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224110

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Student Finance England
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 effectiveness of Student Finance England's processes for approving student finance applications and transferring payments to approved applicants.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Greg Mulholland
uin	225709
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>Annual performance targets are in place to monitor the effectiveness of Student Finance England's processes for approving student finance applications and transferring of payments to approved applicants. The Student Loan Company’s performance against these targets is monitored on an ongoing basis by the SLC Board and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills meet the Chair and Chief Executive regularly to review the Company’s overall performance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 13/03/2015 14:24:16 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark previous answer version 48704 answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1540 label Biography information for Greg Mulholland

224111

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Student Finance England
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what guidance he has provided to Student Finance England on the length of time taken to (a) approve student finance applications and (b) transfer funds after approval.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Greg Mulholland
uin	225710
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>Annual targets are set for the Student Loans Company on both the length of time taken to approve student finance applications and the transfer of funds after approval. These targets are contained within the Annual Performance and Resource Agreement letter, the latest of which dated 24 April 2014 is publically available on the Student Loans Company website.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 13/03/2015 14:25:47 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark previous answer version 48707 answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1540 label Biography information for Greg Mulholland

224112

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Student Finance England
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 ensure interim financial support is provided to students when approval of their applications to Student Finance England has been delayed.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Greg Mulholland
uin	225711
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>Student Finance England maintains two processes to provide interim financial support in cases where further information is required from applicants or their sponsors before means tested applications can be finalised. These processes run automatically each evening and allow Student Finance England to release the minimum non means tested support to students who have satisfied their personal eligibility requirements (e.g. Identity, Residency, Higher Education Institution and Course). Any additional means tested support will then follow on receipt of the appropriate information.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 13/03/2015 14:26:42 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark previous answer version 48709 answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1540 label Biography information for Greg Mulholland

224113

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Student Finance England
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which student groups he has recently met to discuss the performance of Student Finance England.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Greg Mulholland
uin	225712
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>As Minister of State for Universities and Science, I visit Universities on a regular basis and on those occasions meet with student groups to discuss a wide range of issue including Student Finance England.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 13/03/2015 14:27:39 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark previous answer version 48713 answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1540 label Biography information for Greg Mulholland

224114

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Student Finance England
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 effectiveness of Student Finance England's complaints procedure.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Greg Mulholland
uin	225713
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>I meet the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Student Loans Company regularly to review the Company’s overall performance, including its handling of complaints, and am confident that the Company has robust procedures in place to ensure customers’ concerns are resolved effectively.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 13/03/2015 14:28:36 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark previous answer version 48717 answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1540 label Biography information for Greg Mulholland

224115

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Galileo System
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 6 January 2015 to Question 219924, what the nature of the launch anomaly was; and what the result of the full inquiry was.
tabling member constituency	Great Grimsby
tabling member printed	Austin Mitchell
uin	225697
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>The root cause of the launch anomaly that affected the 5th Galileo launch on 22 August 2014 was a design fault leading to a shortcoming in the system thermal analysis.</p><p> </p><p>As a result of the inquiry the system thermal analyses were re-examined and the design fault corrected. The Inquiry Board recommended measures that would allow a return to flight for the Soyuz launch vehicle. The Commission now aims to resume Galileo launches shortly.</p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 13/03/2015 14:11:44 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	372 label Biography information for Austin Mitchell

224116

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Fairtrade Initiative
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 encourage retailers to stock more Fairtrade products and adopt Fairtrade principles.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Mr Ian Davidson
uin	225703
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p>The power of Fairtrade, championed by some of Britain's best brands, is undeniable. While it remains a commercial decision on whether or not to stock Fairtrade products and adopt Fairtrade Principles, sales of Fairtrade products in the UK rose by 14% in 2013/14 to £1.78bn.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Policy on Fairtrade products rests with the Department for International Development who have invested £18 million over six years in Fairtrade in order to help open up new markets in harder to reach places and also to break down trade barriers faced by women.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>For our part, we are working with the British Retail Consortium to develop guidance which sets out how retailers can apply appropriate due diligence and reporting in respect of their supply chains to ensure that consideration is given to the manner in which goods are brought to market.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Enabling the world's poorest people to get a fair price for what they produce helps end poverty and also creates tomorrow's new markets for us to trade with.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 04/03/2015 15:29:42 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	611 label Biography information for Mr Ian Davidson

224117

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Foreign Companies
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what policies his Department has in place to protect product standards in British companies when they are taken over by foreign companies.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
uin	225735
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p>The Takeover Code governs takeovers of UK public companies in order to provide an orderly framework for the conduct of bids and to ensure that shareholders are treated fairly and equally. However, the Code does not contain any rules about product standards following a takeover. These would only be regulated by the Takeover Panel if the bidder had made a specific commitment or intention statement on the matter during the course of the offer.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 04/03/2015 15:31:02 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

224118

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Galileo System
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 22 January 2014, Official Report, column 213W, on the Galileo system, what the cost was to January 2014; and what proportion of that cost has been paid by the UK.
tabling member constituency	Great Grimsby
tabling member printed	Austin Mitchell
uin	225742
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>The Galileo Programme’s development stage took place between 2000 and 2007, and was funded through contributions by Member States of the European Space Agency (ESA). The UK contributed €240.3 million (£163.43m at March 2007 prices) to the approximately €1.5 billion (£1.02bn at March 2007 prices) budget, approximately 16%.</p><p> </p><p>In 2007, Member States and the European Commission agreed a multi-annual budget to last until the end of 2013 of €3.4 billion (£2.3bn at March 2007 prices) of EU funds to complete the programme. EU Member States, including the UK, contribute to the EU Budget as a whole and not to individual spending programmes within it. As a reference point, the UK’s post-abatement financing share of the EU Budget was estimated to be around 12.5% in 2013.</p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 13/03/2015 14:12:46 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	372 label Biography information for Austin Mitchell

224119

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Public Sector: Procurement
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he plans to take to ensure that the Public Procurement Contract Regulations 2015 deliver an increase in not-for-profit delivery of public procurement contracts.
tabling member constituency	Blaydon
tabling member printed	Mr David Anderson
uin	225724
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2015 answer text <p>The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 came into effect on 26 February. They will provide a much more modern, flexible and commercial approach compared to the previous regime. Outdated and superfluous constraints have been removed, and many new reforms have been included to streamline and modernise public procurement.</p><p> </p><p>We have also introduced further measures to remove barriers facing small and medium-sized enterprises. Together, these will make it easier for all suppliers to bid for and win public procurement contracts.</p><p> </p><p>The new measures will increase the visibility of low-value contract opportunities and make the bidding process quicker and simpler across the wider public sector. Complex forms, such as Pre-Qualification Questionnaires, are now abolished for low value contracts. Everyone in the supply chain must comply with 30-day payment terms, including suppliers and sub-contractors, and public bodies must publish an annual late payment report, making their accountability more transparent.</p><p> </p><p>For a range of services that are commonly delivered by public service mutuals (such as social and cultural services) commissioners will also have the option of using a ‘mutuals reservation’. This grants public bodies the ability to limit competition to mutuals and social enterprises that meet the tests set out in the directive. This means many mutuals will be able to win their initial contract without having to compete with more established players, allowing them to establish and grow as a business during their first 3 years.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Horsham answering member printed Mr Francis Maude question first answered 05/03/2015 11:16:49 answering member 115 label Biography information for Lord Maude of Horsham
tabling member	1486 label Biography information for Mr David Anderson