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517069

registered interest
date	03/05/2016
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	Financial 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 has taken to support (a) peer-to-peer lending and (b) challenger banks.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	36256
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2016 answer text <p>Access to finance on flexible, competitive terms is essential for growing businesses. Challenger banks and alternative finance providers have an important role to play in widening choice and promoting competition.</p><p>Government is bringing into effect provisions in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 which will require the largest banks - where they decline lending requests from small business customers - to offer those customers the opportunity for their details to be referred to a government-designated funding platform. These platforms will be brought into operation later this year and will allow SMEs to match their requirements with offers from peer-to-peer platforms and challenger banks.</p><p>During the last 12 months, the British Business Bank has supported 3,301 businesses through the peer-to-peer platforms Funding Circle, RateSetter and Zopa. The British Business Bank also supports the growth of challenger banks by providing wholesale funds alongside private sector investors.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 10/05/2016 11:20:52 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

515189

registered interest
date	25/04/2016
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	Driverless Vehicles: Cybersecurity
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 cyber security implications of driverless cars.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	35322
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/05/2016 answer text <p>Government recognises that vehicle security is a priority to ensure the safety and security of the public and their data.</p><p>Government believes connected and autonomous vehicles should be “secure by design” and handle data appropriately. We are working closely with industry to achieve these aims as part of a wider programme of activity to ensure that the significant opportunities of these technologies can be realised safely and securely.</p><p>Connected technologies present cyber security challenges across a range of sectors. Cyber security has been identified as a key priority in the latest National Security Strategy. The Government has announced the formation of a National Cyber Security Centre, which will bring together the UK’s cyber expertise from different parts of Government into one organisation. The Government will also publish a new National Cyber Security Strategy later this year.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 03/05/2016 15:12:10 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

512919

registered interest
date	14/04/2016
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	Artificial Intelligence
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 support research into and development of machine learning.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	33949
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/04/2016 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills supports the research and development of machine learning through the Research Councils, for example the current Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council portfolio contains nearly 150 research and training grants involving aspects of artificial intelligence.</p><p>The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre uses high performance computing combined with big data analytics, cognitive computing and visualisation techniques to collaborate with industry and research partners. The latest government investment of £113 million at Hartree in a cognitive and data centric computing centre (announced in the 2014 Autumn Statement) has attracted inward investment from IBM and other hi-tech industry exceeding £200 million.</p><p>Research Councils also support existing machine learning applications, for example the Medical Research Council support programmes which involve the use of machine learning tools for image analysis and in analysing and predicting risk of Serious Adverse Events for hospital patients.</p><p>The Arts and Humanities Research Council also support aspects of research and development on machine learning relating to its importance within the rapidly emerging field of the digital humanities and issues relating to ethical, philosophical, legal and historical perspectives of machine learning and human-computer interactions.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 20/04/2016 14:56:00 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

448173

registered interest
date	27/01/2016
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	Financial 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 widen access to sources of alternative finance.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	24417
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>Alternative finance is a rapidly growing sector. Latest figures from the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) show that new SME loans originated by their members increased by 89% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2015. Equity crowdfunded deal numbers and investment totals have also been steadily rising. The British Business Bank is an active participant in the sector and during the last 12 months has supported 3,301 businesses through the peer-to-peer platforms Funding Circle, RateSetter and Zopa.</p><p>A key element in the growth of the UK alternative finance sector has been a regulatory environment that supports innovation while protecting both investors and businesses. In addition, government is bringing into effect provisions in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 which will require the largest banks - where they decline lending requests from small business customers - to offer those customers the opportunity for their details to be referred to a government-designated funding platform. These platforms will help match SMEs with alternative finance providers and will be brought into operation later this year.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 04/02/2016 16:49:45 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

435773

registered interest
date	07/12/2015
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	Driverless Vehicles
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 has been made on pilot schemes of driverless cars.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	18898
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2015 answer text <p>Following the Innovate UK competition, ‘Introducing Driverless Cars to UK roads’ in July last year three exciting world leading projects, UKAutodrive, Venturer and GATEway, are now underway and making good progress.</p><p>The Government-backed Milton Keynes driverless Pathfinder pods have been incorporated into the UKAutodrive project. They were demonstrated recently at the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux and attracted a great deal of international attention. Venturer, based in Bristol is delivering important insights around situational awareness, a key area for autonomous systems. The GATEway project will evaluate the integration and acceptance of automated vehicles in the real world.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 14/12/2015 11:26:07 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

425306

registered interest
date	02/11/2015
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	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 estimate he has made of the contribution of (a) crowdfunding businesses, (b) peer-to-peer lending businesses and (c) big data businesses to the UK economy.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	14290
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2015 answer text <p>The state of equity investment in small businesses was assessed by the British Business Bank in March this year. Their report shows an overall increase in equity investment to small firms in each of the past four years, with both the number of deals and the total amount invested showing a clear upward trend. The contribution from crowdfunding has grown strongly since 2012. By the third quarter of 2014, deal numbers exceeded those of private equity, accounting for almost one-third of seed funding deals in the first half of 2014.</p><p>The Peer-to-Peer Finance Association publishes quarterly performance data, which show net new lending to small businesses of £91m in Q3 2015. According to NESTA, peer-to-peer lending in the UK grew at a rate of 250% annually between 2012 and 2014. The growth of the UK peer-to-peer lending sector has been facilitated by a responsive and flexible regulatory regime that recognises the importance of a competitive and diverse market for business finance.</p><p>The Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates that the big data market could benefit the UK economy by up to £216 billion between 2012 and 2017. Research by NESTA has also found that UK companies making greater use of online customer data are up to 13% more productive than their peers.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 09/11/2015 14:52:44 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

423984

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	Technology: 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 apprentices there were in the technology sector in (a) the UK, (b) the South East and (c) Windsor constituency in the most recent year for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	13386
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2015 answer text <p>Table 1 shows Apprenticeship Programme Starts in the Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies and Information and Communication Technologies Sector Subject Areas in 2013/14 and provisional data for 2014/15 in England, the South West and Windsor constituency.</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Table 1: Apprenticeship Programme Starts by Sector Subject Area and Geography, 2013/14 and 2014/15 (provisional)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><br></p></td><td><p><br></p></td><td><p><br></p></td><td><p><br></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Sector Subject Area</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Geography</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014/15 (provisional data)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3"><p>Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies</p></td><td><p>Total (England)</p></td><td><p>64,830</p></td><td><p>72,940</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South East</p></td><td><p>10,730</p></td><td><p>10,250</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Windsor constituency</p></td><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>60</p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3"><p>Information and Communication Technology</p></td><td><p>Total (England)</p></td><td><p>13,060</p></td><td><p>15,440</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South East</p></td><td><p>2,530</p></td><td><p>2,550</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Windsor constituency</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>30</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p></td><td><p><br></p></td><td><p><br></p></td><td><p><br></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><p>1) The data source is the Individualised Learner Record.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><p>2) Geography is based on the home postcode of the learner.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><p>3) Values are rounded to the nearest 10.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This information is published in a supplementary table (first link) to a Statistical First Release (SFR) at the FE Data Library (second link):</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/467752/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-and-sector-subject-area.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/467752/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-and-sector-subject-area.xls</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships</a></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 29/10/2015 11:56:06 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

391686

registered interest
date	21/07/2015
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	Working Hours: 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 estimate he has made of the cost to the British economy of the EU Working Time Directive in the most recent year for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	8197
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2015 answer text <p>The Balance of Competence Review, published in July 2014, said that costs would dramatically rise if the flexibility afforded by the individual opt-out were no longer available. Respondents to the Balance of Competence Review’s Call for Evidence felt that the ECJ judgments surrounding on-call working, accrual and carry-over of annual leave as well as payment for annual leave posed further significant costs.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 08/09/2015 15:49:16 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

227253

registered interest
date	13/03/2015
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	Patents
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 steps he has taken to reform statute pertaining to patent.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	227504
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>On 10 June 2014 the Government launched a Technical Review and Call for Evidence on the Secondary Legislation Implementing the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court and EU Regulations Establishing the Unitary Patent. On 1 October 2014 the Legislative Reform (Patents) Order 2014 and changes to patent law in the Intellectual Property Act 2014, and consequential amendments to the Patents Rules 2007, came into force. The details of these changes are available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/1-october-2014-changes-to-design-and-patent-law" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/1-october-2014-changes-to-design-and-patent-law</a>. On 26 February 2015 the Government issued its response to the Law Commission’s report on the law relating to the making of groundless threats to bring proceedings for infringement of patents, trade marks and design rights.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 19/03/2015 16:46:13 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

227254

registered interest
date	13/03/2015
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	Technology: 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 apprentices were doing their apprenticeships in technology companies in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	227505
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2015 answer text <p>Information on apprenticeship starts by sector subject area and framework is published in supplementary tables to a Statistical First Release (SFR) in the FE Data Library:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships</a></p><p> </p><p>Apprenticeship data are not available by industrial sector.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 20/03/2015 13:32:14 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie