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1038341

	registered interest
	date	09/01/2019
	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	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: 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 assessment his Department has made of (a) how widespread social exclusion is in rural areas and (b) the effect of his Department’s policies on social exclusion in rural areas.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	206841
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/01/2019 answer text <p>In order to inform delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, the Department regularly reviews data and assessments relating to our cities, towns and rural areas, to understand both the challenges they face and the competitive advantages they hold. Our Ageing Society Grand Challenge includes £98 million of Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund investment into a ‘healthy ageing programme’, which will drive the development of new products and services to help people live in their homes longer, tackle loneliness and increase independence and wellbeing.</p><p> </p><p>BEIS is also supporting economic development and tackling regional disparities across the UK through the Strength in Places Fund, which received an additional £120 million of funding in Autumn Budget 2018. The programme supports businesses across the UK to adopt new technologies and to drive innovation-led growth, driving economic prosperity across all areas of the UK.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 17/01/2019 16:21:01 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1047725

	registered interest
	date	24/01/2019
	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	Low Pay: 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 tackle low pay in rural areas.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	212428
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to delivering an economy that works for all. Through the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, the Government is ensuring the lowest paid across the UK are fairly rewarded for their contribution to the economy. For example, 3,100 workers in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk are currently on the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.</p><p>The Government has committed to increase the National Living Wage to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020, subject to sustained economic growth. To meet this target, we will increase the National Living Wage rate by 4.9% to £8.21 in April 2019, benefiting 1.8 million workers directly. This increase will mean that a full-time worker on the National Living Wage will be over £2,750 better off over the course of the year, compared to when the policy was introduced. Furthermore, inflation-beating increases in the National Minimum Wage rates are expected to benefit 350,000 young workers from April 2019.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 01/02/2019 14:31:50 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1061161

	registered interest
	date	14/02/2019
	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	Financial Services: Technology
	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 encourage small businesses to invest in and utilise FinTech.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	221819
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2019 answer text <p>The UK has been independently ranked by EY and Deloitte as the world’s leading hub for Fintech. The ambitious Fintech Sector Strategy, launched in March 2018 by the Chancellor, sets out how the Government intends to maintain that position.</p><p> </p><p>This thriving Fintech community is an advantage for small UK businesses, who benefit from easy access to a range of services including foreign exchange, loans, equity investment and invoice finance. The British Business Bank’s annual Small Business Finance Markets report, published on 11 February, states that the value of peer-to-peer business lending rose a further 18% in 2018, having increased by 51% in 2017.</p><p> </p><p>The same report notes that awareness among small businesses is also increasing, with 52% aware of peer-to-peer lending as an option (2017: 47%) and 70% aware of equity crowdfunding (2017: 60%). The British Business Bank’s portal for small businesses, the Finance Hub, has extensive information for small businesses on finance options including those available through Fintech providers and how to access them.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 22/02/2019 13:05:28 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1092647

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2019
	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	Living Wage: Scotland
	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 many workers will receive an increase in wages as a result of the rise in the national living wage on 1 April 2019 in each Scottish parliamentary constituency.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	235373
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2019 answer text <p>On 1 April 2019, the Government is increasing the National Living Wage (NLW) to £8.21, keeping us on track to meet our target of the NLW reaching 60 percent of median earnings by 2020, subject to economic growth. This means that a full-time worker on the rate will be over £2750 better off over the year compared to the year the NLW was introduced.</p><p> </p><p>In April 2018, we estimated that 3,100 workers in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk would benefit from the 2018 increases in the NLW and NMW, which accounted for 7 per cent of the workforce.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has not published data on projected coverage of the NLW by constituency from 1 April 2019. However, we estimate that 159,000 workers in Scotland stand to benefit from increases in the NLW or National Minimum Wage (NMW).</p><p> </p><p>We also expect workers earning above the NLW and NMW to benefit from indirect pay increases. Across the UK, we estimate that at least 20% of workers, which is over 5 million people, will directly or indirectly benefit from April’s uprating. This estimate was made from data published in the Government’s Impact Assessment for the 2019 uprating of the NMW and NLW, and the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey statistics.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 26/03/2019 17:59:02 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 110265 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1092649

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2019
	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	British Business Bank: Loans
	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 financial support the British Business Bank start-up loans programme has provided to businesses in each constituency since it was launched in 2012.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	235375
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is currently being researched, and I will deposit a copy of it in the Libraries of the House by the end of April.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 28/03/2019 16:58:37 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1124931

	registered interest
	date	07/05/2019
	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	Space Technology: 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 steps he is taking to encourage investment in the space industry in (a) the UK and (b) rural areas.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	251334
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>Britain has a vibrant commercial space sector and plays a leading role in international space science. Scotland has end-to-end capabilities from Satellite design and manufacture to the use of space data and services in day-to-day applications. Indeed:</p><ul><li>In 2015 &amp; 16, more satellites were manufactured in Glasgow than any other European city,</li><li>The number of space organisations in Scotland grew by 26% between 2014/15 &amp; 2016/17,</li><li>Scottish space organisations employ almost 1 in 5 of the UK space workforce.</li></ul><p><br> We want to ensure that our space industry, one of the fastest-growing industries in the UK economy, covers the whole of the UK. In July 2018, we announced £31.5 million in grant funding to support development of a new vertical spaceport in Sutherland, providing a much-needed boost to rural Scotland.</p><p>We are equipping the UK with the Space facilities we will need in the future. The National Satellite Test Facility now being built in Harwell with £99m of investment from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund will provide crucial new test facilities for an expanding space manufacturing sector.</p><p>The UK Space Agency also co-invests with the Satellite Applications Catapult in a network of five regional Centres of Excellence in Satellite Applications across the UK, including the Scottish Centre of Excellence hosted by the University of Strathclyde. The Centres raise awareness of opportunities in the space sector, publicise funding calls and broker collaborative partnership, including with local universities.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/05/2019 12:45:14 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1131130

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	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: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	What recent steps he has taken to support businesses in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	911266
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>We’ve committed to invest up to £560 million through both the Borderlands Growth Deal and the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, demonstrating our commitment to supporting growth and prosperity in the Scottish Borders.</p><p> </p><p>As of May 2019, the British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans programme has made 45 loans totalling over £340,000 for businesses in his constituency.</p> answering member constituency Pendle answering member printed Andrew Stephenson question first answered 11/06/2019 14:06:31 answering member 4044 label Biography information for Andrew Stephenson
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1143013

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	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	Postal Services: 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 the Government is taking to support postmasters in rural areas.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	284581
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises the critical role that post offices and postmasters play in rural communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why in its 2017 manifesto the Government committed to safeguarding the post office network and protect existing rural services.</p><p> </p><p>Around 6,100 of the 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK are located in rural areas and 3,200 are classified as community branches, meaning that they are the last shop in the village. Government recognises the unique challenges of running a community branch and supports the postmasters who run them with fixed remuneration in addition to the remuneration they receive for transactions. Post Office Limited recently announced they will increase fixed remuneration for all community branches and will also bring forward to August increases in remuneration for handling cash deposits. Finally, to explore what more can be done to support all postmasters, we have convened a quarterly working group meeting with Post Office Limited and the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters (NFSP). The focus of the working group is ensuring that running a Post Office becomes an even more attractive business proposition for current and prospective postmasters.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 09/09/2019 12:24:40 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1150092

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2019
	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	Working Hours
	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 her Department has made of the effect on the economy of reducing the working week to 32 hours.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	1122
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>A shorter week can create practical challenges in treating all parts of the organisation fairly, and may even limit some employees’ flexibility. While there is evidence that a shorter working week can lead to higher productivity, the extent to which this would offset lost output from reduced hours is unclear.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 21/10/2019 16:22:59 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1181717

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2020
	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	Heating: Carbon Emissions
	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 his Department's plans are for decarbonising heating systems in existing residential properties.
	tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
	tabling member printed	John Lamont
	uin	23417
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2020 answer text <p>The Department is planning to publish a Heat and Building Strategy later this year, which will set out the immediate actions we will take for reducing emissions from buildings, including existing residential properties. These include the deployment of energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating as part of an ambitious programme of work required to enable key strategic decisions on how we achieve the mass transition to low-carbon heat. We are developing policies to deliver low carbon heating in the 2020s and put us on the pathway to delivering net zero by 2050.</p> answering member constituency Spelthorne answering member printed Kwasi Kwarteng question first answered 05/03/2020 15:57:44 answering member 4134 label Biography information for Kwasi Kwarteng
	tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont