Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
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 proportion of installed smart meters that cannot work because they do not have adequate mobile signal.
Answered by Jesse Norman
During the current Foundation Stage of the roll-out of smart metering, energy suppliers are installing smart meters using their own communications systems, which typically use mobile phone network services. The Government does not hold information on the adequacy of the coverage of these communications systems.
For the main installation stage beginning later this year, the Data and Communications Company (DCC) is putting in place a shared communications network across GB to send and receive information from smart meters to energy suppliers, energy network operators and energy service companies via a Wide Area Network (WAN) using both cellular and long range radio technologies.
The DCC has contracted services to provide coverage of at least 99.25% of GB premises by the end of 2020 and has already achieved coverage of more than 80% of GB premises.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many sub-1000MW reciprocating engines have prequalified for the Third T4 Capacity Market auction; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of such pre-qualifications on the UK's ability to meet its carbon emission targets.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Approximately 6.1GW of reciprocating engines have prequalified for the 2016 four-year ahead Capacity Market auction.
Reciprocating engines emit less carbon per unit of generation than coal-fired power stations. They can also emit less carbon than larger gas-fired generation plants under certain conditions [1].
[1] National Physical Laboratory (2015): Carbon savings of demand side response of a UK energy
aggregator http://www.npl.co.uk/content/ConPublication/6739
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will undertake an assessment of the potential effect on business of introducing a minimum wage of £17.50 per hour.
Answered by Sajid Javid
Increasing the National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and over to £17.50 in 2020 would represent an increase of 143% on the current NLW (£7.20) and of 94% on the current forecasted NLW of £9.00 by 2020.
Based on an underlying assumption that the wage distribution from April 2015 grows in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) average earnings forecast made in March 2016, we estimate that in 2020, a NLW of £17.50 would be equivalent to around 116% of the projected median wage. Around 15 million employees would be covered by such an NLW, and labour costs would be around £150 billion higher in 2020 compared to a counterfactual of forecast average earnings growth (in nominal terms) due to the direct effects of the NLW. This is equivalent to an increase in total compensation of employees of almost 15%.
We also estimate that there would be somewhere close to 1.75 million job losses and somewhere between 65,000 and 119,000 business deaths. There would also most likely be a substantial reduction in hours worked, increased labour costs and increased prices, and obvious disincentives to starting new businesses.
This assessment is based on BIS analysis of provisional data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2015 and is subject to significant uncertainty given that a National Living Wage of £17.50 is considerably higher than any previous NMW increase or any minimum wage internationally. Our cost estimates do not include estimates of any ripple effects higher up the wage distribution if employers were to restore wage differentials above the NLW.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, what her policy is on the extension of the definition of mapped open countryside to caves.
Answered by George Eustice
Section 2(1) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 provides for a right of access on foot for the purposes of open-air recreation to land which has been mapped as open country (mountain, moor, heath and down) and registered common land.
The Government has no plans to extend the definition of mapped land under that Act to apply to caves.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to help support research into the Zika virus.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
In February we allocated £1 million from the Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund to help urgently tackle the Zika virus; the Medical Research Council (MRC) received over 100 applications for support through its Rapid Response Initiative. To meet this demand, in March we committed up to an additional £2 million, with a further £1 million from the Wellcome Trust, bringing the total that was available up to a maximum of £4 million of funding.
Today, the MRC has announced that it has allocated c. £3.2 million of this funding to tackle the emerging and unknown threats of this virus. Our commitment to protect the science budget in real terms to the end of the Parliament means we can react quickly to help tackle these life-threatening global challenges.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 28 December 2015 to Question 19725, if, when considering complaints on breaches of the Trading Schemes Act 1996, his Department will take into account the contents of franchisees' contracts on the terms of trade and the relationship between the franchisee, master franchisor in the UK and overseas franchisor in order to determine (a) the number of master franchisors in the UK of an overseas based franchisor and (b) if the trading scheme was subject to the Trading Schemes Regulations, whether its contracts complied with those regulations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
Further to the answer given on 28 December to question UIN 19725, the Department, or any authority investigating, would take into account all the relevant circumstances and the applicability of relevant legislation, before deciding whether to pursue a case.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department acts as the enforcement authority for the criminal offences defined in Part XI of the Fair Trading Act 1973 and in consequent trading schemes regulations and exemptions; and if he will make statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
Breaches of the Trading Schemes legislation (i.e. the Fair Trading Act 1973 and the regulations made under it) would be referred to the lawyers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Criminal Enforcement to determine whether or not a criminal investigation should be undertaken. The matter may also be referred to the Insolvency Service, to investigate and ascertain whether the offending company should be wound up in the public interest. The 1973 Act does not confer an express enforcement duty on any particular body, however this Department would look to bring a case in appropriate circumstances. Otherwise, enforcement could fall to Trading Standards or possibly the Competition Markets Authority should widespread malpractice be suspected.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeship starts there have been in each year since 1997.
Answered by Nick Boles
Table 1 shows the number of Apprenticeship starts in England from the 1997/98 academic year to 2014/15.
Table 1: Apprenticeship Starts, England, 1997/98 to 2014/15 | ||
Academic Year | Apprenticeship Starts | |
1997/98 | 75,000 | |
1998/99 | 118,000 | |
1999/00 | 165,000 | |
2000/01 | 177,000 | |
2001/02 | 162,000 | |
- | - | |
2002/03 | 167,700 | |
2003/04 | 193,600 | |
2004/05 | 189,000 | |
2005/06 | 175,000 | |
2006/07 | 184,400 | |
2007/08 | 224,800 | |
2008/09 | 239,900 | |
2009/10 | 279,700 | |
2010/11 | 457,200 | |
2011/12 | 520,600 | |
2012/13 | 510,200 | |
2013/14 | 440,400 | |
2014/15 | 499,900 | |
Notes: | ||
1) Data source for 2002/03 onwards is the Individualised Learner Record. Data source from 1997/98 to 2001/02 was the Individualised Student Record, managed by the Further Education Funding Council. Therefore data prior to 2002/03 is not directly comparable to later years. | ||
2) Data for 2002/03 onwards is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships | ||
3) Data prior to 2002/03 are rounded to the nearest thousand. | ||
4) Data from 2002/03 onwards are rounded to the nearest hundred. | ||
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support businesses.
Answered by David Gauke
The government is committed to supporting businesses.
To support investment and drive productivity, the corporation tax rate will be reduced to 19% in 2017 and 18% in 2020. This will give the UK the lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20 and will save businesses a total of £6.6 billion by 2021.
The permanent level of the Annual Investment Allowance will be increased from £25,000 to £200,000, its highest-ever permanent level.
In addition, over one million employers have benefitted from the Employment Allowance which was introduced in April 2014. It allows businesses and charities throughout the UK to deduct up to £2000 off their employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) bill each year, rising to £3000 from April next year.