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90411

registered interest
date	03/09/2014
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	National Nuclear Laboratory
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 is taking to support the National Nuclear Laboratory's commercial opportunities abroad.
tabling member constituency	Copeland
tabling member printed	Mr Jamie Reed
uin	208039
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p><strong>Final Approved answer to 20054</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>UK Trade &amp; Investment (UKTI) has a close relationship with NNL who are integral partners in the development and implementation of a UK Civil Nuclear Export strategy, being taken forward under the Nuclear Industrial Strategy, to target the most promising overseas opportunities for the UK nuclear industry. NNL also regularly support and participate in UKTI’s related programme of civil nuclear focussed inward and outward trade missions. This partnership has contributed to NNL success abroad.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Longer-term commercial opportunities can stem from international collaboration on R&amp;D. For example, NNL is involved in the Nugenia project which includes R&amp;D on new and innovative designs in nuclear fission. They are also leading UK participation in the Jules Horowitz Reactor project in France on behalf of the Government, and have engaged with USA government on a number of issues, such as advanced recycle R&amp;D and radioisotope thermoelectric generations for space batteries.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 08/09/2014 15:52:22 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1503 label Biography information for Mr Jamie Reed

90269

registered interest
date	02/09/2014
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	Biofuels: Imports
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information he holds on the proportion of wood pellets imported from North America that were derived from roundwood in the latest year for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Blackley and Broughton
tabling member printed	Graham Stringer
uin	207891
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government does not hold any information on the proportion of imported wood pellets from North America from roundwood.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 09/09/2014 14:24:43 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 18987 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	449 label Biography information for Graham Stringer

90270

registered interest
date	02/09/2014
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	Biofuels: Imports
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information he holds on the level of wood pellet imports from (a) the USA and (b) Canada in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Blackley and Broughton
tabling member printed	Graham Stringer
uin	207892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Data on the value and net mass of imports of wood pellets are published by HMRC in Overseas Trade Statistics. Data for the years 2011 to 2013 are shown in the following tables. Due to routine updating of the commodity codes by Eurostat, wood pellets were coded as ‘44013020 - Sawdust and wood waste and scrap, agglomerated in pellets’ in 2011 but then classified to the new code ‘44013100 – wood pellets’ in 2012 and 2013. For this analysis we have combined these two headings to provide a consistent series.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br></p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Wood pellet imports to the UK from the USA</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>2013</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Value wood pellets imports (£s)</p></td><td><p>32,516,769</p></td><td><p>59,993,226</p></td><td><p>196,894,259</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Net mass of wood pellet imports (kg)</p></td><td><p>274,453,183</p></td><td><p>475,336,518</p></td><td><p>1,684,810,418</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics</p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" rowspan="2"><p>Note: wood pellets were classified as 'HS 44013020 - Sawdust and wood waste and scrap, agglomerated in pellets' in 2011 and as 'HS 44013100 - Wood pellets' in 2012 and 2013</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Wood pellet imports to the UK from Canada</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>2013</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Value wood pellets imports (£s)</p></td><td><p>77,712,194</p></td><td><p>108,073,728</p></td><td><p>168,603,061</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Net mass of wood pellet imports (kg)</p></td><td><p>591,780,847</p></td><td><p>854,602,676</p></td><td><p>1,355,464,003</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics</p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" rowspan="2"><p>Note: wood pellets were classified as 'HS 44013020 - Sawdust and wood waste and scrap, agglomerated in pellets' in 2011 and as 'HS 44013100 - Wood pellets' in 2012 and 2013</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><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 constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 09/09/2014 15:05:22 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 18990 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	449 label Biography information for Graham Stringer

90271

registered interest
date	02/09/2014
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	Small Businesses: Billing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of late payments on small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs); and whether his Department plans to bring forward any further measures to assist in SMEs with cash flow.
tabling member constituency	Redditch
tabling member printed	Karen Lumley
uin	207890
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>In the May 2014 Government Response to our discussion paper, <em>Building a Responsible Payment Culture</em>, we set out measures to create greater transparency of payment practices and a more responsible payment culture. Through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill we are developing a requirement for large firms to publish their payment practices and a measure to prohibit contractual barriers to finance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition, we have committed to working with the Institute for Credit Management and signatories to strengthen the Prompt Payment Code. And the British Business Bank aims to address long standing, structural gaps in the supply of finance to businesses and provide diverse sources of funding for small and medium sized businesses.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 09/09/2014 14:17:54 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 18986 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	4023 label Biography information for Karen Lumley

89425

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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	Textiles: Industry
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 is taking to increase textile manufacturing in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Bradford East
tabling member printed	Mr David Ward
uin	207527
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Companies in the textiles manufacturing sector can access help and advice to grow their business through ‘GREAT” <a href="http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/" target="_blank">www.greatbusiness.gov.uk</a> or <a href="http://www.gov.uk/" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a> : eligible businesses can gain support in areas such as starting, running, funding, staffing and expanding a business.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIS has provided targeted support to the textiles sector in a number of ways. Firstly, £12.8 million has been made available from the Regional Growth Fund to support the Textiles Growth Programme, which is focused on creating and safeguarding 1,020 jobs in textiles by supporting capital projects, skills training and research and development in the North of England.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Growth Deals will allow Local Enterprise Partnerships with a textiles manufacturing presence in their regions to prioritise the financial support available (£2bn a year for 6 years from 2015/16 to 2020/2) for proposals that target this sector.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) provides grants and loans to successful projects demonstrating real ambition to create globally competitive supply chains. £3.9m of AMSCI funding has been awarded to C &amp; J Antich Ltd to pioneer a technique for weaving Aluminium Dioxide thread into 3D shapes to form the basis for the production of ‘reinforced aluminium’.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Additional funding of £100 million for AMSCI 2014 was announced in April. The new round is open to applications from all organisations operating as part of a manufacturing supply chain including textile manufacturers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) offers expert advice and grant support to eligible manufacturing companies throughout England. MAS delivers a range of support to manufacturing companies; including those in the textiles sector; ranging from company specific diagnostics, workforce up skilling and grant funding for specific projects to achieve the company’s growth ambitions. Since January 2012 MAS have supported 334 companies in the textiles and leather sector to deliver 417 company specific projects, a further 109 projects are due for completion this financial year. 1521 business diagnostics have been undertaken with companies in the textiles and leather sector.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As part of the Sector Mentoring Fund, Manchester Economic Solutions Ltd was awarded £77,500 in January to deliver Mentor Tex, which is a textile sector mentoring programme concentrated in key textiles regions such as Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The scheme has attracted interest from a wide range of textiles businesses, with 32 mentees and 13 mentors already signed up and other in the pipeline. To date 12 mentoring relationships are already in place and we expect to meet project targets by the end of the summer.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) can also help the domestic supply chain for textiles exploit opportunities for exporting into new markets overseas. We are also helping raise skills levels through an unprecedented focus on vocational training, including Higher Level Apprenticeships which will provide for higher level skills and beyond into postgraduate level and professional qualifications.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Finally, the textiles sector, particularly technical textiles, continues to have access to opportunities for technology transfer and the exchange of knowledge provided by the Knowledge Transfer Network.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 05/09/2014 13:08:27 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 17978 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	3923 label Biography information for Mr David Ward

89430

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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	Unmanned Air Vehicles: Israel
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the engines used in the Israeli Defence Forces unmanned aerial vehicles have been developed or enhanced with the assistance of UK technology or components.
tabling member constituency	North Ayrshire and Arran
tabling member printed	Katy Clark
uin	207381
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have identified one licence for components for unmanned air vehicles for the Israeli Defence Forces, dating back to 1999.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 10/09/2014 14:23:26 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1590 label Biography information for Baroness Clark of Kilwinning

89431

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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	Jackson Square Aviation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when conducting due diligence on Jackson Square Aviation and JSA International Holdings LP, whether UK Export Finance was aware that their base at Walker House is also the base of Iranian banks on the UK's blacklists.
tabling member constituency	Bassetlaw
tabling member printed	John Mann
uin	207296
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2014 answer text <p>When asked to support an export transaction, UK Export Finance conducts due diligence on the companies involved in that transaction. It does not research other unrelated companies, for example using the same registered address of convenience, which have no connection with the transaction in question.</p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 08/09/2014 13:57:37 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1387 label Biography information for Lord Mann

89432

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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	Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what end-of-use monitoring is in place to ensure that UK weapons supplied to Saudi Arabia are used for the purposes specified.
tabling member constituency	North Ayrshire and Arran
tabling member printed	Katy Clark
uin	207361
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The UK’s priority in arms export licensing is to ensure that all applications are rigorously assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria prior to granting a licence. This includes assessing the risk of diversion to undesirable end use or undesirable end users.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After the export has been granted, the Export Control Organisation also has the power to suspend and revoke licences if necessary, if the situation in the end-use destination changes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In terms of end use monitoring, Foreign Office posts overseas have a standing requirement to monitor developments in human rights and conflicts in their respective countries or regions and to report back if there are any developments that might affect licensing policy. In addition the Government uses open source material such as NGO reports to make it assessments.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 10/09/2014 14:14:46 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1590 label Biography information for Baroness Clark of Kilwinning

89433

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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	Prosthetics: Competition
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 competitiveness of the prosthesis manufacturing industry.
tabling member constituency	Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland
tabling member printed	Tom Blenkinsop
uin	207338
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2014 answer text <p>The Government has not made a specific assessment of the competitiveness of the prosthesis manufacturing industry. However, prosthetics form a key part of the wider medical technology sector, and work is underway with the main medical technology trade associations (including the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA)), under the aegis of the Ministerial Medical Technology Strategy Group to identify and address the competitiveness challenges across the sector and its supply-chains.</p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 08/09/2014 16:20:12 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	4037 label Biography information for Tom Blenkinsop

89435

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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	Nuclear Power: Tradeshow Access Programme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what financial support is available from UK Trade & Investment to British companies under the Tradeshow Access Programme to attend the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris from 14-16 October 2014; and what criteria are applied in deciding what support to provide.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Paul Flynn
uin	207374
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2014 answer text <p>Through the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) 7 grants of £1,500 each are being made available for eligible UK businesses at the World Nuclear Exhibition.</p><p>A company can be eligible if they:</p><p>- are classed as small or medium-sized or a UK university or UK publicly funded centre of higher or further learning or UK publicly funded research organisation;</p><p>- have been exporting for less than 10 years or did not exhibit at the previous edition of the event in question; and</p><p>- do not breach a limit of 12 TAP grants since 1 April 2009 including no more than 6 in non-emerging and high growth markets.</p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 08/09/2014 16:38:27 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	545 label Biography information for Paul Flynn