Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the UK CO2 emissions were in (a) in total and (b) per capita in (i) 1990 and (ii) 2019.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt. Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 10 March 2021, what reasons the Certification Officer has provided for the length of time taken between receiving the 2019 annual return for Unite on 18 December 2020 and publishing that return in March 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Certification Officer published the Unite annual return as soon as it was feasible to do so. There is no statutory requirement for the Certification Officer to publish annual returns within a particular period.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason did the Certification Office not publish page 36 of the Unite 2019 return regarding compensation for key management personnel as referenced in Note 4 on page 14 of the notes to the consolidated accounts.
Answered by Paul Scully
Page 36 of the notes to the consolidated accounts for year ending 31 December 2019 was not provided to the Certification Officer by Unite. There is no statutory requirement for Unite to supply the Certification Officer with a complete set of notes to the consolidated accounts.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 4 March 2021 to Question 160530, on what date the 2019 return for Unite was received by the Certification Office.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Certification Officer received the 2019 annual return for Unite on 18 December 2020. This annual return has now been published on GOV.UK by the Certification Officer.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 has made an assessment of the effect on Asian wedding businesses of the limit on the number of guests permitted weddings until 21 June 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
BEIS officials and I meet regularly with the industry-led Weddings Taskforce established to represent all parts of the Weddings sector [in England], including Asian wedding businesses, to hear their feedback about the impact of the restrictions on them and the business support available. On 22 February, the Prime Minister published the Government’s ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’. The roadmap is a step-by-step plan to ease restrictions in England cautiously, starting with education. Across the four steps, the roadmap sets out the sequencing and indicative timing for easing restrictions, including those on the wedding sector.
Over the course of the pandemic the Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to businesses, which we keep under regular review.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 effect on the economy of limiting the number of guests at weddings until 21 June 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
BEIS officials and I meet regularly with the industry-led Weddings Taskforce established to represent all parts of the Weddings sector [in England], to understand the impact of the pandemic on jobs and businesses. On 22 February, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister published the Government’s ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’. The roadmap is a step-by-step plan to ease restrictions in England cautiously, starting with education. Across the four steps, the roadmap sets out the sequencing and indicative timing for easing restrictions, including those on the wedding sector.
Over the course of the pandemic the Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to businesses, which we keep under regular review.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his Answer of 25 February 2020 to Question 156255 on Certification Officer, whether the Labour Market Director in his Department made an assessment of the effect of non-publication of the 2019 accounts of Unite the Union on the Certification Office website on compliance with section 32 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992.
Answered by Paul Scully
Section 32 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 places an obligation on trade unions to submit an annual return to the Certification Officer, and requires the Certification Officer to keep that annual return available for public inspection. Unite the Union have provided the Certification Officer with an annual return. This annual return will be published on the Certification Officer website in due course. A copy of that return is available to members of the public on application to the Certification Officer.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the number of firms in the UK that produce heat pumps and (b) the output of those companies in number of units produced in 2019.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In December 2020, the Department published analysis of the heat pump manufacturing supply chain (available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heat-pump-manufacturing-supply-chain-research-project). This research indicates that there are currently five companies manufacturing heat pumps in the UK. In 2019, these manufacturers produced over 10,000 heat pump units for the domestic market and there are a growing number of exports into Europe. The majority of these units are air source heat pumps, predominantly manufactured by Mitsubishi, and a smaller proportion are ground source heat pumps, predominantly manufactured by Kensa. The research also shows that there are significant opportunities for the UK supply chain to grow, as we increase deployment of heat pumps over the next decade.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of skilled heat pump installers in the UK.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Industry figures suggest that there are currently (February 2021) over 1,000 Microgeneration Certificate Scheme (MCS) registered companies that install air, water, or ground-source heat pumps in the UK. We expect this number to increase considerably over the forthcoming years in response to growing market demand.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Certification Office.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Certification Officer is the independent statutory office holder responsible for regulating trade unions and employers’ associations.
The Certification Officer lays a report before Parliament annually. The most recent report was laid in July 2020. The Certification Officer also publishes an annual operational plan, the most recent of which was published in June 2020. These documents provide insight to the effectiveness of the operations of the Certification Officer. Furthermore, the Labour Market Director within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy reviews the Certification Officer’s performance annually.