To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans
he has for the implementation of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund; and how that
fund will be funded.
<p><del class="ministerial">Yes, employees are represented on the Department’s board.
The Permanent Secretary is a standing member of the Departmental Board, and meets
with the Departmental Trade Unions as staff representatives.</del></p><p> </p><p><del
class="ministerial">There are several other ways in which the views of employees of
the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are currently already
taken into account by the Departmental Board and its supporting committees.</del></p><p>
</p><p><del class="ministerial">The Board regularly discusses staff related matters,
such as the Civil Service People Survey results which reflect the views of the Department’s
employees, including views on the transition programme to create a new Department.</del></p><p>
</p><p><del class="ministerial">The Department’s governance structure includes a People
and Operations Committee, chaired by the Directors General responsible for People,
Corporate Services and the transition programme. This Committee has standing representation
from the HR Director and staff diversity networks as full members. Recommendations
from the Committee are routinely taken to the Department’s Executive Committee for
endorsement and approval.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">The composition
of the Departmental Board is determined by Cabinet Office and HMT’s <em>Corporate
Governance in Central Government Departments: Code of Good practice</em> (2011). Cabinet
Office and HMT are currently in the process of refreshing this guidance to reflect
current best practice.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">The Board also
has external Non-Executive Board Members (NEBMs) as standing members. NEBMs provide
external challenge and scrutiny and offer wider stakeholder views to the Board.</del></p><p>
</p><p><ins class="ministerial">A New Productivity Fund (NPIF) announced in the Autumn
Statement will provide for £23 billion of spending between 2017-18 and 2021-22.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Through the NPIF the government
will fund the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The fund will cover a broad range
of technologies, to be decided by an evidence-based process. It will be delivered
by Innovate UK and the Research Councils, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) when
it is established.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We
will begin to identify different challenge areas between now and the Budget in 2017.
More detail on funding breakdown and proposals will be set out in due course.</ins></p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2016
to Question 56146, how many people registering their identity have used the service
to (a) report a medical condition that affects their driving, (b) renew a short-term
medical driving licence, (c) check their income tax for the current year, (d) get
a state pension statement, (e) sign into their personal tax account, (f) view or share
driving licence information, (g) apply for universal credit, (h) claim for redundancy
and monies owed, (i) file a self assessment tax return, (j) update rural payment details,
(k) assist friends or family with their tax and (l) check or update company car tax
details.
<p>The number of new verified identity accounts used to register and access the following
government services since <a href="http://gov.uk/" target="_blank">GOV.UK</a> Verify
went into public beta on the 14th October <del class="ministerial">2016,</del> <ins
class="ministerial">2014,</ins> is as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Government
service</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>New verified accounts used to register and
access a service (LOA2)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>New basic accounts used to
register and access a service (LOA1)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Claim for redundancy
and monies owed</p></td><td><p>42,875</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Update rural payment
details</p></td><td><p>13,754</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>View or share driving licence
information</p></td><td><p>24,482</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apply for universal credit</p></td><td><p>29,307</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Check
or update company car tax details</p></td><td><p>49,088</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Assist
friends or family with their tax</p></td><td><p>1,929</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sign
into their personal tax account</p></td><td><p>43,539</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>File
a self assessment tax return</p></td><td><p>234,904</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Check
their income tax for the current year</p></td><td><p>24,961</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Get
a state pension statement</p></td><td><p>62,587</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Report a medical
condition that affects their driving</p></td><td><p>979</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Renew
a short-term medical driving licence</p></td><td><p>545</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p> </p>
