The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the annual cost is of rent, rates and maintenance for his Department’s office at (a) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) 1 Victoria Street, London.
Joseph Johnson
The annual cost of rent, rates and maintenance at St Paul’s Place, Sheffield is £891,694 and at 1 Victoria Street, London is £21,363,694.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that employers accord degree apprenticeships the same esteem as traditional university degrees.
Nick Boles
The Government wants young people to have the opportunity to access high quality degree level training, whether through a full-time undergraduate route or a world-class degree apprenticeship.
Both traditional degrees and new degree apprenticeships meet the high quality criteria expected of a higher education qualification. Degree Apprenticeships are designed by groups of employers working with higher education institutions, and provide a valuable route for people to obtain a degree-level qualification alongside training for a career, with the prospect of a job from day one
Degree apprenticeships will feature in the new communications campaign being launched in May, promoting the benefits of apprenticeships to employers and young people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the high street vacancy rate was in (a) England and (b) each region of England in each of the last six years.
Mr Marcus Jones
My Department does not collect or publish data relating to high street vacancy rates. There are several commercial sources of shop vacancy rates data available, including the Local Data Company and Springboard, (http://info.localdatacompany.com/vacancy-rate-report-h1-2015-summary-download) who publish overall trends in the public domain.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the annual cost is of policy staff (a) from his Department’s office at St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) from his Department’s office at 1 Victoria Street, London travelling to Sheffield.
Joseph Johnson
The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the annual cost per employee is of rent, rates and maintenance for his Department’s office at (a) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) 1 Victoria Street, London.
Joseph Johnson
The annual cost per employee at St Paul’s Place, Sheffield is £3,190 and at 1 Victoria Street, London is £9,750.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the annual cost is of hotel stays in (a) London by policy staff from his Department’s office at St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) Sheffield by policy staff from his Department’s office at 1 Victoria Street, London.
Joseph Johnson
The Permanent Secretary has recently written to the Chairs of the Public Accounts Committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. His letter contains details of the potential maximum savings from a closure of the Department’s Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place, and can be seen at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518244/letter-martin-donnelly-sheffield-office.pdf.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to page one of the UK/France joint non-paper on the Implementation of Tiered Free Allocation in Phase IV of the EU Emissions Trading System, what the evidential basis is for the assumption that the UK cement industry can pass on additional costs to customers of purchasing carbon dioxide allowances without risking carbon leakage.
Anna Soubry
The UK wants to see continued support for British industry as they decarbonise. In the context of a declining EU Emissions Trading System cap it is essential that free allowances should be focussed on those sectors at greatest risk of carbon leakage. Sectors at greatest risk of carbon leakage have high carbon costs and are highly exposed to international trade.
The proposed tiering scenarios set out in the UKs position paper are indicative and do not represent a confirmed UK Government position. We recognise the concerns of the cement sector and will continue to work with them to clarify data issues and consider further scenarios to those set out in the UKs proposal.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on what occasions officials of his Department have received hospitality from the government of China in the last three years.
Anna Soubry
BIS officials have engaged with counterparts in China over the past three years to support the growing UK-China relationship and advance UK interests. During the course of those engagements they received at different times the standard hospitality associated with Government to Government exchanges. In 2010, Cabinet Office issued guidance on Civil Servant receiving gifts and hospitality, which can be found on the GOV.UK website. The guidance states that civil servants are not required to record hospitality from other civil servants in government, the Devolved Administrations, the Palace, non-departmental public bodies or overseas government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much funding his Department provided to each of its partner organisations in each year from 2010; and what the (a) type and (b) sector of those organisations is.
Joseph Johnson
Table 1 sets out the total funding provided to the Department’s partner organisations for each financial year since 2009-10. Funding includes grant-in-aid funding or an increased equity investment.
Table 2 sets out these partner organisations according to type and sector.
Since 2010 the Department has significantly reduced its number of partner organisations down to 44. We committed to further reductions as part of the BIS2020 programme of departmental transformation to make the Department cheaper and simpler, and to deliver better services to users.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average length of a non domestic rates appeal was in each of the last five years.
Mr David Gauke
The time taken to resolve an appeal can be affected by a number of factors, such as the complexity of the case or whether the case proceeds to be listed for hearing by the independent Valuation Tribunal. Some cases can be held up in litigation or placed on hold at the ratepayer’s request. The average (median) time taken to resolve challenges for non-domestic properties in each of the last five years is shown in the attached table. This table covers the 2010 Local Rating Lists.
|
Year |
Median (days) |
|
2010-11 |
135* |
|
2011-12 |
335 |
|
2012-13 |
413 |
|
2013-14 |
390 |
|
2014-15 |
395 |
*The 2010 list began on 1 April 2010 so only those challenges received in 2010-11 were resolved in 2010-11. In subsequent years, however, challenges received in previous years can also be resolved so the median clearance time may include more complex challenges which took longer to resolve.