Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take steps in respect of the reported attempt by China to take over Bacanora Lithium.
Answered by Paul Scully
Mergers and takeovers are primarily commercial matters for the parties involved. The Government has powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to intervene in transactions which raise national security concerns. The Government has recently strengthened those powers through the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
The Government is aware of this proposed transaction and is monitoring developments closely.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
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 168810, on Parliamentary scrutiny of the proposed Investment Security Unit, on how many occasions since 2016 the BEIS Select Committee has been given access to material protectively marked as Top Secret; and whether any Top Secret material was disclosed to that Committee during its scrutiny of the (a) civil nuclear programme and (b) other matters referred to in the Answer to that Question and described as sensitive.
Answered by Paul Scully
Details of the frequency and subject matter of what sensitive or highly classified information is transmitted outside Government can itself be sensitive, and its disclosure may give rise to national security risks. I therefore cannot publish the information in the detail my Rt. Hon. Friend has requested.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
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 11 March 2021 to Question 164331 on parliamentary scrutiny of the new Investment Security Unit, under what provisions the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee could have oversight of that part of the work of the Unit which will involve (a) interaction with the Intelligence and Security Agencies and (b) consideration of highly classified material not normally made available to parliamentary Select Committees; and what the Government's policy is on effective parliamentary scrutiny of activities of the Unit involving material classified at the level of Top Secret.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee is well-placed to have oversight of the Investment Security Unit. The Committee already provides scrutiny on a number of sensitive areas, such as the civil nuclear programme, and it is well placed to consider how effectively and efficiently the Investment Security Unit is interacting with the business community and investors in delivering the National Security and Investment regime.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
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 consistency with which different local authorities award Additional Restrictions Grants to similar companies; and if he will make it his policy to issue guidance to local authorities to give comparable levels of such support to food and drink wholesalers facing comparable financial pressures during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) allows Local Authorities to put in place discretionary business support. Local Authorities are free to provide support that suits their local area, including to support those businesses not required to close but which have had their trade severely affected by the restrictions, and those businesses that fall outside the business rates system such as market traders. At the Budget on 3rd March, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £425 million will be made available via the ARG, meaning that more than £2 billion has been made available to Local Authorities since November 2020. The further top-up of 3rd March is conditional on Local Authorities spending their existing allocations. Officials continue to engage with Local Authorities to ensure compliance to both the scheme rules and wider reporting requirements.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, by what means Parliamentary scrutiny will be carried out of the classified aspects of the work of his Department’s proposed Investment Security Unit.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government intends to follow the appropriate procedures for reporting to Parliament on the work of the Investment Security Unit (ISU), by having the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee oversee the Investment Security Unit’s work. The Committee already provides scrutiny on a number of sensitive areas, such as the civil nuclear programme, and it is well placed to consider how effectively and efficiently the Investment Security Unit is interacting with the business community and investors in delivering the National Security and Investment regime.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care's oral contribution of 19 October 2020, Official Report, column 785 on vaccine production schedules, what the respective (a) starting dates were and (b) planned end dates are for the current trials of the (i) AstraZeneca, (ii) Imperial College and (iii) Novavax vaccines; and if he will list any factors, other than adverse reactions by subjects receiving these vaccines on an experimental basis, which may delay the completion of the trials beyond the planned end dates.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The AstraZeneca and University of Oxford vaccine started clinical trials in April 2020 and is currently in phase 2/3. The Imperial College London vaccine started clinical trials in June 2020 and is currently in phase 1/2. The Novavax vaccine clinical trials started in May 2020 and is currently in phase 3. The end date of each trial is dependent on the clinical results and the data.
Government is working closely with vaccine developers to monitor progress of clinical trials.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to bring forward (a) regulations and (b) legislative proposals to ensure that products offered for sale (i) online and (ii) in other markets are adequately labelled with their principal country of origin to enable shoppers to (A) buy British and (B) avoid purchasing from countries of which they disapprove.
Answered by Paul Scully
Aside from certain specified products (e.g. food), there is no requirement for goods to be labelled with their country of origin. We have no plans to introduce such a requirement. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 bans traders from using misleading statements about the geographical or commercial origin of products.