Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
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 support the nuclear industry.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
This Government continues to believe that nuclear has an important role to play in our future energy mix as long as it provides value for money for taxpayers and consumers. Our commitment is demonstrated in us giving the go ahead for the first new nuclear power station in a generation at Hinkley Point C. The landmark Nuclear Sector Deal, worth over £200m, was launched last June is a demonstration of the strong partnership between government and industry. Support provided by this Government through the Deal includes up to £56m for the development of advanced nuclear technologies, up to £20m for an advanced manufacturing and construction programme, and £86m for a fusion programme at Culham in Oxfordshire.
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the number of workers in Copeland that have benefited from the recent living wage update.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Through the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW), the Government ensures that the lowest paid in our society are fairly rewarded for their work. April 2019’s increase to the NLW will see nearly 1.8 million workers in the UK receive a 4.9% pay rise. In the North West, 222,000 workers will directly benefit from this increase in the NLW. A full-time worker on the NLW will now be more than £2,750 better off over the year compared to when it was first announced in 2015.
The most recent available data shows an estimated 3,500 workers in Copeland who were on the NLW or NMW.
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
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 the effectiveness of the Regulated Asset Base model and its potential for the nuclear sector.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
We are continuing to review the viability of a Regulated Asset Base model as a sustainable mechanism for financing new nuclear projects. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out to the House on 17 January that we intend to publish our assessment of that method by the summer.
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
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 support businesses and entrepreneurs in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) the North West.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to supporting all entrepreneurs to start and grow a business, it is a key aspect of our ambitious Industrial Strategy. We want to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business, to create jobs and spread prosperity.
We already provide support to businesses through the www.gov.uk website. We also offer support through our Business Support Helpline (0300 456 3565). Last year we helped c.31,500 businesses, 65% were entrepreneurs and start-ups.
Businesses can also access local support through anyone of the 38 Growth Hubs across England which join up local and national business support. Details of Local Growth Hubs can be found on the following webpage: www.lepnetwork.net/growth-hubs
The Start-Up Loans programme, now part of the British Business Bank (BBB), has supported nearly 61,000 entrepreneurs with loans totalling over £468m, and was extended in the autumn budget to April 2021 to enable an additional 10,000 loans to be made.
BBB programmes are currently supporting £954,419 of finance for SMEs in Copeland across 23 businesses and £1,842,918,743 of finance for SMEs in the North West across 12,484 businesses (as at September 2018).
As of February 2019, since the BBB-owned Start-Up Loans programme launched, 24 loans have been made, totalling £256,600 in Copeland and 7,561 loans have been made totalling £56,967,713 in the North West.