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450619

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	Languages: Higher Education
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will take steps to encourage the Higher Education Funding Council for England to continue supporting language study, in particular by maintaining the Year Abroad subsidy.
tabling member printed	Baroness Coussins
uin	HL5920
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/02/2016 answer text <p>The Government will be writing to the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) shortly setting out its funding for the coming year. The HEFCE Board will make decisions on funding for universities and colleges in light of the Government’s letter. The Government continues to recognise the importance of language study and the value of studying abroad. Approximately 220,000 students have benefitted from the Erasmus Programme.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 29/02/2016 13:10:56 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
tabling member	3829 label Biography information for Baroness Coussins

450649

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	Foreign Companies: Property
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they propose to bring the rules regarding transparency in respect of overseas company ownership of UK property into line with those for UK registered companies' property ownership.
tabling member printed	Lord Rooker
uin	HL5950
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2016 answer text <p>As announced, the Government is considering measures to increase the transparency of beneficial ownership of assets by foreign companies</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/02/2016 14:58:10 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	302 label Biography information for Lord Rooker

450652

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	National Institute of Adult Continuing Education: Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the merger of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.
tabling member printed	Baroness Rebuck
uin	HL5953
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2016 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of the merger of these two independent organisations.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 17/02/2016 14:31:34 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	4332 label Biography information for Baroness Rebuck

450653

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	Literacy: Females
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of poor literacy skills on women relative to men.
tabling member printed	Baroness Rebuck
uin	HL5954
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2016 answer text <p>The Skills for Life Survey 2011 showed no notable difference between the levels of literacy of men and women:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Literacy levels by gender (%)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Literacy Level</strong></p></td><td colspan="3"><p><strong>Gender</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>All</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Male</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Female</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Entry Level 1 or below</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Entry Level 2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Entry Level 3</p></td><td><p>/8</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Level 1</p></td><td><p>28</p></td><td><p>29</p></td><td><p>28</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Level 2 or above</p></td><td><p>57</p></td><td><p>54</p></td><td><p>59</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unweighted base</p></td><td><p>5824</p></td><td><p>2520</p></td><td><p>3304</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>(Skills for Life Survey 2011)</p><p> </p><p>For both women and men, poor literacy is associated with higher rates of unemployment and poorer health and well-being. We do not have evidence to suggest that illiteracy affects women any more than men.</p><p> </p><p>This Government nevertheless understands the importance of English for all adults and has made this subject a priority for support within the adult skills system. An example of this is the Government-funded English and ESOL programmes, which include more female than male learners:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><p><strong>English and maths participation figures 2014/15</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>English </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>ESOL</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total Learners</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>668,600</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>131,100</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Gender</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>379,700</p></td><td><p>88,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>289,000</p></td><td><p>43,100</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>(Statistical First Release – first published January 2014)</p><p> </p><p>We are undertaking a range of research to better understand where Government investment in English and maths has the greatest impact and delivers value for money. This includes: using behavioural insights to identify how to motivate adults to improve their English and maths and encourage learners to keep studying once enrolled on a course, through our partnership with the Behavioural Research Centre for Adult Skills and Knowledge (ASK); longitudinal research into skills gain and skills atrophy of adult English and maths learners; and a comparison of the impact of blended and more traditional classroom learning.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/02/2016 14:12:36 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	4332 label Biography information for Baroness Rebuck

450654

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	Literacy: Young People
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the UK economy of poor literacy skills on the part of 16–24 year-olds.
tabling member printed	Baroness Rebuck
uin	HL5955
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2016 answer text <p>There are a number of ways in which the Government assesses the impact of poor literacy on the economy.</p><p> </p><p>On 28 January 2016, the OECD published its report <em>‘Building skills for all – a review of England’</em>. The report was commissioned by BIS following the publication of the OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills in 2013. Key findings from <em>Building Skills for All</em> are:</p><ul><li>Nine million adults in England have poor basic skills.</li><li>Overall, in terms of proportion, this is average for OECD countries, but England’s young people lag behind other countries.</li><li>A third of 16-19 year olds in England have poor basic skills – three times the proportion than in high performing countries.</li><li>Eliminating the tail of low achievement could increase long term productivity growth by around 0.5%.</li></ul><p>The BIS Research Paper 195 ‘Estimation of the labour market returns to qualifications gained in English Further Education’, published in December 2014, shows that there are higher returns to qualifications achieved at younger ages and that English (and maths) Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications provide an additional wage uplift for achievers of higher learning aims. Increased earnings and employment rates following training provide an indication of the positive impact on the economy of improving skills.</p><p> </p><p>In 2012, when the PIAAC carried out the survey fieldwork for both reports, only 70% of 16-19 year olds were participating in education and training that leads to a formal qualification; compared to almost universal participation in some other OECD countries. Since then the participation age in England has been increased to age 18 and action has been taken to improve GCSE qualifications and raise standards in post-16 education. These reforms have been welcomed by the OECD in its latest report. .</p><p> </p><p>Since changing the requirement for all learners who did not achieve a Level 2 in English and maths by the age of 16 to continue to study these subjects as part of their 16-19 study programme, we have seen a positive effect on participation and attainment. In 2014/15, 97% of 16 to 19 year olds without GCSE A*-C English and/or maths attending an FE institution continued their study of these subjects. In 2015, for 17-year-olds and over, entries for English rose by 23% (30% for maths). As a result, last year there were over 4,000 more GCSE passes at grades A*-C in English by students aged 17 and over (7,500 more maths passes).</p><p>On 5 February 2016 we published a new report on the impact of poor English and maths from the perspective of employers. Some key findings are:</p><p> </p><ul><li>The vast majority of employers surveyed reported no issues with the literacy of their employees.</li><li>Employers that do offer basic skills training reported positive impacts on aspects of work such as the number of errors (63%), better capacity to meet statutory requirements (58%), being able to introduce new processes (52%) and being able to produce higher quality products (51%).</li></ul><p> </p><p>The full report can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/poor-basic-literacy-and-numeracy-effect-on-employers" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/poor-basic-literacy-and-numeracy-effect-on-employers</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 22/02/2016 12:31:09 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe attachment 1 file name BIS-impact-of-poor-basic-literacy-and-numeracy-on-employers.pdf title Literacy and Numeracy skills
tabling member	4332 label Biography information for Baroness Rebuck

450665

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	Exports
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 merits of the introduction of a mentoring scheme for businesses who wish to export to a country or region that partners such businesses with other businesses that export to that country or region.
tabling member constituency	The Cotswolds
tabling member printed	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
uin	25922
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/02/2016 answer text <p>Lord Maude made a <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Lords/2016-01-19/HLWS466/" target="_blank">statement</a> to the House of Lords on Tuesday 19 January on the Government’s strategy to support trade. The new operating model set out in the statement will see UK Trade &amp; Investment start to pilot schemes that provide direct support to businesses over the coming months.</p><p> </p><p>There are no plans to pilot a mentoring scheme. Instead, UKTI will continue to identify opportunities to connect UK businesses via the <a href="http://www.mentorsme.co.uk/about/articles/about-mentorsme" target="_blank">mentorsme network</a>, Britain’s first online gateway for small and medium sized enterprises looking for mentoring services. This service offers businesses free access to a list of quality-assured business mentoring organisations across Britain.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 16/02/2016 15:41:20 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	249 label Biography information for Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

450669

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	UK Trade and Investment: Standards
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 merits of benchmarking UKTI's performance against that of other countries' export agencies.
tabling member constituency	The Cotswolds
tabling member printed	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
uin	25925
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/02/2016 answer text <p>There is considerable merit in understanding how our competitors’ export agencies are structured and the services they offer. This is something the Exports Implementation Taskforce, which the Secretary of State chairs, looked at in some depth in developing a whole-of-Government approach to exports. This included, UK Trade &amp; Investment participating in a formal benchmarking exercise by the International Trade Centre.</p><p>Among the key things found from these comparative reviews is that UKTI employs more people than other countries’ export promotion agencies, but deploys less resource on practical support for exporters (such as interim export managers). Learning from this, UKTI is currently developing some small-scale direct practical support services and products to see what might work in the UK.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 16/02/2016 15:21:20 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	249 label Biography information for Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

450670

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	Innovate UK: UK Trade and 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 assessment he has made of the potential merits of co-ordinating the objectives of Innovate UK and UKTI in order to increase exports.
tabling member constituency	The Cotswolds
tabling member printed	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
uin	25926
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2016 answer text <p>Increasing exports, to all overseas markets, is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan. UK Trade &amp; Investment (UKTI) and Innovate UK work together to co-ordinate activity to promote UK innovation and to help drive the UK's productivity, exports and long-term growth through increasing trade and inward investment in science and innovation. An Innovate UK secondee further augments the activities of both organisations.</p><p>This work supports UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities and to create a strong business environment that allows them to flourish both at home and overseas. This includes working together on events and entrepreneur missions to promote the UK’s innovative companies on a global scale, identifying export opportunities and securing new markets. Innovate UK funded projects and companies are referred to UKTI trade advisers to help support international planning and exports. To date 250 companies have been referred.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 03/03/2016 11:07:24 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	249 label Biography information for Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

450677

registered interest
date	04/02/2016
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	Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
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 16 October 2015 to Question 10523, whether hon. Members of both Houses have the same levels of access to consolidated texts related to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as members of the (a) European Parliament, (b) German Parliament, (c) Scottish Parliament, (d) Welsh Assembly and (e) Northern Ireland Assembly; and what the Government's policy is on the provision of a reading room for hon. Members of both Houses to scrutinise the consolidated texts of documents.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	26010
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/02/2016 answer text <p>The European Commission shares classified documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with Members of the European Parliament via a reading room. Following pressure from Member States, the Commission and the US have agreed that national parliamentarians should have similar access to classified TTIP documents, including consolidated texts, via reading rooms in national ministries. Restrictions placed on these rooms include that they are only accessible to officials of Member State central governments and Members of Member State national Parliaments.</p><p> </p><p>The UK intends to establish such a reading room in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This will give equivalent access to documents for hon. Members of both Houses to that afforded to Members of the European Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 16/02/2016 15:03:44 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas