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  • 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 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 1958, what the total budget of the BIS Automotive sector team was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The total administrative budget associated with the BIS Automotive sector team for the last five financial years was £6,265,356. This is illustrated below:

    Financial Year Administrative Cost

    11/12 £1,393,614*^

    12/13 £1,187,636^

    13/14 £1,207,986^

    14/15 £1,256,570^

    15/16 £1,219,550^

    *Includes funding for the Advanced Manufacturing Showcasing team who were under the same administrative budget for these years.

    ^ Includes one FTE on loan to the Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

    The total budget to support Industrial R&D primarily for the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Driverless cars over the last 3 years* was:

    RDEL(Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit) – £79.327m

    CDEL (Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit) – £11m.

    RDEL CDEL

    13/14 £452,000 £0

    14/15 £26,000,000 £5,000,000

    15/16 £52,875,000 £6,000,000

    *There is no data available for 11/12 and 12/13

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will suspend all licences permitting UK-produced arms to be sold to Saudi Arabia.

    Anna Soubry

    All export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account all relevant factors at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued for any country if to do so would be a breach of the Criteria.

  • Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department are working on matters related to (a) European policy, (b) the future of Europe, (c) reform of the EU, (d) the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU, (e) the EU referendum and (f) the consequences of the EU referendum; how many full-time equivalent staff are working on such matters; what the (i) staff and (ii) other cost of such work is; what proportion of that work is undertaken by such staff on (A) communications, (B) strategy and (C) policy; whether his Department has established any specific unit or units to deal with those matters; to whom such (1) staff and (2) units report; whether his Department has issued guidelines to staff on those matters; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in the United Kingdom – so we can get a better deal for our country and secure our future. Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe, including the renegotiation and referendum.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which the level of student debt affects the outcome of students’ applications for a mortgage.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Mortgage Market Review, introduced in April 2014, requires mortgage lenders to assess individuals’ ability to repay their loans. The Council for Mortgage Lenders has advised that individuals who have a student loan and are earning over the relevant repayment threshold may have higher committed expenditures and lower net incomes and this could mean they are unable to borrow as much as an equivalent individual who is not repaying a student loan.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what modelling his Department has conducted on future growth of apprenticeship numbers in individual sectors of the UK economy.

    Nick Boles

    Apprenticeships are paid jobs and their availability is employer demand-led, so we do not publish future forecasts.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of businesses in England and Wales without insurance in 2015.

    Rory Stewart

    We have made no assessment on the number of business without insurance in 2015.

    A survey of small and medium business enterprises (SMEs) commissioned by Defra in 2014 found that 3% of SMEs reported that they did not have commercial insurance. The survey is available on Defra’s website at the below:

    http://goo.gl/SqW3iG

  • 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 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20062, what estimate his Department has made of the total value of student loans likely to be written off in each year between 2025 and 2036; and if he will make a statement.

    Joseph Johnson

    More people than ever before are now able to benefit from higher education, and the student loan system ensures that access to finance should not be a barrier to participation.

    For students starting their Higher Education course prior to the 2020-21 academic year the nominal value of student loans that are expected to be written off in each of the financial years 2025-26 to 2036-37 are as follows:

    Financial year

    2025-26

    2026-27

    2027-28

    2028-29

    2029-30

    2030-31

    2031-32

    2032-33

    2033-34

    2034-35

    2035-36

    2036-37

    Write-off amount (nominal; £m)

    480

    460

    480

    530

    570

    610

    670

    640

    710

    1,160

    1,550

    1,660

    Source: BIS Student Loan Repayment Model. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10m.

    This table includes loans written-off owing to any of the following circumstances: a) if the loan borrower started their Higher Education course prior to 2006-07 academic year and has reached the age of 65; b) the borrower has died; c) the borrower becomes disabled and is permanently unable to work; or d) if the loan borrower started their Higher Education course between 2006-07 and 2011-12 academic years and 25 years have passed since the borrower became eligible to repay.

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people of each gender work in his Department.

    Joseph Johnson

    The figures for BIS HQ (including UKTI), as at 31 December 2015 are:

    Gender

    Percentage (Number)

    Female

    49% (1501)

    Male

    51% (1563)

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many people of each gender work in the Law Officers’ Departments.

    Robert Buckland

    The total number of staff employed by the Law Officers’ Departments by gender is detailed in the following table:

    Department

    Headcount (as at 31st December 2015)

    Female

    Male

    Attorney General’s Office

    23

    15

    Government Legal Department

    1227

    788

    HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

    17

    16

    Crown Prosecution Service

    3853

    2069

    Serious Fraud Office

    183

    227

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security and political situation in Libya.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We welcome the signature of the Libyan Political Agreement on 17 December which paves the way for a new Government of National Accord in Libya. The security situation remains fragile and it is vital that the new government is formed quickly to tackle the threats from Daesh and people smuggling.