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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

1137849

	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	Hospitality Industry: Sexual Harassment
	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 he has made of trends in the level of the use of non-disclosure agreements for incidences of sexual harassment in the fast food hospitality sector.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	275108
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Any form of sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace is clearly unacceptable. The Government does not accept any behaviour that causes people to feel intimidated or humiliated in the workplace.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has consulted on proposals to prevent the misuse of confidentiality clauses in cases of sexual harassment and discrimination. It will be publishing a response with its final proposals, in due course.</p><p> </p><p>We have launched a consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace led by the Government Equalities Office. This consultation welcomes suggestions of alternative interventions to prevent and better monitor cases of sexual harassment and discrimination.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 15/07/2019 13:30:15 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1137492

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Hydrogen
	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 his Department has made of the potential carbon reductions if hydrogen combined with carbon capture utilisation and storage is used for the heat for homes sector.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	274436
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government commissioned an assessment on the potential for low carbon hydrogen production with carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS). The assessment was conducted by the consultancies Element Energy and Jacobs.</p><p>Their report identified that for steam methane reformation, the current dominant UK hydrogen production technology, carbon capture rates of up to 90% could be achieved. It also states that next generation methane reformation technologies and further innovation could deliver increased capture rates and lower costs. To prove this, we launched a £20 million Hydrogen Supply Programme which aims to accelerate the development of low carbon bulk hydrogen supply solutions; the programme will provide real world evidence on the potential for increased capture rates.</p><p>In December 2018, we published the report ‘Clean growth: transforming heating’ which included a review of the evidence base on the potential carbon reductions if hydrogen produced from low carbon methods, including from natural gas combined with carbon capture utilisation and storage, is used to providing heating, including to homes, businesses and industry.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 11/07/2019 16:07:44 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1137172

	registered interest
	date	05/07/2019
	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	Electric Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries
	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 make the UK a world leader in electric car manufacturing.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	273738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government has a long-standing programme of support to maintain the competitiveness of the UK automotive sector. Through our Industrial Strategy and landmark Automotive Sector Deal, we are placing the UK at the forefront of new automotive technology development. Government and industry have committed £1 billion over 10 years to 2023 through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC). Government has also committed £274m to the Faraday Battery Challenge, and circa £80m in the last Budget to the Stephenson Challenge, newly named ‘Driving the Electric Revolution’.</p><p>In May 2018, as part of the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge, my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister launched our mission to put the UK to be at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040. The Road to Zero strategy sets out a clear pathway to zero emissions. In order to achieve this, we are investing nearly £1.5bn between April 2015 and March 2021 with grants available for plug in vehicles, schemes to support chargepoint infrastructure and grant funding to support R&amp;D into cleaner vehicle technologies.</p><p>There are a number of manufacturers already producing electric vehicles in the UK or with ambitious plans to begin production in coming years. The Nissan Leaf – manufactured in Sunderland - is currently the UK’s best-selling electric vehicle. From later this year, BMW’s MINI Electric – launched this month – will be made at its Oxford plant. Jaguar Land Rover also announced this month its commitment to invest in building a new range of electric vehicles at its Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham, and the first of the new vehicles to be produced will be the new, all-electric Jaguar XJ. In September 2018, Aston Martin Lagonda announced that its new production facility in Wales will become the home of its electric vehicle range.</p><p>Global demand for UK designed, engineered and manufactured vehicles is strong and the industry has one of the highest productivity levels in Europe. In 2018 the UK was the second largest market for ultra-low emission vehicles and the fourth largest market for battery electric vehicles in the European Union. The UK is also global leader in the development and manufacture of electric vehicles; in 2018 a fifth of battery electric cars sold in Europe were made in the UK. So far in 2019, sales of battery electric vehicles have increased significantly, up by 60% over the same period in 2018. There are 200,000 ultra-low emission battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles registered in the UK.</p><p>This Government will continue to work closely with the automotive industry, to ensure that it can succeed globally long into the future as it invests in electric car manufacturing. We are determined to ensure that the UK continues to be one of the most competitive locations in the world for the automotive sector.</p> answering member constituency Pendle answering member printed Andrew Stephenson question first answered 10/07/2019 11:23:36 answering member 4044 label Biography information for Andrew Stephenson
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1135832

	registered interest
	date	02/07/2019
	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	Sharing Economy: 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 recent steps he has taken to protect workers rights in the gig economy.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	271367
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Advances in technology and the rise of the gig economy have increased opportunities for people to work more flexibly. While we welcome these opportunities, they cannot be at the expense of workers’ rights.</p><p>That is why my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister commissioned Matthew Taylor to undertake his review of Modern Working Practices, and why we are taking the decisive action set out in the Good Work Plan to address his recommendations.</p><p>We have already made good progress. This Government have taken important steps to improve the transparency of information between workers and employers. Our research found that flexible workers, such as those in the gig economy, require stronger protections in terms of understanding the conditions of their employment before starting a job.</p><p>As such, we laid two statutory instruments in December that extends the right to a written statement to all workers and make access to a written statement a day one right.</p><p>Previously, an employee was entitled to a written statement after a month with the same employer. Our legislation means that from day one, workers in the gig economy have access to information such as maternity and paternity leave, specifics of when they are expected to work, whether the work is variable, and their eligibility for certain benefits.</p><p>This represents a significant step in the protection of workers rights in the gig economy and highlights our commitment to protecting the rights of workers across the country.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 08/07/2019 08:27:47 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1133671

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Productivity
	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 effect of a four day working week on productivity.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	267170
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department is following trials of the four-day working week closely but has not yet conducted a robust assessment of the impacts.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 26/06/2019 11:52:01 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 125217 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1132033

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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	Parental Leave
	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 more new parents to take up shared parental leave.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	264319
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>Between February and April 2018, we ran a £1.5m paid for communications campaign to promote Shared Parental Leave and Pay to eligible parents. This was supported by the publication of revised tools and guidance which make it easier for parents to understand and access the scheme.</p><p> </p><p>We ran a further campaign between February and April 2019 to maintain the high levels of awareness that we achieved in 2018 and are planning further communications activity for 2019/20.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 18/06/2019 14:06:45 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1129126

	registered interest
	date	03/06/2019
	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	Flexible Working
	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 employers to be more flexible in their employee working hours.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	258982
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>Through the Industrial Strategy, the Government is working to transform our economy and ensuring that everyone, whatever their background, can access and progress at work.</p><p> </p><p>Flexible working can play an important part in helping businesses to improve their productivity and recruit and retain the best available talent. All employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer have the right to request flexible working. The Government is also considering a new duty on employers to be clear when advertising a job whether it is available on a flexible basis.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government, with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has established the Flexible Working Taskforce to promote wider understanding and implementation of inclusive flexible work and working practices. The taskforce has developed a high-level business case for flexible working guidance on flexible recruitment and continues to promote more flexible hiring through the on going campaign “Happy to Talk Flexible Working”.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 13/06/2019 13:05:29 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham