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  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Growth is Our Business: A Strategy for Professional and Business Services published in July 2013, whether his Department is on course to run at least two professional and business services dedicated trade missions each year; and what such missions have taken place since the Strategy was published.

    Michael Fallon

    UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is developing professional and business services dedicated trade missions to North America, South America, South East Asia and India this year. These missions will complement other planned trade missions open to this sector, for example the business delegations which accompany the Lord Mayor of London’s overseas visits.

    UKTI delivered a professional services event in Russia with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment and the Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors in November 2013.

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Growth is Our Business: A Strategy for Professional and Business Services published in July 2013, whether UK Trade & Investment has produced the marketing plan and collateral.

    Michael Fallon

    UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has developed a professional and business services marketing plan in support of the strategy, setting out marketing messaging which will be used to promote the sector at high profile events such as the Liverpool International Festival of Business in July 2014 and the Global Law Summit in 2015. UKTI has produced images for use in marketing material under the GREAT campaign, is producing a promotional film and is developing a toolkit for reference and use by UKTI in the UK and overseas as an aid to promoting and supporting the sector. UKTI is working to identify case studies and develop messaging for use by stakeholders in their marketing activities.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has put in place a robust framework to reduce the burden of regulation on all businesses, particularly small business.

    In January 2011, we brought in the One-in, One-out rule. This required departments wanting to introduce new regulation which generated costs for business to first identify a corresponding cut in regulation elsewhere with the same value. In January 2013 this was increased to a more demanding One-In, Two-Out rule so that departments now need to find £2 of savings for every £1 cost they introduce. To date, as set out in the 7th Statement of New Regulation published on 17 December 2013, we have cut the annual cost of domestic regulation by £1.19 billion.

    We are also reducing the stock of regulation through the Red Tape Challenge, with over 3,000 regulations now having been identified to be scrapped or improved. When fully implemented, we expect that these changes will bring estimated annual savings to business of over £850 million.

    Specifically to help small business, in April 2011 we introduced a moratorium exempting micro and start-up businesses from new domestic regulation for three years. From 1 April 2014 this was extended to include small businesses (with up to 50 employees) through the introduction of the Small and Micro Business Assessment (SaMBA).

    Measures that this Department has introduced specifically to reduce the burden of regulation on small businesses include giving small and medium-sized enterprises the flexibility to determine the most appropriate set of accounting rules for them, along with flexibility in how they submit their company reports through regulatory changes to audit rules. We have also extended the qualifying period of unfair dismissal to two years and introduced a new employment status of employee shareholder.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what research and development into the commercial application of robotics his Department funds; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Willetts

    This Department has worked with the Technology Strategy Board’s (TSB) Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Special Interest Group to develop a National Strategy for robotics in the UK, which will identify commercial opportunities in key sectors of the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

    The Department and its partner organisations fund research and development into the commercial application of robotics as follows:

    BIS

    This Department is currently providing funding of £1.5m to support the development of autonomous road vehicles. The consortium (which includes Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the Transport Systems Catapult and other partners) will develop small pod-like vehicles capable of carrying up to 2 passengers and which will ultimately be capable of autonomous operations.

    BIS has previously funded a two year automation programme with the British Automation and Robot Association that ended in September 2013. The £600k programme over two years enabled the provision of a one day manufacturing review and diagnostic to small and medium-sized enterprises on the potential to apply robotics and automation in their businesses. The programme also provided the opportunity for more detailed interventions. Over 268 one day reviews were carried out, and more detailed interventions accounted for a further 282 days of advice.

    Research Councils

    The Research Councils current investment into research related to the commercial application of robotics is £36.5m, which includes a £10m investment through the Natural Environment Research Council into Marine Autonomous Systems.

    Technology Strategy Board

    The TSB is the prime channel through which Government supports business-led technology innovation. Since 2010 it has invested £8 million in robotics and robotics related projects, helping business develop and commercialise new products and services.

    The TSB is arranging an entrepreneur-led overseas delegation to the US in June 2014 to develop the UK’s brand in robotics and to engage with the rapidly growing robotics cluster in San Francisco and San Diego. This creates a real opportunity for UK robotics companies to capitalise on this growth and take a lead in integrating their technologies in a range of markets that could exploit them. The message behind the mission is that the UK is open for business and has innovative robotics companies that are interested in the US market and are ready to engage in dialogue, form partnerships and do business in the international arena.

    In addition, the Government (through TSB) has previously funded research and demonstration of civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles through the £62m ASTRAEA programme over the past seven years. The programme has made possible the ‘unmanned’ flight of a Jetstream 31 from Lancashire to Inverness, clocking up to 2,500 miles in flights between Lancashire and Inverness and around the Irish Sea.

    UK Space Agency

    The UK Space Agency encourages and supports companies and research organisations to spin-out technology developed through space exploration into non-space sectors. The funding provided by the Agency is for feasibility studies. The relevant studies funded are:

    • the application of Mars rover autonomous navigation for large off road vehicles; and
    • development of Auto-Resonant Control System.
  • Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Horwood on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether information included in the registry of company beneficial ownership information will be available for free.

    Jenny Willott

    Companies House is a Trading Fund and must recover the costs for the services it provides where there are clear identifiable costs. However, Companies House already provides a lot of company data for free, including company appointments. It is actively working to increase the amount of data available for free and company beneficial ownership information will form part of this ongoing strategy.

  • Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Horwood on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether information included in the registry of company beneficial ownership information will be cross-checked against data held by (a) passport authorities, (b) vehicle licensing authorities, (c) electoral registers and (d) other databases.

    Jenny Willott

    Companies House currently undertakes a range of checks across the breadth of documents delivered to them. In 2012-13 over 400,000 documents were rejected because they did not pass these checks.

    We are carefully considering whether any further reform is necessary, whilst ensuring the UK’s company registration regime remains quick, simple and inexpensive. We do not however envisage that this would include cross-checking data against other sources of information.

  • Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Horwood on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the registry of company beneficial ownership information will contain a description of how the beneficial owner exercises control over (a) a company, (b) names of the chain of companies that demonstrate a person is the beneficial owner and (c) any other means by which a person exercises control over a company.

    Jenny Willott

    As outlined in the Government’s response to the Transparency and Trust discussion paper we are continuing to develop how details of the beneficial interest are to be recorded on the company’s register and at Companies House. We intend that this information will allow users of the register to build a meaningful picture of the company’s ownership and control structure.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that exporters of intangible goods can access the resources of UK Export Finance.

    Michael Fallon

    UK Export Finance can provide support for intangibles, such as software licenses, where they are provided in connection with goods or services. As far as the supply of intangibles by themselves are concerned, UK Export Finance has initiated a public consultation on proposals to widen its powers under its enabling legislation, the Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991 (as amended). These proposals include giving UK Export Finance the ability to support exports of intangible goods such as intellectual property rights by themselves. If, having regard to the responses to that consultation, it is deemed to implement these proposals, they will form part of a Bill that will be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

  • Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Gibb on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the student loan default rate is for students and graduates of (a) Bristol, (b) Cambridge, (c) Durham, (d) Exeter, (e) Leeds, (f) Manchester and (g) Oxford Universities.

    Mr David Willetts

    Information on the repayment status of student loans is available in the Student Loans Company (SLC) publication ‘Income Contingent Repayments by Repayment Cohort and Tax Year’, which is availableat the following link: http://www.slc.co.uk/media/589346/slcosp012013.pdf .

    Institution-specific information is not published and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    “

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 8W, on employee ownership, what estimate he has made of how many people will apply to be an employee shareholder under the Shares for Rights Scheme.

    Jenny Willott

    The employee shareholder status is a new employment status that is optional for companies and offer and for individuals to take up. There is no requirement for individuals to apply to Government to become an employee shareholder or for companies to register or apply to Government to use it.

    The Government has therefore made no assessment of levels of current or future take-up.