The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvonne Fovargue on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what meetings he has had with (a) Amazon, (b) eBay and (c) other online retailers on the prevention of the sale of counterfeit electrical goods in the UK.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Details of Ministerial meetings, are published quarterly on gov.uk at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvonne Fovargue on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of the dangers of purchasing counterfeit electrical goods.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Intellectual Property Office does not undertake any awareness raising activities that specifically highlight the dangers of purchasing counterfeit electrical goods.
The Intellectual Property Office works with partners including trading standards, Border Force and industry on a range of initiatives to tackle IP crime. . These initiatives include outreach campaigns aimed at consumers and workplaces, as well as enforcement action and support for businesses. They are not however focused on counterfeit electrical goods in isolation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvonne Fovargue on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department uses government fire statistics to assess the effect of faulty electrical goods on the number of fires.
Anna Soubry
My Department uses Government fire statistics on the number of fires in faulty electrical products, as part of the evidence to inform policy on the safety of electrical products.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effects on recipients of disabled students allowances of transferring responsibility for funding support from Government to universities.
Joseph Johnson
The Government carried out an Equality Analysis as part of the recent consultation on reforms to Disabled Students’ Allowances. This is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481527/bis-15-658-disabled-students-allowances-equality-analysis.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans to make changes to the procedure of the market rent only option once triggered, as planned in Part 6 of the withdrawn Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016.
Anna Soubry
No. The Government does not plan to make any material changes to the procedure of the ‘Market Rent Only’ option, once triggered, in the revised regulations. Some technical drafting improvements have been made to Part 6.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 119 of the Teaching excellence framework: technical consultation for year two, published by his Department on 16 May 2016, how the estimates for the performance metrics were reached; whether there is scope for making adjustments to those estimates in the future; whether those estimates will be used as part of formal guidance for the operation of the teaching excellence framework; and if he will publish the methodological framework and evidence for how those estimates were reached.
Joseph Johnson
In developing our proposals for the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) we used a set of indicative metrics, with data constructed using the methods set out in Chapter 2 of the TEF: Technical Consultation for Year Two. The statement that providers will fall into a bell curve was based on observing the number of providers with positive and negative significance flags against the core metrics.
The actual TEF assessments will be made against the most recent data which we anticipate will follow a broadly similar pattern. As stated in the Technical Consultation, we expect the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to construct the guidance to assessors in such a way that will lead to a distribution similar to that set out in paragraph 119; however, assessors will not be obligated to check that the awards follow this distribution, only that they have followed the guidance.
Our consultation response will outline the final metrics and HEFCE guidance will set out the detailed methodology of how the metrics are constructed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what additional resources have been or will be made available to the Student Loans Company to enable that Company to administer amendments to the fees and student support system in England covering the (a) replacement of maintenance grants by maintenance loans, (b) introduction of the postgraduate loan scheme, (c) extension of maintenance loans to part-time students, (d) extension of advanced learner loans to those aged 19 years and above and (e) Teaching Excellence Framework.
Joseph Johnson
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) fully funds the cost to the Student Loans Company (SLC) of administering Higher and Further Education student finance policy in England. Funding is allocated on a demand-led basis whereby BIS requests services, SLC estimates the cost of delivery and then BIS pays the costs in full.
As set out in SLC’s public Annual Performance and Resource Agreement (APRA) for financial year 2015-16, BIS made approximately £8.8m available to SLC to meet the costs of implementing all new policies related to student support for Higher and Further Education in England, including (but not exclusively) the implementation of policies a, b and d above. The amount of funding to be made available to SLC for the financial year 2016-17, including for delivery of policies a-e above, will be confirmed in this year’s APRA and published on SLC’s website shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the number and value of arms export licences issued to Saudi Arabia since 19 March 2015; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
Information on arms export licences are published as Official Statistics in the Annual and Quarterly Reports on Strategic Export Controls. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. They are available to view at GOV.UK.
The most recently published information covers the period to 31 December 2015. Information covering 1 January to 31 March 2016 will be published on 19 July 2016 and information covering 1 April to 30 June 2016 will be published on 19 October 2016.
All export licences are issued in strict accordance with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to lay the revised statutory instruments for the Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016 and Pubs Code (Fees, Costs and Financial Penalties) Regulations 2016 before the House.
Anna Soubry
The Government is working hard to bring the Pubs Code etc Regulations 2016 into force as soon as possible. We have drafted the necessary technical corrections, and will lay a revised draft as soon as possible. The Code will come in to force following Parliamentary scrutiny. The Pubs Code (Fees, Costs and Financial Penalties) Regulations 2016 will be laid at the same time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether lease renewal and rent review will remain trigger points for the market rent only option procedure, as set out in Part 6 of the withdrawn Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016.
Anna Soubry
Yes. Lease renewal and rent review will remain trigger points for the ‘Market Rent Only’ option procedure in the revised regulations.