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78120

	registered interest
	date	15/07/2014
	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	Royal Mail
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 292W, on Royal Mail, from which directorate each member of staff working on the privatisation of Royal Mail was drawn.
	tabling member constituency	Streatham
	tabling member printed	Mr Chuka Umunna
	uin	206032
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The core team of 17 people working on the sale of Royal Mail shares comprised staff from the Shareholder Executive. Staff in other BIS Directorates contributed to the work - primarily from Legal Directorate, Finance Directorate, Press Office and Economics and Markets Directorate.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The project received scrutiny outside BIS from the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority and a Treasury Approval Point panel. <br></p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 22/07/2014 14:37:08 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 11679 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	4128 label Biography information for Chuka Umunna

63145

	registered interest
	date	23/06/2014
	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	Apprentices: Horticulture
	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 fund and support businesses in the horticulture sector to take on apprentices.
	tabling member constituency	Brecon and Radnorshire
	tabling member printed	Roger Williams
	uin	201713
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Apprenticeship reforms are addressing exactly the barriers that employers have identified to taking on apprentices.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Trailblazers led by employers are designing the new Apprenticeship standards for occupations in their sectors. Horticulture employers are fully engaged in the reform programme and the Trailblazer for the sector has recently submitted a standard for approval.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The budget announced £170 m funding to extend the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers to help smaller businesses take on young apprentices aged 16-24. This will fund over 100,000 incentive payments of £1,500. Extending the grant into 2015 will ensure Apprenticeship take up by small businesses, including those in the horticulture sector, continues to be supported.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 30/06/2014 15:41:20 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 6514 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	1394 label Biography information for Roger Williams

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

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

78420

	registered interest
	date	16/07/2014
	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	Training: Young People
	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 traineeships completed to date have lasted six weeks or less.
	tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
	tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
	uin	206127
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>In the June Statistical First Release we published data showing that there were 7,400 Traineeships starts between August 2013 and April 2014 – the first nine months of the programme. We do not yet have reliable data to break this down further.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Further information on Traineeships data is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324016/traineeship-data-note-june14.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324016/traineeship-data-note-june14.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 21/07/2014 16:53:11 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 11717 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali

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

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

78646

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2014
	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 Export Finance
	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 potential effect of his proposals to extend the powers of UK Export Finance on (a) the commitment on the Coalition Agreement for UK Trade and Investment and the Export Credits Guarantee Department to become champions for British companies that develop and export innovative green technologies around the world and (b) human rights; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	206521
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/08/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The proposals to extend the powers of UK Export Finance (UKEF) should be helpful to exporters operating in all sectors.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 29/08/2014 08:45:39 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 13043 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

46442

	registered interest
	date	02/04/2014
	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
	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 (a) median and (b) mean (i) annual and (ii) hourly salary is for (A) men and (B) women in Government-sponsored apprenticeship schemes; and what those figures were in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Ashfield
	tabling member printed	Gloria De Piero
	uin	195007
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2014 answer text <p>In 2012, the median gross hourly wage for an Apprentice in England was £6.09. The mean was £6.21. In 2011, the equivalent gross hourly wages were £5.83 and £5.80.</p><p> </p><p>For females, in 2011, the median gross hourly wage was £5.96 and the mean £5.88. In 2012, these were £6.19 and £6.23 respectively.</p><p> </p><p>For males, in 2011, the median gross hourly wage was £5.43 and the mean £5.71. In 2012, these were £5.93 and £6.19 respectively.</p><p> </p><p>Please note that the only available data we have for Apprenticeship Pay is for 2012 and 2011, from the two Apprenticeship Pay Surveys (APS). These surveys do not calculate an annual wage from the survey responses as the hours Apprentices work are variable. There was a pay survey conducted in 2007, but this is not considered to be comparable with the two later years.</p><p> </p><p>Source: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2012" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2012</a></p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 28/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 5033 answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	3915 label Biography information for Gloria De Piero