Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

165869

registered interest
date	25/11/2014
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	Water
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 reduce water (a) usage and (b) bills in his Department; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	215952
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/12/2014 answer text <p>The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), including 9 arm-lengths bodies, has a baseline for water use of 283,495m<sup>3 </sup>across the estate. In April 2014 the Department achieved a 45% reduction compared to the baseline.</p><p> </p><p>One method for reducing water consumption since April 2014 has been to install waterless urinals throughout the building at 1 Victoria Street. In addition to this, BIS has also reduced flush capacity by 3 litres so far in year 2014/15.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is aiming to build on the current reduction by the end of year 2014/15 and we anticipate that the decrease in water usage by BIS will equate to a significant financial saving.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 02/12/2014 17:35:35 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

165880

registered interest
date	25/11/2014
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	Social Services: Pay
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will publish the timetable within which the Government's consideration of how further targeted enforcement in the care sector can be undertaken through its annual review of the HM Revenue and Customs service level agreement for national minimum wage enforcement.
tabling member constituency	Oxford East
tabling member printed	Mr Andrew Smith
uin	215806
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/12/2014 answer text <p>BIS monitors and reviews activity against the Service Level Agreement with HM Revenue and Customs throughout the year, and is considering what further targeted enforcement action might be appropriate to inform the next Service Level Agreement, which will commence in April 2015. I therefore do not plan to publish a more detailed timetable.</p><p> </p><p>As set out in my response to the Hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield), parliamentary question 213960, on 5 November 2014, action by HMRC continues to follow up on the previous targeted enforcement in the care sector, in addition to responding to every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should call the Helpline on 0800 917 2368.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 02/12/2014 16:12:44 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	95 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Smith

165887

registered interest
date	25/11/2014
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	Flexible Working: Scotland
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 number of (a) women and (b) men in (i) Scotland and (ii) Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency who have made a statutory application to request flexible working.
tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
tabling member printed	Cathy Jamieson
uin	215848
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/12/2014 answer text <p>The latest Work-life Balance Employee Survey which is available on .gov.uk shows that in 2011, 28% of women employees and 17% of male employees in Great Britain, and 17% of employees in Scotland had made a request to change their working arrangements in the last two years. The Survey does not provide the statistics for men and women at the level of Scotland, or at the level of the Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency.</p><p> </p><p>The survey defines working arrangements as the amount of hours worked, when these hours are worked, and where (e.g. at home).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 02/12/2014 17:23:42 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4011 label Biography information for Cathy Jamieson

165976

registered interest
date	25/11/2014
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	Milk: Prices
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will hold discussions with the major supermarkets on measures to reduce the practice of suppressing retail milk price as a loss leader.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	215894
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2014 answer text <p>The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as the UK’s competition authority can carry out investigations where there is evidence of abuse of a dominant position or market abuse. Whilst the Government does not generally intervene in what businesses charge consumers for their goods and services we do recognise the concerns over the current pressures on milk prices. That is why my hon Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs brought forward and chaired a meeting of the Dairy Supply Chain Forum last week.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Members, which include retailer representatives, discussed the recommendations made in the recent independent review of the dairy industry voluntary Code of Practice, one of which was to explore the possibility of expanding adoption of the Code within the supply chain to include retailers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 28/11/2014 14:29:09 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

166059

registered interest
date	25/11/2014
answering body	Women and Equalities
answering dept id	31
answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
hansard heading	Females: Directors
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, what estimate her Department has made of the overall change in women's representation in boardrooms in the private sector in the UK between 1984 and 2014.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	215897
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government supports Cranfield University which produces the Female FTSE report. This measures progress annually of the female representation on UK listed boards.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· In 1999 the proportion of women directors was 6.29%. This included female Executive Directors (EDs) at 2.02% and Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) at 10.82%. In 2000 the proportion of female directors had fallen to 5.81%.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· In 2011 the Government established the Lord Davies Review when the number of women on FTSE boards was still only 12.5%.</p><p> </p><p>· The latest figures published in November show almost a doubling of these figures since 2011. Nearly 23% (249) of directors in the FTSE100 are now women. Of these 8.4% (24) are executive directors and 27.9% (225) are non-executive directors. There are now no all-male boards left in the FTSE100 and we are on track to meet the target set by Lord Davies of 25% women on boards by 2015.</p><p> </p><p>With the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Government also funds Cranfield University to monitor corporate governance practices in respect of whether companies are complying with the changes in the FRC code. The last report was launched by the Minister for Women and Equalities on 5 November. The report shows progress is being made in the FTSE 100 companies with 85% having a clear policy on boardroom diversity in comparison to 65% last year. The Government wants to see all companies addressing every point of the new Code in their reporting.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 28/11/2014 12:48:14 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

166060

registered interest
date	25/11/2014
answering body	Women and Equalities
answering dept id	31
answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
hansard heading	Human Rights: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, what recent discussions she has had with her international counterparts on protecting the rights of women and girls overseas.
tabling member constituency	North East Hertfordshire
tabling member printed	Sir Oliver Heald
uin	215837
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2014 answer text <p>We participate in the Commission on the Status of Women, which is the principal global event on women’s rights organised by the UN. My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Minister for Women and Equalities, recently returned from the US where she had a meeting with the Executive Director of UN Women, and others active in the field, to discuss the forthcoming session, which will be held in March next year.</p><p> </p><p>In the summer we hosted two global events – a summit with a focus on preventing sexual violence in conflict, which generated strong international support; and a girl summit, which brought together a range of international stakeholders to accelerate momentum in tackling child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation<strong>. </strong></p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 28/11/2014 10:35:54 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	69 label Biography information for Sir Oliver Heald

164308

registered interest
date	24/11/2014
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 Government
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 his Department is taking to ensure its services are available online; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	215655
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2014 answer text <p>A number of BIS services are available online including transaction services (e.g. filing information and accounts at Companies House), as well as online guidance available on GOV.UK and information on BIS services. BIS also uses digital channels to engage stakeholders in developing policy making.</p><p>BIS is committed to the vision set out in the Government Digital Strategy, publishing its own digital strategy in 2012. BIS and Partner Organisations have embarked on a digital transformation programme that by 2020 will ensure that all services that can be redesigned as such will be 'digital by default' and available on GOV.UK. They will be redesigned around the needs of users i.e. businesses, students, employees and consumers.</p><p>As a critical first step, BIS is playing a key role as part of the Government's Digital Exemplar Programme covering organisations with services that have over 100k transactions annually. BIS provides 5 of the 25 exemplar services. These are:</p><ul><li>Patents Renewal (Intellectual Property Office (IPO))</li><li>Redundancy Payments (Insolvency Service)</li><li>Land Registry Digital Delivery Service</li><li>Apprenticeships (Skills Funding Agency)</li><li>Part-Time Student Finance (Student Loans Company)</li></ul><p>Each of these services have or are being redesigned to be digital by default. Two are already live - Patents Renewal and Part-Time Student Finance - and the remaining three will be publicly available by end March 2015.</p><p>Beyond the exemplar services, The BIS Digital and Technology 2020 roadmap will identify all current non-digital services across BIS and Partner Organisations that need to be redesigned to be digital by default by 2020 along with the estimated timelines for development and online availability.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 27/11/2014 15:37:12 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

164479

registered interest
date	24/11/2014
answering body	Women and Equalities
answering dept id	31
answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
hansard heading	Employment: Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to tackle discrimination of disabled people in the UK workforce.
tabling member constituency	Upper Bann
tabling member printed	David Simpson
uin	215738
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government is fully committed to the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits employers from discriminating against their disabled employees and job applicants with a disability. Employers are also required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees so that they can work on a similar basis to employees that do not have a disability. Where an employee or potential employee believes that they have experienced disability discrimination, they can make a claim to an employment tribunal within six months of the alleged discrimination taking place.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to ensuring that all disabled people have the opportunities, chances and support that they need to gain and remain in employment, and there is a range of available provision to help them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Equality Ac 2010 only applies to England Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own disability discrimination legislation - Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 01/12/2014 14:29:23 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	1597 label Biography information for David Simpson

164115

registered interest
date	21/11/2014
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how he plans to keep the people who lost money following the failure of firms involved in Scottish Power's cashback warranty scheme updated on progress on the review of whether there will be further investigations of that matter.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	215591
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/11/2014 answer text <p>The outcome and recommendations of the review have just been passed to me and I will need to consider them. Any enquiry into this matter may be by way of a publicly announced inspection or a confidential investigation. If a public inspection is to be carried out this will be announced in due course.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 26/11/2014 15:22:25 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

164117

registered interest
date	21/11/2014
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	Social Services: Pay
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 19 November 2014 to Question 213960, what plans he has to meet the Minister of State for Care and Support to discuss minimum wage enforcement in the care sector.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	215559
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2014 answer text <p>While I have regular discussions on a wide range of issues with Ministerial colleagues I do not currently have any plans to meet formally the Minister of State for Care and Support to discuss minimum wage enforcement in the care sector. We do, however, also ensure that our officials work closely, along with HM Revenue and Customs, to improve compliance in the sector.</p><p> </p><p>To make the Social Care Commitment, employers must first commit to ensuring good employment practice. The terms and conditions of acceptance for the Social Care Commitment includes paying the National Minimum Wage as a minimum.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills monitors and reviews activity against the Service Level Agreement with HM Revenue and Customs throughout the year, and is considering what further targeted enforcement action might be appropriate to inform the next Service Level Agreement, which will commence in April 2015. As set out in my answer to PQ 213960 on 5 November 2014, action by HMRC continues to follow up on the previous targeted enforcement in the care sector, in addition to responding to every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline.</p><p> </p><p>Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should call the Pay &amp; Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368. HM Revenue &amp; Customs investigate all complaints.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson grouped question UIN 215560 215561 question first answered 28/11/2014 14:22:43 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield