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142065

registered interest
date	06/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Business: Regulation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many new statutory regulations on business have been introduced since May 2010; and how many regulations on businesses have been repealed in that time.
tabling member constituency	Christchurch
tabling member printed	Mr Christopher Chope
uin	213792
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/11/2014 answer text <p>Since this Government came into office we have reduced the stock of existing regulation through the Red Tape Challenge programme and controlled the flow of regulation through the One-in, One-out and One-in, Two-out rules. Any Department wishing to introduce new regulations which impose a cost on business can only do so if they make a reduction in cost through the removal of regulations with equivalent costs from elsewhere. From January 2013 the Government increased its deregulatory ambition by introducing the One-In, Two-Out rule, under which Departments must find two pounds of saving for every pound of extra cost imposed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The achievements of these two programmes will be set out in the Ninth Statement of New Regulation, to be published in December 2014. At the time of publishing the Eighth Statement in July 2014, there had been 72 regulatory ‘INs’ and 152 deregulatory ‘OUTs’ since January 2011, as well as 126 measures with zero net cost to business. As a result, this Government has so far reduced the annual cost to business of domestic regulation by over £1.5 billion since January 2011.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 11/11/2014 15:15:07 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	242 label Biography information for Sir Christopher Chope

142067

registered interest
date	06/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Buildings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many buildings owned by his Department have been sold in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Walsall South
tabling member printed	Valerie Vaz
uin	213769
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/11/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS Core) have not sold any buildings between 2010 and 2014. BIS Core do not own any freehold property to sell.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 11/11/2014 15:21:57 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4076 label Biography information for Valerie Vaz

142068

registered interest
date	06/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Disabled Students' Allowances
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his statement of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 1WS, on higher education (student support), what reports he has received on the potential effect of changes to the disabled students allowances that provide assistive technology.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North East
tabling member printed	Mr William Bain
uin	213782
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ officials have met representatives of the British Assistive Technology Association (BATA) and other stakeholders to discuss the potential effect of changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances on the provision of assistive technology. The Written Ministerial Statement of 12 September 2014 confirms that we will continue funding for assistive technology.</p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 17/11/2014 12:23:49 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1610 label Biography information for Mr William Bain

142070

registered interest
date	06/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Intellectual Property
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he intends to publish for consultation the draft Statutory Instruments for the implementation of section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.
tabling member constituency	Hove
tabling member printed	Mike Weatherley
uin	213747
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government is currently considering the responses received to its recent consultation on transitional provisions for the repeal of section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, which deals with the issue of when to implement section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. The consultation closed on 27 October 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>No decision has as yet been taken on transitional provisions or the type of statutory instrument that will be used, or on whether and when a draft instrument will be published.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 18/11/2014 17:04:40 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	3984 label Biography information for Mike Weatherley

142071

registered interest
date	06/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Disabled Students' Allowances
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to disabled students' allowances on supporting disabled individuals into work.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North East
tabling member printed	Mr William Bain
uin	213714
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2014 answer text <p>The purpose of Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) is to support disabled students in their higher education studies. Disabled students will continue to receive support through DSAs but students should expect more help through their institution in discharging its statutory responsibility.</p><p> </p><p>The Interdepartmental Ministerial Group on Disability has been established to ensure disabled people are included in society and have opportunities to realise their aspirations, including a consideration of how disabled students can best be supported into work.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 19/11/2014 15:59:56 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1610 label Biography information for Mr William Bain

142204

registered interest
date	06/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2014 to Question 212650, what resource he has made available to the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) in each of the last three years; and what resources he is making available to the EAS in 2014-15.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	213790
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/11/2014 answer text <p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Agency_Standards_Inspectorate" target="_blank">Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAS" target="_blank">EAS</a>) enforce the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (both as amended).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In the financial year 2012-13 the EAS budget was £526,068 and on 1 April 2012 the number of inspectors in post was 16.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In the financial year 2013-2014 the EAS budget was £532,032 and on 1 April 2013 the number of staff in post was 12.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>For the financial year 2014 – 2015 the EAS budget is held at a higher level of aggregation and managed across a number of different programmes, so we are unable to provide a figure for that financial year. Two full-time inspectors currently work in the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) and are based at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_for_Business,_Innovation_and_Skills" target="_blank">Department for Business, Innovation and Skills</a> (BIS) premises at 1 Victoria street, London. They are supported by one administrative officer.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In November 2013, as part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to review regularly the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), we announced a more targeted enforcement strategy for the recruitment sector, focusing on protecting the most vulnerable, low paid workers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As part of that strategy, resources from the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) moved to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)’ NMW team.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They formed a new HMRC team which focusses on enforcing non-payment of NMW in the recruitment sector. By increasing HMRC’s NMW team, Government continues to protect the most vulnerable workers and ensures a level playing field is maintained for the vast majority of agencies who play by the rules.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Frontline staff in the inspectorate are supported with other BIS resources. In cases where there is prolonged and wilful non-compliance with the recruitment sector legislation, EAS can consider prosecution in the magistrates court or the Crown court. In such cases EAS inspectors are supported by the Department's legal team.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The level of support provided is dependent on the complexity of the case.</p><p> </p><p>EAS can also work with the Department's legal team and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_Solicitor%27s_Department" target="_blank">Treasury Solicitor's Department</a> to take action to prohibit an individual from running an employment agency for up to 10 years. Again the resource given to support EAS is dependent on the case.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Staffing levels are kept under constant review and the budget allocation for next financial year has yet to be determined.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 11/11/2014 16:59:05 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

142586

registered interest
date	06/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Minimum Wage
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 29 October (HL 2219), whether they have any plans to amend the minimum wage legislation to include interns and others not currently covered by it including those subject to the terms of the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975.
tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
uin	HL2696
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2014 answer text <p>Many interns are already entitled to the National Minimum Wage. The term “intern” is not defined in any legislation: entitlement to the minimum wage depends on whether or not an individual is a worker for minimum wage purposes.</p><p> </p><p>The National Minimum Wage applies to all workers unless a specific exemption applies. If an intern is a worker they will be entitled to the minimum wage. An applicable exemption would be students in further or higher education performing work-experience for a period not exceeding 12 months which is part of their studies. It can be legitimate for employers to offer unpaid or ‘expenses-only’ opportunities in some circumstances – in particular where the individual is acting as a volunteer.</p><p> </p><p>Given this dependency on employment status, it is vital that employers and workers understand how this is determined. This is why last month, the Business Secretary announced a review of employment status, looking at how the system could be clarified, providing transparency for both individuals and employers. This is an internal review and findings will be presented to ministers early next year.</p><p> </p><p>There are currently no plans to specifically consider individuals covered by the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 20/11/2014 16:01:07 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	883 label Biography information for Lord Jopling

114515

registered interest
date	05/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	UK Membership of EU
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the conclusions of <i>Where's the Insider Advantage</i>? <i>A review of the evidence that withdrawal from the EU would not harm the UK’s exports or foreign investment in the UK</i>, published by Civitas.
tabling member printed	Lord Pearson of Rannoch
uin	HL2689
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2014 answer text <p>The Civitas report aims to identify whether there are advantages to the UK of being an ‘EU insider’ in terms of setting the rules of the Single Market. The report focuses on growth in UK exports as the measure of this benefit. It does not account for the broader positive impacts of the Single Market on the UK, including enhanced competition and innovation at home.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The report refers to Switzerland as an example of a county that has negotiated Free trade Agreements (FTA) as a non-member of the EU. The impact on the UK’s exports of withdrawal from the EU would depend on whether the UK could negotiate similar trade agreements’ to those it currently has as a member of the EU. It would also depend on the FTA that it could negotiate with the EU itself. Switzerland has to pay to be part of the EU single market and to negotiate sector by sector, but does not determine the rules.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Livingston of Parkhead question first answered 19/11/2014 14:58:58 answering member 4278 label Biography information for Lord Livingston of Parkhead
tabling member	3153 label Biography information for Lord Pearson of Rannoch

114569

registered interest
date	05/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Young People: Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure that EU and UK funding programmes aimed at increasing young people's skills prioritise interpersonal skills known to be highly valued by employers.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	213502
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>Our mainstream vocational education programmes in England are designed to equip people with the wide range of vocational and generic skills that employers need:</p><p> </p><p>• Employers are in the driving seat of new apprenticeships – by designing frameworks and standards so that they contain the elements, and young people are equipped with the skills, that employers need.</p><p> </p><p>• Work experience and employability skills are key elements of traineeships which are designed for those who are motivated to work but lack the necessary skills, behaviours and experience.</p><p> </p><p>• Projects under the Employer Ownership Pilot cover a wide range of training provision led by employers. Many of these training areas will cover interpersonal skills as it is ultimately for employers to decide which areas of training they value and are of most importance.</p><p> </p><p>• Ofsted inspection of vocational education provision includes consideration of employability skills.</p><p> </p><p>One of the main priorities of the new European Social Fund (ESF) programme for 2014-2020 is to develop the skills of the potential and existing workforce, with special emphasis on helping young people. There will be particular focus on reducing the relatively high proportion of people with low levels of qualifications/skills and developing those skills, including interpersonal skills which have been identified by employers as meeting their needs.</p><p> </p><p>Young people are being given better support to get ready for employment through the Department for Education’s 16-19 Study Programmes. These focus on exactly the areas that employers say matter, such as employability skills and work experience, and under which schools and colleges could chose to prioritise activity which relates to inter-personal skills.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 17/11/2014 11:53:30 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

114570

registered interest
date	05/11/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Service Industries
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department plans to take to support further growth in the services sector; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that EU regulations do not negatively affect support to businesses in that sector.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	213505
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/11/2014 answer text <p>The UK is the second largest exporter of services globally, with services exports valued at £193bn in 2012, accounting for 40% of overall UK exports. The Government is taking steps to strengthen exports of the service sector through: trade negotiations; UK Trade and Investment business support for service exporters; and through the current Industrial Strategy, incorporating eleven sector strategies, including for the highly regarded Professional and Business Services sector. The UK Government is a strong supporter of the Trade in Services Agreement negotiation which could be worth £2-3bn to the UK as the EU’s most externally competitive services economy. The UK is also working closely with other EU countries to ensure that the new European Commission prioritises deepening of the single market in services through the removal of remaining barriers to trade. We will also work closely with the new Commission and other institutions to emphasise the priority the UK attaches to the reduction of unnecessary EU burdens on business across a range of sectors, to support growth and job creation.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 11/11/2014 15:43:04 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn