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458964

registered interest
date	09/03/2016
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	Scholarships: Refugees
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 university scholarships have been taken up by Syrian refugees in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	30498
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2016 answer text <p>This information is not held by the department or its agencies.</p><p>The sector led Supporting Professionalism in Admissions Programme (SPA) has published good practice guidance on admissions for refugees and asylum seekers.</p><p>Through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, the Government is working closely with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to identify those most at risk and bring them to the UK.</p><p>The UK has been at the forefront of the international response to the Syrian crisis. On 4 February 2016, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced that the UK will more than double our total pledge to the Syria crisis from £1.12 billion to over £2.3 billion. This is our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis and means that the UK is one of the largest donors to the Syria crisis.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 18/03/2016 16:00:24 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

458005

registered interest
date	07/03/2016
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	Migrant Workers: Fees and Charges
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 potential effect of plans under the Immigration Bill to introduce a charge on UK employers for employing skilled foreign workers on the number of people applying to study STEM subjects at university.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	30033
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2016 answer text <p>The Government is considering carefully the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations on migration including the likely impact on different sectors. It is essential that the UK remains open for business, while migration levels are controlled.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 21/03/2016 16:00:38 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

455997

registered interest
date	29/02/2016
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	STEM Subjects: Females
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 secure the appropriate data to monitor the progress of programmes which encourage the uptake of STEM subjects and careers by girls.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	28887
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2016 answer text <p>The Government funds a number of programmes which encourage the uptake of STEM subjects by girls. We monitor the progress of these programmes against their key performance indicators through regular reports, and by evaluating their impact.</p><p>In 2014 the Government published for the first time data showing the proportion of girls and boys studying A levels in science and maths at each post-16 institution, and in 2016 time series data of students entered for mathematics and science A level subjects by number of subjects and gender. Both sets of data will continue to be published on an annual basis.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 11/03/2016 17:02:40 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

450958

registered interest
date	05/02/2016
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 estimate he has made of the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who applied to university in each of the last six years.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	26081
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/02/2016 answer text <p>The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publishes data on application and entry rates for full-time undergraduate courses.</p><p> </p><p>The tables show the proportion of 18 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds who applied to university by the main January deadline (application rate) and the proportion of 18 year olds that accepted a place during a UCAS application cycle (entry rate).</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="8"><p>Table 1: Application rates for English 18 year olds from POLAR3 quintile 1 areas (for entry in year)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2009</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>15.2%</p></td><td><p>18.0%</p></td><td><p>18.6%</p></td><td><p>17.9%</p></td><td><p>18.9%</p></td><td><p>20.4%</p></td><td><p>21.0%</p></td><td><p>22.0%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="7"><p>Table 2: Entry rates for English 18 year olds from POLAR3 quintile 1 areas (for entry in year)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2009</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>13.6%</p></td><td><p>14.2%</p></td><td><p>15.1%</p></td><td><p>15.1%</p></td><td><p>16.4%</p></td><td><p>17.8%</p></td><td><p>18.5%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>Data published by UCAS covers full-time undergraduate applications. Table 1 shows the application rates by the main January deadline.</li><li>Data for entry rates in Table 2 include acceptances across the whole application cycle.</li><li>Disadvantage is measured by POLAR quintile 1 an area based measure of low participation.</li><li>Source of data for application rates: UCAS ‘<em>Application rates by the January Deadline</em>’ report for the 2016 cycle (underlying data for Figure 14) – published in February 2016.</li><li>Source of data for entry rates: UCAS ‘<em>2015 End of Cycle</em>’ report (underlying data for Figure 65) – published in December 2015.</li></ol><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 15/02/2016 17:14:58 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

446190

registered interest
date	20/01/2016
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	Pay
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 prevalence of employers withholding wages from employees; and what steps he is taking to prevent that practice.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	23246
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2016 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not collate this information centrally, however, I refer my Hon. Friend to the additional information which was placed in the Libraries of the House in response to a question from the Hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury UIN <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-11-19/17042/" target="_blank">17042</a>. Acas were notified of 12,791 Early Conciliation claims relating to the Wages Act from April to September 2015.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, there were 9,494 Employment Tribunal claims relating to unauthorised deductions from wages in the most recent six months for which HMCTS data is available (April to September 2015, <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics</a>).</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government publishes clear advice for employers and workers on deductions from pay which can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/understanding-your-pay/deductions-from-your-pay" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/understanding-your-pay/deductions-from-your-pay</a>. A worker’s pay cannot be reduced below the National Minimum Wage (NMW) except in very limited circumstances – even if the worker agrees to the deduction.</p><p> </p><p>HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforces the NMW, and anyone concerned about underpayment of the NMW should call Acas’s confidential helpline on 0300 123 1100 or visit <a href="http://www.acas.org.uk/nmw" target="_blank">http://www.acas.org.uk/nmw</a>. HMRC will respond to every complaint they receive.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 14/03/2016 16:54:34 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

444107

registered interest
date	12/01/2016
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	Disability Aids: Sales
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 prevent the exploitation of consumers by salesmen of stair lifts and other aids to the elderly and disabled.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	22189
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2016 answer text <br /><p><strong></strong></p><p>The Department funds the Citizens Advice Service to provide valuable advice to consumers, including how to avoid scams. Citizens Advice also lead the annual Scams Awareness Month, working with Trading Standards to help give consumers the confidence to spot and report a scam.</p><br /><p>Trading Standards Officers have powers to take action under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 against salesmen who use misleading practices and aggressive pressure selling. Additionally, National Trading Standards Scambuster Teams take action against large scale national and regional scammers, including those who exploit the elderly and vulnerable through the sale of substandard or unnecessary mobility aids.</p><br /><p>Since 2014 the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Regulations 2014 introduced important new rights for consumers to take their own action against such traders to get their money back.</p><p><strong></strong></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 20/01/2016 17:45:38 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

429332

registered interest
date	19/11/2015
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	STEM Subjects: Postgraduate Education
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 help increase the number of women completing PhDs in STEM subjects.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	17031
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2015 answer text <p>The number of female doctorate qualifiers in STEM subjects increased from 5,485 in 2009/10 to 6,300 in 2013/14, an increase of 15%. The total number of doctorate qualifiers in STEM subjects also increased over this period, from 12,830 in 2009/10 to 14,020 in 2013/14, and the proportion of female doctorate qualifiers in STEM subjects who are female increased from 43% to 45%.<sup><sup>[i]</sup></sup></p><p>The Government is committed to developing a strong, diverse research community. The Research Councils and National Academies share this commitment. We are taking steps to encourage greater representation of women in STEM subjects at university and in the academic community through the establishment of a Diversity Steering Group and support for such initiatives as the Athena SWAN charter which promotes gender equality in academia.</p><br /><p>[i] Higher Education Statistics Agency: Number of Doctorate Qualifiers in STEM subjects by Gender. (Academic Years 2009/10 to 2013/14). Excel spreadsheet is attached to this PQ.</p><br /> <br /> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 27/11/2015 14:20:36 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone attachment 1 file name female_stem_phd_students_final2.xls title Doctorate Qualifiers in STEM Subjects by Gender
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

423923

registered interest
date	26/10/2015
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	Electronic Publishing: EU Action
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the potential effect of the European Commission's Digital Single Market proposals on UK publishers; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	13272
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2015 answer text <p>The Digital Single Market is a stated priority for the Juncker Commission, which could deliver significant gains for both consumers and businesses. As such, Ministers across Government regularly hold discussions in Europe and the UK with our European counterparts on the Digital Single Market including its potential effects on UK’s creative industries and publishers in particular.</p><p>Currently there are no Digital Single Market legislative proposals on the table, but we are encouraging the Commission to ensure that future proposals are carefully assessed to ensure that they do not damage incentives to invest in the production of creative content.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 28/10/2015 17:50:26 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

419785

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Science: South West
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to expand the Bristol and Bath Science Park.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	10729
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2015 answer text <p>The Bristol and Bath Science Park provides a world-class environment for innovative businesses to locate and grow their operations. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) continues to work closely with the Homes and Communities Agency, the private sector development partners and local partners to ensure that the existing site is developed to its full potential.</p><p>The Homes and Communities Agency manages the development on behalf of BIS. The Department is the beneficial owner of the site and the Homes and Communities Agency holds the freehold rights.</p><p>A Local Steering Group has been established to steer the development, which includes representatives from the private sector development partners, the local universities (Bath, Bristol, and the University of the West of England), South Gloucestershire Council, West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, the National Composites Centre which is situated on the Science Park and is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Invest Bristol &amp; Bath, the Homes &amp; Communities Agency and BIS.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 19/10/2015 13:10:03 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

419786

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Universities: Economic Situation
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 universities on their local economy.
tabling member constituency	Bath
tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
uin	10732
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2015 answer text <p>Higher education institutions play an important role in their local areas. Several universities have undertaken individual studies of their impact on their local area, and such studies have generally found positive impacts. Universities UK and others have also assessed the important impact of universities on national growth.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 19/10/2015 13:07:45 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett