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168138

registered interest
date	05/12/2014
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	Living Wage
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 and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) women and (ii) men.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	217451
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2014 answer text <p>There are no direct Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) employees paid less than the living wage, either nationally or in London.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We do not hold details centrally of all the staff working for companies contracted by the Department.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIS has no plans to require their contractors to pay the Living Wage. We would encourage them to do so if it was affordable but this must be a decision for the contractors themselves. On the 1st April 2014 the Secretary of State increased the wages of the lowest paid contractors to £7.85.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson grouped question UIN 217409 question first answered 10/12/2014 13:06:48 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

168142

registered interest
date	05/12/2014
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	Living Wage
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 and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department are paid less than the Living Wage.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	217409
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2014 answer text <p>There are no direct Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) employees paid less than the living wage, either nationally or in London.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We do not hold details centrally of all the staff working for companies contracted by the Department.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIS has no plans to require their contractors to pay the Living Wage. We would encourage them to do so if it was affordable but this must be a decision for the contractors themselves. On the 1st April 2014 the Secretary of State increased the wages of the lowest paid contractors to £7.85.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson grouped question UIN 217451 question first answered 10/12/2014 13:06:47 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

167963

registered interest
date	04/12/2014
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	Higher Education: Finance
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 Annex 1 of his Department's grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England for 2014-15, whether he plans to amend funding priorities for social mobility in higher education for 2015-16.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	217152
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government will set out our priorities for higher education for 2015-16 in the annual Grant Letter to the Funding Council.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 09/12/2014 13:42:01 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

167965

registered interest
date	04/12/2014
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	Groceries Code Adjudicator
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he expects to bring forward delegated legislation to set the level of fine available to the Groceries Code Adjudicator.
tabling member constituency	Poplar and Limehouse
tabling member printed	Jim Fitzpatrick
uin	217158
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2014 answer text <p>As required by section 9 of the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013, the Adjudicator has consulted on a proposed maximum penalty, and has made a recommendation to the Secretary of State. This is currently the subject of cross-Government Ministerial consideration.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 09/12/2014 15:00:20 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	197 label Biography information for Jim Fitzpatrick

167966

registered interest
date	04/12/2014
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	New Businesses: Milton Keynes
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 businesses have been started in Milton Keynes in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Milton Keynes South
tabling member printed	Iain Stewart
uin	217179
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2014 answer text <p>This Government is committed to making Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business. As part of our long term economic plan, we have thrown our weight behind small businesses as they grow our economy, create jobs for others and help communities prosper. In Milton Keynes an estimated 2,300 business have been started between November 2013 and October 2014, according to BankSearch data.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 10/12/2014 15:04:30 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	4015 label Biography information for Iain Stewart

167972

registered interest
date	04/12/2014
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
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 (a) white and (b) Black and minority ethnic applicants started, (i) apprenticeships and (ii) traineeships in the last three years; and what proportion of each such group completed them.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	217257
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2014 answer text <p>Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by ethnicity is published in a supplementary table to a Statistical First Release (SFR):</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378235/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378235/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xls</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Apprenticeship success rates show the proportion of apprenticeships that are successfully completed in each year. Success rates by ethnicity are published in Table 13A of the Equality and Diversity data report:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/351432/1213_E_D_-_Main_Tables_FINAL_XLS_September_14.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/351432/1213_E_D_-_Main_Tables_FINAL_XLS_September_14.xls</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The number of traineeship starts by ethnicity is presented in Table 1.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Traineeship starts by ethnicity, 2013/14 </strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Ethnicity</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Traineeship Starts</strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>% Ethnicity</em></strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>BME</p></td><td><p>2,000</p></td><td><p><em>18.8%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>White</p></td><td><p>8,400</p></td><td><p><em>80.2%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Not known/not provided</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p><em>1.0%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> 10,400 </strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>100.0%</em></strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>1) The source is the Individualised Learner Record.</p><p> </p><p>2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 100.</p><p> </p><p>3) Percentages are calculated using pre-rounded data.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Traineeships is a new programme and we will look to publish further completion and progression data once the data quality is deemed acceptable. A separate note is available online where further details can be found:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378733/traineeships-completions-and-progressions-note-nov14.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378733/traineeships-completions-and-progressions-note-nov14.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 09/12/2014 15:14:15 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

167674

registered interest
date	03/12/2014
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	Tobacco: EU Law
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 effect of the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive on the JTI Gallaher factory.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	217070
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2014 answer text <p>Over regulation, and in particular the new tobacco products directive, have been blamed for the closure of the JTI factory in Ballymena. I believe this is part of a wider picture.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The demand for cigarettes is falling. Smoking rates have continued to decline in the UK. In 1974 almost half of the UK population smoked. Rates had fallen to 18.7% last year. Around 68% of current smokers also want to quit and are increasingly aware of the health harms that smoking causes. The tobacco industry has recognised this declining market and consumer health concerns and are diversifying into electronic cigarettes and ‘heat not burn’ technology.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The directive itself is aimed at harmonising European rules for the marketing of tobacco products to ensure that barriers to trade across the union are minimised for those continuing to trade in this commodity. These new rules include specific measures aimed at protecting trade, with an enhanced track and trace system to be implemented to protect the revenue of legitimate businesses. It is true, and right, that in deciding these trade rules a high level of health protection was sought for all citizens across the EU and the European Commission’s impact assessment accepts that there is likely to be a further reduction in tobacco consumption of 2% as a result of the directive.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>However, this is just part of the picture on job losses. Job losses have resulted, in greater measure from the actions of the industry itself, for example from the mechanisation and streamlining of tobacco production than from tobacco control measures implemented by this Government.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department of Health is currently finalising proposals to transpose the revised Tobacco Products Directive into UK law, and will consult on these proposals in early 2015. The Department will consider those proposals in due course.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Mid Norfolk answering member printed George Freeman question first answered 10/12/2014 15:30:24 answering member 4020 label Biography information for George Freeman
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

167688

registered interest
date	03/12/2014
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	Postal 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 he plans to take to protect the Universal Service Obligation of delivery of mail to every address in the UK.
tabling member constituency	South Antrim
tabling member printed	Dr William McCrea
uin	216981
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2014 answer text <p>The minimum requirements of the universal postal service – which include the 6 day a week letters service at a uniform price to urban and rural addresses up and down the country – are enshrined and protected in law. Only Parliament can change the minimum requirements of the universal postal service.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Under the Postal Services Act 2011, Parliament has ensured that protection of the universal service is at the very heart of the regulatory regime by giving Ofcom, as an independent regulator, a primary duty to secure the provision of the universal service throughout the UK. Ofcom has the regulatory powers and tools it needs to intervene in the market if the universal service is ever at risk.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Ofcom has recently responded to Royal Mail’s concerns over the potential threat of competition to provision of the universal service. Having effectively reviewed and assessed all the evidence on competition in the postal market, including the business plans of Royal Mail and Whistl, it has concluded that the universal postal service is not under any current threat from the effects of competition. They will however continue to track Royal Mail’s performance and any new developments in the market. And as part of an ongoing wider review, they will also be looking at other factors that may affect Royal Mail’s ability to deliver the universal service in the future. More information about Ofcom’s decision can be found on its website (<a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/post/securing-universal-postal-service" target="_blank">http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/post/securing-universal-postal-service</a>).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 10/12/2014 15:26:55 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	655 label Biography information for Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown

167296

registered interest
date	02/12/2014
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	Diversification: Greater London
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 diversify London's economy; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Hackney North and Stoke Newington
tabling member printed	Ms Diane Abbott
uin	216728
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/12/2014 answer text <p>The Mayor has a statutory responsibility for economic development in the capital. It is for the Mayor, advised by the London Enterprise Panel, to determine priorities for economic development in the capital and to use the resources available to support economic growth in London.</p><p> </p><p>Last summer London was awarded £236m from the Local Growth Fund, as part of their Growth Deal. A further £1billion will be awarded to LEPs in the New Year, on a competitive basis.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 08/12/2014 14:38:43 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	172 label Biography information for Ms Diane Abbott

167387

registered interest
date	02/12/2014
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	Energy
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 has taken to insulate his departmental estate in order to improve energy efficiency; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	216832
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has not made any recent changes to the insulation of the departmental estate, however a number of steps have been taken to improve energy efficiency.</p><p> </p><p>The Department currently uses energy monitoring software to examine energy usage at a number of BIS sites. This provides daily consumption data and enables estate management to reduce usage and optimise building services.</p><p> </p><p>Building Management Systems are also installed across the estate, providing live data to engineers on building performance and energy demand throughout each building.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has a number of renewable energy installations installed which support the department to reduce carbon and increase efficiency. The Biomass boiler at Companies House in Cardiff produces 88% of heating for the building, saving 227 tonnes of carbon per annum. The scheme has become an Ofgem case study and Carbon Trust Exemplar.</p><p> </p><p>An ongoing initiative aimed at reducing energy consumption in the BIS core building is the partial Christmas shutdown at 1 Victoria Street. This has been implemented since 2011. The main areas of focus are the reduction of operational workspace in the building, reducing heating and cooling load by disabling most of the heating zones and reducing the number of operational lifts. BIS has saved approximately £12,000 and 80 tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub>. This year, in order to increase further energy savings, the feasibility of implementing this across further sites is being investigated.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 09/12/2014 15:57:13 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby