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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

100092

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	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	Zero Hours Contracts
	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 he is taking to help workers on zero hours contracts who desire regular, contracted employment.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	211362
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2014 answer text <p>Under the Flexible Working Regulations, brought in on 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, 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> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 27/10/2014 14:48:39 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

179062

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2015
	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	Zero Hours Contracts
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what definition the Government uses for classifying a zero hours contract.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	223955
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2015 answer text <p>There is no legal definition of a zero hours contract in UK domestic employment law. In general terms a zero hours contract is an arrangement under which an employer does not guarantee the individual any work, and the individual is not obliged to accept any work offered.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The ONS in their Labour Force Survey describe a zero hours contract as a contract ‘where a person is not contracted to work a set number of hours, and is only paid for the number of hours that they actually work’.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 24/02/2015 11:48:33 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

179263

	registered interest
	date	09/02/2015
	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	Zero Hours Contracts
	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 employees working on zero-hours contracts, who are in practice working regular hours over an extended period, have the right to a fixed-term contract.
	tabling member constituency	Stoke-on-Trent South
	tabling member printed	Robert Flello
	uin	907603
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2015 answer text <p>All employees on zero hours contracts can already, after 26 weeks, request a move to fixed hours contracts under flexible working legislation, brought in on 30 June 2014. We are also currently banning exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts and the employment status review currently taking place is looking further at the employment rights zero hours workers have.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 12/02/2015 16:28:53 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	1569 label Biography information for Robert Flello

170286

	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	Written Questions
	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 the savings to his Department from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems his Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	218770
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/01/2015 answer text <p>No financial estimate of savings has been made since the introduction of the Q&amp;A system. However, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has seen a reduction in paper usage and BIS staff no longer have to physically deliver PQ answers to hon. Members and the House authorities. These obvious savings will continue.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIS changed its IT platform for managing PQs to eCase last summer. This would have happened regardless of the introduction of the Q&amp;A system.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 02/01/2015 11:52:42 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

170547

	registered interest
	date	15/12/2014
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Written Questions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what estimate she has made of the savings to the Government Equalities Office from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems the Government Equalities Office has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment she has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	218782
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>No estimates have been made of the savings to the Government Equalities Office from the introduction of the Q&amp;A system or of the extent to which the system has improved the way it answers questions from Hon. Members. There are no plans to introduce any ICT systems that would not have been feasible without the Q&amp;A system. It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the session.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 05/01/2015 15:17:18 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

90809

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2014
	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	Written Questions
	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 named day written questions were answered by his Department within the prescribed period in the (a) 2012-13 session, (b) 2013-14 session and (c) 2014-15 session to date.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	208416
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2014 answer text <p>Departmental performance information, for ordinary and named day Parliamentary Questions, is collated by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and submitted to the Procedure Committee. This is published on a sessional basis by the committee, and includes evidence regarding departmental performance. The monitoring report relating to the 2012-13 session was published on 13 February 2014 as HC1046. The report covering statistics relating to performance during the 2013-14 session will be published very shortly by the Procedure Committee and will show that, for this Department, 938 of the 982 named day Parliamentary Questions (96%) received a substantive reply on the date stipulated by the Member.</p><p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills received 172 named day questions of which 151 (88%) were answered within the prescribed period during June – July 2014.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 11/09/2014 16:14:51 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

99773

	registered interest
	date	20/10/2014
	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	Written Questions
	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 place in the Library a copy of his Department's latest internal guidance for officials on the drafting of answers to parliamentary questions.
	tabling member constituency	Shipley
	tabling member printed	Philip Davies
	uin	211071
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2014 answer text <p>A copy of the Department’s internal guidance will be placed in the Libraries of the House.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Office of the Leader of the House also provides guidance to all Departments on the practice of answering Parliamentary Questions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The full Guide is available on the gov.uk website at: http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A copy of this guidance has already been placed in the libraries of the House. The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons intends to review the Guide to Parliamentary Work in the coming months.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 27/10/2014 14:36:52 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson attachment 1 file name mpst-WrittenPQs - 211071 attachment.doc title Parliamentary Unit Process and Guidance
	tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

223515

	registered interest
	date	25/02/2015
	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	Working Mothers: Breastfeeding
	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 merits of introducing a statutory right for mothers to take breaks for breastfeeding in the workplace.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	225438
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/03/2015 answer text <p>The Government encourages breastfeeding and recommends employers enable women to breastfeed as a matter of best practice.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is conducting research on pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination and disadvantage in the workplace; which includes the experiences of mothers returning to work from maternity leave. This research will identify the number of mothers who would like to breastfeed or express milk in the workplace but do not; either because they are not allowed to, or because they think they would not be allowed to. These results will help to assess the scale of unmet demand from mothers to take breaks for breastfeeding in the workplace. The research results will be published in due course.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Alongside the new entitlement to shared parental leave the Government will continue to work with employers to highlight the business benefits of supporting breastfeeding; and promote best practice and guidance. BIS will continue to keep under review the evidence around this issue.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 02/03/2015 17:49:50 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

174352

	registered interest
	date	19/01/2015
	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	Working Hours: EU Law
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress the Government has made since 2010 in negotiating a revision of the Working Time Directive; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Christchurch
	tabling member printed	Mr Christopher Chope
	uin	221280
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2015 answer text <p>The Working Time Directive was last negotiated in 2012 by European Social Partners. That negotiation ended without agreement in 2013 and the initiative is back with the European Commission. The Directive is not currently in negotiation, but the UK is making its priorities clear. The European Commission have just issued a public consultation on the Directive. The Government is preparing its response and encourages interested organisations and individuals to respond.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 22/01/2015 14:17:10 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	242 label Biography information for Sir Christopher Chope