Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 publish the (a) names and (b) locations of the surface coal mines in the UK currently producing coal and (c) dates when they are scheduled to cease producing coal for all purposes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The names, location and estimated production end dates of surface coal mines are set out in the table below:
Mine Name | Status | Location | Production end date* |
|
|
|
|
Bradley | Producing | Durham, England | 17/08/2020 |
Field House | Producing | Durham, England | 07/11/2020 |
House of Water Burnston Remainder | Producing | East Ayrshire, Scotland | 13/07/2021 |
Ffos-y-Fran Land Reclamation Scheme | Producing | Merthyr Tydfil, Wales | 01/10/2022 |
Hartington Reclamation | Producing | Derbyshire, England | 01/08/2020 |
Nant Helen Remainder | Producing | Powys, Wales | Under review |
*Based on an assessment of remaining reserves at the site.
Source: Coal Authority May 2020
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) new regulations have been introduced and (b) existing regulations have been abolished in each of the last four years.
Answered by Paul Scully
BEIS does not have policy oversight for all regulations and does not maintain a central database of all those made and repealed. Information on all secondary legislation is available at www.legislation.gov.uk.
The annual business impact target reports available on GOV.UK include details of the regulatory provisions impacting business that have come into force or ceased to be in force since 2015.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) Union Jack, (b) St George, (c) Scottish Saltire and (d) Flag of Wales flags his Department owns.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department owns the following flags:
(a) Union Jack: 11
(b) St George: 1
(c) Scottish Saltire: 1
(d) Flag of Wales: 1.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many times the (a) Union Jack, (b) St George's flag, (c) Scottish Saltire and (d) flag of Wales has been flown from the headquarters of his Department in London in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department always flies the Union Jack. We do not hold records on how many times the St George’s flag, Scottish Saltire, and the flag of Wales have been flown.
Thirty-nine flag-flying events have taken place since 2017, with 15 instances where the type of flag flown was recorded.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 effect of the increase in (a) the National Living Wage and (b) the National Minimum Wage in April 2020 on the number of (i) jobs and (ii) hours that people are employed.
Answered by Paul Scully
Through the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW), we are ensuring the lowest paid are fairly rewarded for their contribution to the economy. This April, the NLW will increase by 6.2% to £8.72, meaning that a full-time worker on the wage will see their pay increase by over £930 over the year. Young workers on the NMW will see their pay increase between 4.6% and 6.5%. Collectively, these increases to the minimum wage are estimated to directly benefit 2.4 million workers.
In setting these rates, the Government consider the expert and independent advice of the Low Pay Commission (LPC). The LPC draws on economic, labour market and pay analysis, independent research and stakeholder evidence, to assess the impact of past minimum wage increases and their proposed rates for the following year.
To date, the LPC have found that the minimum wage has increased pay for the lowest earners without harming employment. They will publish their 2020 report later this year, which will contain a further assessment on the impact of the latest increases.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it remains Government policy for new regulations to be subject to the one-in-two-out rule.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires the Government to set a Business Impact Target (BIT), which monitors changes to regulation and the economic impact this has on businesses. The ‘one-in-two-out’ rule has supported the BIT for previous Parliaments.
The Government is currently considering what the BIT should be for this Parliament.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans her Department has to mark International Men's Day on 19 November 2019.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
No one should suffer unfair treatment because of their gender. Every year International Men’s Day offers an opportunity to highlight how outcomes for men and boys can be improved and to talk about some of the important work going on every day across Government to do this.
The work ranges from the introduction of shared parental leave, which allows men to take time away from the workplace and bond with their new children, benefitting that crucial long-term relationship for both parent and child, to our programme tackling LGBT bullying in schools which seeks to protect those who may be victimised by outdated and stereotypical ideas of what it means to be a ‘real man’.
Government is also working with local authorities to ensure their suicide prevention plans support more men, and in the Domestic Abuse Bill we propose to create a statutory definition of domestic abuse that makes clear men also can be victims of this abhorrent crime.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of staff in her Department who cycled to work in each year since 2014.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department provides extensive cycle storage, changing and wash facilities at several of its buildings, including its main office site at 1 Victoria Street.
There is also a cycle to work scheme which enables individuals to buy a bike and spread the cost by paying instalments directly from their salary. For the year 2018 there were 92 members of the cycle to work scheme and for 2019 Jan – to date there are currently 337 members. We do not hold data before this time because of a change in payroll system.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of blades on wind turbines are (a) recycled and (b) sent to landfill at the end of their lifespan.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department does not hold this information.
Onshore windfarms are generally expected to decommission or repower from the mid 2020s onwards and offshore windfarms from the 2030s onwards.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has spent on schemes to encourage staff of his Department to cycle to work since 2015; and how much his Department has spent on (a) installing bicycle racks and (b) bonus schemes for bicycle use in that time period.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was created in July 2016. The answer therefore covers from this date.
Since its creation BEIS has been supportive of promoting cycling to work; recognising the benefits this brings to the health and wellbeing of the workforce, as well as reducing the environmental impact of the department in general. In response to the specific questions:
(a) BEIS has spent a total of £16.8k on installing bicycle racks (this figure includes the cost of materials).
(b) BEIS does not offer a bonus scheme for bicycle use.
In addition, the total amount spent on the cycle to work scheme to encourage staff in BEIS to cycle to work since the department’s creation was £16.7k in 2016 (July to December), £24.5k in 2017, £29.8k in 2018 and £39.8k in 2019.