Blog

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on small and medium-sized businesses of the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice on time spent travelling to work.

    Nick Boles

    This Government wants to ensure that the Working Time Directive promotes long-term, sustainable growth and labour market flexibility, and does not impose significant burdens on business. The recent ruling of the European Court of Justice means that journeys made by workers without a fixed or habitual place of work between their homes and the first and last customer of the day constitute working time under the Working Time Directive.

    All employers, regardless of size, of workers without a fixed or habitual place of work need to ensure that this time is taken into account for the calculation of working hours. The ruling has no general consequences for pay.

  • Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of (a) current and (b) forecast adult learner demand in Croydon.

    Nick Boles

    Our policy is to support the growth of high quality apprenticeship places available in Croydon and across the country as a whole. Apprenticeships are the best form of adult vocational education because they bring together in one coherent experience formal learning and personal development in the workplace. The number and nature of the apprenticeship opportunities available depends on what employers offer, but we are supporting this by doubling public funding for apprenticeships since 2010, supporting employers in developing clear new apprenticeship standards, and introducing a levy on employers to fund further growth. Our aim is that there should be three million new apprenticeship starts by 2020.

    Across adult education as a whole, it is important that there is the right supply of places to meet future demand. Determining what this supply should be is not something central government can take the lead on. In September the government announced a programme of area reviews, which will be locally led and will involve key stakeholders. They will be based on the best available evidence of skills requirements and establish a local post-16 education and training offer which is high quality and responsive to employer need. The reviews will support local involvement in the ongoing commissioning of provision, putting responsibility in the hands of people who are best placed to tailor provision to local economic needs. Croydon will be included in the area review process, which is due to be completed by March 2017, and an announcement on the date for the review will be announced in due course.

    There is also a role for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in ensuring that adult education reflects future economic development. LEPs are working in collaboration with local authorities, colleges and providers in the area to jointly agree key local skill needs and develop a local skills offer that responsive to local labour market conditions and contributes to improving our productivity. LEPs are responsible for decisions about capital allocations for adult skills projects, and the Skills Funding Agency requires colleges to engage with LEPs as a condition of its grant funding.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what position the UK’s representatives at the (a) Trade Policy Committee and (b) Foreign Affairs Council have taken on the replacement of the Investor State Dispute Settlements mechanism with an Investment Court System in the negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

    Anna Soubry

    On 16 September, the European Commission published a draft of its proposed text for the investment protection provisions in the EU-US free trade agreement, also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

    In discussions on these proposals with the European Commission and Member States, UK representatives have expressed support for the European Commission’s ongoing initiative to reform the investment provisions used in its trade and investment agreements. UK representatives have also raised questions of detail on how the proposed text will continue to safeguard governments’ right to regulate lawfully and in the public interest, while ensuring that UK investors are treated fairly overseas by foreign governments.

    The final content of the investment protection provisions in the EU-US free trade agreement will be subject to the outcome of negotiations between the EU and the US. The inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not threaten the right of the UK or Devolved Administrations to regulate or determine public policy. The Commission has published a proposal for reforms to investment protections in this agreement, which includes a clause setting out governments’ right to regulate.

    The UK will work with the Commission on this proposal to ensure that UK investors are treated fairly overseas by foreign governments while allowing governments to regulate lawfully and in the public interest.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Answer of 11 December 2013 to Question 178321, if he will place in the Library copies of all of Lord Green of Hustierpoint’s updates to the European Scrutiny Committees of both Houses and the APPG for EU-US Trade and Investment on significant developments in negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

    Anna Soubry

    The most recent update to the Committees, dated 6 August, has been deposited in the Libraries of the House. We will continue this practice for subsequent updates to the Committees.

  • Kate Hollern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kate Hollern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many responses he has received to the consultation, Freezing the student loan repayment threshold, launched in July 2015; and when he expects the results of that consultation to be published.

    Joseph Johnson

    The consultation on freezing the student loan repayment threshold closed on 14th October. Over four hundred responses have been received and are being analysed. We will publish the results in due course.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what work his Department has commissioned to identify the number of exchange-only lines on the telecom network that are incompatible with fibre to the cabinet broadband technology.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The vast majority of phone lines across the UK connect to the nearest telephone exchange via a street cabinet, which can be upgraded to deliver fibre broadband. Estimates are not available of the number of premises served by exchange only lines which connect directly to the local exchange rather than via one of BT’s street cabinets. There are a variety of reasons why exchange only lines are created. For example, for rural exchanges serving few premises where there was no need for cabinets, or for urban exchanges where it may have been a more cost-effective. Exchange only lines present a greater engineering challenge to deliver fibre broadband than those connected via street cabinets but technical solutions are available. One solution is to rearrange the existing network, lay new cables to reroute lines to new cabinets. This technique was developed as part of the BDUK Superfast Broadband Programme, and the number of exchange only lines is reducing all the time as roll out under the programme continues.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what work his Department has commissioned to identify the distribution across the nations and regions of the UK of exchange-only lines on the telecom network that are incompatible with fibre to the cabinet broadband technology.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The vast majority of phone lines across the UK connect to the nearest telephone exchange via a street cabinet, which can be upgraded to deliver fibre broadband. Estimates are not available of the number of premises served by exchange only lines which connect directly to the local exchange rather than via one of BT’s street cabinets. There are a variety of reasons why exchange only lines are created. For example, for rural exchanges serving few premises where there was no need for cabinets, or for urban exchanges where it may have been a more cost-effective. Exchange only lines present a greater engineering challenge to deliver fibre broadband than those connected via street cabinets but technical solutions are available. One solution is to rearrange the existing network, lay new cables to reroute lines to new cabinets. This technique was developed as part of the BDUK Superfast Broadband Programme, and the number of exchange only lines is reducing all the time as roll out under the programme continues.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what work his Department has commissioned to identify the profile of customers with exchange-only lines on the telecom network that are incompatible with fibre to the cabinet broadband technology.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The vast majority of phone lines across the UK connect to the nearest telephone exchange via a street cabinet, which can be upgraded to deliver fibre broadband. Estimates are not available of the number of premises served by exchange only lines which connect directly to the local exchange rather than via one of BT’s street cabinets. There are a variety of reasons why exchange only lines are created. For example, for rural exchanges serving few premises where there was no need for cabinets, or for urban exchanges where it may have been a more cost-effective. Exchange only lines present a greater engineering challenge to deliver fibre broadband than those connected via street cabinets but technical solutions are available. One solution is to rearrange the existing network, lay new cables to reroute lines to new cabinets. This technique was developed as part of the BDUK Superfast Broadband Programme, and the number of exchange only lines is reducing all the time as roll out under the programme continues.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Energy Intensive Industries Compensation Scheme costs his Department to administer each year.

    Anna Soubry

    56 different energy intensive businesses across the UK have received a total of £131.7m in compensation since August 2013 – £65.6m in respect of the EU Emissions Trading System and £66.1m in respect of the Carbon Price Support mechanism. There is also a Climate Change Levy exemption, for energy used in metallurgical and mineralogical processes, which additionally covers a number of Energy Intensive Industries who claim EU ETS and CPS compensation.

  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Competition and Markets Authority is undertaking an investigation into defeat devices used by Volkswagen in emissions tests.

    Anna Soubry

    The Competition and Markets Authority has been considering this issue carefully since it first emerged, including in liaison with government and other agencies nationally and internationally. It has not opened a formal investigation, but is continuing to assess in cooperation with government and other agencies what action it would be appropriate to take and who would be best placed to take it.