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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to promote digital industries in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Willetts

The Government published its Information Economy Strategy on 14 June 2013 which sets out how we will work with business and academic partners to promote digital industries across the UK. I am now working with the Information Economy Council to deliver the actions in the Strategy. The Technology Strategy Board is also investing in a range of programmes, including Collaborative Research and Development competitions and the Connected Digital Economy Catapult Centre, to support UK companies working in the digital industries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the Government’s progress in encouraging exports to emerging markets; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon

UK exports of goods and services to Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs) reached £34.9 billion in 2013, their highest level since records began in 1999. In the Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Chancellor highlighted rising exports, with combined goods exports to Brazil, India and China rising faster than those of the UK’s competitors (France, Germany, Italy) in 2013, but said there was more to do.

UK Trade & Investment’s Britain Open for Business: The Next Phase (January 2014) underlined that: ‘To deliver our ambitious trade and investment targets we are continuing vigorously to pursue opportunities in developed markets while strengthening our efforts in high growth markets’. The Chancellor has given UKTI additional funding to strengthen its support for high growth markets.

Additionally, UK Export Finance (UKEF) is devoting additional resources to supporting High Value Opportunities. UKEF also has cover available for over 200 overseas markets and is increasing its product range to provide more effective support to Mid-Size Businesses (MSBs) and smaller companies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to promote innovation within industry; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Willetts

This Government is fully committed to improving the UK’s innovation performance as an essential component of its growth plan. Innovation has long been, and will continue to be, a key driver of UK growth and economic prosperity, accounting for up to 70% of economic growth in the long-term.

The UK’s Industrial Strategy, a new long-term partnership between business and all parts of Government, has identified a range of opportunities to help create growth for the future, from developing new skills and securing critical investment, to commercialising our scientific research and inventions.

Support for technologies is one of five core themes of the Industrial Strategy. The Government has identified "Eight Great Technologies" where the UK’s science strengths and business capabilities combine to give us world-leading potential and announced an additional £600M investment to help support their development from laboratory to marketplace.

We have made the Technology Strategy Board the Government’s prime channel for supporting business-led technology innovation, which delivers a range of interventions in support of innovative businesses, such as the network of Catapult Centres and collaborative research and development competitions.

We have also put in place a range of wider policies to support innovation which include a tax regime that supports innovation, investment and enterprise that enables the UK to be internationally competitive, as the increasingly international nature of innovation means that it is crucial for the UK and its businesses and universities to remain active in the global innovation ecosystem.

We know that other leading innovators and the emerging economies are increasing their investment in science and innovation and that we need to strengthen our own performance in some areas and build on our acknowledged strengths to retain our position as one of the world’s leading innovation countries.

This is why we will be developing a new Science and Innovation Strategy to be published this Autumn. This will set out the future shape and scale of the UK’s science and innovation system and look at how we measure the system’s performance and the key challenges that the UK needs to address to maintain its global leadership position.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many social enterprises there were in Brighton, Kemptown constituency in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Jenny Willott

BIS does not have constituency level data on social enterprises. Using data from the 2012 BIS ‘Small Business Survey’ and the ‘Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions 2013′, BIS estimate that in 2013 approximately five per cent (or 60,000) of small and medium-sized enterprise employers[1] in the UK were social enterprises[2]. It is not possible to provide reliable information for smaller geographical areas.

[1] Small and medium-sized employers with between 1 and 249 employees.

[2] Defined as an enterprise that considers itself a social enterprise and that should not pay more than 50 per cent of profit or surplus to owners or shareholders, should not generate more than 25 per cent of income from grants and donations and, therefore, should not have less than 75 per cent of turnover from trading.