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1166698

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Asda: Conditions of Employment
	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 she is taking to ensure there is agreement between (a) Asda’s owners, (b) Asda’s employees and (c) trade unions on the terms of the new deal, known as Contract 6, being offered by Asda to its employees.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South
	tabling member printed	Stewart Malcolm McDonald
	uin	6440
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>Government has regular engagement with retailers.</p><p> </p><p>A legal framework exists which ensures that employers should always treat their employees fairly.</p><p> </p><p>In general, the terms and conditions of employment are for negotiation and agreement between employers and employees (or their representatives).  Once agreed, however, they form a legally binding contract of employment.  While it is always open to either party to seek to renegotiate the terms of the contract, if the employer changes any of the terms without the employee’s agreement, the employee may be entitled to seek legal redress.</p><p> </p><p>Both employers and employees are strongly encouraged to follow the guidance available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/your-employment-contract-how-it-can-be-changed when considering changing their terms and conditions of employment.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 31/10/2019 09:37:19 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4461 label Biography information for Stewart Malcolm McDonald

1167137

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2019
	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	Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when she plans to put the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority on a statutory basis.
	tabling member constituency	Sheffield South East
	tabling member printed	Mr Clive Betts
	uin	7054
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to putting the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority on a statutory basis as soon as Parliamentary time allows. This will be part of an overall and comprehensive programme of reform taking account of the CMA’s findings and in response to what Sir Donald Brydon may recommend in his Independent Review on the quality and effectiveness of audit.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 05/11/2019 14:19:09 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 3793 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	394 label Biography information for Mr Clive Betts

1176506

	registered interest
	date	05/02/2020
	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	Beer: Excise Duties
	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 discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on raising the small brewers relief threshold.
	tabling member constituency	Easington
	tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
	uin	12921
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>HM Treasury is reviewing small brewers relief and further announcements will be made in due course through the Budget process.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 12/02/2020 11:01:17 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1172130

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2020
	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	Business Rates
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on reducing business rates for firms.
	tabling member constituency	Cleethorpes
	tabling member printed	Martin Vickers
	uin	900294
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2020 answer text <p>My Retail Sector Council industry co-chair and I have already met the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to discuss the Council’s review of the costs retailers face, including business rates.</p><p> </p><p>I will continue to engage with Treasury colleagues as we deliver this important manifesto commitment.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 21/01/2020 14:53:46 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	3957 label Biography information for Martin Vickers

1172127

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2020
	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	Business Rates
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on reducing business rates for firms.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
	uin	900288
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2020 answer text <p>This Government will conduct a fundamental review of business rates.</p><p> </p><p>My Retail Sector Council industry co-chair and I have already met the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to discuss the Council’s review of the costs retailers face, including business rates.</p><p> </p><p>I will continue to engage with Treasury colleagues as we deliver this important manifesto commitment.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 21/01/2020 14:54:14 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1171063

	registered interest
	date	15/01/2020
	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	Business: Billing
	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 estimate she has made of the number of businesses that went into administration as a result of the cashflows of those businesses being affected by outstanding invoices in the latest period for which such information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Toby Perkins
	uin	3727
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2020 answer text <p>The Insolvency Service publishes National Statistics on the total number of companies entering administration each calendar quarter at <a href="http://www.gov.uk/" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a> and details of the circumstances leading to each administration must be provided by the administrator in the form of documents filed with Companies House.</p><p>The Government is completely focused on fulfilling its manifesto commitment to clamp down on late payments as part of its aim of making the UK the best place to work and grow a business. This includes strengthening the powers of the Small Business Commissioner to support small businesses that are exploited by their larger partners, strengthening the Prompt Payment Code, taking a tougher compliance approach with larger companies which includes greater transparency reporting requirements, and reviewing the role supply chain finance plays in prompt payment.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 23/01/2020 15:35:46 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

1171064

	registered interest
	date	15/01/2020
	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	Business: Billing
	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 progress has been made in tackling the late payment of invoices by businesses.
	tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Toby Perkins
	uin	3728
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2020 answer text <p>The government is completely focussed on fulfilling our manifesto commitment to clamp down on late payment and strengthen the powers of the Small Business Commissioner to support small businesses that are exploited by their larger partners.</p><p>Good progress is being made on the policies announced in our Government Response to the 2018 Call for Evidence to assess what further steps and intervention may be needed to create a responsible payment culture, where we will be:</p><p>o consulting on the merits of strengthening the Commissioner’s existing powers, to assist and advocate for small businesses in the area of late payments;</p><p>o strengthening and reforming the Prompt Payment Code and moving its administration to the Small Business Commissioner;</p><p>o taking a tough compliance approach to large companies who do not comply with the Payment Practices Reporting Duty. We have sent over 2,000 ‘help and enforcement’ letters to non-complaint companies and over 1,000 more unique companies have since filed reports;</p><p>o reviewing role supply chain finance plays in prompt payment &amp; greater transparency in companies reporting supply chain finance.</p><p>In October we launched a Business Basics Fund competition of up to £1 million, which will encourage SMEs to utilise payment technology and boost productivity in SMEs by reducing the time taken to chase payments. Winners will be announced in April.</p><p>In November, the Financial Reporting Council issued an open letter to company report preparers recommending payment practices are reported in annual reports.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 23/01/2020 14:39:48 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

1156419

	registered interest
	date	25/10/2019
	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	Business: Disadvantaged
	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 steps she has taken to support the development of businesses in deprived communities.
	tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
	tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
	uin	5432
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>Across the UK, the Government-backed British Business Bank (the Bank) seeks to increase the supply of finance for smaller businesses and to reduce regional disparities in access to finance. The Bank’s programmes are currently supporting over £6.6 billion of finance to over 89,000 SMEs (as at June 2019). And through the Bank's Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) there is currently approximately £300mn of headroom available to lenders this financial year. There is also approximately £1bn of guarantee headroom currently available to lenders under the Bank's ENABLE Guarantee programme.</p><p>Government has also supported and invested in the creation of a network of 38 Growth Hubs in England – one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area) – to provide a free, impartial, single point of local contact to all businesses, no matter their size or sector, to access advice and support across the public and private sector: in 2018-2019 Growth Hubs in England supported over 121,500 businesses. At the end of FY18/19, Government had invested £56.4 million in Growth Hubs that helped over 9,500 individuals start a business achieving an average customer satisfaction rate of 81.45%.</p><p>Businesses in England can also access business support through GOV.UK, and the National Business Support Helpline.</p><p>Since Budget 2016, the Government has announced reductions to business rates worth more than £13 billion until 2021.</p><p>My rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister has announced a £3.6 billion Towns Fund, including £1 billion for an accelerated Future High Streets Fund. Last year the Government also made a number of announcements to support High Street businesses:</p><ul><li>cutting the business rates bills of retailers by one third until April 2021 for properties with a rateable value below £51,000;</li><li>potential for up to 90% of retail properties in England to be eligible for the retail discount, worth almost £900m to businesses over two years; and</li><li>potential for retail discount to help a retailer save up to £8,000 off their 2019-20 bill.</li></ul><p> </p><p>At Autumn Budget 2018, HM Treasury announced that the VAT threshold will be maintained at the current level of £85,000 until April 2022. The VAT threshold is the highest in the EU and the OECD. It keeps an estimated over 3.55 million small businesses out of VAT.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 05/11/2019 14:19:47 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 2862 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

1176473

	registered interest
	date	05/02/2020
	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	Business: Equality
	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 discussions she has had with representatives of FTSE 100 companies on diversity.
	tabling member constituency	Brent Central
	tabling member printed	Dawn Butler
	uin	12849
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>BEIS Ministers have regular discussions with FTSE 100 company chairs and CEOs and with business representative organisations and stress the Government’s priority of improving diversity at board and leadership levels, especially in support of the Hampton-Alexander and Parker Reviews. We do all we can to promote business leadership diversity and inclusion.</p><p> </p><p>In that wider context, LGBT+ people should be able to be themselves in the workplace, so that they can do their best work and achieve their full potential. Many British businesses, charities and voluntary organisations are leading the way on LGBT+ equality at work; this is regularly highlighted by activities such as the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, which showcases the UK’s top 100 LGBT employers.</p><p> </p><p>At the Government’s request, the Financial Reporting Council revised the UK Corporate Governance Code in 2018 which requires companies to report fully on their diversity and inclusion policies, and how the objectives of these policies relate to wider company strategy.</p><p> </p><p>The Government Equalities Office LGBT Action Plan published in July 2018 has over 75 commitments regarding the representation of LGBT people in the workplace. This action plan was informed by the National LGBT Survey of 108,000 respondents and sets out commitments to improve the lives of LGBT people in the workplace.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 12916 question first answered 10/02/2020 17:47:48 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	1489 label Biography information for Dawn Butler

1166728

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Business: Investment
	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 she has made of the effect of share-buy-back schemes on business investment.
	tabling member constituency	Haltemprice and Howden
	tabling member printed	Mr David Davis
	uin	6204
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department commissioned research in 2018 to establish whether share buybacks are being misused to hit performance targets, inflate executive pay and reduce business investment. The research was published on 19 July 2019. It found no relationship between share repurchases and investment and no evidence to suggest that buybacks are being used systematically to artificially hit earnings per share (EPS) targets.</p><p> </p><p>The research did, however, reveal that the presence of EPS targets in executive remuneration plans correlates with lower levels of investment. The study said that it would be premature to draw firm conclusions but that the area warranted further research. The Department intends to follow this up and plans to commission further research into whether there is a direct link (rather than through the use of buybacks) between executive pay targets and levels of investment and between performance targets and short-term executive decision-making.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 31/10/2019 09:47:05 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	373 label Biography information for Sir David Davis