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101683

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2014
	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	EU Grants and Loans
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government which United Kingdom organisations have received European Union funding in the last year from structural, cohesion or other funds.
	tabling member printed	Lord Vinson
	uin	HL2505
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The United Kingdom receives an allocation for the Structural Funds (the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund) but not the Cohesion Fund.</p><p> </p><p>A large number of United Kingdom organisations received European Funding under Structural Funds programmes in the last year. As these are too numerous to set down here, I have provided below details of websites which contain lists of beneficiary organisations.</p><p> </p><p>The links to the Structural Funds programmes are:</p><p> </p><p>ERDF Programmes in England: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/erdf-programmes-progress-and-achievements" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/erdf-programmes-progress-and-achievements</a>.</p><p> </p><p>ESF England and Gibraltar: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/european-social-fund-2007-to-2013" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/european-social-fund-2007-to-2013</a></p><p> </p><p>Devolved Administrations (ERDF &amp; ESF)</p><p> </p><p>Northern Ireland: <a href="http://www.dfpni.gov.uk/index/finance/european-funding.htm" target="_blank">http://www.dfpni.gov.uk/index/finance/european-funding.htm</a></p><p> </p><p>Scotland: <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/support/17404/StructuralFunds2007-2013" target="_blank">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/support/17404/StructuralFunds2007-2013</a></p><p> </p><p>Wales: <a href="http://wefo.wales.gov.uk/programmes/progress/searchprojects/?lang=en" target="_blank">http://wefo.wales.gov.uk/programmes/progress/searchprojects/?lang=en</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In terms of other sources of EU funding that BIS is responsible for, this includes the Framework Programme 7 for Research &amp; Innovation with numerous participants from Higher Education, Research Organisations, Private Sector and Public bodies. Project information is not set out on the Commission website in such a way as to make it easy to identify UK recipients of EU funding in a calendar year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Another source of EU funding that BIS was responsible for was the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP) under the Competitiveness of Innovation and Enterprises (CIP). The latest beneficiaries report is the 2012 version. The following link will provide more information about the recipients of the programme, <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/cip/files/cip/docs/beneficiaries-report-october-2012_en.pdf" target="_blank">Beneficiaries Report October 2012 Final Version</a> – <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/cip/files/cip/docs/beneficiaries-report-october-2012.en.pdf" target="_blank">http://ec.europa.eu/cip/files/cip/docs/beneficiaries-report-october-2012.en.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 05/11/2014 14:00:24 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
	tabling member	1807 label Biography information for Lord Vinson

106184

	registered interest
	date	04/11/2014
	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	Productivity
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livingston of Parkhead on 13 October (HL1890), what they consider to be the reasons for the differences between the output per worker per hour in the United Kingdom and those of the other G7 countries, as reported by the Office for National Statistics in its statistical bulletin <i>International Comparisons of Productivity—Final Estimates 2012</i>; and what plans they have to improve the United Kingdom’s relative position.
	tabling member printed	Lord Birt
	uin	HL2655
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>The most up to date productivity data for 2012 are in the table.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Current Price Productivity, 2012, G7 countries, Index UK=100</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Japan</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Germany</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Canada</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Italy</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>France</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>US</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>UK</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>G7 excl. UK</em></strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>GDP per worker</strong></p></td><td><p>90</p></td><td><p>108</p></td><td><p>104</p></td><td><p>116</p></td><td><p>115</p></td><td><p>140</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>120</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>GDP per hour worked</strong></p></td><td><p>85</p></td><td><p>129</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>109</p></td><td><p>128</p></td><td><p>130</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>117</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Source: International Comparisons of Productivity, First Estimates for 2013, ONS (Oct 2014)</p><p> </p><p>http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/icp/international-comparisons-of-productivity/2013---first-estimates/index.html</p><p> </p><p>Analysis undertaken by BIS (2012) to support Lord Heseltine’s Review of UK Competitiveness examined UK productivity in comparison to France, Germany and the USA. An analysis of productivity across all G7 countries has not yet been completed. The full analysis can be found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34647/12-1207-benchmarking-uk-competitiveness-in-the-global-economy.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> but the main findings were:</p><p> </p><p>The analysis decomposed the productivity gap (measured by output per hour worked) into two components:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Sector productivity effect – the share of the gap arising due to productivity in a given sector being higher in another country than in the UK.</li><li>Sector mix effect – the share of the gap arising due to employment in another country being more concentrated in high productivity sectors than in the UK.</li></ul><p> </p><p>When UK productivity is compared to France, Germany and the USA, the sector productivity effect in each of the comparator countries fully explains the gap. As such, higher productivity across almost all sectors in each of these economies accounts for the entirety of their lead over the UK. In fact, the UK’s favourable sector mix went some way towards reducing the gap, particularly against France.</p><p> </p><p>Naturally, the factors driving the gap vary by country. However, at the aggregate level, the UK tends to have lower capital per head than France and Germany and a less efficient use of inputs in production (Total Factor Productivity) than the USA (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32101/10-1213-economic-growth.pdf" target="_blank">BIS, 2010</a>). There is also a (smaller) gap between the UK and its major competitors in terms of skills. This is generally characterised as a gap in intermediate skills with France and Germany, and a gap in higher level skills relative to the USA.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Plans to Improve UK Productivity</strong></p><p> </p><p>Government policy focuses on delivering growth which in turn depends on productivity in the longer term. In this sense, the majority of longer run Government economic policy is ultimately about raising productivity.</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s industrial strategy and ‘The Plan for Growth’ are creating the right environment for businesses to invest and grow. This will continue to support UK long-term productivity growth.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Data Revisions</strong></p><p> </p><p>Recent changes to national accounts methodology have slightly reduced the productivity gap between the UK and other leading G7 economies. Data for 2012 were revised and are provided in the table above. In case it is of interest, the most recent data for 2013 is also included in the table below. A full decomposition of the productivity gap has not yet been undertaken using the revised data.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Current Price Productivity, 2013, G7 countries, Index UK=100</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Japan</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Germany</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Canada</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>Italy</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>France</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>US</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>UK</em></strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>G7 excl. UK</em></strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>GDP per worker</strong></p></td><td><p>88</p></td><td><p>107</p></td><td><p>103</p></td><td><p>115</p></td><td><p>114</p></td><td><p>139</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>119</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>GDP per hour worked</strong></p></td><td><p>85</p></td><td><p>129</p></td><td><p>101</p></td><td><p>109</p></td><td><p>128</p></td><td><p>130</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>117</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Source: International Comparisons of Productivity, First Estimates for 2013, ONS (Oct 2014)</p><p> </p><p>http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/icp/international-comparisons-of-productivity/2013---first-estimates/index.html</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>References</p><p> </p><p>BIS (2010) Economic Growth, BIS Economics Paper No. 9</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32101/10-1213-economic-growth.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32101/10-1213-economic-growth.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>BIS (2012) Benchmarking UK Competitiveness in the Global Economy, BIS Economics Paper No. 19</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34647/12-1207-benchmarking-uk-competitiveness-in-the-global-economy.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34647/12-1207-benchmarking-uk-competitiveness-in-the-global-economy.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Livingston of Parkhead question first answered 17/11/2014 12:31:53 answering member 4278 label Biography information for Lord Livingston of Parkhead
	tabling member	2533 label Biography information for Lord Birt

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

105818

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	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	Freedom of Information
	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 legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Barrow and Furness
	tabling member printed	John Woodcock
	uin	213100
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 July 2014, Official Report Col 537W.</p><p> </p><p>Although the Hon. Member has requested information in respect of a slightly shorter period (i.e. since 2010 and not each of the past 5 years) and has asked about fees over the prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests rather than in relation to freedom of information cases generally, the answer remains the same as that previously given.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 10/11/2014 16:42:01 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3917 label Biography information for Lord Walney

105819

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	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	Public Appointments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on how many occasions his Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
	tabling member constituency	Barrow and Furness
	tabling member printed	John Woodcock
	uin	213019
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>The Department has made 269 appointments by exception since April 2011. Centrally held records are not available prior to April 2011.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not release the name of individuals appointed to posts.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 10/11/2014 15:58:05 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3917 label Biography information for Lord Walney

105820

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	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	Pay
	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 Instant Rewards of what value were given to his Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Barrow and Furness
	tabling member printed	John Woodcock
	uin	213059
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>An element of the Department’s overall pay bill for staff below the Senior Civil Service (SCS) is allocated to payments related directly to performance. There are two types of award:</p><p> </p><ol start="1" type="1"><li>Annual performance awards, that reward staff based on their annual performance rating.</li><li>In-year awards that recognise strong performance in particularly demanding tasks or situations. These can be in the form of cash payments or vouchers.</li></ol><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>These non-consolidated, non-pensionable one-off payments are used to drive high performance in the department and do not add to future pay bills.</p><p> </p><p>Details of the number and cost of in-year awards in 2013, and until the end of September in 2014 are contained in table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Cash Awards</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total Value of Cash Awards</strong></p><p><strong>(£)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Vouchers</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total Value of Vouchers</strong></p><p><strong>(£)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>1,489</p></td><td><p>434,743</p></td><td><p>803</p></td><td><p>32,110</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014*</p></td><td><p>1,145</p></td><td><p>353,200</p></td><td><p>788</p></td><td><p>41,525</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>* Jan – Sept 2014</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 10/11/2014 15:48:11 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3917 label Biography information for Lord Walney

105821

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	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	Public Appointments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on how many occasions his Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
	tabling member constituency	Barrow and Furness
	tabling member printed	John Woodcock
	uin	213039
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>The Civil Service Commission publish details of appointments made by exception and approved by them in their annual reports and on their website. These reports are available in the Library of the House. It would not be appropriate to publish details of the requests turned down by the Commission as the numbers involved are so small.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 10/11/2014 15:49:40 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3917 label Biography information for Lord Walney

105822

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	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	Freedom of Information
	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 Freedom of Information requests his Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Barrow and Furness
	tabling member printed	John Woodcock
	uin	213079
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>Statistics on the Freedom of Information performance of Government Departments since January 2010 are published by the Ministry of Justice. They are available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics#2010-2012" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics#2010-2012</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The published statistics include the numbers of requests received by each Department, the numbers answered in full and where information was partly or fully withheld.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 10/11/2014 14:37:50 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3917 label Biography information for Lord Walney

105824

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	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	Mobile Phones
	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 spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Barrow and Furness
	tabling member printed	John Woodcock
	uin	213150
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>In 2012, the Department (including our UKTI organisation), purchased 13 iPhones at £360 each, through our framework contract with Vodafone. The call costs for each of those phones would have been absorbed into the standard mobile telephony running cost budget and so aren't identified individually.</p><p>Our corporate Smart Phone service is not predicated on iPhone technology and so no further purchases have been made to date.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 10/11/2014 16:03:50 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3917 label Biography information for Lord Walney

101783

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2014
	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	Post Offices: Financial Services
	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 Post Office Ltd is taking to encourage banks to expand availability of their services through the Post Office network.
	tabling member constituency	Belfast East
	tabling member printed	Naomi Long
	uin	212738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>Post Office Limited already provides access to 95% of current accounts across the counter at more than 11,500 Post Offices. This is in addition to the Post Office’s own wide range of personal financial services, which includes three types of current account. It also operates a network 2,500 ATMs which are free to use and part of the LINK network, enabling withdrawals from a full range of current and other accounts; many of these in rural and deprived areas.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Since 2010, Post Office Ltd has reached agreement with RBS (including NatWest) and HSBC to allow customers to access their current accounts at post office branches. Post Office Ltd continue to engage with the one remaining high street bank (Santander) who have yet to offer their customers this service.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State will be writing to the banks to ask them how they plan to ensure that the banking needs of vulnerable consumers are met, particularly in areas facing branch closures. He will also be encouraging them to give priority consideration to creating or building on existing partnership arrangements with Post Office Limited, including considering how to address any additional financial and operational burdens on the Post Office.</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 06/11/2014 16:15:13 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	3920 label Biography information for Naomi Long