Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance his Department plans to issue to businesses in the beauty sector on health and safety standards in relation to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out a roadmap to get the UK back to work in his speech on 11 May. Hairdressers and other beauty businesses remain closed in this phase because the risk of transmission in these environments is higher due to the indoor environment and closer physical contact. The ambition is to reopen these businesses as part of Step 3 of the roadmap and we will work with the beauty sector ahead of that to ensure that that the guidance supports hairdressers to work safely.
This will add to the guidance already published by the Government which was developed with industry, unions, local government, Public Health England and the Health and Safety Executive to support businesses that have been allowed to open during the pandemic.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
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 to help ensure that workers in the beauty sector receive adequate supplies of personal protective equipment in order to re-open businesses.
Answered by Paul Scully
We continue to work with stakeholders on developing sensible guidance for businesses that will give UK workers the utmost confidence on their return to work.? We will now focus on sectors, such as the personal care sector, that are not currently open to help them plan for when they can open.
The needs of staff in non-health and non-care settings are covered in the United Kingdom-wide Personal Protective Equipment Plan published on 10 April 2020. This provides clear guidance on who needs Personal Protective Equipment and in what circumstances they need to use it, and how sufficient supplies will be secured to manage the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan can be accessed on the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-personal-protective-equipment-ppe-plan.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what quantity of (a) hot-rolled steel, (b) steel pipe and tubes and (c) total steel and steel products was procured from UK steel manufacturers by government departments in 2019.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
This Government is committed to supporting the UK steel industry.
The Department collates information from across Government where large amounts of steel are procured, including information about steel spend and origin, where known. This information is published annually at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/steel-public-procurement
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
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 Answer of 5 November 2019 to Question 8232, when the proposals for the long-term protection of Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme bonuses will be implemented in full.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Officials are working with the Trustees on implementing the proposals. This requires changes to the Scheme Rules which are being drafted by the Trustees’ lawyers. Further updates will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
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 30 October 2019 to Question 5421, whether proposals for the long-term protection of pension bonuses for members of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme have been formally accepted.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
I have written to the Trustees of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme to confirm that the Government will agree to their proposals in full. This includes providing a guarantee for pensions that have accrued that could otherwise have been lost. I have instructed BEIS officials to work with the Trustees to implement the changes as swiftly as possible.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will publish the individual benefits paid to Mineworkers' Pension Scheme members by the Government from surplus receipts.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
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 proportion of UK steel and steel products procured by his Department in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For the first time this year the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published information from Government departments and their arm’s-length bodies on the value and origin of the steel procured over the financial year 2017/18, where this information was available. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy did not directly procure any steel, from the UK or overseas, in this period for major projects.
We will continue to work closely with departments and their arm’s-length bodies to improve awareness of the steel procurement guidance and the quality of the information that they are able to provide us on the steel procured for their major projects.
In publishing this data and the annual Steel Pipeline, we are supporting the industry to maximise its potential for growth, enabling steel businesses to plan for future demand, and ultimately increase the amount of UK steel used in both public and private UK projects. The Steel Pipeline shows how the government plans to use over 3 million tonnes of steel – worth around £500 million – over the next decade, on infrastructure projects such as the construction of Hinkley Point C and the maintenance and upgrading of the UK’s motorway network.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the equity of the fiscal regime for rooftop solar power compared with those for other energy generation technologies.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The UK has applied a reduced, 5% VAT rate on 11 different types of energy saving materials, including solar panels, since 2001. That remains in place. The Government is still considering the responses to the consultation on energy saving materials and will issue a response to that consultation shortly.
The business rate treatment for solar panels is consistent with the treatment for other power generating plant and machinery. Plant and machinery which is used to provide power to the property is rateable, while these items are not rateable if the power is being wholly or mainly sold to other consumers. Changing the law in this instance would mean giving preferential treatment to the solar sector.
The treatment of capital allowances for solar panels is also consistent with the treatment for other power generating technologies.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's policy is on solar power; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Solar power is a UK success story, with rapid deployment over the last 7 years. Latest figures indicate that we now have over 12.5GW of solar capacity installed in the UK, enough to power over 2.7 million homes and exceeding our historic projections.
Support for solar comes directly from people's bills, so when costs come down, so should support. Therefore we have taken steps to control the costs of support schemes and put solar on a path to delivering without subsidy. We expect subsidy-free solar to be an increasingly attractive option. Some of the UK’s largest solar developers have said that they will be installing and connecting subsidy-free sites in 2017.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of constituents in Blaenau Gwent constituency who will be affected by the Government's proposal to safeguard customers on the poorest energy value tariff.
Answered by Margot James
Ofgem is considering options to protect vulnerable consumers and has yet to announce a formal proposal. Alongside this Ofgem has announced a package of measures to help consumers move away from poor value tariffs.