Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) believes that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) – of people and ideas – is crucial for delivering excellence in research and innovation. It has made EDI a priority – as a national research and innovation funder, as an employer, and as an influential voice in wider research and innovation sectors.</p><p> </p><p>The seven Research Councils have historically collected information on applicants for and recipients of funding regarding age, gender, ethnicity, and disability. The councils do not collect information on social-economic group. Neither Innovate UK nor Research England collect diversity data of applicants or those in receipt of funding or loans.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>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. This is widely considered to be a underpinning factor in the success of UK research, and a key enabler of value for money for tax payers money. Consequently, HM Government takes an arms length approach to research funding, in line with the Haldane Principle.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition, initial analysis of 2018-19 funding data from the seven research councils by gender shows that:</p><ul><li>71% of funding from research council grants and fellowships in 18/19 were awarded to bids led by men and 27% of funds were allocated to bids led by women. The remainder are bids where gender is undisclosed or not known.</li><li>42% of the funding for Fellowships went to female Fellows, 52% of the funds went to male Fellows and 6% of the funds went to Fellows with undisclosed or unknown gender.</li><li>73% of the funding for research grants were awarded to projects led by male Principle Investigators (PIs), 25% of the funds were awarded to projects led by female PIs and 2% of the funds were awarded to projects with PIs of undisclosed or unknown gender.</li></ul><p><br> UKRI has appointed Professor Jennifer Rubin, Executive Chair, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as the UKRI Champion for EDI, and established an External Advisory Group for EDI. The group is working with UKRI to identify and prioritise areas.</p><p> </p><p>UKRI aims to publish a UKRI-wide EDI Strategic Framework in Autumn 2019, which will help UKRI to bring together and scrutinise evidence on what works, develop and prioritise actions, and ensure that EDI is considered and supported in all that UKRI does.</p><p> </p><p>Work is currently underway to improve data collection and analysis capabilities about the people UKRI funds. A detailed cross-UKRI analysis of funding data will be published in Autumn 2019.</p>KingswoodChris Skidmore2019-06-13false2019-06-13T13:05:02.877Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11UK Research and Innovation: Grants1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the diversity of UK Research and Innovation grant recipients by (a) gender, (b) ethnicity, (c) disability and (d) socio-economic group.falseNewcastle upon Tyne CentralChi Onwurah262366Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>The Government is committed to upgrading workers’ rights and protecting the most vulnerable workers. Our legal framework already ensures that employers should always treat their employees fairly, and our Good Work Plan will introduce the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.</p><p> </p><p>In the retail sector specifically, the industry-led Retail Sector Council has identified employment as a priority workstream and this will be discussed at our next meeting on 20 June.</p>Rochester and StroodKelly Tolhurst2019-06-11false2019-06-11T14:06:22.323Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Supermarkets: Conditions of Employment1House of CommonsWhat recent assessment his Department has made of the equity of employment contract terms and conditions in the supermarket sector.falseHigh PeakRuth George911256Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>The UK is a world leader in clean growth – leading the G20 in cutting emissions while growing the economy.</p><p> </p><p>The recent Offshore Wind Sector Deal is a fantastic example of how this government and industry are partnering to create good jobs in new low carbon supply chains whilst further decarbonising our power sector.</p><p> </p><p>We are also working to support clean growth internationally, which is why we have bid to host COP26 in 2020, to demonstrate our commitment towards the Paris agreement and maintain momentum.</p>KingswoodChris Skidmore2019-06-11false2019-06-11T14:06:42.527Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Economic Growth: Climate Change1House of CommonsWhat recent steps his Department has taken to promote clean growth.falseThirsk and MaltonKevin Hollinrake911258Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>Businesses across North Yorkshire are benefitting from this Government’s investment of over £840 million through the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding and Leeds City Region Growth Deals. This is providing financial assistance to local businesses, as well as improving infrastructure and skills.</p><p> </p><p>For instance, £47 million LGF award will release significant private sector investment in the York Central project. This £100 million urban regeneration will accommodate up to 7,000 jobs, and create more than 112,000 square meters of new retail, leisure and commercial space.</p>PendleAndrew Stephenson2019-06-11false2019-06-11T14:06:06.23Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Business: North Yorkshire1House of CommonsWhat recent steps he has taken to support businesses in North Yorkshire.falseYork OuterJulian Sturdy911259Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<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>PendleAndrew Stephenson2019-06-11false2019-06-11T14:06:31.06Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Business: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk1House of CommonsWhat recent steps he has taken to support businesses in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency.falseBerwickshire, Roxburgh and SelkirkJohn Lamont911266Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>The Government’s target to reach a total of 2.4% of GDP invested in R&D by 2027 will mean increasing the numbers of highly trained people working in research and innovation including those undertaking doctoral training.</p><p> </p><p>Business-academia collaborations, decisions by internationally mobile companies to locate their R&D functions in the UK and the development of industrial clusters of companies all rely on access to pools of talented researchers. In addition, industrial clusters, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, are often co-located in regions where there are also high quality research intensive universities. This co-location enables the flow of graduates and post-graduates between institutions and companies.</p><p> </p><p>More broadly, a 2015 review on the impacts of doctoral training found that the overwhelming majority of doctoral graduates continued to be involved in the creation of new knowledge, innovation and development of new products and processes, both in the academic and business sectors. Employers highly valued the specialists knowledge and problem-solving skills possessed by doctoral graduates. <a href="https://www.ukri.org/files/skills/full-report-idc-pdf/" target="_blank">https://www.ukri.org/files/skills/full-report-idc-pdf/</a></p>KingswoodChris Skidmore2019-06-17false2019-06-17T16:37:28.67Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Doctors: Training1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of the number of people undertaking doctoral training.falseBlackpool SouthGordon Marsden263056Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>The Office for Product Safety and Standards published a report of its review in April 2019 and issued a decision letter requiring Whirlpool to take action in a number of areas. OPSS has been assessing the response by Whirlpool closely and the investigation remains ongoing.</p><p> </p><p>On 4<sup>th</sup> June the Office for Product Safety and Standards notified Whirlpool of its intention to serve a recall notice in respect of the remaining unmodified tumble dryers still in use. This is the appropriate next regulatory step.</p><p> </p><p>We are following up on all information referred to us about consumers who have experienced a serious issue with affected machines.</p>Rochester and StroodKelly Tolhurst2019-06-18false2019-06-18T16:26:10.353Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Whirlpool Corporation: Tumble Dryers1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to reopen the Office for Product Safety and Standards review of Whirlpool tumble dryers following continued consumer concerns.falseBury NorthJames Frith263236Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House on Monday 25 June 2018 setting out our position on the support for the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project. The Department’s analysis of the project and the proposed follow-on programme of lagoons was that it did not represent value for money. This remains the Department’s position.</p><p> </p><p>In February, the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth met the rt. hon. member for Orkney and Shetland, along with a cross-party delegation of Members of Parliament and representatives of the sector, to discuss the potential for alternative methods of funding early tidal stream and wave energy deployment.</p>KingswoodChris Skidmore2019-06-17false2019-06-17T12:30:30.117Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Tidal Power1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress his Department has made on the development of tidal energy.falseHornsey and Wood GreenCatherine West263200Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House on Monday 25 June 2018 setting out our position on the support for the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project. The Department’s analysis of the project and the proposed follow-on programme of lagoons was that it did not represent value for money. This remains the Department’s position.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has said it is open to considering well developed, privately developed tidal range projects. However they must be able to demonstrate credibly that they would represent value for money.</p>KingswoodChris Skidmore2019-06-17false2019-06-17T12:30:37.8Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Tidal Power: Swansea Bay1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will review the decision on funding for the Swansea Tidal Lagoon project.falseHornsey and Wood GreenCatherine West263201Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<p>Community Energy is an important part of the energy system, generating clean energy and delivering energy efficiency, demand management and emissions reductions while engaging the wider community on the energy transition and climate change.</p><p> </p><p>Energy co-operatives are one of the business models that we support. For example, they are eligible for the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) which re-opened at the end of May. The RCEF is a £10m programme which supports rural communities who are looking to develop renewable energy projects. Grants are available for feasibility studies to test out ideas, and if viable, grants are also available to assist with pre-development of projects.</p>KingswoodChris Skidmore2019-06-17false2019-06-17T12:30:45.123Z201Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyBusiness, Energy and Industrial Strategy2019-06-11Energy: Cooperatives1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the development of local energy co-operatives; and if he will make a statement.falseHornsey and Wood GreenCatherine West263202100135