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  • 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 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of companies newly registered with Companies House have been (i) directly incorporated and (ii) set up by third parties such as trust or company service providers in each year since 2004; and in each of those years how many complaints Companies House received about the conduct of companies in each group.

    Anna Soubry

    Companies House does not hold the information requested. Newly incorporated companies are not categorised on the basis of whether they were formed directly or by a third party such as a Trust or Company Service Provider.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of Austin Reed entering administration on the UK economy.

    Anna Soubry

    The announcement that Austin Reed has entered administration will be worrying for all those affected. Administrators will be focusing on securing a buyer for the business and we are following the situation closely.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will extend the protective award to employees made redundant at a company which dismisses more than 20 people across the organisation but fewer than 20 people in individual working environments.

    Nick Boles

    The Government has no plans to bring forward legislation amending collective redundancy provisions and the treatment of ‘establishment’. The European Court of Justice has confirmed that ‘establishment’ means the individual workplace and not necessarily the whole enterprise.

  • 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 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many cases of alleged malpractice by directors of companies the Insolvency Service investigated in each year since 2009; and in each of those years how many directors of such companies were disqualified from practising on account of offences committed (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.

    Anna Soubry

    When a company enters into formal insolvency proceedings, the insolvency practitioner (IP) has to file a report on the conduct of the directors unless an official receiver is in office; and each of those reports is assessed by the Insolvency Service to determine if a more detailed investigation is appropriate. When a company enters into compulsory liquidation, although this is not itself an indication of misconduct, the official receiver will in all cases make enquiries to determine the cause of insolvency and the conduct of the directors of the company.

    The number of reports of misconduct submitted by IPs is detailed in the table below, alongside the total number of compulsory liquidations each year.

    Reporting year

    IP reports of misconduct

    Compulsory liquidations

    Total disqualifications

    09/10

    7,030

    5,418

    1,386

    10/11

    5,373

    4,573

    1,453

    11/12

    5,401

    5,125

    1,165

    12/13

    5,335

    4,001

    1,034

    13/14

    4,671

    3,734

    1,282

    14/15

    4,620

    3,588

    1,210

    15/16

    4,277

    2,778

    *810

    *Disqualifications in the period from April 2015 to December 2015, the latest period for which official statistics are available.

    All of these cases relate to companies based in and trading in the UK. In many cases, a disqualification will be obtained in a period subsequent to the submission of a report or the insolvency of the company. Each case may encompass a number of directors.

  • 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 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many companies have disclosed information to Companies House on persons with significant control in their company as part of their company register since that requirement came into force on 6 April 2016.

    Anna Soubry

    The requirement for companies to have a register of people with significant control was commenced on 6 April. However, the requirement to disclose this information to the Registrar does not commence until 30 June 2016. In most cases companies will deliver this annually with their Confirmation Statement, which replaces the Annual Return.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Attorney General, (a) how much funding he has allocated to and (b) how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the (i) Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and (ii) SFO’s Proceeds of Crime Division in each year since 2009.

    Jeremy Wright

    The information requested is contained in the following tables.

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    2015-16

    SFO gross budget

    £44.6m

    £41.3m

    £40.1m

    £43.7m

    £54m

    £59.4m

    £62.2m

    SFO Proceeds of Crime Division 2

    £0.920m

    £1.021m

    £1.571m

    £1.683m

    £1.931m

    £2.304m

    £2.674m

    Full time equivalent staff 3

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    2015-16

    SFO

    307

    305

    306

    292

    305

    4014

    393

    SFO Proceeds of Crime Division

    13

    17

    21

    20

    23.43

    32.71

    31.43

    1. The figures includes any blockbuster funding received in each year. They exclude capital expenditure, annually managed expenditure.
    2. The Proceeds of Crime figures include the budget for the current year and outturn for the previous years. They do not include £110k funding received from the Department for International Development in the financial years 2014-15 & 2015-16.
    3. This data covers FTE staff in post as at 31st March each year including fixed term contractors, but not agency staff. Complete records for staff in post in the Proceeds of Crime division before 2011-12 are not held centrally and the figures provided for these years are based on available data.
    4. This is a revised figure which corrects the number previously published in the SFO Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15.
  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Attorney General, (a) how much funding he has allocated to and (b) how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the CPS’s Proceeds of Crime Unit in each year since 2009.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) allocated the following funding to its Proceeds of Crime Unit since 2009.

    2008/09 £ 2,556,535

    2009/10 £ 4,339,422

    2010/11 £ 7,311,688

    2011/12 £ 6,096,729

    2012/13 £ 5,967,226

    2013/14 £ 6,125,024

    2014/15 £ 8,378,651

    2015/16 £10,035,821

    The following average full-time equivalent staff in post for Proceeds of Crime Unit since 2009 were:-

    2008/09 41.9

    2009/10 60.0

    2010/11 73.1

    2011/12 65.1

    2012/13 77.3

    2013/14 77.7

    2014/15 124.4

    2015/16 140.4

  • Phillip Lee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Phillip Lee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phillip Lee on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what measures she has put in place to improve ministerial oversight of aid programmes.

    Justine Greening

    I have introduced more stringent ministerial sign off controls and this is backed up by thorough monitoring and evaluation processes and management information to better identify underperforming programmes so they can be dealt with.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the most vulnerable people in developing countries have access to adequate hygiene and sanitation.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is committed to reaching 60 million people with water and sanitation by 2020. We reached 62.9 million people between 2011 and 2015. Improving hygiene is central to our programming. We are the largest bilateral donor for basic water and sanitation in low-income countries.

  • David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Jones on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to assist humanitarian relief in Yemen.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Yemen is now one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. The UK is the fourth largest donor having more than doubled our commitment to £85m in 2015-16. We have so far helped more than 1.3m Yemenis, providing food, medical supplies, water and emergency shelter to those most in need.