing serious financial harm.