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  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20474, how much funding has been allocated to apprenticeships in the retail and commercial enterprise sector subject area since 2010.

    Nick Boles

    The table below shows estimated funding values for apprenticeships in the Retail and Commercial Enterprise sector subject areas between academic year 2009/10 and 2014/15.

    Figures for estimated funding come from the Individualised Learner Record and provide an indication of the level of government funding. They should not be treated as actual spend, since spending is not reported by sector subject area.

    Table 1: Estimated Funding for Apprenticeships in Retail and Commercial Enterprise, 2009/10 to 2014/15

    Academic Year

    Estimated Funding (£millions)

    2009/10

    179

    2010/11

    211

    2011/12

    230

    2012/13

    217

    2013/14

    212

    2014/15

    211

    Notes:

    1) Figures show estimated (notional) funding and should not be treated as actual spend.

    3) Figures do not include estimated (notional) funding for LEOP, EOP or apprenticeship standards, which is not available

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20474, whether any businesses in receipt of funding from the apprenticeship programme for the creation of apprenticeships in the retail and commercial enterprise sector subject area have participated in the Government’s work experience programme for those on jobseeker’s allowance.

    Nick Boles

    We do not hold this information.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20474, whether any businesses in receipt of funding from the apprenticeship programme for the creation of apprenticeships in the retail and commercial enterprise sector subject area have employed staff using zero-hours contracts in the last two years.

    Nick Boles

    We do not hold this information.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20474, which businesses have been in receipt of funding from the apprenticeship programme for the creation of apprenticeships in the retail and commercial enterprise sector subject area.

    Nick Boles

    Funding for training against apprenticeship frameworks is provided to education and training providers and not allocated to businesses.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department is providing universities to increase collaboration with Chinese research institutions; and if he will make a statement.

    Joseph Johnson

    We are working with UK universities in a number of important ways to increase our collaboration with Chinese researchers.

    We have regular discussions with the Chinese government on education and research collaboration These discussions are both at the working level, where BIS science and higher education teams have a close relationship with their opposite numbers, and also through regular Ministerial exchanges such as the annual People to People Dialogue, the UK-China Education Summit, the biennial UK-China Science and Innovation Joint Committee meetings and the annual Prime Ministerial summit meetings.

    In addition, our flagship international science and innovation fund, the Newton Fund, has achieved a transformation in UK-China research collaboration since it was launched in April 2014 and continues to strengthen our collaborative work. The fund, includes significant university participation in programmes on urbanisation, climate change, environment, food security and health. Universities also play a major role in building research capacity in China through means of Newton grants for partnerships, PhD placements, training and joint workshops.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of changing Innovate UK funding from grants to loans.

    Joseph Johnson

    Innovation is a driver of productivity and the UK ranks among the best in the world in various indices. The Government is focussed on creating the best conditions for innovative businesses to flourish and is taking steps to ensure a range of finance options is available.

    We are exploring the range of financial instruments available in a number of countries and will be conducting market research in the UK to better understand the needs of innovative businesses.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the amount of private sector investment in research and development in each of the last three years; and what assessment he has made of trends in the level of such investment.

    Joseph Johnson

    The amount of UK R&D expenditure performed by the business sector is set out in the table below1. Expenditure in this sector increased by £1.1 billion in cash terms, to £19.9 billion in 2014 compared with 2013.

    Support for business through the R&D Tax Credit scheme has continued to grow, from 9,250 companies claiming £1.0 billion on £10 billion of expenditure in 2009/10 compared with nearly 18,200 companies claiming £1.75 billion on £14.3 billion of expenditure in 2013/14.

    £ million

    2012

    2013

    2014

    UK Expenditure for R&D performed by Business Enterprise sector – current prices

    17,409

    18,799

    19,935

    1 Figures are taken from the ONS publication on Business Enterprise Research and Development, 2014.The business sector figures exclude the private non-profit sector.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answers of 12 January 2016 to Questions 19955 and 19954, (a) how much funding was allocated to and (b) how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in each year from 2009-10 to 2014-15.

    Nick Boles

    In 2009-2010 the spend for the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) was £1,072,608 and the Inspectorate employed 30 staff, including administrative support and call handling staff.

    In 2010-2011 the spend for EAS was £932,000 with 29 staff employed (as of 1 May 2010).

    In 2010 the Pay and Work Rights helpline was created. This took over complaint handling and provision of advice and guidance for agencies and agency workers, thus reducing the need for EAS support staff who had previously performed this function. Consequently, in 2011-2012 EAS spend reduced to £637,631 with 23 staff employed.

    Following a restructure in the Department and streamlining of processes, in 2012-2013 EAS spend was £551,461 with 16 staff employed.

    In 2013-2014 EAS spend was £532,023 with 12 staff employed (as of the 1st April 2013).

    In November 2013, as part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to review regularly the enforcement of the national minimum wage, a more targeted enforcement strategy for the recruitment sector was announced, focusing on protecting the most vulnerable, low-paid workers. Resources from EAS moved to HM Revenue and Customs’ National Minimum Wage (NMW) team to form a new HMRC team which mainly focussed on enforcing non-payment of national minimum wage in the recruitment sector. This ensured that the most vulnerable workers were protected and created a level playing field for the vast majority of agencies who play by the rules. Two staff remained in BIS to enforce the recruitment sector regulations and prioritised complaints using a risk-based approach.

    As part of the Government programme on illegal working and tackling exploitation, a decision was taken in February 2015 to increase EAS resourcing. In June 2015 the number of full time equivalent staff increased to nine. Actual spend will not be available until the end of the financial year.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2015 to Question 19955, whether the figures relating to (a) cases and (b) breaches in the tables are a measurement of the number of (i) employment agencies or (ii) agency workers.

    Nick Boles

    a) The figures for the number of cases are measurements of the total number of different complaints and investigations into employment agencies in each year. In some instances, there are a number of complaints against a single agency, or branches of a larger agency, which are recorded as separate cases for the purposes of these figures.

    In some instances, a case will be an investigation into an employment agency which leads to the identification of numerous breaches relating to several agency workers, and this would be recorded as a single case for the purposes of these figures.

    b) The number of breaches relates, in all cases, to the total number of breaches found during contact with employment agencies. For example, when investigating a complaint, the issue which prompted the complaint may not be the only breach that is discovered. In the case of an inspection, the whole of the agency’s relevant documents and procedures will be examined, which may lead to a higher number of breaches being identified and recorded.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20474, how many apprenticeships created in the retail and commercial enterprise sector subject area have led to full-time, permanent employment with that employer following the completion of the apprenticeship.

    Nick Boles

    The 2014 Apprenticeship Evaluation Learner Survey found that for apprentices in the survey who completed Retail and Commercial Enterprise sector frameworks, 90 per cent were employed following their apprenticeship. Of these, 73 per cent were employed by the same organisation with whom they completed the apprenticeship. The sample size of this cohort is not large enough to produce robust estimates of the proportion that are employed full-time.