Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many fines have been issued by the Financial Reporting Council for audit failures in each of the past five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Financial Reporting Council has provided the following information on the fines it has imposed:
Financial year in which fines were imposed | Number of fines imposed against audit firms | Number of fines imposed against audit engagement partners at those firms |
2017/18 | 4 | 4 |
2018/19 | 9 | 14 |
2019/20 | 6 | 6 |
2020/21 | 4 | 4 |
2021/22 | 9 | 9 |
2022/23 (so far) | 0 | 0 |
This information reflects that set out in “Recent Enforcement sanctions imposed against Audit firms and Audit partners” published by the Financial Reporting Council, which is updated as and when further cases are concluded and is available at https://www.frc.org.uk/auditors/enforcement-division/enforcement-outcomes.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 (a) employers, (b) employment agencies, and (c) trade unions over plans to remove regulation 7 of the Conduct Regulations 2003.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government carried out a consultation on revoking the ban on using agency workers to cover strikes in 2015. The consultation asked what effect the removal would have on a wide variety of stakeholders, including workers, employment businesses, employers, employees on strike and about the impact on wider economy and society. It received a large number of substantive responses from a wide range of stakeholders, including employers, agencies and trade unions which have been carefully considered before deciding to proceed with removing Regulation 7 of the Conduct Regulations 2003.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the role of medium-sized family businesses in supporting growth as part of the recovery from the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Paul Scully
Family run businesses make a key economic contribution to the UK economy. 77% of SME employers1 were defined as family-owned businesses in 2020 (a 3 percentage point increase on 20192) and they have been estimated to contribute 29 percent of UK GDP3. Over half of medium-sized businesses4 are family-owned (58%)5. Like other businesses they have been able to benefit from the unprecedented package of support that government continues to offer and we expect them to continue to play a key role in the recovery.
1 Businesses with 1-249 employees
2 Longitudinal Small Business Survey – SME employers, 2020 (BEIS)
3 Institute for Family Business Research Foundation, the UK Family Business Sector 2020-21
4 Businesses with 50-249 employees
5Longitudinal Small Business Survey – SME employers, 2020 (BEIS)
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to undertake an investigation into the fire at the National Grid facility in Sellindge, Kent; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The formal investigation into the fire at the Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA) interconnector is being led by National Grid Ventures, in their role as joint owner of the facility.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is working closely with National Grid Ventures to support the investigation.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 publish details of the (a) meetings that Ministers in his Department have held with representatives of Ofgem in the last 12 months and (b) primary matter that was discussed at each of those meetings.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have regular meetings with Ofgem senior management.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 households in fuel poverty; and what forecast he has made of the number of households in fuel poverty in 2022-23.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The proportion of households classified as living in fuel poverty has fallen from 22.1% in 2010, to 15% in 2018, driven by improvements in the energy performance of homes. There are now 1.3 million fewer low-income households living in the least energy efficient homes (Band E, F or G) compared to 2010.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing outsourced workers in his Department into direct employment.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department periodically assesses its sourcing strategy, taking into consideration the HMG-published 'The Sourcing Playbook', which provides government guidance on service delivery including outsourcing, insourcing, mixed economy sourcing and contracting.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to address concerns around breaches of employment law by his Department's contractor, ISS.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department collaborates closely with the Government Property Agency (GPA) which manages the facilities management contract with ISS. With the support of GPA, the Department continuously works with ISS to ensure that its employment practices comply with employment legislation.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that contractors working in its buildings adhere to health and safety requirements; and whether his Department has taken enforcement action against contractors in relation to that matter.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Where appropriate, the Department works closely with contractors on health and safety matters, including reviewing health and safety practices, such as risk assessments, reviewing training information and protocols for staff working within the BEIS demise of buildings. The Department would work closely with enforcement agencies where relevant.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 18 March 2021 to Question 166306, on Competition and Markets Authority: Staff, if he will provide the same data for Non-Senior Civil Service performance management outcomes for (a) BAME staff (i) over the age of 55 and (ii) under the age of 24 and (b) female staff working for the Competition and Markets Authority in the 2019-20 performance year.
Answered by Paul Scully
The CMA is unable to provide requested data for the Non-Senior Civil Service (‘non-SCS’) performance ratings for the 2019 - 2020 performance year for BAME staff over the age of 55 (a, i) and BAME staff under the age of 24 (a, ii) as the CMA does not disclose data for groups with fewer than 5 staff under a given protected characteristic (or combination of protected characteristics) for data protection and privacy reasons. The staff groups in the categories requested have small populations (7 and 12, respectively) which are further broken down to fewer than 5 when considered by each performance rating
The performance management outcomes for female staff for the 2019 - 2020 performance year are set out below. Male staff performance outcomes have been included for completeness. The table sets out the proportion of each performance rating that were awarded to staff of each gender
(b) Female staff
Performance Rating | Female | Male |
Consistently Exceeding | 47.2% | 52.8% |
Partially Exceeding | 48.9% | 51.1% |
Consistently Achieving | 53.3% | 46.7% |
Partially Achieving | 50.1% | 49.9% |
Needs to Improve | 25.0% | 75.0% |
Not Required (due to insufficient time in post) | 49.9% | 50.1% |
|
|
|
CMA Non-SCS Profile | 50.8% | 49.2% |