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170297

	registered interest
	date	15/12/2014
	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	Scottish Power
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he received reports from the MacDonald Partnership in relation to mis-sold Scottish Power Power Plan warranties; what the titles of such reports were; and when he plans to respond to those reports.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
	tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
	uin	218595
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The initial report from Mr MacDonald was received on 17 July 2014 for review by the Insolvency Service. Further information including another more detailed report was received from him during September and October 2014, and these again have been reviewed by the Insolvency Service. The reports are confidential.</p><p> </p><p>The reports themselves do not require a direct response but I can confirm that the Insolvency Service has completed its review of this material and is in communication with Mr MacDonald.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 17/12/2014 11:11:20 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

63465

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2014
	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 Tribunals Service
	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 times his Department has appeared at an employment tribunal to contest protective awards in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
	tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
	uin	202008
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has not appeared before an employment tribunal to contest a protective award.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Protective awards are determined by Employment Tribunals following applications made by former employees or their representatives.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIS is sometimes joined as a respondent in protective award claims, because under legislation, the Secretary of State guarantees the payment of protective awards made in favour of employees whose employer is insolvent, up to a certain amount.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It is for the Tribunal to establish the facts in each case, considering evidence of the actions taken by employers and their representatives, and decide whether there was adequate consultation on redundancies BIS is not in a position to know the extent to which an employer or their representative consulted with employees and does not give evidence on that point nor take any particular position.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIS' responsibility is to establish what payments are due and who is entitled to receive them. We therefore make written representations to the tribunal on points of law or to seek clarification of who is covered by a protective award. We may appeal an award, but only if we consider that the tribunal has made the judgment based on an incorrect reading of the legislation.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The number of cases where BIS has made representations to an employment tribunal regarding protective award cases in the last 5 years is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 30/06/2014 16:36:52 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

63833

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2014
	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	British Irish Council
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in how many meetings of the British-Irish Council he has taken part.
	tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
	tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
	uin	202300
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has not held any meetings with the British-Irish Council within the last year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 30/06/2014 16:28:23 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

63989

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2014
	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	NHS: Mergers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the (a) Competition Commission and (b) Office of Fair Trading spent on assessing mergers in the NHS in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14.
	tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
	tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
	uin	202460
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Competition Commission's (CC's) inquiry into the proposed merger between Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Foundation Trust and Poole Hospital Foundation Trust, which was concluded in 2013/14, was the Commission's only assessment of an NHS Foundation Trust merger. The cost of this inquiry was £710,000, which includes the cost of the staff on the inquiry amounting to £639,000 and direct costs of £71,000 (including survey costs).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) did not collect specific information on the resources used in considering mergers involving NHS Foundation Trusts. However, the average approximate cost involved in scrutiny of a merger by the OFT was £20,000; in total, the OFT considered four mergers involving NHS Foundation Trusts in 2012-13 and 2013-14, of which only one was referred for further scrutiny by the CC.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 30/06/2014 16:26:17 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams

63554

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2014
	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	Performance Appraisal
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of (a) disabled and (b) all other staff employed by his Department received each level of performance rating in their end of year performance assessment for 2013-14.
	tabling member constituency	South Shields
	tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
	uin	202047
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2014 answer text <p>In common with most other Government Departments, BIS currently has three performance categories; category 1 (top), category 2 and category 3. The following table sets out the percentage of employees who have declared a disability within each performance category, and the percentage of all other staff in each performance category for the 2013-14 reporting year. The percentage of all other staff includes those who have either declared that they do not have a disability, have chosen the option of ‘prefer not to say' or have not made a declaration. 6.5% of staff BIS have currently declared that they have a disability.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Percentage</p></td><td><p>Category 1</p></td><td><p>Category 2</p></td><td><p>Category 3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Those who have declared a disability</p></td><td><p>16%</p></td><td><p>54%</p></td><td><p>30%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>All other staff</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td><td><p>59%</p></td><td><p>18%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIS undertakes a number of activities to mitigate against the risk of discriminatory performance markings including training for managers and staff on unconscious bias and specific guidance on making reasonable adjustments for disabled employees.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 01/07/2014 14:16:54 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

63556

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2014
	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	Educational Testing Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what current contracts (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies hold with the Educational Testing Service or any of that organisation's subsidiaries.
	tabling member constituency	Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
	tabling member printed	Mr Nick Gibb
	uin	202232
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2014 answer text <p>The Department does not have any contracts with the Educational Testing Service or any of its subsidiaries.</p><p /> <p>I have approached the Chief Executives of the Department's Executive Agencies (Insolvency Service, Companies House, National Measurement Office, Intellectual Property Office, UK Space Agency, Ordnance Survey, Met Office, Land Registry and the Skills Funding Agency) and they will respond to my Hon. Friend directly.</p><p /> <p>Information for non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 01/07/2014 14:12:38 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson attachment 1 file name Executive Agency letters - UIN202232.pdf title Executive Agency letters
	tabling member	111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb

63990

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2014
	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	Companies: Ownership
	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 ensure that his legislative proposals aimed at creating a public register of beneficial ownership ensure that information in the register has undergone verification.
	tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
	tabling member printed	Mr Tom Clarke
	uin	202441
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2014 answer text <p>The Government recognises that register integrity is an important issue. This Department is carefully considering with Companies House and others what checks are necessary to ensure integrity of data and that the registration of company information in the UK remains quick, simple and inexpensive.</p><p>The current UK register is one of the most open in the world, and is accessed over 240 million times a year. This means the information is policed on a significant scale by the public, who report anomalies to Companies House for follow up.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 01/07/2014 14:22:27 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	583 label Biography information for Mr Tom Clarke

63993

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2014
	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	Public Houses
	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 make it his policy to introduce a legal requirement for pubcos to offer a free-of-tie option in the public house sector.
	tabling member constituency	Torbay
	tabling member printed	Mr Adrian Sanders
	uin	202502
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2014 answer text <p>The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, introduced to this House on 25 June 2014, does not include provision for mandatory free-of-tie. The Government recognises that some tenant groups and campaigners support this option, which might appear to offer a simple way of ensuring that tied tenants are no worse off than free-of-tie tenants. We looked carefully at this measure but have decided not to introduce it.</p><p>The responses to the Government's consultation on a Statutory Code and Adjudicator for the pubs sector raised concerns that mandatory free-of-tie would create uncertainty for pub-owning companies and have an unpredictable impact on the wider pubs sector which could even undermine the tied model. Even among the polarised views in the industry, there is strong support for the tie as a business model. What is important to the Government is that there are protections in place so that the tied model operates fairly. The reforms being taken forward in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill will rebalance the relationship between pub-owning companies and their tied tenants, without threatening the balance of the wider industry.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 01/07/2014 14:19:32 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	237 label Biography information for Mr Adrian Sanders

64271

	registered interest
	date	26/06/2014
	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	Energy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of his Department's consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.
	tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
	tabling member printed	Tom Greatrex
	uin	202700
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2014 answer text <p>This information is currently being collated and I will arrange for this data to be deposited in the libraries of the House as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 02/07/2014 15:15:38 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4047 label Biography information for Tom Greatrex

64650

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2014
	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	Conditions of Employment
	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 potential effect of the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 on workers with zero hours contracts.
	tabling member constituency	Edinburgh South
	tabling member printed	Ian Murray
	uin	203174
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Under the new regulations, which were brought into force on the 30 June, all employees with 26 continuous weeks of service have the right to request flexible working from their employer. Individuals on zero hours contracts, and who are employees, can request a change in their contracts which could also include a request to move to a fixed hours contract.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Individuals on zero hours contracts may be employees or workers, depending on the contract agreed between them and their employer. The Government does not keep records on the proportion of individual zero hours contracts workers on either employee or worker contracts.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>While individuals on zero hour contracts, and who are not employees, do not have a statutory right to request flexible working, they can make an informal request to their employer to vary their hours or their working pattern. An employer can also choose to offer contractual rights that are more generous than those provided for in statute.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 03/07/2014 14:45:09 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3966 label Biography information for Ian Murray