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437927

registered interest
date	14/12/2015
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	Apprentices: Taxation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Apprenticeship Levy will apply to public and third sector organisations.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	19908
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2015 answer text <p>The levy will apply to all UK employers. Employers with a pay bill of less than £3m will not have to pay the levy. This is more than 98% of all employers. These employers will continue to have access to government funding to support apprenticeships.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 20/12/2015 07:37:19 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

426113

registered interest
date	04/11/2015
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	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 12 October 2015 to Question 11315, whether local authorities (a) retain intellectual property rights over the postal addresses they have helped to create and (b) benefit financially from those rights from Royal Mail.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	14730
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/11/2015 answer text <p>Local Authorities have the responsibility for creating the official street naming and numbering under the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 and Public Health Act 1925. Royal Mail has the responsibility under its Universal Service obligations to create the postal address for each home and business in the UK. In creating the postal address Royal Mail utilises the official street name and number where appropriate and adds a number of additional address elements, including the postcode, which forms the basis of the Royal Mail distribution network. Royal Mail also pays Local Authorities £1 per new address that it receives from local authorities. Royal Mail compiles the list of postal addresses in to the Postcode Address File (PAF).</p><br /><p>The intellectual property rights over the data contained in the PAF, which occurs once the data is in the PAF format, belongs to Royal Mail as owners and maintainers of the PAF.</p><br /><p>In 2015, the public sector licence agreement was introduced which gives Local Authorities, Central Government, Emergency Services and Health, free access to the PAF.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 13/11/2015 14:17:07 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

423798

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	Vocational Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans to publish (a) a formal response to and (b) the submissions received by his Department concerning the Dual Mandate consultation issued on 24 March 2015.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	13438
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2015 answer text <p>The consultation document <em>A dual mandate for adult vocational education</em> was published in March 2015 by the previous government.</p><br /><p>A formal response will be published in due course. The Department may, in accordance with the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, make available, on public request, individual responses.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 29/10/2015 17:25:55 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

423504

registered interest
date	23/10/2015
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	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Digital Technology
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) funding his Department is undertaking and (b) projects his Department has planned as part of the Government's Digital Inclusion Strategy.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	13243
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2015 answer text <p>a) The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) currently funds a programme through the Tinder Foundation with the aim of equipping up to 1m adults with the basic digital skills, motivation and confidence to go online, be digitally capable and to be safe online. The contract was awarded by open competitive tender in October 2014 and has a maximum value of £15m. This addresses Action 2 of the Digital Inclusion Strategy 2014 (to establish a quality cross-government digital capability programme).</p><br /><p>In addition the adult skills budget managed by the Skills Funding Agency continues to support learners to increase skills, competence and knowledge including basic digital skills and capabilities as called for under Action 1 of the Strategy.</p><br /><p>b) There are no other projects currently planned.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 29/10/2015 14:44:31 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

423506

registered interest
date	23/10/2015
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	Post Codes: Databases
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 make an assessment of the potential economic value of the UK having an address file that was published as open data.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	13140
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2015 answer text <p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p>Following a request from the Open Data User Group (ODUG) to the Data Strategy Board in 2013, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills funded an independent advisory report into the feasibility and options for the creation of an open address data set. The report was published in February 2014 and is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/274979/bis-14-513-open-national-address-gazetteer.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/274979/bis-14-513-open-national-address-gazetteer.pdf</a><br></p><p>The estimated cost of an open data product – £40m per annum to Government – was considered unaffordable by the Public Sector Transparency Board (which subsumed the DSB).</p><br /><p>However following extensive consultation and engagement with the market since the commissioning of the report in 2013 Royal Mail has simplified it’s Postcode Address File (PAF) licence. They have also introduced new measures to provide free access to PAF for micro businesses and small independent charities.</p><br /><p>In addition, from 1 April 2014, eligible public sector organisations in England and Wales, and Scotland, have been able to take advantage of the new Public Sector Licence, which reduces the overall cost for those organisations and simplifies access to address data.</p><p><strong></strong></p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 29/10/2015 14:48:10 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

422840

registered interest
date	21/10/2015
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	Engineering Skills Review
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress he has made in implementing professor John Perkins' Review of Engineering Skills published by his Department in November 2013.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	12911
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2015 answer text <p>The Perkins Review of engineering skills made it clear that boosting the number engineers was not an agenda that Government could tackle alone. Engineering employers, the profession and educators should work together with Government to increase the supply of engineers in the UK.</p><br /><p>Government published a one year on progress report in November 2014. This summarised all the actions taken by Government and the engineering community (led by RAEng) in response to the review. This can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/369566/bis-14-1164-engineering-skills-perkins-review-progress-report.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/369566/bis-14-1164-engineering-skills-perkins-review-progress-report.pdf</a></p><br /><p>Government interventions include:</p><br /><p>Inspiring young people to consider engineering careers through the Tomorrow’s Engineers week, STEM ambassadors in schools and improved careers advice. We are reforming the curriculum to support science and innovation with more rigorous science GCSEs, new Science A levels, Tech Level and Technical Baccalaureate qualifications and more University Technical Colleges specialising in technical and scientific subjects.</p><br /><p>We are committed to 3m apprenticeship starts this parliament and many of the new employer-led trailblazer apprenticeships standards are in the engineering and manufacturing sector. We are rolling out more degree and higher level apprenticeships to deliver the high level technical skills employers need. We have introduced National Colleges to provide high level skills in sectors crucial for the economy.</p><br /><p>We have invested in higher education for STEM teaching facilities (£200m) and the teaching of high cost subject such as engineering (£185m).</p><p><strong></strong></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 27/10/2015 17:06:03 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

420593

registered interest
date	12/10/2015
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	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 14 September 2015 to Question 9138, what assessment he has made of whether payment by his Department to Royal Mail in respect of the Postcode Address File constitutes state aid to Royal Mail.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	11315
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2015 answer text <p>The Department does not consider payment to Royal Mail in respect of the Postcode Address File to constitute state aid to Royal Mail..</p><br /><p>There is a licence agreement in place between the Public Sector and the Royal Mail for the supply of address data. This agreement is managed and paid for by the Department, on behalf of public sector users. The agreement enables the Government to deliver procurement by acting as a single customer.. Like private sector users of the address data, the Public Sector pays the Royal Mail a royalty for the use of the data.</p><br /><p>Royal Mail’s licensing of this address data is regulated by OfCom under section 116 of the Postal Services Act 2000 which requires them to provide licences on fair and consistent terms to all.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 19/10/2015 14:00:11 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

417194

registered interest
date	07/09/2015
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	Post Codes: Databases
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department, its agencies or Ofcom has made an assessment of (a) the appropriateness of the role of local authorities in the creation of addresses for the Postcode Address File and (b) whether that role constitutes a subsidy to Royal Mail.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	9138
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2015 answer text <p>As set out in the Code of Practice for the Postcode Address File (PAF®), which was agreed between Royal Mail and the Postal Regulator in May 2010, there is a process in place for the creation of addresses which aims to ensure that every business and house in the UK falling under the Royal Mail’s Universal Service Obligation, has a postal address to enable the delivery of items quickly and accurately.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Local Authorities have the responsibility of naming roads and the postal address reflects the details provided by the Local Authorities. Royal Mail applies the postcode to these details which forms the basis of the Royal Mail distribution network. Royal Mail also pays Local Authorities £1 per new address listed in the PAF.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In 2015, the public sector licence agreement was introduced which gives Local Authorities and Central Government, Emergency Services and Health, free access to the PAF.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>No assessment has been made of the agreed arrangements in place for the creation of addresses for the PAF.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 14/09/2015 14:48:46 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

416293

registered interest
date	04/09/2015
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	Post Codes: Databases
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 inclusion of the Postcode Address File in the sale of Royal Mail on (a) small businesses and (b) other users of formerly public postcode data.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	9052
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2015 answer text <p>The Government has ensured access to the Postcode Address File (PAF) through primary legislation. The Postal Services Act 2000 (as amended by the Postal Services Act 2011) specifies that the PAF must be made available to anyone who wishes to use it on reasonable terms.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This legislative protection will continue to apply regardless of Royal Mail's ownership.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>No assessment has been made of the effect of the inclusion of the Postcode Address File in the sale of Royal Mail on either small businesses or other users.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 09/09/2015 15:34:49 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

386201

registered interest
date	29/06/2015
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	Students: Work Experience
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what comparative assessment he has made of the amount charged by each university to students for years on industrial placement; and what guidance his Department provides to universities on the level of such charging.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	4708
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2015 answer text <p>The Government encourages provision and uptake of sandwich courses and placements and acknowledges their benefits to students, businesses and universities.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A review of maximum fees for students undertaking sandwich placement years was carried out in 2012. Since 2014/15, the maximum fees that institutions with access agreements can charge for sandwich years has been set at £1,800, 20% of the maximum £9,000 full-time fee. Guidance for universities on maximum fees for sandwich work placement years is provided on the Student Finance England practitioners’ website.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Universities are independent, autonomous bodies and are free to set sandwich year fees at an appropriate level for their provision within this cap.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 02/07/2015 15:15:16 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah