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Written Question
Ports: Competition
Friday 5th March 2021

Asked by: Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative - Rochester and Strood)

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 potential effect of limited potential for entry into the ports sector on anti-competitive behaviour in that sector.

Answered by Paul Scully

Under competition law, responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition authority. If an individual is concerned about the conduct of individual ports, or the state of competition in the market as a whole, these concerns can be submitted to the CMA. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act against anticompetitive conduct. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition cases which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate. The CMA also has powers to conduct detailed examinations of why particular markets may not be working well, and decide what remedial action is appropriate.


Written Question
Ports: Competition
Friday 5th March 2021

Asked by: Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative - Rochester and Strood)

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 potential effect of the lack of separation between port authorities and port service providers in some areas on anti-competitive behaviour in the ports sector.

Answered by Paul Scully

Under competition law, responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition authority. If an individual is concerned about the conduct of individual ports, or the state of competition in the market as a whole, these concerns can be submitted to the CMA. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act against anticompetitive conduct. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition cases which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate. The CMA also has powers to conduct detailed examinations of why particular markets may not be working well, and decide what remedial action is appropriate.


Written Question
Ports: Competition
Friday 5th March 2021

Asked by: Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative - Rochester and Strood)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the competitiveness of the ports sector.

Answered by Paul Scully

Under competition law, responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition authority. If an individual is concerned about the conduct of individual ports, or the state of competition in the market as a whole, these concerns can be submitted to the CMA. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act against anticompetitive conduct. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition cases which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate. The CMA also has powers to conduct detailed examinations of why particular markets may not be working well, and decide what remedial action is appropriate.


Written Question
Ports: Competition
Tuesday 2nd March 2021

Asked by: Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative - Rochester and Strood)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps can be taken in the event that a port operator is suspected of breaking competition law through abuse of a dominant position.

Answered by Paul Scully

Under competition law, responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition authority. If an individual is concerned about the conduct of individual ports, or the state of competition in the market as a whole, these concerns can be submitted to the CMA. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that a company has abused its dominant position within a market. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition cases which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate. The CMA also has powers to conduct detailed examinations of why particular markets may not be working well, and decide what remedial action is appropriate.


Written Question
Ports: Competition
Tuesday 2nd March 2021

Asked by: Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative - Rochester and Strood)

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 (a) the adequacy of competition in the ports sector and (b) the ability of customers to switch between different ports.

Answered by Paul Scully

Under competition law, responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition authority. If an individual is concerned about the conduct of individual ports, or the state of competition in the market as a whole, these concerns can be submitted to the CMA. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that a company has abused its dominant position within a market. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition cases which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate. The CMA also has powers to conduct detailed examinations of why particular markets may not be working well, and decide what remedial action is appropriate.


Written Question
Business: Procurement
Tuesday 25th April 2017

Asked by: Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative - Rochester and Strood)

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 encourage companies to purchase from UK companies which have developed products through programmes funded from the public purse.

Answered by Nick Hurd

The objective of Government support for business is to put the United Kingdom in a strong position for the future, promoting a diversity of businesses and industrial sectors, as well as ensuring the benefits of growth are shared across cities and regions up and down the country.

The Government regularly showcases the best that British business has to offer, for example through its GREAT Britain campaign, which aims to inspire the world and encourage people to do business with manufacturers in the UK. On 21 April we announced the winners of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise; 176 businesses from across the UK have been recognised for their contribution to international trade, innovation, sustainable development and this year’s new award, promoting opportunity. Some of these companies have previously benefitted from public funding, thus demonstrating the real benefits to businesses and society that can be derived from properly-targeted Government support.