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1138393

registered interest
date	11/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Racial Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the article in the Guardian entitled A demeaning environment: stories of racism in UK universities, published 5 July 2019, if he will hold discussions with the Office for Students on their assessment of the scale and nature of racism in UK universities.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	276161
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>There is no place in our society, including within higher education (HE) for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>The government is working closely with the Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) to support work to address racism and other forms of harassment in HE, including implementation of UUK’s Sexual Violence and Harassment Taskforce’s recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>Ministers and officials in the department meet regularly with the OfS, stakeholders and representative bodies about a range of student experience issues including racism, hate crime and harassment in HE. This includes specific quarterly meetings with the OfS to discuss how to tackle harassment and hate crime, including racism within the sector.</p><p> </p><p>In its ministerial guidance, the government has asked the OfS to support this work and to make campuses places of tolerance for all students, and over £2 million has been invested in projects addressing hatred and harassment in HE.</p><p>The government will continue to work closely with the OfS to prioritise tackling of all forms of harassment and hate crime in higher education.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 16/07/2019 10:19:29 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138419

registered interest
date	11/07/2019
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	Vegetable Oils
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 businesses to develop new and more sustainable vegetation oils as a replacement for palm oil.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	276167
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to working with business and others to create a UK market for sustainably sourced palm oil for households and reduce the environmental impact of palm oil production overseas.</p><p> </p><p>In 2012, the Government convened an industry-led UK Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. This brought together trade associations for palm oil-using sectors to improve reporting, traceability and understanding of supply chains to increase the use of certified palm oil. As a result the market share of sustainable palm oil in the UK has increased from 16% in 2010 to 75% in 2017.</p><p> </p><p>Internationally, as a member of the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership, the UK is driving 100% sustainable palm oil supply chains in Europe. The UK also supports the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) which recently secured the Marrakesh Declaration on palm oil. The Declaration has seen seven African palm oil producing countries and major companies agree principles for responsible palm oil.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on earlier Government efforts to tackle non-household use of vegetable oils such as palm oil in sectors such as biofuels, by promoting waste-derived biofuels. Two thirds of biofuels in 2017-2018 were from such wastes.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that more remains to be done and will continue to explore opportunities to improve the sustainability of palm oil production.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 16/07/2019 14:42:53 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1138047

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
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	Research: Finance
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 account he has taken of his Department's report entitled What is the relationship between public and private investment in R&D published July 2015 which stated that an extra £1 of public funding would give rise to an increase in private funding of between £1.13 and £1.60 in setting policy on the relationship between public and private investment in R&D.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	275748
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave her on 9 July 2019 to Question <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-07-04/273388/" target="_blank">273388</a>.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 13:30:26 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1138185

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
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	Optoelectronics
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated to the optoelectronics industry in the UK in each year for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	275690
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Our ambition is to increase total R&amp;D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, and 3% in the long term. Successive UK Governments have supported the principle that funding for basic research should be awarded through competitive processes on the basis of excellence and likely impact - as assessed through peer review.</p><p>UK Research and Innovation, a partner organisation of BEIS, primarily engages with industry through Innovate UK. The table below shows the amount committed by Innovate UK to projects involving optoelectronics in each of the last 5 years. These figures focus on funds to industry and, as such, exclude funding towards research-focused partners such as academics or charities.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Commitment Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Grant Offered (Commitment)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>£3,530,324</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>£1,944,112</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>£3,676,222</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>£5,225,330</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>£822,952</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><em>Note: as this is committed funding the 2018/19 figures do not include where an offer letter has been sent but no agreement has yet been reached. As such this will not reflect the full amount of funding committed in that year.</em></p><p> </p><p>Funding for research into optoelectronics is also provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 15:47:28 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1138186

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
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	Optoelectronics
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the size of the optoelectronics industry in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	275691
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Official statistics are not published to a sufficient level of detail to identify the size of the optoelectronics sector in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does however work closely with both the Photonics Leadership Council and the Elect-Tech Council. The Council’s “UK Photonics: The Hidden Economic Engine” identifies the UK’s significant strengths in Photonics, including optoelectronics.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 14:45:26 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1138215

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Racial Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of reports of racism against students and staff in UK universities in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	275679
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The government takes all forms of hate crime extremely seriously. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or for any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>The government is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) to support work to address racism and other forms of harassment in higher education, including the implementation of UUK’s Taskforce recommendations. The government has also tasked the OfS to support this work, and over £2 million has been invested in projects tackling hatred and harassment.</p><p> </p><p>The department regularly meets stakeholders and representative bodies about student experience issues including racism, hate crime and harassment. Officials hold quarterly meetings with the OfS and UUK to discuss how to make progress on harassment and hate crime, including racism within the sector. In addition, I have recently held meetings with the Union of Jewish Students and Jewish student representatives about antisemitism on campus.</p><p> </p><p>The government expects providers to keep records of incidents disclosed to them and to act swiftly to investigate and address them. It is important to recognise that under-reporting is common. Higher education providers should look at how they can continue to break down barriers to reporting, in spite of the potential for it to lead to spikes in disclosures, and to make sure that students and staff feel safe and able to disclose racist incidents.</p><p> </p><p>Evaluation to date has shown that progress has been made but that there is still more to do. On 7 January 2019; I wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to welcome their Inquiry into Racial Harassment in Higher Education Institutions. I look forward to the new evidence that this inquiry will bring and will review its findings carefully.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 275680 question first answered 15/07/2019 12:42:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138218

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Racial Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with representatives from (i) Universities UK, (ii) other education sector bodies, (iii) trades unions representing staff, (iv) student unions and (v) NUS on the effect of incidences of racism directed at their members in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	275680
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The government takes all forms of hate crime extremely seriously. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or for any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>The government is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) to support work to address racism and other forms of harassment in higher education, including the implementation of UUK’s Taskforce recommendations. The government has also tasked the OfS to support this work, and over £2 million has been invested in projects tackling hatred and harassment.</p><p> </p><p>The department regularly meets stakeholders and representative bodies about student experience issues including racism, hate crime and harassment. Officials hold quarterly meetings with the OfS and UUK to discuss how to make progress on harassment and hate crime, including racism within the sector. In addition, I have recently held meetings with the Union of Jewish Students and Jewish student representatives about antisemitism on campus.</p><p> </p><p>The government expects providers to keep records of incidents disclosed to them and to act swiftly to investigate and address them. It is important to recognise that under-reporting is common. Higher education providers should look at how they can continue to break down barriers to reporting, in spite of the potential for it to lead to spikes in disclosures, and to make sure that students and staff feel safe and able to disclose racist incidents.</p><p> </p><p>Evaluation to date has shown that progress has been made but that there is still more to do. On 7 January 2019; I wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to welcome their Inquiry into Racial Harassment in Higher Education Institutions. I look forward to the new evidence that this inquiry will bring and will review its findings carefully.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 275679 question first answered 15/07/2019 12:42:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138222

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education: Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of equality and diversity training provided by higher education institutions; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making that training mandatory.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	275681
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The government is committed to tackling inequalities. That is why, in October 2018, my right. hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, launched measures to tackle barriers facing ethnic minorities in the workplace, including a new Race at Work Charter and a consultation on ethnicity pay reporting.</p><p>Like all employers, higher education providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act (2010) in relation to their staff. The government expects providers to comply fully with their obligations. As autonomous and independent institutions, it is for individual providers to ensure that the training they provide is appropriate.</p><p>The Equality Challenge Unit (part of Advance HE) has published guidance for higher education providers on embedding equality and diversity into HR policies. The Race Equality Charter also helps higher education providers to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of minority ethnic staff and students. The Athena SWAN Charter recognises work undertaken to address gender equality.</p><p>The regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), and its predecessor, have provided over £4.7 million in funding for projects tackling sexual harassment, online harassment and hate-based harassment. This includes projects with a focus on developing and providing training for both staff and students on matters such as bystander intervention and handling of reports and disclosures.</p><p>In guidance to the OfS, the government has asked the regulator to positively engage with work to counter harassment and hate-crime and to make campuses places of tolerance for all students, and work with providers on equalities issues.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 12:23:39 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138223

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Ethnic Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) terms and conditions for, (b) recruitment and (c) career advancement of BAME members of staff at UK universities.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	275682
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Despite recent progress in staff representation and progression, for example improvements in the number of women in leadership positions in higher education (HE), there is more to be done to create a HE workforce that is representative of British society.</p><p>On 1 February 2019, the government announced measures to tackle inequalities and improve outcomes for underrepresented groups in HE. These measures include asking the HE sector to take action to eliminate ethnic disparities in their workforce and support better outcomes for ethnic minority staff. UK Research and Innovation will also be commissioning a review to understand and address equality and diversity disparities in research and innovation funding.</p><p> </p><p>HE providers are independent, autonomous bodies and are responsible for decisions about who they employ and the terms and conditions of employment they offer. Like every employer they must meet their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and give due consideration to the way their recruitment, retention and promotion practises affect different sections of their communities and staff at different stages of their career.</p><p> </p><p>The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers states that ‘diversity and equality must be promoted in all aspects of the recruitment and career management of researchers’. We expect to see this commitment reinforced as a revised Concordat is published in Autumn 2019.</p><p> </p><p>The Race Equality Charter also helps HE providers to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that may be impacting on minority ethnic staff and students. By improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff within HE we can ensure that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, both as a student and as a member of staff, does so.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 13:44:41 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1137836

registered interest
date	09/07/2019
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	Carbon Emissions: EU Countries
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which EU Member States have adopted targets for zero net emissions by (a) 2050, (b) 2040, (c) another date and (d) a date not yet specified.
tabling member constituency	Stroud
tabling member printed	Dr David Drew
uin	275103
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK was the first major economy to legislate for a net zero target. The action we are taking in setting this target will continue our proud tradition of climate leadership.</p><p>The EU Member States that have targets for net zero greenhouse gas emissions in legislation are Sweden (by 2045) and the United Kingdom (by 2050). France is currently in the process of legislating for a 2050 net zero greenhouse target.</p><p>In addition, a range of Member States have adopted or are currently publicly considering adopting plans for net zero carbon or greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and in some cases have stated their intention is to legislate for a target. These include Denmark, Germany, and Portugal and Finland. Other Member States with plans to significantly reduce emissions by 2050 include the Netherlands, which has a law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95%, and Spain, which has a draft law proposing an at least 90% reduction (in both cases the reduction is compared to 1990).</p><p>The EU is also considering adopting a bloc-wide net zero 2050 target, with a large majority of Member States, including the UK, supporting a net zero EU target by 2050 at the June European Council this year. Through ratifying the Paris Agreement, the EU and its Member States have already committed to aiming for a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of the century, as set out in Article 4.1 of the Agreement.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 16:40:51 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	252 label Biography information for Dr David Drew