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92123

registered interest
date	26/09/2014
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	Electronic Commerce
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 encourage the uptake of (a) e-commerce and (b) other online tools among (i) businesses and (ii) consumers.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	209776
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2014 answer text <p>The Government is encouraging businesses to adopt digital technology by supporting the work of the digital charity Go On UK and other external partners to promote the benefits of digital and to improve basic online skills. The Government is also working with Local Enterprise Partnerships to expand digital support for businesses at a local level.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy, published earlier this year, sets out how the government and partners will help get people online.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 15/10/2014 08:56:01 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

92126

registered interest
date	26/09/2014
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	Foreign Investment: Colombia
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 ensure that the forthcoming UK-Colombia bilateral investment treaty includes adequate protection for UK investors.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	209779
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2014 answer text <p>The UK-Colombia Bilateral Investment Treaty was negotiated in 2008-09. It aims to protect investors from discriminatory treatment. The agreement includes Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions to enable investors to claim compensation through independent international arbitration if they believe the standards of protection set out in the treaty have been breached whilst protecting the ability of the host government to regulate in the public interest in areas such as the environment.</p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 14/10/2014 16:28:28 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78640

registered interest
date	17/07/2014
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	New Businesses
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 employed people who wish to start their own business.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206554
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Small businesses are vital to the economy and this Government is supporting people to start up a business in a number of ways.</p><p> </p><p>The website <a href="http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/" target="_blank">www.greatbusiness.gov.uk</a> provides general support and advice for entrepreneurs starting out; specific support available in Northern Ireland is available at <a href="http://www.investni.com/" target="_blank">www.investni.com</a> . We recognise that a key issue for many start-ups is accessing affordable finance. The British Business Bank recently published “<em>The Business Finance Guide: A Journey from Start-Up to Growth</em>” which is available on the British Business Bank Website. It is a unique guide that sets out the main things to consider and outlines sources of finance available to businesses – ranging from start-ups to growing businesses.</p><p> </p><p>For those looking for start up finance and advice there are Start-Up Loans: 24 loans worth over £100, 000 have been drawn down in Belfast since the scheme began in 2012.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 02/09/2014 16:54:35 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78658

registered interest
date	17/07/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Credit: Interest Rates
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to address concerns that payday loan companies are exploiting vulnerable people.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206553
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/08/2014 answer text <p>The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the payday market, transferring regulatory responsibility for consumer credit regulation from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 1 April 2014. The FCA has a statutory objective to protect consumers.</p><p> </p><p>It is important that consumers are protected from unfair costs. The Government has therefore legislated to require the FCA to introduce a cap on the cost of payday loans, and the FCA is currently consulting on its cap proposals.</p><p> </p><p>The Government also strongly welcomes the FCA’s new rules for regulating payday lending, including action on rollovers and continuous payment authorities (CPAs). Payday lenders are also required to adhere to the FCA’s high level principles of business, including that of ‘treating customers fairly’.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The FCA has also introduced affordability rules to strengthen consumer protection, based on the principle that money should only be lent to a consumer if they can afford it.</p> answering member constituency South Northamptonshire answering member printed Andrea Leadsom question first answered 18/08/2014 09:50:24 answering member 4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78677

registered interest
date	17/07/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to provide more effective support to children with disabilities in their formative years.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206555
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2014 answer text <p>In September 2012 we introduced a new early years progress check for children at the age of two, as part of the reformed Early Years Foundation Stage. This will help to pick up potential difficulties early and ensure that support plans are in place for tackling them.</p><p> </p><p>We are working with the Department of Health to co-ordinate the new check at age two with the Healthy Child Programme’s health and development review at age two to two-and-a-half. The aim is to create a fully integrated early years and health review from 2015.</p><p> </p><p>This will be supported by the reforms set out in the Children and Families Act and the new 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice. These are part of wider educational reform in England to ensure that all children and young people have access to high quality teaching and equal opportunities, regardless of background or circumstance. The SEND reforms aim to join up support across education, health and care from birth to 25. Help is to be offered at the earliest possible point, with children and young people with SEND and their parents fully involved in decisions about their support and what they want to achieve.</p><p> </p><p>The reforms will create a more streamlined and transparent system that gives children with SEND and their families individualised support from birth until adulthood. There will be much more of a focus on outcomes, not hours. Professionals will need to focus on the progress each child or young person makes as a result of interventions, not just how much time, resource or money is being put in to support them.</p><p> </p><p>All maintained nurseries, schools and colleges must work with their local authority to develop a ‘local offer’. This will outline all the support available across health, education and care, to children and young people with SEND and what to do if things go wrong or parents and young people are unhappy about the support they are getting.</p><p> </p><p>The new system will be introduced from 1 September 2014 with the transition from the old to the new system to be complete within three years.</p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Mr Edward Timpson question first answered 22/07/2014 16:08:56 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78716

registered interest
date	17/07/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Kenya
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to offer support and advice to UK citizens visiting Kenya.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206551
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2014 answer text <p>FCO travel advice provides objective information and advice to help British nationals make better informed decisions about foreign travel. Our travel advice is reviewed regularly, and is updated if we are aware of an incident that might significantly affect Britons travelling or living in a particular area. We promote travel advice updates via email alerts and on our social media channels. We advise against travel when we consider the level of risk to British nationals in a particular place is unacceptably high. The current travel advice for Kenya can be found on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/kenya</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Mark Simmonds question first answered 22/07/2014 12:45:49 answering member 1393 label Biography information for Mark Simmonds
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78335

registered interest
date	16/07/2014
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	Graduates
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 increase opportunities for university leavers and to ensure that university leavers in all regions and constituent parts of the UK benefit from his efforts.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206222
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p>The Government is rebuilding, rebalancing and growing the economy to ensure that all university leavers in all parts of the country are given the opportunity to achieve their potential.</p><p>The economic plan is working, with over two million more private sector jobs and 400,000 more businesses.</p><p>To enable students to take advantage of these opportunities we are increasing the information available to them through the Key Information Set. This provides comparable information on over 37,000 undergraduate courses at universities and colleges across the country.</p><p>Our Graduate Talent Pool programme has played a valuable role in stimulating the UK graduate internship market, helping graduates to gain relevant work experience and improving their employment prospects.</p><p>Latest data, from the Destinations of Leavers of Higher Education survey, show that these policies are working. 88% of full-time first degree leavers who graduated from UK universities in 2012/13 were in employment or further study 6 months after graduation.</p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 01/09/2014 16:04:19 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78393

registered interest
date	16/07/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	World War I: Anniversaries
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage community organisations to take up EU funding offered by the Europe for Citizens Programme and similar schemes in order to commemorate the centenary of World War I through exchanges and visits.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206181
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2014 answer text <p>During the passage of the European Approval Act 2013 I took great care to emphasise the opportunities the Europe for Citizens Programme offers for commemoration of the First World War. The Government will deliver a four year programme to mark the First World War centenary through a package of funded activity worth over £125m. Alongside the UK centenary programme, the Europe for Citizens programme will provide opportunities to develop a greater understanding of the period between those who were both allies and adversaries at the time</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 22/07/2014 13:42:29 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78470

registered interest
date	16/07/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	North Korea
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to prevent the use and development of nuclear weapons by North Korea; and what assessment he has made of the recent missile tests in the Gongwan Province.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206223
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2014 answer text <p>We remain extremely concerned by the continued development of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear and ballistic missile programme, and by its refusal to abide by UN Security Council resolutions. We continue to work closely with partners to press for implementation of the UN’s sanctions regime, to control the DPRK’s access to proliferation sensitive material and to prevent them from exporting arms and technology.</p><p>In the last few weeks the DPRK has undertaken a series of launches of short-range ballistic missiles, mainly of the SCUD class. No prior notice was given in advance of any of these launches. While it is likely that the DPRK is conducting these launches for training and development purposes, it is without doubt also using them to demonstrate its capability, and timing them to maximise political effect. We strongly condemn these, and we urge the DPRK to comply with all of its obligations under relevant UNSCRs and to refrain from any further provocations that cannot help but destabilise the peninsula and the wider region.</p> answering member constituency East Devon answering member printed Mr Hugo Swire question first answered 22/07/2014 13:15:32 answering member 1408 label Biography information for Lord Swire
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

78472

registered interest
date	16/07/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Japan
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of recent changes in Japan's constitution and its defence doctrine.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	206184
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2014 answer text <p>The UK welcomes a more active role for Japan on international peace and security. These reforms, based on a reinterpretation of Japan’s constitution, will allow it to make a greater contribution to international peace and security, including through exercising its right under the UN Charter to collective self-defence. We have worked well with Japan in difficult security environments overseas and we welcome the prospect of greater practical cooperation in these areas.</p> answering member constituency East Devon answering member printed Mr Hugo Swire question first answered 22/07/2014 13:12:02 answering member 1408 label Biography information for Lord Swire
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn