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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

156916

registered interest
date	20/11/2014
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	Insolvency
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on the effect of the changes to insolvency litigation in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on the Government's ability to tackle director misconduct.
tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
tabling member printed	Toby Perkins
uin	215435
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>Ministers are regularly in touch about matters in which they have a common interest.</p><p> </p><p>The changes in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 are not expected to have any impact on the c.1, 200 directors we disqualify every year as a result of actions brought by officials in The Insolvency Service.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 25/11/2014 13:33:49 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

156917

registered interest
date	20/11/2014
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	Post Office Card Account
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 future of the Post Office card account after March 2015.
tabling member constituency	Colne Valley
tabling member printed	Jason McCartney
uin	215421
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/11/2014 answer text <p>The Post Office card account is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not have a role in commercial negotiations between other Departments and Post Office Ltd.</p><p> </p><p>Post Office Ltd and the Department for Work and Pensions are currently discussing the future of the Post Office card account and an announcement will be made when these discussions are concluded.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 26/11/2014 15:21:53 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3953 label Biography information for Jason McCartney

156919

registered interest
date	20/11/2014
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	Postal Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received form private sector mail delivery companies on delivering mail in urban areas of the UK; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such proposals on the Royal Mail's ability to deliver Universal Service Provision in rural areas.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	215390
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Ministers and officials meet intermittently with representatives of UK postal companies, though there have not been any recent representations from such operators specifically on the issue of delivering mail in urban areas of the country.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Under the Postal Services Act 2011, Parliament gave Ofcom as an experienced and independent regulator the primary statutory duty to secure the provision of the universal service to all addresses – urban and rural – in the UK. Ofcom maintains an ongoing monitoring regime which tracks Royal Mail’s performance and any actual or potential market impacts on the provision of the universal service. Ofcom has said that their own evidence clearly shows that the service is not currently under threat.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Ofcom has been reviewing the case which Royal Mail has been making about the potential impact of competition on their ability to provide that service and is expected to make a statement very shortly. More information about Ofcom’s regulatory regime can be found on its website (<a href="http://www.ofcom.org.uk/" target="_blank">www.ofcom.org.uk/</a>).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The BIS Select Committee is currently carrying out an inquiry into postal competition in the UK and postal operators have recently submitted their evidence on market competition to inform the inquiry. Copies of written submissions can be found on Parliament’s website (<a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/inquiries/parliament-2010/competition-in-the-uk-postal-sector-/?type=Written#pnlPublicationFilter" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/inquiries/parliament-2010/competition-in-the-uk-postal-sector-/?type=Written#pnlPublicationFilter</a>).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 25/11/2014 13:43:59 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

156924

registered interest
date	20/11/2014
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	Motor Vehicles: Insurance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much and what proportion of the total annual expenditure of the Competition and Markets Authority was spent on activities relating to the motor insurance market in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Northfield
tabling member printed	Richard Burden
uin	215383
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>The Competition and Markets Authority became the UK’s lead competition and consumer body in April 2014, combining the Competition Commission (CC) with many of the functions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). It does not keep records of its expenditure by market. However, based on approximate time allocations and all-inclusive staff costs, and taking into account some external costs such as the cost of commissioning surveys, the total cost of the CC/CMA market inquiry into private motor insurance (which ran from 28 September 2012 to 24 September 2014) was approximately £2million. On the assumption that this cost was spread evenly over time, this would have represented approximately 4% of the CC’s costs in 2013/14.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 25/11/2014 13:26:38 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	301 label Biography information for Richard Burden

156926

registered interest
date	20/11/2014
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	Motor Vehicles: Insurance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much and what proportion of the total annual expenditure of the Financial Reporting Council was spent on activities relating to the motor insurance market in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Northfield
tabling member printed	Richard Burden
uin	215385
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>I understand that the Hon Member has already been in correspondence with the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) on this issue.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The FRC publishes annual reports on its activity and in addition reports to parliament on the exercise of its statutory functions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 25/11/2014 13:22:12 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	301 label Biography information for Richard Burden

157051

registered interest
date	20/11/2014
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	Low Pay
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 employers to implement the living wage; and what estimate he has made of the number of employees who earn less than the living wage.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	215412
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>We have encouraged employers by publicly expressing our support for paying the Living Wage when it is affordable and not at the expense of jobs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>To encourage higher living standards we have: raised the personal allowance providing an additional £700 in employee’s pay packets, increased the National Minimum Wage year-on-year despite the worst recession in living memory and on October 1<sup>st</sup> 2014 increased the minimum wage in real terms for the first time since 2007. The Low Pay Commission has reported that real increases are set to continue each year providing the economy continues to grow.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Finally, recent employment growth means that there are now more people in work than ever before providing welcome opportunities for those seeking work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>According to the 2014 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings there are around 5.7 million paid below the Living Wage or 22.7 per cent of workers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 25/11/2014 13:29:42 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

156727

registered interest
date	19/11/2014
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
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 and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.
tabling member constituency	Ashfield
tabling member printed	Gloria De Piero
uin	215176
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/11/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills operates a flexible working policy that enables employees to work flexibly wherever possible and where this meets the needs of the business. We have been offering our employees the opportunity to work flexibly since April 2012.</p><p>Decisions on how this operates for an individual employee, and consideration of statutory applications to request flexible working, are managed by line managers at a local level.</p><p>We do not hold central records on this and there would therefore be a disproportionate cost incurred in collecting this information from our line managers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 24/11/2014 15:09:37 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3915 label Biography information for Gloria De Piero

156756

registered interest
date	19/11/2014
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	Emigration: Skilled Workers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what research he has commissioned on the economic loss incurred as a result of the emigration of highly-skilled workers from the UK.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
uin	215135
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p>No such work has been commissioned to date.</p><p> </p><p>In the year ending March 2014 net migration to the UK, the difference between the number of people entering and leaving the UK, stood at +243,000.</p><p> </p><p>Latest figures from the ONS show that 316,000 emigrated from the UK whilst 560,000 immigrated to it. Of those emigrating 131,000 were UK citizens, accounting for 41% of the total numbers, and of this number 57% emigrated for work related reasons, (although there is no clarification whether the work was highly skilled or not).</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 25/11/2014 14:56:27 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

156771

registered interest
date	19/11/2014
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	Remembrance Day
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with his Ministerial colleagues on the creation of a new bank holiday on 11 November to honour the armed forces.
tabling member constituency	Mid Worcestershire
tabling member printed	Sir Peter Luff
uin	215232
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2014 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays to celebrate a variety of occasions. We have had many suggestions for the creation of a bank holiday after Remembrance Sunday, to celebrate the contribution of the armed forces. We fully understand the support for the idea, as our armed forces do a tremendous job and sadly some make the ultimate sacrifice for our country.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We believe however that Remembrance Sunday is the most fitting way to commemorate our armed forces, and so we have no plans to observe their achievements and their great sacrifices by means of a new bank holiday.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We also have to bear in mind the costs of additional bank holidays. The most recent assessment for the Diamond Jubilee is that a bank holiday across the whole of the UK costs employers around £1.2bn.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 25/11/2014 11:02:12 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	268 label Biography information for Sir Peter Luff