Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many officials in his Department are working on legislative proposals on audit reform.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are 19 BEIS officials working on legislative proposals on reform of audit and corporate governance.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government's National Disability Strategy, what the planned timetable is for announcing a new Ministerial Disability Champion for his Department.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Given the recent changes in government, we are still in the process of finalising ministerial portfolios. We will make further updates in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses have successfully enrolled on (a) Help to Grow: Management and (b) Help to Grow: Digital.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We intend to publish data on take up of the Help to Grow programmes later this year on the GOV.UK website. Help to Grow: Management will support up to 30,000 small business leaders to improve their leadership and management capability and enhance their growth through world-leading business schools. Help to Grow: Digital could help up to 100,000 eligible SMEs adopt new digital technologies over three years as it offers businesses targeted financial support.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reasons the transition to separate UK safety certification for tradable goods following the UK's departure from the EU will not take place until 2027; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of that timetable on (a) UK certification bodies and (b) businesses that have already sought UK certification.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government has announced a series of measures for many product areas to make the transition to UKCA requirements much simpler, less burdensome, and less costly for businesses over the coming years. This includes enabling conformity assessment undertaken to CE requirements before the end of this year to be used as the basis for UKCA marking for up to 5 years.
We are committed to supporting businesses, protecting consumers and building a sustainable domestic conformity assessment market. We appreciate the efforts already taken by businesses and UK Approved Bodies to get ready for the UKCA regime as this will ensure the transition is a success.
Most new products covered by UKCA requirements that are placed on the market after 31 December 2022 will still need to undergo UKCA conformity assessment by a UK Approved Body.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to implement the Government's National Disability Strategy.
Answered by Dean Russell
The National Disability Strategy set out the Government's ambitions to improve the lives of millions of disabled people. In January 2022, the High Court declared it was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations.
My Rt. Hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions sought permission to appeal the High Court's declaration. Whilst awaiting a decision on permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal, we are required to take steps to comply with the Court’s declaration. We have therefore paused a limited number of policies which are referred to in the Strategy or are directly connected with it.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
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 adequacy of funding for Companies House, in the context of the reforms envisaged in the Corporate Transparency and Register Reform White Paper, CP 638, published on 28 February 2022.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government provided £63 million to Companies House at the last Spending Review to fund the work needed to implement our reforms. We are committed to ensuring that Companies House has the resources it needs to carry out its functions, and the Government is looking closely at the funding requirements arising from the reforms as we take them forward.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
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 forward legislative proposals on employment rights.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government is committed to building a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy. As part of this, on Friday 15 July, two Private Members’ Bills were introduced into Parliament, backed by the Government, which will increase participation and help support vulnerable and low-paid workers. These were the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill and the Neonatal (Leave and Pay) Bill.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly engages with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, as their views and input are essential to developing and delivering our policies.
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy is appropriately resourced to deliver on this priority.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with which trade unions his Department has had discussions on legislative proposals relating to employment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government is committed to building a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy. As part of this, on Friday 15 July, two Private Members’ Bills were introduced into Parliament, backed by the Government, which will increase participation and help support vulnerable and low-paid workers. These were the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill and the Neonatal (Leave and Pay) Bill.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly engages with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, as their views and input are essential to developing and delivering our policies.
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy is appropriately resourced to deliver on this priority.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many officials in his Department are working on legislative proposals relating to employment as on 2 September 2022.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government is committed to building a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy. As part of this, on Friday 15 July, two Private Members’ Bills were introduced into Parliament, backed by the Government, which will increase participation and help support vulnerable and low-paid workers. These were the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill and the Neonatal (Leave and Pay) Bill.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly engages with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, as their views and input are essential to developing and delivering our policies.
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy is appropriately resourced to deliver on this priority.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with external stakeholders on legislative proposals relating to employment in the last six months.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government is committed to building a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy. As part of this, on Friday 15 July, two Private Members’ Bills were introduced into Parliament, backed by the Government, which will increase participation and help support vulnerable and low-paid workers. These were the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill and the Neonatal (Leave and Pay) Bill.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly engages with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, as their views and input are essential to developing and delivering our policies.
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy is appropriately resourced to deliver on this priority.