Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many responses his Department received to its consultation on Employment Status, published in February 2018.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to providing greater clarity for businesses and individuals on employment status. As Matthew Taylor identified in his review, this is a complex issue and is one of the major challenges for public policy.
During the Employment Status Consultation period, we held regional and Ministerial roundtable events to engage in depth with over 70 stakeholder organisations, including representatives from the courier and parcel delivery sector, business groups and trade unions. We also received over 160 detailed written responses to the consultation. We are currently analysing the responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which (a) business groups and (b) trade unions his Department held meetings with on the consultation on Employment Status.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to providing greater clarity for businesses and individuals on employment status. As Matthew Taylor identified in his review, this is a complex issue and is one of the major challenges for public policy.
During the Employment Status Consultation period, we held regional and Ministerial roundtable events to engage in depth with over 70 stakeholder organisations, including representatives from the courier and parcel delivery sector, business groups and trade unions. We also received over 160 detailed written responses to the consultation. We are currently analysing the responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with representatives from the (a) courier and (b) parcel delivery sector on the proposals in its consultation on employment status; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to providing greater clarity for businesses and individuals on employment status. As Matthew Taylor identified in his review, this is a complex issue and is one of the major challenges for public policy.
During the Employment Status Consultation period, we held regional and Ministerial roundtable events to engage in depth with over 70 stakeholder organisations, including representatives from the courier and parcel delivery sector, business groups and trade unions. We also received over 160 detailed written responses to the consultation. We are currently analysing the responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Government plans to publish its response to the consultation on Employment Status, published on 7 February 2018.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to providing greater clarity for businesses and individuals on employment status. As Matthew Taylor identified in his review, this is a complex issue and is one of the major challenges for public policy.
During the Employment Status Consultation period, we held regional and Ministerial roundtable events to engage in depth with over 70 stakeholder organisations, including representatives from the courier and parcel delivery sector, business groups and trade unions. We also received over 160 detailed written responses to the consultation. We are currently analysing the responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with fashion brands and businesses based in Europe on their concerns on accessing the UK after March 2019.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Department engages regularly with UK based businesses across a range of sectors, including fashion brands and businesses, many of whom also have a European base, and we understand the concerns of these businesses about retaining frictionless trade.
This is why Government has been clear that the best outcome is for the UK to leave the EU with a deal and why, following months of intensive work and detailed discussions, we proposed a third option for our future economic relationship, based on the frictionless trade in goods.
At March European Council, the UK and EU agreed that during the implementation period, the UK would be treated as a Member State for the purposes of international agreements, including trade agreements.
This provides certainty and confidence that there will be no disruption to existing relationships underpinned by international agreements as we move into the Implementation Period.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to increase the number of PhD places for mathematical scientists.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
PhD funding forms one part of the £300m that will be spent over the next three years on increasing talent in the UK, as aligned to Industrial Strategy priorities.
Additionally over the next 5 years, £50 million has been allocated through the National Productivity Investment Fund for additional PhDs, including 100 PhDs to support research into AI, ensuring Britain is at the forefront of the AI revolution.
Funding for PhD places, including mathematical sciences, is not ring-fenced to specific areas, but is based on the strength of candidates and applications.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the UK research in medicines generated by early phase clinical research organisations.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department has not made an estimate of the overall value of research in medicines generated by early-phase clinical research organisations. However, there are several reports which have evaluated the return on investment in different areas, including an independent study funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Arthritis Research UK on musculoskeletal disease research (published January 2018).
MRC, which is part of UK Research and Innovation, supports translational research and experimental medicine. Pre-clinical research and early clinical testing is supported through the Developmental Funding Pathway Scheme to which the MRC commits up to £30 million per year, CROs may be included in MRC grants on a fee for service basis. The scheme is part of the Biomedical Catalyst programme funded in partnership with Innovate UK. Experimental medicine is a strategic priority for the MRC and can be supported across the research portfolio and industry partnerships, such as the MRC-Industry Asset Sharing Initiative.
The DHSC-funded NIHR invests over £1 billion annually to fund translational, clinical and applied health research spanning the whole innovation pathway. This includes support for research infrastructure in the NHS providing the expertise and facilities the NHS needs for first-class research which health and life sciences researchers, including CROs, can access at any stage of the clinical development process. The main NIHR-funded research infrastructure in the NHS which supports early translational (experimental medicine) clinical trials are the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and NIHR Clinical Research Facilities. In 2016/17, NIHR funding of £928 million was announced for new NIHR BRCs and NIHR CRFs for 5 years from April 2017. These schemes have seen year-on-year increases in the number of early phase trials (including first-in-human and up to and including phase II) since 2010: from 602 early phase studies in 2010/11 to 2,870 in 2016/17.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 ensure that UK clinical research organisations maintain their competitiveness in the event that their access to the EU market is restricted after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The NIHR provides the support, expertise and facilities that the NHS needs to undertake world-leading clinical trials funded by the NIHR, and other public, charity and life sciences industry partners, by funding a range of infrastructure facilities and the Clinical Research Network (CRN). The CRN provides the infrastructure that allows high-quality clinical research funded by the life-sciences industry, including CROs, to be undertaken throughout the NHS. Through NIHR and its partners, and by close collaboration with the life sciences sector and industry, the Government will ensure that the UK remains one of the best places in the world for research, science and innovation.