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Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the three-year residency rule for UK nationals will apply to postgraduate loan eligibility from 2016-17.

Joseph Johnson

The position on residency will be confirmed when the regulations are laid in Spring 2016.

Until the regulations are laid, the Government’s position on loan eligibility is set out in the response to its consultation on postgraduate master’s loans published on 25 November 2015. This is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479703/bis-15-573-support-postgraduate-study-response.pdf.

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01/01/2023
Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to promote postgraduate loans in 2016-17; and what expenditure his Department has allocated for such promotion.

Joseph Johnson

The Department is working alongside its delivery partner The Student Loans Company and stakeholders such as Universities UK and Prospects to ensure the correct information and guidance is readily available. The Student Loans Company produces information and guidance materials for institutions and prospective students and expenditure for 2016/17 is expected to be in the region of £120,000.

01/01/2023
David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Jones on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.

Anna Soubry

The Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Wales jointly hosted a roundtable in August to discussthese potential benefits. Ministerial and official engagement continues across Departments to capitalise on the opportunities for North Wales from the Northern Powerhouse.

01/01/2023
Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to obtain a special status for UK agricultural products from specific geographical origin within the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

George Eustice

Negotiations on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) concluded in 2014 and the agreement is expected to come into force in early 2017. CETA represents a good outcome for the UK. Economic analysis suggests the UK could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this agreement.

Our most important GI (Geographic Indication) product, Scotch Whisky, will receive greater protection in the market and the agreement removes both tariff and non-tariff barriers to British food and drink exports to Canada.

We will be working with the EU Commission, other Member States, the UK food industry and trade organisations to extend GI recognition under CETA for EU protected food name products not included in the initial negotiating list. In particular for UK products where exports to Canada have substantially increased since the CETA negotiations started in 2011.

01/01/2023
David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department has put incentives in place to encourage uptake of apprenticeship schemes from private companies.

Nick Boles

There have been over 2.4 million apprenticeship starts over the previous parliament, and 153,100 between August and October 2015, demonstrating the continued expansion of the apprenticeships programme.

We are taking action to support and encourage the growth of apprenticeships in all sectors to meet our commitment to reaching 3 million starts by 2020. The UK-wide levy will be introduced in April 2017 for all employers in public and private sector with a pay bill of £3m or more, to help fund the increase in quantity and quality of apprenticeship training in England. All employers that hire apprentices will benefit from the levy.

Our apprenticeship reforms are giving employers the opportunity to create new apprenticeship standards. More than 1300 employers are involved with 204 new standards published (of which over 60 are Higher and Degree Apprenticeships) and more than 150 are in development. So far there have been over 1,000 starts on the new standards.

We are continuing to support small employers to hire apprentices through the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which provides eligible employers with a £1,500 grant per apprentice (aged 16 to 24) for up to five new apprentices currently. The AGE will continue to operate until the apprenticeships levy is introduced in April 2017. From April 2016, all employers will not be required to pay employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under age of 25 on earnings up to the upper earnings limit.

01/01/2023
David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made in encouraging private companies to create or expand their apprenticeships programmes.

Nick Boles

There have been over 2.4 million apprenticeship starts over the previous parliament, and 153,100 between August and October 2015, demonstrating the continued expansion of the apprenticeships programme.

We are taking action to support and encourage the growth of apprenticeships in all sectors to meet our commitment to reaching 3 million starts by 2020. The UK-wide levy will be introduced in April 2017 for all employers in public and private sector with a pay bill of £3m or more, to help fund the increase in quantity and quality of apprenticeship training in England. All employers that hire apprentices will benefit from the levy.

Our apprenticeship reforms are giving employers the opportunity to create new apprenticeship standards. More than 1300 employers are involved with 204 new standards published (of which over 60 are Higher and Degree Apprenticeships) and more than 150 are in development. So far there have been over 1,000 starts on the new standards.

We are continuing to support small employers to hire apprentices through the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which provides eligible employers with a £1,500 grant per apprentice (aged 16 to 24) for up to five new apprentices currently. The AGE will continue to operate until the apprenticeships levy is introduced in April 2017. From April 2016, all employers will not be required to pay employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under age of 25 on earnings up to the upper earnings limit.

01/01/2023

Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Government has invested into research and development of future car technologies in each of the last three years.

Anna Soubry

The Government is fully committed to the continuing success of the automotive sector and supports the development of future car technologies through a variety of mechanisms depending on the technology and stage of development. The most significant sources of funding are set out in the following table:

	13/14	14/15	15/16
BIS (incl. Innovate UK & Advanced Propulsion Centre)	10	40.5	27.7
Office for Low Emission Vehicles	17.5	8.9	10.5
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (BIS, DfT & HMT)		15.75	23.75
Total (£M)	27.5	65.15	61.95

In addition the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has invested £127M in research relevant to the automotive sector since FY 13/14.

In the last Spending Review my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed Government funding for the Advanced Propulsion Centre out to 2023 and announced additional support for automotive R&D of £225m from 2023 to 2026.

01/01/2023

Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March to Question 28299, on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, if he will estimate the cost to his Department of each of the 12 rounds of negotiations; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

The European Commission conducts trade negotiations – including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – on behalf of the EU and, where appropriate, Member States. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not therefore incur the direct costs of the TTIP negotiating rounds.

It is rare that travel undertaken by Ministers and officials relates solely to TTIP, but will usually encompass other issues. Officials within the Transatlantic and International Unit in my Department have the lead policy responsibility for TTIP as well as certain other international matters. The total travel expenditure by these officials in 2014/15 was £25,081, in 2015/16 £14,269.

The cost to the Department of any travel undertaken in relation to TTIP is greatly offset by the economic prize that an ambitious agreement offers. Independent analysis shows that a comprehensive TTIP agreement could give an annual boost to the UK economy of as much as £10 billion each year.

01/01/2023
Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that companies with more than 250 employees pay their suppliers in a timely manner.

Anna Soubry

The Government recognises that late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK and is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts. This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the private sector.

The Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 legislated for a new reporting requirement on the UK’s largest companies and Regulations which will be introduced this year. This will compel larger companies to report on payment practices and performance. This information will be published on a six-monthly basis and will be made publicly available.

Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to give general advice and to help small businesses resolve disputes relating to payment matters with larger businesses.

Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK’s payment culture.

01/01/2023

Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department spent on salaries for (a) senior Civil Servants and (b) all other grades at (i) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (ii) 1 Victoria Street, London in (A) 2014-15 and (B) 2015-16 to date.

Joseph Johnson

The following tables show the basic salaries and allowances paid to Senior Civil Servants in:

2014-15

(i) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield	(ii) 1 Victoria Street, London
£587,842	£15,087,650

2015-16 to date

(i) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield	(ii) 1 Victoria Street, London
£436,059	£15,548,049

The following tables show the basic salaries and allowances paid to all other grades in:

2014-15

Grade	(i) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield	(ii) 1 Victoria Street, London
Grade 6	£861,385	£16,330,679
Grade 7	£3,448,242	£28,394,098
SEO	£2,134,433	£9,445,839
Faststream	The numbers in this grade and location would make it possible to identify personal information of individual employees. These costs have therefore not been included	£2,653,996
HEO	£1,823,162	£11,031,962
EO	£699,586	£6,365,262
AO	The numbers in this grade and location would make it possible to identify personal information of individual employees. These costs have therefore not been included	£2,045,520
AA	There are no AA grade staff based in St Paul’s Place	£197,447

2015-16 to date

Grade	(i) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield	(ii) 1 Victoria Street, London
Grade 6	£1,161,328	£16,419,099
Grade 7	£3,448,283	£28,186,571
SEO	£2,372,398	£9,529,413
Faststream	The numbers in this grade and location would make it possible to identify personal information of individual employees. These costs have therefore not been included	£2,538,015
HEO	£1,747,746	£11,194,382
EO	£769,613	£6,237,211
AO	The numbers in this grade and location would make it possible to identify personal information of individual employees. These costs have therefore not been included	£1,973,589
AA	There are no AA grade staff based in St Paul’s Place	The numbers in this grade and location would make it possible to identify personal information of individual employees. These costs have therefore not been included

01/01/2023