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170297

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Scottish Power
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he received reports from the MacDonald Partnership in relation to mis-sold Scottish Power Power Plan warranties; what the titles of such reports were; and when he plans to respond to those reports.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	218595
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The initial report from Mr MacDonald was received on 17 July 2014 for review by the Insolvency Service. Further information including another more detailed report was received from him during September and October 2014, and these again have been reviewed by the Insolvency Service. The reports are confidential.</p><p> </p><p>The reports themselves do not require a direct response but I can confirm that the Insolvency Service has completed its review of this material and is in communication with Mr MacDonald.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 17/12/2014 11:11:20 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

170085

registered interest
date	12/12/2014
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	Employment Tribunals Service
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to introduce a scheme for naming and shaming employers who fail to pay an employment tribunal award.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh South
tabling member printed	Ian Murray
uin	218531
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government takes very seriously the non-payment of employment tribunal awards. Currently, as part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, the Government is proposing a financial penalty for employers that fail to pay awards. We are also ensuring that enforcement options and consequences of non-payment are made clear throughout the dispute resolution process from early conciliation to the tribunal hearing itself.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We will also look to learn the lessons of existing naming and shaming schemes and consider if such a scheme could further encourage prompt payment of employment tribunal awards.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 17/12/2014 10:16:21 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3966 label Biography information for Ian Murray

170086

registered interest
date	12/12/2014
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	Consumers: Protection
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received from (a) consumer organisations and (b) individuals on the effectiveness of Trustmark and NAPIT in protecting consumers from rogue traders.
tabling member constituency	Ogmore
tabling member printed	Huw Irranca-Davies
uin	218544
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>TrustMark (2005) Ltd (TrustMark) operate the TrustMark Scheme. TrustMark aims to marginalise unscrupulous traders by identifying to consumers traders who have been inspected for both trade competence and good trading practice.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) receives a small volume of correspondence from individuals each year relating to TrustMark. These communications are passed to the TrustMark Board to investigate the actions of their Scheme Operators which would include NAPIT should the case arise. The Department does not hold records of communications about specific Scheme Operators as these are audited and monitored by TrustMark and not BIS.</p><p> </p><p>In 2011 a consumer body provided views about the scheme to the Department; those views were fed into a review of the scheme which the TrustMark Board undertook in 2013.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 17/12/2014 10:24:39 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	1476 label Biography information for Huw Irranca-Davies

170087

registered interest
date	12/12/2014
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	NHS: 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, what representations he has received from the Scottish Government on a possible exemption for the NHS in Scotland negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
tabling member printed	Cathy Jamieson
uin	218548
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership (TTIP) and the NHS have been discussed with the Scottish Government at official and Ministerial level.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Both the European Commission and US negotiators have explicitly ruled out public services from the scope of any market liberalisation in TTIP, and it has therefore not been necessary to discuss any exclusions related to specific public services. The Scottish Government’s ability to determine how publically funded health services in Scotland are provided will not be affected. It will be completely up to the Scottish Government to take decisions on which providers deliver health care services in the best interests of their patients.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 17/12/2014 16:18:24 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	4011 label Biography information for Cathy Jamieson

169723

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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	Small Businesses: Procurement
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received from small and medium-sized businesses about companies that require a supplier company to make a payment in order to join or to remain on a list of suppliers.
tabling member constituency	Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
tabling member printed	Simon Hart
uin	218269
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has received a number of representations about this issue both from small business representative organisations and from small- and medium-sized businesses themselves. The recent media coverage relating to Premier Foods has prompted an increase in such representations. However, there is not a consensus amongst correspondents: some are in favour of company investment and/ or discount schemes and have explained how they have helped them thrive as a supplier; others are against such schemes and have highlighted the negative impact of their imposition.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 17/12/2014 16:20:33 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	3944 label Biography information for Simon Hart

169930

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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	Fraud
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 of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	218496
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The estimated annual cost of fraud and financial error in each of the last five years in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and its forty six partner organisations is estimated to be about £50-100m. This represents some 0.5% of total annual BIS spending on average.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Nearly all of this estimated figure relates to the error rate (made by applicants and officials) on student support, although that has declined in successive years from over 1% to some 0.5% in the latest year (2013-14) for which data is available.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department and all its partner organisations are now working closely with each other and with other Departments, led by the Cabinet Office, and other organisations inside and outside central government to improve the prevention, detection, measurement and early recovery of losses from fraud and error.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I have asked Chief Executives of the Executive Agencies to respond directly to the Hon Member. This information is not held by BIS in respect of non-Departmental Public Bodies.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson attachment 1 file name PQ-218496-Exec-Agencies-NDPB-Responses.pdf title Responses from Executive Agencies and NDPBs 2 file name PQ-218496-Met-Office-Response.pdf title Response from the Met Office question first answered 17/12/2014 11:13:28 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

169364

registered interest
date	10/12/2014
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	EU Trade: Trade Agreements
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 trade negotiations are being conducted by the EU on behalf of the UK.
tabling member constituency	Warley
tabling member printed	Mr John Spellar
uin	218050
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The European Commission is conducting, on behalf of the UK, nine bilateral trade negotiations, and a number of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation where the EU negotiates on behalf of the UK and the EU.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 17/12/2014 16:21:46 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	318 label Biography information for Lord Spellar

168494

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total number of apprenticeship frameworks started in England in academic years 2012–13 and 2013–14 by young adults aged (1) 19–21, and (b) 22–24.
tabling member printed	Lord Willis of Knaresborough
uin	HL3524
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>Table 1 shows the number of apprenticeship starts in England for age groups 19-21 and 22-24 in 2012/13 and 2013/14.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Apprenticeship Starts by Age, 2012/13 to 2013/14</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Age group</p></td><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>2013/14</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>19-21</p></td><td><p>99,900</p></td><td><p>101,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>22-24</p></td><td><p>65,400</p></td><td><p>58,100</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>19-24 total</p></td><td><p>165,400</p></td><td><p>159,100</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Source: Individualised Learner Record</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>1) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 100.</p><p> </p><p>2) Age is calculated based on age at the start of the programme.</p><p> </p><p>3) Volumes are a count of the number of starts at any point in the year. Learners starting more than one apprenticeship will appear more than once.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 17/12/2014 14:34:20 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	4151 label Biography information for Lord Willis of Knaresborough

168580

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
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	Iron and Steel: Wales
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 the Answers to Questions 58 and 86 in his oral evidence of 29 January 2014 to the Welsh Affairs Committee on the steel industry in Wales, HC 882-i, what progress he has made in initiatives to create supply chain groups.
tabling member constituency	Islwyn
tabling member printed	Chris Evans
uin	217589
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government has initiated a supply chain plan policy in the renewable electricity sector. To be able to take part in the allocation process for a Contract for Difference, developers of projects above 300MW must submit a supply chain plan providing evidence that the project will make a material contribution to the economic growth and viability of the industrial supply chain. Any plans assessed by Government to be unsatisfactory would not be allowed to enter the Contract for Difference round. In addition the Offshore Wind Industry Council – a partnership between industry and Government - is taking forward actions from the offshore wind supply chain review conducted by Matthew Chinn that was published last month.</p><p> </p><p>Through the industrial strategy programme, we are working in partnership with industry to develop strong supply chains in the UK. We have set out a range of measures in our sector strategies published last year, which we are continuing to deliver.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 17/12/2014 11:31:17 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	4040 label Biography information for Chris Evans

167973

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	Productivity
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 the Government is taking to improve productivity.
tabling member constituency	Mid Sussex
tabling member printed	Sir Nicholas Soames
uin	217275
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>Government policy focuses on delivering growth; this in turn partly depends on longer term improvements to productivity. As such, much of the Government’s economic policy is about raising productivity, including but not limited to:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Tax cuts</strong>: Government is actively working to reduce the tax burden where possible to help give businesses the confidence to invest and grow. Initiatives announced at this year’s Autumn Statement include a doubling of the Small Business Rate Relief for a further year, and a continued cap on the annual increase in business rates at 2% from April 2015 to March 2016. More widely the UK now has the lowest headline corporate tax rate in the G7 and 4th lowest in the G20. Budget 2013 announced further measures to reduce the main corporate tax rate to 20% by 2015.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Deregulation</strong>: Government departments are working together to simplify and reduce the regulatory burden for UK businesses through the Red Tape Challenge, One In, One Out , and One In, Two Out policies. This will create a regulatory environment in which businesses have the confidence to invest and grow. This work is already showing significant signs of success; excluding EU regulation, the estimated annual net cost of regulation to UK business has fallen by £1.5bn since 2011.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Skills</strong>: Ensuring employers have access to workers with the right skills plays a crucial role in enhancing the UK’s productivity. This Government has driven up participation in education, employment or training for 16-24 year olds since 2011. Apprenticeship participation has risen by 77% from 2009/10 to 2012/13, and there have been over 2 million Apprentices started since 2010.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is giving employers more direct control over the design and delivery of training solutions to address skills shortages and improve business performance through the Employer Ownership Pilot (EOP) and its successor Employer Ownership Fund (EOF). The Government is completing round 2 of EOP which will be worth £238m and has announced targeted activity for the auto supply chain and engineering under EOF.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Infrastructure</strong>: High quality infrastructure is essential for supporting productivity growth. Delivering the right infrastructure at a local, regional and national level, across the UK, is therefore key to the government’s long-term economic plan. Since 2010, this Government has completed 55 major roads and local transport projects, completed major improvements to Kings Cross station as well as 400 other stations, opened Heathrow Terminal 2 and introduced £22 billion of private sector investment in water assets.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The National Infrastructure Plan for 2014 outlines a £466 billion plan for the UK’s infrastructure, of which £189 billion is future investment. This includes £15 billion of road improvements, £38bn investment in rail and £46 billion investment in the gas and electricity network.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Science and Innovation</strong>: The government funds and supports innovation in science, technology and engineering to help the UK’s high-tech industries to thrive. This has already seen £600m of government funding committed to the development and commercialisation of eight great technologies, a further £106m investment in new Centres for Doctoral Training, which will train more than 750 new students, and £42m in the creation of the Alan Turing Institute – a world-class research institute specialising in Big Data science. Details of the government’s on-going commitment to science and innovation will feature in the soon to be released Science and Innovation Strategy.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 17/12/2014 16:23:19 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock previous answer version 32571 answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark answering member 1578
tabling member	116 label Biography information for Lord Soames of Fletching