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510178

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Apprentices: Degrees
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether students with disabilities taking the proposed new Degree Apprenticeships will have access to the support of the Disabled Students Allowance in the same way as any student undertaking a higher education qualification at any institute of higher education.
tabling member printed	Lord Addington
uin	HL7384
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p>Apprenticeships are jobs with training. As an apprentice is paid by their employer, they cannot access the student support package, which includes the Disabled Students Allowance.</p><p>Apprentices with disabilities can apply for Access to Work funding for adjustments to the workplace. Training providers can use this to support the apprentice’s learning. Adjustments will depend on the individual and the qualification, but may include extra time, assistive technology, use of a scribe etc.</p><p>Under the Equality Act (2010), employers and training providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for their employees and students. These same duties apply for apprentices, including degree apprentices.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/04/2016 12:14:26 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	3453 label Biography information for Lord Addington

510179

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Students: Reasonable Adjustments
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any college or institution involved in the teaching of Degree Apprenticeships will have the same duty to provide reasonable adjustments and support to any candidate with a disability as a conventional university or institute of higher education.
tabling member printed	Lord Addington
uin	HL7385
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p>Yes. The training for Degree Apprenticeships will be provided by many of the same universities as traditional degrees.</p><p>Under the Equality Act (2010), all employers and training providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for their employees and students. These same duties apply for apprentices, including degree apprentices in exactly the same way.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/04/2016 15:50:10 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	3453 label Biography information for Lord Addington

510266

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Retail Trade
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the 0.4 per cent fall in February in the volume of goods sold in UK shops.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL7472
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p>Individual month on month changes can be volatile. Although the latest ONS Retail Sales Index reports a fall of 0.4 per cent in the volume of goods sold on a seasonally adjusted basis in February, it follows on from a strong monthly rise in January (2.3 per cent). It is also a 3.8 per cent increase on February of last year.</p><p>This monthly decline in sales volumes was seen across all the headline categories of retail (with the exception of household goods stores). However, for almost all categories the decline was substantially smaller than the growth seen in the previous month.</p><p>The latest Retail Sales Index publication and supplementary data is attached and can be found here:-</p><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/february2016" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/february2016</a></p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/04/2016 12:13:32 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe attachment 1 file name Retail Sales February 2016.pdf title Retail Sales Index January - February 2016
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

510268

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Productivity
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the finding in the study of attitudes to work by the Smith Institute that more than two-thirds of British workers are spending longer at their workplace for little or no gain in productivity.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL7474
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p>The Smith Institute survey of trade union members asked whether respondents thought they were working “harder” and whether they were more productive than two years ago. Given the ambiguity over the term “working harder” and the unrepresentative sample used, caution should be drawn on the relationship between hours worked and productivity.</p><p>However, ONS data indicate that between 2010 and 2015 the total number of hours worked per week in the UK economy has increased by 8.4%<sup>1</sup>. The vast majority of the increase, around 80%, came from higher employment. While the remainder did come from increased average hours this in part reflects a reduction in the share of part-time work.</p><p>It has been this significant increase in the number of people employed that has driven growth in the UK economy in recent years. The challenge now is to ensure the UK continues to grow through rising productivity. The government’s ‘Fixing the Foundations’ productivity plan, sets out an ambitious vision and the pro-productivity agenda designed to meet this challenge. Productivity, measured as output per hour worked, increased by 1.0% in 2015 as a whole – the largest annual increase since 2011.</p><p>References</p><p>1. ONS UK Labour Market (March 2016): Actual weekly hours worked (seasonally adjusted)</p><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/actualweeklyhoursworkedseasonallyadjustedhour01sa" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/actualweeklyhoursworkedseasonallyadjustedhour01sa</a></p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/04/2016 12:12:28 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe attachment 1 file name hour01saapr2016.xls title ONS UK Labour Market March 2016 weekly hours
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

510290

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Training: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many training providers in receipt of Skills Funding Agency (SFA) funding ceased trading in (1) 2011–12, (2) 2012–13, and (3) 2013–14; how much funding those providers had received from the SFA in the three years prior to their ceasing to trade; and how many of them were further education colleges.
tabling member printed	Baroness Wolf of Dulwich
uin	HL7496
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Skills Funding Agency does not hold not information on providers which have ceased trading.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/04/2016 16:35:33 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	4347 label Biography information for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich

510291

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Training: Fraud
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many training providers were investigated for fraud or misappropriation of Skills Funding Agency funding during (1) 2011–12, (2) 2012–13, and (3) 2013–14; in how many cases there was a case to answer; and in those cases where findings of fraud or misappropriation were confirmed, which training providers were concerned.
tabling member printed	Baroness Wolf of Dulwich
uin	HL7497
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p>Investigations will result either in no funding issues being identified or the identification of funds for recovery. Funds identified for recovery may have been mis-claimed in error or may be the result of potential fraudulent actions. The Skills Funding Agency is not a prosecuting authority so where an investigation indicates potential fraud the case is referred to the police. Fraud is not confirmed unless there is a successful criminal prosecution.</p><p> </p><p>The table below shows the number of cases investigated, the number of cases where funds were identified for recovery (whether as a result of error or potential fraud), the number of cases referred to the police, the number of cases resulting in charges being brought and the outcome of prosecutions in each of the financial years 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. Note that where a case is referred to the police it may take a significant period (up to several years) for charges to be brought.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011-12</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012-13</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013-14</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No. of live investigations during the year</p></td><td><p>43</p></td><td><p>34</p></td><td><p>37</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No. of cases where funds were identified for recovery</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No. of cases referred to the police</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No. of cases where charges brought</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Outcome of prosecutions</p></td><td><p>1 successful 2 unsuccessful 1 ongoing</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>-</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>The successful prosecution as a result of an investigation in 2011-12 was of David Peters who worked as an assessor for Safetycor Ltd, a subcontractor to Exeter College and Wolverhampton College.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 25/04/2016 16:32:14 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	4347 label Biography information for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich

510292

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Students: Loans
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government where details of the new checks on alternative providers teaching students receiving financial support through the Student Loans Company can found; in what ways those checks address the issues raised by the National Audit Office in its report <i>Investigation into financial support for students at alternative higher education providers</i>; how often, and using what procedures, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills checks that student attendance data are correct, and that students are genuinely eligible; and what rules have been introduced to ensure that students have the capacity to complete their course.
tabling member printed	Baroness Wolf of Dulwich
uin	HL7498
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/05/2016 answer text <p>Requirements on Alternative Providers designated for student support are set out in “Specific Course Designation for Alternative Providers of Higher Education - Guidance for Providers: Criteria and Conditions and Annual Re-Designation” on gov.uk. Revised guidance detailing requirements for the 2016/17 academic year will be published in the summer.</p><p> </p><p>Measures introduced to address the issues raised by the National Audit Office were set out in a Written Ministerial Statement (29th January 2015) available at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/January%202015/29%20January/1.BIS-Higher-Ed.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/January%202015/29%20January/1.BIS-Higher-Ed.pdf</a>. The measures that are listed as ‘subject to consultation’ have now been implemented in full.</p><p> </p><p>Further measures were introduced for the 2015/16 academic year. Student number controls can now be used to limit recruitment at providers with unsatisfactory student completion rates or those deemed to be providing a poorer service than expected. Providers are required to give government better information about their provision to students, for example performance information including their drop-out and success rates. All providers are required to submit data on their students’ background and achievements to the Higher Education Statistics Agency. The Government has also formalised the right to access alternative providers’ premises and records.</p><p> </p><p>The Student Loans Company has introduced further checks requiring proof of residence to check student eligibility for support.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills also validates different information sources against each other to check coverage, for unusual results and to monitor any discrepancies between reporting bodies.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 09/05/2016 15:04:59 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park attachment 1 file name 1.BIS-Higher-Ed.pdf title Written Ministerial Statement
tabling member	4347 label Biography information for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich

510293

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Students: Loans
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individuals in receipt of loans from the Student Loan Company (SLC) are (1) currently out of contact, in that the SLC lacks up-to-date contact information for them, (2) in contact, but behind on repayments that are due, and (3) subject to the SLC being unable to calculate what the payment should be, expressed (a) in absolute figures, and (b) as a percentage of (i) all borrowers across the whole loan book, (ii) all UK domiciled borrowers, and (iii) for other non-UK EU borrowers.
tabling member printed	Baroness Wolf of Dulwich
uin	HL7499
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/05/2016 answer text <p>The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics covering the repayments of these loans are published annually by SLC separately for each UK Government Administration as part of the <em>Student loans, debt and repayment</em> Statistical First Releases (SFRs)::</p><p><a href="http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment.aspx</a></p><p><em> </em></p><p>Information on the repayment statuses of home and EU domiciled borrowers, who have been liable to repay, by cohort, can be found in tables 3A and 3B of the SFRs.</p><p> </p><p>At the beginning of the financial year 2015-16, there were 2.97 million borrowers of loans through the English student finance system, who have been liable to repay, and had at least one full tax year processed. Of these, 33,400 (1%) still had their repayment status to be confirmed, 13,500 (%3C1%) had defaulted on their repayments, and 9,200 (%3C1%) had not supplied their income and so been placed in arrears.</p><p> </p><p>Of the 2.97 million borrowers, 39,100 were domiciled in the EU prior to study. Of these, 3,300 (8%) still had their repayment status to be confirmed, 1,400 (3%) had defaulted on their repayments, and 5,000 (13%) had not supplied their income and so been placed in arrears.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 09/05/2016 15:04:51 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
tabling member	4347 label Biography information for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich

510325

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
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	Overseas Trade: Djibouti
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the trade and other economic links between the UK and Djibouti.
tabling member printed	Lord Patten
uin	HL7531
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p>HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics report the value of UK trade in goods with Djibouti. In 2015 the UK exported £11.9 million of goods to Djibouti, in the same year the UK imported £1.4 million of goods from Djibouti.</p><p>Data on the value of trade in services and other types of economic transaction between the UK and Djibouti is not available.</p> answering member printed Lord Price question first answered 25/04/2016 12:27:53 answering member 4570 label Biography information for Lord Price
tabling member	1137 label Biography information for Lord Patten

484831

registered interest
date	23/03/2016
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	Tickets: Sales
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in discussions with the European Commission about whether it would be in accordance with the EU Consumer Rights Directive for both primary and secondary market ticket sellers to be required to provide a unique reference number to ensure event organisers can track ticket sales.
tabling member printed	Lord Moynihan
uin	HL7339
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2016 answer text <p>Her Majesty's Government is satisfied that it has a clear understanding of the constraints on legislation imposed by the Consumer Rights Directive and has not to date sought discussions with the European Commission on this matter.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 08/04/2016 11:22:16 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	924 label Biography information for Lord Moynihan