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1147013

	registered interest
	date	30/09/2019
	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	Retail Trade
	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 increase consumer confidence in high street retail.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	292087
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2019 answer text <p>Government wants high street retail to thrive. We are committed to supporting the sector whilst it responds to changing consumer expectations and recognise that 82% of sales by value are still in physical stores.</p><p> </p><p>The industry led Retail Sector Council has brought Government and industry together. Its aim is to accelerate positive change, increase the productivity of the sector, and ensure the sector remains robust and sustainable to continue providing a valuable service to consumers and the community.</p><p> </p><p>Government is also taking steps to help high streets and communities adapt. On 26th August, my rt. hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced the expansion of the Future High Streets Fund from £675m to £1bn which will enable more local areas in England to invest in town centre infrastructure, increase access to high streets and support redevelopment and densification around high streets.</p><p> </p><p>We have also launched ​a new forward-thinking High Streets Task Force supporting local leaders to revitalise high streets and town centres. ​The High Streets Task Force will be comprised of experts who will provide tailored guidance and advice to local authorities and other local partners seeking to breathe new life into their local high streets and town centres.</p><p> </p><p>Since 2010, Government has helped create over 360 town teams, and given over £18million to towns - funding successful initiatives such as &quot;Love Your Local Market&quot;, the &quot;Great British High Street&quot; and also supporting Small Business Saturday UK, where an estimated £812 million was spent with small businesses across the UK for Small Business Saturday in 2018, up from £748 million in 2017.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 07/10/2019 15:08:56 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 137143 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

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

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

1129127

	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 a better work-life balance in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	258983
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>Employees in the UK have a variety of different leave entitlements which can help them balance work with other commitments or interests. These range from short term leave to cover emergencies, through annual leave, to a range of entitlements to parental leave and pay. The Government is also considering new employment rights for carers.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government continues to support flexible working practices to help people manage their work other commitments. Employees with 26 weeks of continuous service have a right to request flexible working and we are considering a new duty on employers to be clear when advertising a job whether it is available on a flexible basis.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 11/06/2019 15:50:24 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham