Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
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 level of UK-produced steel procured by his Department and associated departmental public bodies and agencies in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is working with the steel industry, the unions and devolved administrations to support the UK steel sector to develop a long-term sustainable future. We are working hard to make sure that UK producers of steel have the best possible chance of competing for and winning contracts across all Government procurement.
BEIS collates and publishes annually information on how much steel is purchased for Government’s major infrastructure projects in the previous financial year, including what proportion is UK-produced.
We have collated the 2019/20 data and expect to publish later this year. We will start collating the data on UK steel procured in 2020/21 in due course.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated (a) in total and (b) for each funding stream to the Aerospace Technology Institute in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021, (iv) 2022, (v) 2023, (vi) 2024, (vii) 2025.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government and industry have made a joint commitment to invest £3.9 billion in aerospace research and development (R&D) from 2013 to 2026. The Government’s share of the £1.95 billion is managed through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme. An annual breakdown of funding allocated (a) in total, and (b) by each funding stream is set out in the table below. Budget allocations have not been made beyond 2021 so are assumed.
£m | Allocated Budgets | Planned Allocations | |||||
Year | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 | 23/24 | 24/25 | 25/26 |
Strategic Programme | 138.1 | 147 | 130 | 143.2 | 145.6 | 149.2 | 150 |
Small Business | 1.9 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0 |
NATEP | 0 | 1 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 0 | 0 |
FlyZero | 0 | 1.5 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 140 | 150 | 150 | 150 | 150 | 150 | 150 |
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many expressions of interest there were to the Aerospace Technology Institute’s Strategic Programme (a) in total and (b) in each quarter of 2020; how many of those expressions of interest each quarter were invited to submit a full application; how many of those full applications were successful; and how much each successful application was awarded.
Answered by Paul Scully
The table below sets out the breakdown Expressions of Interest (EoIs) submitted the Aerospace Technology Institute Strategic Programme by quarter in 2020.
Expressions of Interest to the ATI Strategic Programme in 2020
2020 | PROCEED | REJECT | Total |
Q1 | 11 | 22 | 33 |
Q2 | 7 | 52 | 59 |
Q3 | 23 | 29 | 52 |
Q4 | 37 | 26 | 63 |
Grand Total | 78 | 129 | 207 |
Projects that are successful at EOI have options about when to submit a full stage application. They will be automatically invited to the next available competition but can choose to defer. This means it is not simple to track which EOIs submitted in 2020 came forward to a full stage application in the same year and we cannot provide that breakdown here.
In total 35 full stage applications were recommended for funding in 2020. Not all these projects have completed the due diligence and grant award process and so we are unable to provide a project-level breakdown of grant awarded. Details of live projects can be found on the Innovate UK transparency data page:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/innovate-uk-funded-projects.
Some of the 35 successful projects will relate to EoIs received in the previous year. Not all successful EoIs received in 2020 will result in a full application in that year.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many expressions of interest were submitted to the Aerospace Technology Institute’s Research and Development Funding for Smaller Businesses fund; how applicants will be assessed; and when will this funding be announced.
Answered by Paul Scully
A total of 32 expressions of interest were submitted. The full stage applications are assessed in parallel by the ATI, Innovate UK and BEIS based on technical, market and economic criteria. Applicants will be notified of the results of the full stage competition on 14 May 2021, with public announcements expected once the grant offer process is completed.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applications there were for the National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme autumn 2020 funding round; and how many and which projects have been allocated funding.
Answered by Paul Scully
There were 34 applications and 11 projects were recommended for funding. The 11 projects are all in the contracting phase, going through financial and viability checks. Until they receive their grant offer letters we cannot announce which projects have been allocated funding.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated to (a) each organisation and (b) in total through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to date; and how much match funding from industry that fund has generated.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) is a mission-oriented funding programme. It brings together the UK’s world-leading research base with highly innovative businesses to solve the major industrial and societal challenges. Since its inception in 2017, the ISCF has allocated £2.8 billion of public funding and has garnered £2.8 billion in co-investment commitments from industry.
The ISCF has funded 1,926 unique organisations to date, together these have been awarded grants through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) with a total value of £1,811 million.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
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 restart grants announced in the Budget 2021, how much funding each local authority will receive to administer those grants; and what estimate he has made of the number of businesses that will be eligible for that grant in each local authority area.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department is using information on eligible businesses, held by the Valuation Office Agency, to help determine the level of support each Local Authority requires.
We expect that over 680,000 businesses will benefit from the new £5bn Restart Grant scheme, and in the coming weeks we will be communicating the level of funding each Local Authority will receive, including publishing on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
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 businesses eligible in each local authority for restart grants; and how much funding each local authority area will receive through those grants.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department is using information on eligible businesses, held by the Valuation Office Agency, to help determine the level of support each Local Authority requires.
We expect that over 680,000 businesses will benefit from the new £5bn Restart Grant scheme, and in the coming weeks we will be communicating the level of funding each Local Authority will receive, including publishing on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
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 help ensure consumers are protected against misinformation online, including fake and misleading reviews.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to protecting consumers from unfair behaviours. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) prohibits fake and misleading reviews online. Alleged breaches of the CPRs should be sent in the first instance to the Citizens Advice consumer service, www.citizensadvice.org.uk/, who will refer on cases to trading standards for appropriate enforcement action.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued guidance to consumers on avoiding fake reviews which can be found at: https://www.asa.org.uk/news/avoiding-fake-views-a-guide-to-testimonials-and-endorsements.html.
Furthermore, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into online reviews displayed on several major websites in May 2020. The CMA will investigate, among other things, whether the traders responsible for the websites are taking sufficient measures to remove fake and misleading reviews. Details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/online-reviews.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
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 implement the recommendation of the Digital Markets Taskforce to give the Competition and Markets Authority additional powers to prevent the trading of online reviews.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to ensuring digital markets remain competitive and deliver positive outcomes for consumers, small businesses, and society. That is why we have announced funding to establish a new Digital Markets Unit within the Competition and Markets Authority from 2021-22. We set up the Digital Markets Taskforce in March to offer expert advice.
The Government is now considering the Taskforce’s recommendations and will respond in due course.