Asked by: Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to amend the definition of worker in employment law to clarify and strengthen the rights of off-payroll workers, dependent contractors and participants in the gig economy.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to providing 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.
We therefore need to take time to consider how best to achieve change that works for all. We received over 160 detailed responses to the Employment Status Consultation. We are currently analysing the responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 British manufacturing firms to diversify into new (a) consumer and (b) overseas markets.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government’s Industrial Strategy has set out a long-term approach to boost the UK’s productivity growth and ensure that we’re building an economy fit for the future. Our White Paper has set out a range of measures aimed at increasing investment from the private and public sector and includes a commitment to increase total R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. The Government will support UK priorities in key areas of innovation through investing in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, with over £1.7bn committed so far through the first two waves. One example is the £246m Faraday Battery Challenge to position the UK to be at the cutting edge of battery technology. We have also just held an open Expressions of Interest process for potential programmes for a third wave of the Challenge Fund.
As we leave the EU we remain committed to making the UK the best place in Europe to own and grow a business. The Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have dedicated teams who promote the UK as a destination for investment into manufacturing and to boost trade from UK manufacturing companies abroad. In 2016/17, on marine, for example, the DIT High Value Campaign programme secured around £214 million of UK Exports; the Aerospace team supported over £7 billion of aerospace exports; and the DIT rail team recorded overseas export wins to the value of £323million, including manufactured goods.
Asked by: Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of potential restrictions on national economic activity that will be needed in order to meet targets set in the Climate Change Act 2008 should the expansion at Heathrow Airport proceed.
Answered by Claire Perry
As noted in the revised draft Airports National Policy Statement, the Government agrees with the Airports Commission’s assessment that a new runway at Heathrow can be delivered within the UK’s climate change obligations.
We are a world leader in clean growth. Between 1990 and 2016, the UK reduced its emissions by over 40 per cent while growing the economy by more than two thirds – the best performance in the G7 on a per person basis. The Government has put clean growth at the heart of its Industrial Strategy, in order to drive economic growth while meeting our emission reduction targets.
Asked by: Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information the Government holds on the proportion of UK businesses that (a) own their own premises and (b) rent their premises.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Department does not hold this information for the entire UK business population.
However, it is available for UK small and medium-sized enterprises (fewer than 250 employees), which account for over 99% of the total UK business population.
In 2016, the distribution of business premises ownership for UK small and medium-sized enterprises was as follows:
Ownership status of business premises | Proportion |
Rented from a private or commercial landlord | 43% |
Owned by business | 40% |
Leased | 12% |
Other | 4% |
Source: BEIS 2016 Longitudinal Small Business Survey
Asked by: Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure a diverse supply of electricity generation in the next decade.
Answered by Claire Perry
We are investing in new power generation technologies that are diversifying our electricity generation and reducing carbon emissions while ensuring security of supply. The Capacity Market is bringing forward a mix of new generation with large volumes of capacity from interconnectors, demand-side response and new smart technologies such as battery storage clearing in recent auctions alongside more traditional gas plant. We are also seeing ever increasing levels of renewable generation. In 2016 renewables accounted for 25% of UK power half of our generation being low-carbon, a record high.
Asked by: Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings his Department has held with the Welsh Government after the Welsh Government offered to allocate funding for a pathfinder tidal lagoon at Swansea Bay.
Answered by Claire Perry
Ministers and officials in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly discuss matters of mutual interest with their counterparts in the devolved administrations.