Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the guidance sent by the Director of the Grant Delivery Directorate to councils on 10 November 2023, with the subject Flood Recovery Framework Schemes Operational Guidance - Business Recovery Grant, Storm Babet 19-25 October 2023, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) removing the reference to businesses that have made no efforts to seek appropriate insurance and (b) reopening that scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Flooding Recovery Framework is based on a set of long-established principles including, in the case of the Business Recovery Grant, that:
"Funding should not be used to reward poor business practice (e.g. if a business has made no efforts to seek appropriate insurance....)."
Whilst there are no immediate plans to change the scheme eligibility criteria or to re-open the activation for those impacted by Storm Babet, it is worth noting that the Business Recovery Grant does not operate in isolation but as part of a package of support including business rates relief for SMEs.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what guidance was provided to local authorities on the eligibility criteria for businesses applying for a Business Recovery Grant following flooding.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
For both Storm Babet and Storm Henk Business Recovery Grant activation, Local Authorities were invited by letter to agree a MOU with DBT which established the responsibilities of the parties and the principles for their co-operation. An operational guidance document provided further context, including definitions of terms, detail on the schemes and indicative timelines for reporting and payments.
A frequently asked questions document was provided, supplemented via regular stakeholder engagement sessions with officials to address queries and process requirements.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason there is a requirement for UK manufacturers to raise standard individual export licences applications for specific products into China.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
An export licence is required to export controlled items including military goods, software and technology and dual-use items specified on the dual-use list from the United Kingdom to another country. A consolidated list of strategic military and dual-use items that require export authorisation is published on GOV.UK and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-strategic-export-control-lists-the-consolidated-list-of-strategic-military-and-dual-use-items-that-require-export-authorisation
In addition, items not included in this list may be subject to an export licence for China if they are or may be intended, in their entirety or in part, for use for use in a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programme or intended for a military end-use.
All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. HM Government published guidance for Standard individual export licences (SIELs) which can be accessed on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/standard-individual-export-licences
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) accounting, (b) architecture and (c) quantity surveying job vacancies as of 31 January 2023; and if he will make an assessment of whether there are skills gaps in those sectors.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
ONS vacancies data[1] shows that there were 122,000 vacancies in the professional, scientific and technical activities sector, which includes accounting, architecture and quantity surveying, in the three months to December 2022. The sector currently has a vacancy rate of 4.5%. The number of vacancies in the sector has fallen 6.2% compared with the first quarter of 2022 but remain at relatively high levels and are 58% higher than in the final quarter of 2019.
The Government is investing an additional £3.8 billion into skills and further education over this Parliament to ensure workers develop the skills businesses need. More specifically, the Department for Education set a strategy for skills reform which puts employers at the heart of skills training and education in the Skills for Job white paper. The Government help to articulate what employers need from the skills system through our sector teams’ engagement and sharing workforce data and intelligence with DfE’s Unit for Future Skills.