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  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much was (a) committed to and (b) spent in each constituency in the East Midlands through the Regional Growth Fund in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014 to date.

    Michael Fallon

    We do not hold information in the format requested. However, the following table details the amount of Regional Growth Fund (RGF) allocated to and paid in each constituency in the East Midlands from the first four bidding rounds. In addition, £82.2 million has been allocated to nine programmes in the East Midlands, which support small and medium-sized enterprises across the region. Of this, £19.6 million has been paid to date.

    Constituency

    RGF committed

    RGF spent

    Bassetlaw

    £1,328,460

    £1,328,460

    Bosworth

    £19,671,000

    £16,284,417

    Charnwood

    £4,170,000

    £4,168,871

    Leicester South

    £1,072,800

    £249,301

    Lincoln

    £5,575,000

    0

    Nottingham North

    £1,600,000

    £1,599,999

    Nottingham South

    £2,871,460

    £727,471

    Sherwood

    £495,000

    0

    South Derbyshire

    £6,300,000

    0
  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many secondments from the private sector to his Department and its agencies the secondee’s work-related (a) wholly, (b) partly or (c) incidentally to the privatisation of Royal Mail; from which firms those secondments were made; and on what dates they began and ended.

    Michael Fallon

    In the Shareholder Executive teams are put together to work on specific projects bringing together appropriate skills and experience; such teams regularly include secondee appointments. Three secondees from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lazard and KPMG spent varying degrees of time working at the Shareholder Executive on the Royal Mail IPO. The Freshfields secondee worked on various projects, and worked wholly on the Royal Mail privatisation for the second half of the secondment. The Lazard and KPMG secondees were engaged to work principally on Royal Mail. No secondee held a senior position in the team.

    The KPMG secondment started in June 2013 and is continuing. The Freshfields secondment started in December 2012 and ended in November 2013. The Lazard secondment ran from January 2013 to January 2014.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer to Lord Adonis of 3 June 2013, Official Report, House of Lords, column 122WA, on government departments: secondments, of those secondments to his Department listed on that date, how many of these secondments related (a) wholly, (b) partly and (c) incidentally to the privatisation of Royal Mail; and how many of those secondments took place primarily for the purpose of helping with the privatisation of Royal Mail.

    Michael Fallon

    Of the secondees listed in the answer given to the noble Lord, Lord Adonis on 3 June 2013, two worked on the Royal Mail privatisation in the Shareholder Executive.

  • Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Austin Mitchell on 2014-04-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward proposals to limit the interest rate payable on payday loans; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government legislated in the Banking Reform Act 2013 to require the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to introduce a cap on the cost of high-cost short-term credit, including payday loans, in order to protect consumers from excessive costs. In designing the cap, the FCA will take into account the interest rate and other fees and charges which may be incurred in relation to a high-cost loan.

    As part of the FCA’s powers to cap the cost of credit in the Financial Services Act 2012, the Government gave the FCA specific powers to prevent a lender enforcing a credit agreement and recovering the debt, if the agreement contravenes its rules on the cost of credit. It can also require that any money or property transferred under the credit agreement must be returned.

    The FCA is currently conducting analysis to inform the design of the cap; it has committed to publishing its proposed rules which implement the cap in July. The FCA plans to publish final rules in the autumn and all lenders must be compliant with the cap by 2 January 2015. The Government supports the FCA’s proposed timetable for implementing the cap: it allows the FCA appropriate time to conduct analysis, consult on its proposals and ensure that firms are fully compliant by January. It also allows the FCA to draw on the insight of the Competition and Markets Authority’s study into payday lenders in designing the cap.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what safeguards were (a) sought and (b) put in place to ensure that priority investors would continue to invest over a longer period of time in respect of the privatisation of Royal Mail.

    Michael Fallon

    More than 500 would-be investors in Royal Mail were approached in the lead up to the sale including potential long term institutional investors.

    As is standard practice for any flotation, we did not seek to lock in any investors in as they would have paid less for a stock they could not trade.

    We understand that the majority of the shares, other than those owned by government, the Royal Mail workforce and retail investors, are currently held by long term institutional investors.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what due diligence was undertaken by officials in his Department in relation to the reliability of the gentlemen’s agreement on the holding of Royal Mail shares by priority investors.

    Michael Fallon

    There was no agreement – gentleman’s or otherwise – on the holding of Royal Mail shares by priority investors.

  • Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Austin Mitchell on 2014-04-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make personal debt charged at an APR of over 30 per cent unrecoverable; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government legislated in the Banking Reform Act 2013 to require the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to introduce a cap on the cost of high-cost short-term credit, including payday loans, in order to protect consumers from excessive costs. In designing the cap, the FCA will take into account the interest rate and other fees and charges which may be incurred in relation to a high-cost loan.

    As part of the FCA’s powers to cap the cost of credit in the Financial Services Act 2012, the Government gave the FCA specific powers to prevent a lender enforcing a credit agreement and recovering the debt, if the agreement contravenes its rules on the cost of credit. It can also require that any money or property transferred under the credit agreement must be returned.

    The FCA is currently conducting analysis to inform the design of the cap; it has committed to publishing its proposed rules which implement the cap in July. The FCA plans to publish final rules in the autumn and all lenders must be compliant with the cap by 2 January 2015. The Government supports the FCA’s proposed timetable for implementing the cap: it allows the FCA appropriate time to conduct analysis, consult on its proposals and ensure that firms are fully compliant by January. It also allows the FCA to draw on the insight of the Competition and Markets Authority’s study into payday lenders in designing the cap.

  • Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reform of apprenticeships resulting from the Richard Review on the cost of training new (a) ratings and (b) officer cadets in the maritime industry; and if he will make a statement.

    Matthew Hancock

    Different apprenticeship programmes operate in England and Scotland. Doug Richard’s Review focused on English apprenticeships and he made a number of recommendations to make the programme more rigorous and responsive to employers’ needs. The Government accepted the Richard Review principles and set out its apprenticeship reform programme in the October 2013 Implementation Plan.

    The reforms include employers developing new apprenticeship standards, requiring employers to co-invest, putting the Government funding for the external training and assessment of apprentices in the hands of their employers and setting maximum Government contribution levels. With direct access to funding, employers will be able to negotiate a price for the training with their provider, and this means it is not possible in advance of the reforms to say what the costs of training apprentices in specific occupations will be.

    The Maritime sector has a long tradition of apprenticeships which we wish to continue. English apprenticeships are currently available for Maritime occupations and employers in the sector are currently designing a new apprenticeship standard for ratings as part of our Phase 2 Trailblazer programme.

    The Government has recognised through Alternative Completion Conditions Regulations that, in some maritime occupations, apprentices may be trainees rather than employees. The apprenticeships funding reform technical consultation is open until 1 May 2014 and this includes a question about how, or to what extent, the new funding principles and mechanism can be applied to non-employed apprentices.

  • Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been disbursed in compensation for the carbon price floor in each month since April 2013.

    Michael Fallon

    The Government is waiting for state aid approval from the European Commission for the carbon price floor compensation scheme. We expect to get a final decision later this month and we are hopeful that we will be able to commence the scheme shortly thereafter.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effects of the National Renewable Energy Centre on its local economy.

    Michael Fallon

    BIS has not made an assessment of the impact of the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) on its local economy. Narec has created a world leading suite of testing facilities for the offshore renewable energy sector. The recently announced merger with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult will accelerate the design, deployment and commercialisation of offshore renewable energy technology and help the UK capture the economic opportunity presented by this sector.