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1141373

registered interest
date	23/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Industry: Public Consultation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has for public consultation during the development of local industrial strategies.
tabling member constituency	Oxford West and Abingdon
tabling member printed	Layla Moran
uin	281078
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2019 answer text <p>Local Industrial Strategies are developed locally and agreed with government. In the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-industrial-strategies-policy-prospectus" target="_blank">policy prospectus</a> published in October 2018, we set out that Local Industrial Strategies should be the product of consultation with businesses, a broad range of public partners and civil society. In addition to this, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strengthened-local-enterprise-partnerships" target="_blank">‘Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships’ Review</a> published in July 2018 made clear that Local Enterprise Partnerships should operate to the highest standards of accountability and transparency and ensure the communities they represent can influence the economic plans for the area.</p><p> </p><p>To be successful, Local Industrial Strategies must be developed from the bottom up and led by those who best know the needs of local economies. This locally led approach means Local Enterprise Partnerships and Mayoral Combined Authorities should choose how they work in partnership with both public and private stakeholders and determine the best way to consult the public. Places have taken different approaches to public consultation; the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/west-midlands-local-industrial-strategy" target="_blank">West Midlands</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greater-manchester-local-industrial-strategy" target="_blank">Greater Manchester</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oxford-cambridge-arc-local-industrial-strategies" target="_blank">Oxford-Cambridge Arc</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/west-of-england-local-industrial-strategy" target="_blank">West of England</a> Local Industrial Strategies, published recently, demonstrate this.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 281079 question first answered 31/07/2019 15:22:01 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4656 label Biography information for Layla Moran

1141476

registered interest
date	23/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Post Offices: Rural Areas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support rural post offices.
tabling member constituency	South Leicestershire
tabling member printed	Alberto Costa
uin	281127
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2019 answer text <p>While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business.</p><p>The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in rural communities across the UK; this is why the Government committed in its 2017 manifesto to safeguard the post office network and enhance the provision of rural services.</p><p>Thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010 the overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches. This investment includes the continuation of subsidy payments to support community post offices, the last shop in the village.</p><p>In addition, I met with Lord Gardiner of Kimble, the Minister for Rural Affairs, on 26 June 2019 to discuss the key role rural post offices play in communities. It remains a Government priority, as stated in the 2017 Conservative manifesto, to ensure the rural network is protected.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 31/07/2019 15:17:46 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4439 label Biography information for Alberto Costa

1140600

registered interest
date	19/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Fireworks: Sales
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a timescale for the information gathering exercise on the public sale of fireworks.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh South
tabling member printed	Ian Murray
uin	279452
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/07/2019 answer text <p>The work to develop a full evidence base is an ongoing exercise which is not time limited. To develop the evidence base officials have reviewed existing literature, research and data sources and are engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including the RSPCA and the British Fireworks Association.</p><p> </p><p>As work has progressed, information gaps have become clear, requiring further investigation and consideration. The evidence base will also consider the findings of the House of Commons Petitions Committee inquiry on fireworks and the Scottish Government consultation on fireworks. The intention is that the work will inform current and future policy in this area and identify trends across fireworks seasons.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 30/07/2019 16:06:20 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	3966 label Biography information for Ian Murray

1140400

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	New Businesses
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the average time it takes for a new business to become fully operational in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	278917
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The World Bank Doing Business 2019 report measures the ease of starting a business. This involves measuring procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company for men and women.</p><p> </p><p>The average time taken for a new business in the UK to complete all the procedures required to become operational is 18 days.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Source:</em></p><p><em>World Bank, Doing Business 2019, <a href="https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/reports/global-reports/doing-business-2019" target="_blank">https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/reports/global-reports/doing-business-2019</a> </em></p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 23/07/2019 13:27:21 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1139693

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	William Hill: Closures
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect on trends in the level of high street footfall of William Hill's recent announcement to close branches throughout the UK.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	278547
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not hold data on the effects of individual store closures on High Street footfall.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 22/07/2019 16:56:32 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1139700

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Avara Avlon Pharma Services: Insolvency
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Astrazeneca and Avara Avlon about the (a) three year guarantee on enhanced redundancy payments and terms for staff agreed as part of the sale of the company for £1 in December 2016 and the (b) collapse of Avara Avalon.
tabling member constituency	Newport East
tabling member printed	Jessica Morden
uin	278449
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no discussions with Avara. This is a commercial matter which BEIS have been monitoring for some time, however we have not sought to intervene while staff consultation and the administration process are underway.</p><p> </p><p>AstraZeneca announced on Wednesday that they have set aside funding of up to £12m, to be administered independently, to make sure their former employees at the Avlon site receive full severance should the ongoing administration of the site not generate enough funds to cover redundancy costs.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 22/07/2019 16:50:37 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	1548 label Biography information for Jessica Morden

1139736

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Small Businesses: Government Assistance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to provide (a) advice, (b) support and (c) services for small business owners looking to grow their business.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	278354
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>Through our ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy we are working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business. We are committed to ensuring all small businesses have access to the advice and support they need to succeed to start, grow, and scale their businesses.</p><p>All businesses can access core services, information and guidance on starting up and running a business, as well as their statutory rights and obligations, on our GOV.UK sites and <a href="http://www.gov.uk/browse/business" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/browse/business</a>. The Business Finance and Support Finder tool on the website provides information on how to access a wide range of Government-backed financial support for start-up businesses, such as funding and grant schemes.</p><p>The Business Support Helpline forms a key part of the Government’s offer to SMEs in England, providing trusted and joined-up information and sign-posting businesses to relevant sources of support. The Helpline number is 0300 456 3565. In 2018, it helped 31,500 businesses, of which 65% were entrepreneurs and start-ups.</p><p>The network of 38 Growth Hubs across England (one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area) provide businesses with tailored advice and support, as a dedicated, free and impartial ‘single point of contact’. At the end of FY18/19, Government had invested £56.4 million in Growth Hubs, with a further £12 million committed of core grant funding to LEPs for Growth Hubs for the FY19/20 funding period. LEPS have self-reported that in FY17/18 their Growth Hubs supported over 130,000 businesses, of which over 13,000 received high intensity support of 12 hours or more. They helped over 8,000 individuals start a business and achieved an average customer satisfaction rate of 89.5%.</p><p>The Government-backed British Business Bank is there to make finance markets work better for small businesses at all stages of their development. The Bank’s programmes are currently supporting over £6.6bn of finance to over 89,000 smaller businesses (as at end-March 2019). The British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans programme provides loans to entrepreneurs seeking to start and grow their own businesses. Since 2012, the Programme has delivered almost 65,000 loans, worth nearly £511m to small businesses (as at end-June 2019).</p><p>Finally, we are working to make small business owners more aware of the wide range of advice and support available to them. We continue to develop our online support through GOV.UK, ensuring SMEs can access the key information they need on running their business any time they wish. And we are also improving SME awareness of finance options: the British Business Bank helps publish the Business Finance Guide, and has launched an online Finance Hub, an online advice platform aimed at raising awareness of appropriate finance options for SMEs.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 278355 question first answered 22/07/2019 16:54:59 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1139737

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Small Businesses: Government Assistance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that small business owners are aware of the advice, support, and services available from the Government to help them grow their business.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	278355
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>Through our ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy we are working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business. We are committed to ensuring all small businesses have access to the advice and support they need to succeed to start, grow, and scale their businesses.</p><p>All businesses can access core services, information and guidance on starting up and running a business, as well as their statutory rights and obligations, on our GOV.UK sites and <a href="http://www.gov.uk/browse/business" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/browse/business</a>. The Business Finance and Support Finder tool on the website provides information on how to access a wide range of Government-backed financial support for start-up businesses, such as funding and grant schemes.</p><p>The Business Support Helpline forms a key part of the Government’s offer to SMEs in England, providing trusted and joined-up information and sign-posting businesses to relevant sources of support. The Helpline number is 0300 456 3565. In 2018, it helped 31,500 businesses, of which 65% were entrepreneurs and start-ups.</p><p>The network of 38 Growth Hubs across England (one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area) provide businesses with tailored advice and support, as a dedicated, free and impartial ‘single point of contact’. At the end of FY18/19, Government had invested £56.4 million in Growth Hubs, with a further £12 million committed of core grant funding to LEPs for Growth Hubs for the FY19/20 funding period. LEPS have self-reported that in FY17/18 their Growth Hubs supported over 130,000 businesses, of which over 13,000 received high intensity support of 12 hours or more. They helped over 8,000 individuals start a business and achieved an average customer satisfaction rate of 89.5%.</p><p>The Government-backed British Business Bank is there to make finance markets work better for small businesses at all stages of their development. The Bank’s programmes are currently supporting over £6.6bn of finance to over 89,000 smaller businesses (as at end-March 2019). The British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans programme provides loans to entrepreneurs seeking to start and grow their own businesses. Since 2012, the Programme has delivered almost 65,000 loans, worth nearly £511m to small businesses (as at end-June 2019).</p><p>Finally, we are working to make small business owners more aware of the wide range of advice and support available to them. We continue to develop our online support through GOV.UK, ensuring SMEs can access the key information they need on running their business any time they wish. And we are also improving SME awareness of finance options: the British Business Bank helps publish the Business Finance Guide, and has launched an online Finance Hub, an online advice platform aimed at raising awareness of appropriate finance options for SMEs.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 278354 question first answered 22/07/2019 16:54:59 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1139755

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Small Businesses: Urban Areas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support small businesses in towns and small cities.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	278358
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>Through our ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy we are working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business. We are committed to ensuring all small businesses have access to the advice and support they need to succeed to start, grow, and scale their businesses.</p><p> </p><p>All businesses can access core services, information and guidance on starting up and running a business, as well as their statutory rights and obligations, on our GOV.UK sites and <a href="http://www.gov.uk/browse/business" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/browse/business</a>. The Business Finance and Support Finder tool on the website provides information on how to access a wide range of Government-backed financial support for start-up businesses, such as funding and grant schemes.</p><p> </p><p>The Business Support Helpline forms a key part of the government’s offer to SMEs in England, providing trusted and joined-up information and sign-posting businesses to relevant sources of support. The Helpline number is 0300 456 3565. In 2018, it helped 31,500 businesses, of which 65% were entrepreneurs and start-ups.</p><p> </p><p>An integral part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy is at local level, working to develop prosperous communities across the UK. For example, the Government is providing help to local businesses to create more highly skilled jobs through Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s commitment to work with all LEPs and Mayoral Combined Authorities in England to develop Local Industrial Strategies. These are locally led and developed in partnership with Government, setting out clearly defined priorities for how cities, towns and rural areas will make the most of their distinctive strengths and better coordinate economic policy at the local level.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier this year we published the first Local Industrial Strategies in the West Midlands and Greater Manchester. We aim to agree Strategies with all local areas in 2020.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government backed British Business Bank’s programmes are currently supporting over £6.6 billion of finance to over 89,000 SMEs. The Start-Up Loans programme, now part of the British Business Bank, has delivered nearly 65,000 loans totalling almost £511m (as at end-June 2019). It was extended in the autumn budget to April 2021 to enable an additional 10,000 loans to be made to entrepreneurs.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 22/07/2019 16:55:47 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1139789

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Parental Leave: Self-Employed
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his oral contribution of 16 July 2019, Official Report, column 663, what the timeframe is for his Department to respond to the consultation on shared parental leave for the self-employed.
tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
uin	278392
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>We are currently evaluating the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme and are in the process of collecting data and information from a wide variety of sources. The evaluation will conclude later this year.</p><p> </p><p>We expect to be in a position to report on the evaluation later this year.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 22/07/2019 16:57:10 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan