Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
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 achieve the UK's new Nationally Determined Contribution to the UNFCCC under the Paris Agreement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We will publish our comprehensive Net Zero Strategy ahead of COP26, setting out the Government’s vision for transitioning to a net zero economy, and raising ambition as we outline our path to meet net zero by 2050, our Carbon Budgets and 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
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 support employees of GKN Automotive, Erdington facing redundancy.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The proposed closure of the GKN Automotive plant in Erdington in Birmingham, putting over 500 jobs at risk, is deeply worrying for the employees and their families. While this is a commercial matter. Ministers and officials have met with the management of GKN Automotive, Unite the Union, and the local constituency MP. The purpose was to gain a more detailed understanding of the reasoning behind the proposed closure, and to explore options for securing a future for the site, to safeguard the jobs of the employees.
The statutory consultation process is ongoing, providing an opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions and present alternative proposals. The government is monitoring developments.
In the event of the plant being closed, the government stands ready to support those impacted back into work. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Jobcentre Plus lead on this. They have doubled the number of frontline Work Coaches across the network of jobcentres to ensure people have access to bespoke advice and guidance.
The Government is working in partnership with the automotive sector to exploit the opportunities from the transition to zero emission vehicles. Nearly £500m has been committed through the Automotive Transformation Fund to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain, which will create jobs in our industrial heartlands.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
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 effect of the closure of GKN Automotive, Erdington on job losses; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The proposed closure of the GKN Automotive plant in Erdington in Birmingham, putting over 500 jobs at risk, is deeply worrying for the employees and their families. While this is a commercial matter. Ministers and officials have met with the management of GKN Automotive, Unite the Union, and the local constituency MP. The purpose was to gain a more detailed understanding of the reasoning behind the proposed closure, and to explore options for securing a future for the site, to safeguard the jobs of the employees.
The statutory consultation process is ongoing, providing an opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions and present alternative proposals. The government is monitoring developments.
In the event of the plant being closed, the government stands ready to support those impacted back into work. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Jobcentre Plus lead on this. They have doubled the number of frontline Work Coaches across the network of jobcentres to ensure people have access to bespoke advice and guidance.
The Government is working in partnership with the automotive sector to exploit the opportunities from the transition to zero emission vehicles. Nearly £500m has been committed through the Automotive Transformation Fund to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain, which will create jobs in our industrial heartlands.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has deprioritised any Statutory Instruments in relation to the UK leaving the EU; and if he will publish the criteria his Department uses to deprioritise those Instruments.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s objective has always been to have a functioning statute book in place by Exit Day and to ensure that the most critical secondary legislation was made by this point.
Each SI in the Department was carefully considered on a case-by-case basis.
As part of this analysis, BEIS officials considered the material impact of each SI and whether the changes required were minor and technical in nature, and therefore not deemed essential to be in force from day one.
These considerations and assessments have meant that my Department has been able to lay the critical secondary legislation required before we exit the EU.
The laying of EU Exit SIs allows Parliament to fulfil its essential scrutiny role. The exact nature of this scrutiny, and the steps required before an SI completes its passage, is dependent on the type of SI. The Government remains confident of passing the necessary legislation required to ensure a functioning statute book by Exit Day.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the privatisation of the Land Registry on the effectiveness of its service.
Answered by Sajid Javid
I am pleased to say we are consulting on this very issue at the moment.
We want to accelerate the transformation and digitisation of the Land Registry, improving the service it offers.
However, we would only proceed with any change if we were convinced it would provide a continued appropriate level of service.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment she has made of the effect of recent floods on small businesses.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The most recent available data indicated that 4,940 businesses across northern England had been flooded following this winter’s exceptional rainfall. The vast majority of these will be small and medium size businesses. Impacts included flooded property, loss of stock and equipment and interruption to trading.
Our interventions, include business recovery grants (a total of £11 m from BIS, of which £4,572,000 has been paid out), business rate relief (£4.26 m from DCLG), and property level resilience scheme (£5,000 per household or business, to incorporate greater flood resilience into property repairs).