Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will make an assessment of whether prices of imported ceramic goods from China reflect the domestic costs of production.
Answered by Anna Soubry
It is for industry to demonstrate prima facie evidence of dumping to the European Commission. We encourage industry to present this evidence to the Commission where there is evidence of dumping. Where evidence is sufficient to justify an investigation the Commission will do so and present any proposals for imposing duties to Member States. Trade defence is an EU competence and for the Commission to investigate.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of whether China has met all of the technical Market Economy Status criteria as set by the EU.
Answered by Anna Soubry
According to the latest assessment by the European Commission China has not met all of the technical criteria for awarding Market Economy Status. However, these criteria were designed to inform decisions in the event that the EU decided to seek to award China MES before the end of the 15 year transition period specified by China’s protocol of accession to the WTO. As the transition period ends in December, the question facing the European Commission now is a legal one about the interpretation of article 15 of China’s protocol of accession to the WTO and whether it requires that China must now be granted MES.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the expenditure has been on the new National Living Wage advertising campaign to date.
Answered by Nick Boles
As of 26 January 2016, £378,826.28 had been spent on building awareness of the National Living Wage
The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will end at the end of April and we expect to come in under budget.
It is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at those that need it most.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which company has been given the contract for billboard advertisement distribution for the new National Living Wage campaign; and by what process that company was selected.
Answered by Nick Boles
48 sheet billboards, 6 sheet bus stop posters, and bus interior panels are being used in the National Living Wage campaign.
All poster sites were bought through Carat, the government’s appointed media buyers. The media owners of the poster sites are PML, Clearchannel Outdoor, Exterion Media and JCDecaux.
The poster sites are selected based on a combination of population data, poster site availability, and analysis of data showing regions where recipients of the NLW are expected to be highest.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of the tableware used in his Department is made in the UK.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has 2 suppliers of restaurant services in the core Department buildings: EC Harris and Baxter Storey.
EC Harris
Currently, 40% of tableware supplied by EC Harris is manufactured in the UK. The policy is to buy UK manufactured tableware to replace existing tableware. The 60% of tableware not manufactured in the UK has been inherited from previous suppliers.
Baxter Storey
Currently, 70% of tableware supplied by Baxter Storey is manufactured in the UK and the remaining 30% is Chinese.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the UK ceramics industry of China being granted Market Economy Status.
Answered by Anna Soubry
We are awaiting a European Commission proposal on granting Market Economy Status (MES). We understand that the Commission will also be undertaking a detailed assessment of the economic impacts of granting MES as part of their consideration of this issue. We will examine any proposal and assessment carefully. In considering the Commission’s proposal it will be important to take into account the wider trade and international context including China’s compliance with international commitments. If China is granted MES, the Commission will still be able to pursue anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases and impose measures where evidence of dumping or subsidy is found; this is the case with the US and Russia, both of whom have MES status.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with representatives of the UK ceramics industry on the effect of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
Answered by Anna Soubry
I can confirm that I met on 3 February 2016 the British Ceramics Confederation. BIS officials are also in regular contact with the sector on all energy and environment matters.