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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

169929

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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	Travel
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 his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	218466
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>In each of the last five financial years the following amounts have been spent by the Department (BIS and UK Trade and Investment) on first class train tickets and business class air travel. Figures for the total amount spent on taxis prior to 2012-13 cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost as these costs were included in individual travel and expense claims and not centrally collated.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><strong> Financial Year</strong></td><td><strong> Rail<ins class="ministerial"> - 1st Class</ins></strong></td><td><strong><del class="ministerial"> 1st Class </del>Air<ins class="ministerial"> - Business Class</ins></strong></td><td><strong><del class="ministerial"> Business Class </del>Taxis</strong></td></tr><tr><td>2009-2010</td><td>£761,381.87</td><td>£2,061,066.16</td><td>£n/a</td></tr><tr><td>2010-2011</td><td>£179,884.52</td><td>£1,177,664.09</td><td>£n/a</td></tr><tr><td>2011-2012</td><td>£47,316.35</td><td>£1,379,266.78</td><td>£n/a</td></tr><tr><td>2012-2013</td><td>£18,974.65</td><td>£1,282,766.02</td><td>£92,301</td></tr><tr><td>2013-2014</td><td>£21,277.50</td><td>£1,725,998.87</td><td>£79,701</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />Note: The use of first class rail travel is restricted for those with health issues and exceptional business need. In both cases prior approval is required in line with the Department’s travel policy. The use of business class flights is restricted to long haul and the figures above will include some costs relating to multi leg journeys made up of economy and business class elements; these cannot be separated without incurring disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 18/12/2014 11:51:08 question first ministerially corrected 02/02/2015 11:18:45 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson previous answer version 35491 answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

169930

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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	Fraud
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 cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	218496
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The estimated annual cost of fraud and financial error in each of the last five years in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and its forty six partner organisations is estimated to be about £50-100m. This represents some 0.5% of total annual BIS spending on average.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Nearly all of this estimated figure relates to the error rate (made by applicants and officials) on student support, although that has declined in successive years from over 1% to some 0.5% in the latest year (2013-14) for which data is available.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department and all its partner organisations are now working closely with each other and with other Departments, led by the Cabinet Office, and other organisations inside and outside central government to improve the prevention, detection, measurement and early recovery of losses from fraud and error.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I have asked Chief Executives of the Executive Agencies to respond directly to the Hon Member. This information is not held by BIS in respect of non-Departmental Public Bodies.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson attachment 1 file name PQ-218496-Exec-Agencies-NDPB-Responses.pdf title Responses from Executive Agencies and NDPBs 2 file name PQ-218496-Met-Office-Response.pdf title Response from the Met Office question first answered 17/12/2014 11:13:28 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

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

170287

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	Post Offices: Worcestershire
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 post offices were closed in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire (i) between 1997 and 2010 and (ii) between 2010 and 2015.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	218796
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>The Government understands the important role that post offices play in communities across the country and since 2010 has committed nearly £2 billion to maintain, modernise and protect a network of at least 11,500 branches that continues to meet strict access criteria that see, for example, 95% of the urban population living within one mile of a post office outlet.</p><p> </p><p>This Government has also committed that there will be no programme of Post Office closures. There are currently around 11,700 post office branches in the UK, with the Post Office network at its most stable for over two decades.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested is the operational responsibility of Post Office Limited and I understand from the company that it does not hold information in the format requested. For your reference I include historic information on the number of open Post Office branches at national level and by the West Midlands Government Office region in the tables below:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Number of open post offices in the UK</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Number of open Post Office branches</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>End of March 1997</p></td><td><p>19251</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>End of March 2010</p></td><td><p>11905</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>End of Sept 2014</p></td><td><p>11631</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Number of open post offices in West Midlands Government Office region (historic figures are only available from the year 2000)</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Number of open Post Office branches</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>End of March 2000</p></td><td><p>1479</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>End of March 2010</p></td><td><p>930</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>End of Sept 2014</p></td><td><p>904</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 05/01/2015 11:22:53 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

170289

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	Minimum Wage
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 interns used for full-time work are paid at least the National Minimum Wage; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Warrington North
tabling member printed	Helen Jones
uin	218759
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The term “intern” is not defined in any legislation: entitlement to the minimum wage depends on whether or not an individual is a worker. If an internship meets the legal definition of a worker, then they must be paid at least the minimum wage from the start.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Given this dependency on employment status, it is vital that employers and workers understand how this is determined. We continue to carry out targeted awareness raising initiatives with interns and HMRC have been working with employers to identify potential non-compliance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Complaints from interns about non-payment of the minimum wage are prioritised by HMRC for investigation and HMRC will investigate every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should call the helpline on 0800 917 2368.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Determining an individual’s employment status can be complicated. This is why the Business Secretary announced a review of employment status in October this year, to help ensure an employment status framework in the UK that meets the needs of everyone. This is an internal review and will present findings to ministers early next year.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 18/12/2014 12:13:10 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	432 label Biography information for Helen Jones

170291

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	Post Offices
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 post offices have been refurbished as a result of the Government's £2 billion investment in the Post Office Network since 2010 in (a) Worcester, (b) Worcestershire and (c) England.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	218797
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>The Government understands the important role that post offices play in communities across the country and since 2010 has committed nearly £2 billion to maintain, modernise and protect the network. This is an historic commitment, and is designed to ensure that the Post Office has a vibrant, successful and financially sustainable long-term future where is it less reliant on an annual taxpayer funded subsidy.</p><p> </p><p>The Post Office is undertaking the largest modernisation programme in its history and network transformation is seeing subpostmasters receiving public investment to improve their branches; delivering benefits to customers including longer opening hours, more convenient access and improved branch environments. To date over 3,500 branches have converted to the new Main and Local models and nearly 290 of the Post Office’s directly owned Crown post offices have benefitted from investment.</p><p> </p><p>The following table sets out the numbers of post offices that have received investment in the areas requested:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><p>Number of post offices that</p><p>have received investment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Worcester</p></td><td><p>8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Worcestershire</p></td><td><p>32</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Midlands Government Office Region</p></td><td><p>302</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>England</p></td><td><p>3173</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 05/01/2015 14:03:59 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

170296

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
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 has been made on implementing the findings of the original report compiled by the Office of Fair Trading and Department of Trade and Industry regarding the collapse of Scottish Power's Power Plan.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	218594
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/01/2015 answer text <p>Statutory investigations by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Business, Innovation and Skills) using Companies Act powers are confidential and their findings cannot be disclosed outside strict statutory gateways.</p><p> </p><p>The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) did not directly investigate the collapse of Scottish Power’s Power Plan. In 2003 an investigation was undertaken by the OFT into the terms and conditions used in contracts with consumers purchasing goods under the PowerPlan scheme sold by Scottish Power plc. As a result a series of recommendations regarding those terms and conditions were made to the companies who operated the scheme, and I understand that the recommendations were implemented by the companies before they entered insolvency.</p><p> </p><p>More generally, the OFT investigated the market for extended warranties in the UK in 2002 and, having found that competition in the market did not appear to be working effectively, referred the market to the Competition Commission (CC). Following the CC’s report in 2003, the DTI implemented the Supply of Extended Warranties on Domestic Electrical Goods Order which came into force in April 2005. The OFT undertook a further study of the market for extended warranties in 2012.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 06/01/2015 17:15:43 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

170298

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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what meetings he has had with his ministerial colleagues on what steps to take in response to allegations that Scottish Power mis-sold cashback warranties in the 1990s.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	218620
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>No meetings have been held between myself, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills or other ministerial colleagues concerning this matter. The Secretary of State and I have both met with the Insolvency Service for briefing on their conclusions following review of material submitted by liquidators of two companies involved in administering the cash-back warranty scheme.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 18/12/2014 12:11:50 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

170299

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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how he plans to keep the people who lost money following the failure of firms involved in Scottish Power's cash back warranty scheme updated on progress on the review of whether there will be a further investigation of that matter.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	218621
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Investigations conducted under section 447 Companies Act 1985 are confidential, therefore it is not possible to announce whether or not such an investigation is taking place, or to report on the investigation outside of strict statutory gateways.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Whether or not an investigation under section 432 Companies Act 1985 is being undertaken is something which can be announced, and I am able to confirm that such an investigation will not be commenced at this stage.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Because the liquidation of the companies involved in the scheme is still under way, I do not propose to make a public announcement about the outcome of any review. However the creditors of those companies will receive reports from the liquidators if they are to be paid further dividends.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 18/12/2014 12:10:36 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram