Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2023 to Question 199561 on World Economic Forum, how much and what proportion of the £6255.20 was spent on (a) flights, (b) accommodation and (c) hospitality.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department's Transparency returns for the period January to February 2023 show a total cost of £6,225.20 for the visit and this represents the total cost including flights and accommodation. All hospitality is declared in quarterly returns but costs for that are not routinely recorded. In the case of this visit there was no hospitality given.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the data on Ministerial travel for the Department for International Trade, January to March 2023, last updated on 20 July 2023, how much was spent on (a) flights and (b) accommodation for her visit to the World Economic Forum from 17 to 20 January 2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The total cost of the flights and accommodation for the Secretary of State’s visit to the World Economic Forum from 17 to 20 January 2023 is set out within the “DIT Ministers' Overseas Travel: January to February 2023” transparency data published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to support the growth of battery technology companies.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) and the long-term Advanced Propulsion Centre R&D programme continue to support the development and commercialisation of cutting-edge automotive technologies. The ATF enabled the £1bn electric vehicle hub in Sunderland in partnership between Nissan and Envision AESC.
In October 2022 we announced a record £211m of funding for the Faraday Battery Challenge, to support battery research and innovation, bringing the overall budget of the Challenge to £541m since 2017.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what incentives her Department plans to introduce to encourage businesses to offer flexible working arrangements that help enable jobseekers with SEND to access employment.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is taking steps to encourage businesses to discuss and agree suitable flexible working arrangements with all workers and jobseekers, including those with SEND.
In December 2022, we published our response to the “making flexible working the default” consultation. This committed to a range of measures, including making the right to request flexible working a ‘day one’ entitlement, by removing the existing 26-week qualifying period.
We are also supporting the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, which will make further changes to improve access to flexible working.
Certain jobseekers with SEND may have the right to reasonable adjustments when applying for jobs, which businesses have a duty to consider.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of his Department's fulfilment of its responsibility to support the Competition and Markets Authority to deliver the Government's objectives for competition and consumer policy.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I and my officials work closely with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) including a regular dialogue with its new Chair and Chief Executive to ensure the independent regulator has the tools it needs to continue to improve competition in the UK to the benefit of the UK consumer.
The Government will introduce the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill into Parliament this session. The Bill will support our goals of improving competition in the UK and ensuring consumers are protected by enhancing the CMA’s powers.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when his Department plans to respond to the report by the Competition and Markets Authority entitled Secondary ticketing websites, published on 16 August 2021.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My department, working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is considering the CMA’s report and we will issue a government response shortly.