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  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.

    Anna Soubry

    Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a ‘politically exposed person’ is one ‘who is or who has been entrusted with prominent public functions’. This could potentially include some senior civil servants in the Department and its agencies or other public bodies.

    The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the application of different degrees of enhanced measures by banks and other financial institutions to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation, which will be published shortly.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 23296, what estimate her Department has made of the amount of (a) public and (b) private sector investment for low-carbon infrastructure and supply chain investment which has been invested in each year for which data is available.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC’s March 2015 Energy Investment Report estimates that total investment in low carbon electricity was £42.1billion between 2010 and 2014. Table 1 below splits this investment out by technology type. Detailed information is not available on how this figure is split between public and private sector investment, though the majority is private sector investment supported by government policies, or how much is invested in the supply chain. In November, the Government renewed its commitment to the transition to a low carbon economy by confirming a continued budget for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The overall budget for the RHI is to rise from £430 million in 2015/16 to £1.15 billion in 2020/21.

    Table 1: Estimated investment in low carbon electricity generation capacity for 2010-2014

    Estimated investment in electricity generation capacity in £’s billion (2012 prices)

    Electricity generation technology

    Total

    Onshore Wind1

    7.9

    Offshore Wind

    9.5

    Biomass and Bioenergy2

    8.8

    Marine

    0.1

    Solar PV3

    11.4

    Hydro4

    0.3

    Other Renewable5

    1.7

    Renewables Generation Capacity Investment

    39.6

    Nuclear6

    2.5

    CCS

    0.0

    Renewables, Nuclear & CCS Generation Capacity Investment

    42.1

    Source: DECC’s Energy Investment Report March 2015

    1 Including large scale onshore wind, but excluding Scottish Islands onshore wind

    2 Including dedicated biomass, biomass conversions, bioliquids, energy from waste, anaerobic digestion (including small scale), advanced conversion technologies, landfill and sewage gas (including CHP variations of any of these technologies)

    3 Including large and small scale solar PV

    4 Including large and small scale hydro technologies

    5 Including Scottish Islands onshore wind, small scale onshore wind, and geothermal (including CHP)

    6 2010-2014 investment estimate includes the purchase of Horizon Nuclear Power by GE Hitachi, the purchase of the Moorside site by NuGen and expenditures in the period relating to the development of Hinkley Point C

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to answer Written Questions 29167 and 29238, tabled on 1 March 2016 and Written Question 29372, tabled on 2 March 2016.

    Joseph Johnson

    I have replied to the hon Member.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many companies have cited in their registration at Companies House their registered office, the address of another business or private individual which they are not authorised to use in each year for which data is available.

    Anna Soubry

    Companies House has received the following number of complaints that companies have cited as their registered office, the address of another business or private individual that they allegedly are not authorised to use.

    Year

    Number of Cases

    2013/14

    1,270

    2014/15

    1,385

    2015/16 (to date)

    1,517

    Provisions contained in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 will be commenced on 6 April. These will allow the Registrar of Companies to act in the event of a complaint of this nature about a registered office.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment has he made of the potential impact on innovation in the UK of his Department’s change to government research and development funding from a grant-based to a loan-based system.

    Joseph Johnson

    Like many of our competitor economies, we are looking to provide a wider range of financial products to support, innovation in UK industry. In the coming months, we will, be conducting market research to better understand the needs of innovative businesses in the UK.

    This will be followed by a pilot to test specific financial support mechanisms, with an evaluation in late 2016, leading to a roll-out of a range of new products in 2017. We will continue to provide grant funding to support research and development where appropriate – including, for example, aerospace research supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute and automotive research supported by the Advanced Propulsion Centre.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which companies have failed to pay the national minimum wage since the introduction of the new naming and shaming regulations on 1 October 2013.

    Nick Boles

    Since the introduction of the revised naming and shaming scheme, details of employers who have failed to pay the National Minimum Wage have been published on gov.uk. Details can be found via the following links:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed-february-2016

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed-october-2015

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed (July 2015)

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed (March 2015)

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-and-shames-largest-ever-number-of-national-minimum-wage-offenders (February 2015)

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-and-shames-37-national-minimum-wage-offenders (January 2015)

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-employers-who-fail-to-pay-the-national-minimum-wage (November 2014)

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-employers-who-fail-to-pay-minimum-wage (June 2014)

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-gets-tough-with-employers-failing-to-pay-minimum-wage (February 2014)

    “

  • James Heappey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    James Heappey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Heappey on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to help support research into the Zika virus.

    Joseph Johnson

    In February we allocated £1 million from the Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund to help urgently tackle the Zika virus; the Medical Research Council (MRC) received over 100 applications for support through its Rapid Response Initiative. To meet this demand, in March we committed up to an additional £2 million, with a further £1 million from the Wellcome Trust, bringing the total that was available up to a maximum of £4 million of funding.

    Today, the MRC has announced that it has allocated c. £3.2 million of this funding to tackle the emerging and unknown threats of this virus. Our commitment to protect the science budget in real terms to the end of the Parliament means we can react quickly to help tackle these life-threatening global challenges.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Nick Boles

    The Skills Funding Agency (and its predecessor, the Learning and Skills Council) is a co-financing organisation for the European Social Fund in England. It received £1,494,936,801.00 between January 2007 and December 2013 and £485,027,046.00 from January 2014 to December 2015, a total of £1,979,963,847.00. The money was used to support skills projects across England.

    For the 2014-2020 Programme in England the Skills Funding Agency has put in place funding agreements with Local Enterprise Partnerships to the value of £725m from the European Social Fund.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to increase the level of voter registration in schools, colleges and universities.

    John Penrose

    The Government has made it easier and quicker to register to vote than ever before through online registration. Since June 2014, 3.6 million people aged 16-24 have applied to register to vote, with 2.7 million of these applications made online. The Government has also worked with various youth organisations such as NUS and Sixth Form Colleges Association, to encourage voter registration among students.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost was of producing single departmental plans for each central government department.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    All departments undertake business planning and performance management as part of business-as-usual to ensure the effective delivery of government. Single departmental plans have been introduced in this Parliament to be a common framework by which departments manage this business and the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury tracks progress against its commitments to the public.

    The production of plans is part of this routine business planning, rather than an additional activity at additional cost. By rationalising reporting, we expect the process to become more efficient as it embeds.