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521049

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
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	Business: Stafford
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 businesses in Stafford constituency.
tabling member constituency	Stafford
tabling member printed	Jeremy Lefroy
uin	38309
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>The Government is working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business by supporting businesses across the country. In Stafford, 42 Government backed Start-Up Loans have been drawn down since September 2012 with a value of over £218,000. A Regional Growth Fund award of £4m made in 2011 has attracted private investment of £56.5 million, delivering 1,600 jobs. Since May 2010, 26 loans have been drawn down in Stafford, worth over £2.6 million, from the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. Businesses in Stafford also have access to the Stoke-on-Trent &amp; Staffordshire Growth Hub which was live from September 2014, which is one of a network of 39 Growth Hubs set up across England.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 01/06/2016 10:23:44 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	4109 label Biography information for Jeremy Lefroy

521050

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
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	Business: Stafford
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 steps his Department has taken to increase the level of access to credit for businesses in Stafford constituency in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Stafford
tabling member printed	Jeremy Lefroy
uin	38310
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 contained two specific policies to support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in accessing finance.</p><p>The first requires major banks to refer SMEs they reject for finance to designated ‘finance platforms’ that can help match SMEs with alternative finance providers. This will ensure that viable SMEs, including businesses in Stafford, that may not fit the major banks’ risk appetite can still get the finance they need to grow and expand. Three platforms have recently been designated by HM Treasury on the advice of the British Business Bank and are expected to come into operation later this year.</p><p>The second requires the major banks to share information on their SME customers, with the SME’s permission, with other lenders through designated Credit Reference Agencies. This will improve the ability of challenger banks and alternative finance providers to conduct accurate risk assessments and level the playing field between providers and make it easier for SMEs to get finance from providers other than their bank.</p><p>The Government is supporting the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and Crowdfunding sectors, which provide alternative sources of finance for both businesses and individuals. The British Business Bank, for example, has invested £100m in SMEs via five P2P platforms.</p><p>In addition, the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme has facilitated over £2.6 billion of bank lending and other finance to over 25,000 SMEs. Since the start of the scheme, 45 EFG loans have been drawn down in Stafford worth over £5 million. Government has also provided loans through the Start Up Loans Company to help new businesses in Stafford. 42 start up businesses in Stafford have secured a loan from the Start Up Loans Company, with a total value of over £218, 000.</p><p>More widely, credit conditions for business continue to improve with net lending to SMEs in 2015 positive across the complete year, the first time this has happened since the financial crisis.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 01/06/2016 10:22:58 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	4109 label Biography information for Jeremy Lefroy

521066

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
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, with reference to the Answer of 10 May 2016 to Question 36447, how much of the £10.3 million of minimum wage arrears recovered in 2015-16 was recovered from the 145 employers who were not issued with a Notice of Underpayment and who did not have to pay a penalty.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	38139
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">60 employers responded to the National Minimum Wage campaign announced by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 July 2015. Between them, these employers voluntarily disclosed arrears of £786,038 owed to 4869 workers.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In 2015/16 819 employers were issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU), and of this number, 814 were issued with a penalty. The combined penalties issued to these employers totalled £1,780,367.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">5 employers were issued with an NoU but no penalty because they had either gone into liquidation or had otherwise ceased trading, or because an Employment Tribunal had issued a judgment that no financial penalty should be imposed. Collectively these employers owed £57,603 to 30 workers. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">A further 145 employers found to have underpaid their workers were not issued with a NoU or a penalty. Collectively these employers owed £2,065,874 to 14,055 workers.</ins></p> answering member constituency Stourbridge answering member printed Margot James question first answered 01/06/2016 10:27:14 question first ministerially corrected 08/09/2016 16:12:22 answering member 4115 label Biography information for Margot James previous answer version 1387 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

521067

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
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, with reference to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8859, how many employers took advantage of the National Minimum Wage campaign announced on 30 July 2015 to self-report their non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage; how many workers were identified as having been underpaid by those employers; and what the total sum was of arrears recovered for those workers.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	38140
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial">In total</ins> 60 employers responded to the National Minimum Wage campaign announced by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 July 2015. <del class="ministerial">Between them, these employers voluntarily disclosed arrears of £786,038 owed to 4869 workers.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">56 employers voluntarily disclosed arrears of £742,587 owed to 4875 workers. A further 4 employers voluntarily also disclosed arrears of £43,451 owed to 36 workers, but since these latter cases were closed after 1 April 2016, these arrears are not included in 2015/16 year end totals. </ins></p> answering member constituency Stourbridge answering member printed Margot James question first answered 01/06/2016 10:27:52 question first ministerially corrected 08/09/2016 16:12:34 answering member 4115 label Biography information for Margot James previous answer version 1385 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

521068

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
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	Laboratories: Investment
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 encourage private investment in laboratories involved in research and science.
tabling member constituency	Bolton West
tabling member printed	Chris Green
uin	38141
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>Government has put in place incentives to encourage private investment in capital facilities (which includes investment in research facilities) and to encourage business investment in research and development.</p><p>The Government is providing £900m through the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF) to secure and accelerate private co-investment into university research infrastructure. It provides funding for large long-term capital projects, which must demonstrate at least double external private co-investment and build on a strong record of research excellence. So far £500m from the Fund has levered over £1.4bn additional investment into over 30 strategic research collaborations between universities and businesses and charities.</p><p>Annual UK Government support for innovation includes £800m through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, predominantly through Innovate UK and around £1.75bn through fiscal support measures. The Government’s investment in innovation is attracting increasing investment from private sources. In 2014, UK Business Enterprise Research and Development expenditure, increased by 6% to its highest level on record (£19.9 billion), surpassing 2013’s high by £0.9 billion. In the same year, total business employment in R&amp;D in the UK increased by 7% to 192,000 (Full Time Equivalents).</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 01/06/2016 10:24:51 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4398 label Biography information for Chris Green

521069

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
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	Nurses: Training
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 students who completed access courses secured places on nursing degrees in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
tabling member printed	Toby Perkins
uin	38147
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>The number of students who entered nursing degrees at English Higher Education Institutions having previously completed Access Courses is recorded by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and has been provided in the table.</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><p><strong>Full-time Undergraduate Entrants to Nursing by Highest Qualification on Entry</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>English Higher Education Institutions</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>Academic Years 2012/13 to 2014/15</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Academic Year</p></td><td><p>Entrants who had completed Access Courses</p></td><td><p>Total entrants</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>4,275</p></td><td><p>21,510</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>4,925</p></td><td><p>22,920</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>5,515</p></td><td><p>23,310</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>Source: BIS Analysis of HESA Student Record<br> Notes:<br> (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 5<br> (2) Nursing students were determined to be those in courses falling under JACS3 code B7-&quot;Nursing&quot; <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/jacs3" target="_blank">https://www.hesa.ac.uk/jacs3</a> (3) Counts refer to the total Full-Person Equivalents (FPE). These are derived by splitting student instances between the different subjects that make up their course aim (4) Access Courses were determined to be those with a highest entry qualification (QUALENT3) code of X00 or X01 - higher education access course</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 01/06/2016 10:26:33 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

521082

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
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	Overseas Trade: Mexico
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 the Government is taking to increase UK trade with Mexico.
tabling member constituency	Romford
tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
uin	38367
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>Increasing exports is a key focus in the Government’s long-term economic plan. There is a cross Whitehall approach to exports and whenever Government Ministers are on overseas trips, they have a trade focus, supporting UK businesses to take advantage of export opportunities, to help remove barriers to trade and to create a strong business environment.</p><p>A key part of this work is to identify export opportunities, many of which are based around the needs of high-growth and emerging markets. We are making those opportunities available to UK businesses through the Exporting is GREAT campaign which has elicited over 25,000 responses to the 7,000 export opportunities published online since it launched in November 2015.</p><p>Mexico is an important export market with high potential for growth and, in recognition of this, my noble Friend Lord Price went there on his first overseas visit as Trade and Investment Minister in early April 2016. Mexico is also the recipient of increased FCO Prosperity and Newton Fund budgets. In July, High Level Economic Talks will take place in Mexico.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 01/06/2016 10:25:50 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

520624

registered interest
date	23/05/2016
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	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the annual budget is for food produced for his Department's offices; and what proportion of food produced for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
tabling member printed	Nick Smith
uin	37823
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) does not set a budget for food served in its offices. Catering services are provided by private companies under contract to BIS which lease facilities in its London offices at 1 Victoria Street, 151 Buckingham Palace Road and Fleetbank House and provide food to staff without subsidy. Spending on food is determined by the contractor based on sales receipts.</p><p>BIS has worked with its current suppliers to align the existing contract with the requirements of the “balanced scorecard” for public food procurement.</p><p>The amount of food sourced from British producers for the Department’s three London offices is approximately 75% per month on average based on data for the period January - March 2016.</p><p>Items that are not available as British produce are fruits (for example – melons, pineapples, grapes, lemons, oranges), continental meats and Fairtrade coffee which is a large part of the sales volume.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 01/06/2016 15:18:48 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

520626

registered interest
date	23/05/2016
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	Students: Disability
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 students received support from specialist study skills tutors in English universities in the most recent period for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	37890
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>We do not hold information on the expenditure on individual types of non-medical help support that are available to disabled students through Disabled Students’ Allowances.</p><p>The Government’s response to the consultation on reforms to Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), published in December 2015, confirmed that from 2016/17 support roles from band 4 will continue to be primarily funded through DSAs, unless reasonable adjustments are in place that remove the need for such support.</p><p>A full equality impact assessment on the proposed changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances was published in December 2015.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson grouped question UIN 38016 38018 question first answered 01/06/2016 10:29:13 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

520627

registered interest
date	23/05/2016
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	Universities: Admissions
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 students from low-income households attended Russell Group universities in the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	37905
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes information on students at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Provider-level measures on the share of their students who have come from disadvantaged backgrounds are available as part of the <em>UK Performance Indicators;</em> these include the proportion of young full-time first degree entrants who are from low participation neighbourhoods, otherwise known as POLAR3 quintile 1 wards. POLAR3 is an indicator of disadvantage in the absence of income information. The data is provided in the table:</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Percentage of UK-domiciled young (1) full-time first degree entrants from POLAR3 quintile 1 wards</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><p><strong>English Higher Education Institutions</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Academic Years 2012/13 to 2014/15</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Academic Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>All Russell Group HEIs in England (2)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>6.0%</p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>6.0%</p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>6.4%</p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>Source: HESA Performance Indicators https://www.hesa.ac.uk/pis/</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>Notes:<br> (1) Young students are those younger than 21 at 30 September in the academic year in which they commenced their studies<br> (2) The Russell Group HEIs included are all those that were part of the Russell Group on April 13th 2016</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced in January 2016 that the Government intends to legislate to require individual universities to publish statistical information on admissions by gender, ethnicity and social background of students in order to make each institution’s record on admissions more transparent.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 01/06/2016 10:31:38 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith