Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure energy imported from the EU is not subject to tariffs after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The current EU applied tariff rate on imports of crude oil, natural gas and coal is zero.
The decision on whether energy imported into the UK should be subject to tariffs once the UK has left the EU will be for the UK only to make. For reasons of economic competitiveness and energy security and consistent with our support for an open trade policy regime, it is unlikely that the Government would wish to impose tariffs on energy imports.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of employers who have prevented migrant workers from joining a union during their time working in the UK.
Answered by Margot James
The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy does not hold this information.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2016 to Question 48990 and the correction to that Answer of 21 October 2016, whether he has received representations on migrant employees in the UK being forced to repay funds to their employers which had been paid to such employees as a result of shortfalls in wages upon return to their country of origin.
Answered by Margot James
The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy is not aware of any representations on migrant employees in the UK being forced to repay funds paid to them as a result of shortfalls in wages to their employers upon return to their country of origin.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there has been a recent change to the policy that the Government would take a 25 per cent equity stake in Tata Steel's UK assets if a sale was necessary to secure the future of UK steel.
Answered by Nick Hurd
There has been no change in the Government’s policy
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of proposed increases to electricity network costs on manufacturers.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government published in November 2014, an estimate of the projected electricity networks costs for households and small, medium and large businesses users, in Annex D of the ‘Estimated impacts of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills’. These estimates reflect the eight year price control settlements that run from 2013 to 2021 (electricity transmission) and 2015 to 2023 (electricity distribution), as approved by the regulator, Ofgem.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
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 support for the British Steel Pension Scheme in securing the future of the UK steel industry; and what steps he is taking to support that scheme.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government is committed to achieving a sustainable long term future for the UK steel industry and has and is taking a wide range of action, working with the industry, to help achieve this goal. The British Steel Pension Scheme is a private pension scheme. Therefore, decisions on the future of this are a matter for the Trustees and the Company.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what change there has been in the UK's share of global steel output over the last five years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Year | Crude steel production (thousand tonnes) | UK share of global crude steel production | |
Global | UK | ||
2011 | 1,538,003 | 9,478 | 0.62% |
2012 | 1,560,131 | 9,579 | 0.61% |
2013 | 1,650,354 | 11,858 | 0.72% |
2014 | 1,670,145 | 12,120 | 0.73% |
2015 | 1,620,900 | 10,860 | 0.67% |
Source: World Steel Association Statistics
Notes:
1 – The figures above show the production of crude steel and cover all qualities made (carbon, stainless, other alloy).
2 – Data for global production of crude steel in 2015 is provisional. Figures for global production are subject to revision.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
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 to (a) offer specific financial support to the UK steel industry and (b) take a 25 per cent equity stake in Tata Steel.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government continues to make compensation payments to all Electricity Intensive Industries, including steel, for the policy costs in their electricity bills. To date we have paid the steel sector over £100 million. We continue to make significant progress in addressing the wider challenges faced by the steel sector, and are working through the Steel Council to ensure the efforts of the sector itself, the Trade Unions, and the Government are all targeted in the right areas.
We are also continuing to work with Tata, the Welsh Government and Trade Unions to support commercial discussions on the future of the company’s remaining UK assets.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40370, when his Department plans to outline its new approach to the carbon capture and storage industry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has a potential role to play in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK but its costs must come down.
We continue to work with industry to help develop CCS cost effectively and we will set out our future approach to CCS in due course.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
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 re-examine the potential merits of establishing a materials catapult for manufacturing.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government recognises the importance of manufacturing to the UK economy and we have continued to invest significant funding through the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. This has led to the launch of two new programmes designed to offer additional cutting edge equipment and expertise and extend the Catapult’s services to more manufacturing sectors; and to enable UK SMEs to become more productive and to win more business. We have also provided funding for the Catapult to establish two new centres in the North East - the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre at Darlington and the National Formulation Centre at NETPark in Sedgefield.
Innovate UK manages development of the Catapult network on behalf of Government.
It has rigorously considered the potential merits of establishing a Materials Catapult for Manufacturing and has concluded that there is no robust case to establish a Materials Catapult at this time. This decision has been confirmed within the last month and my Department does not intend to re-examine this assessment.