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  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the apprenticeship levy on the charity and voluntary sectors.

    Nick Boles

    A key part of the Government’s commitment of 3 million apprenticeships starts in England by 2020 is to ensure that quality apprenticeships are available at all levels and in all sectors. This will give people the widest opportunity to participate in high quality programmes to improve their skills and give employers, including charities and voluntary organisations, the skilled workforce they need to grow and improve productivity.

    The apprenticeships levy will only be paid by those with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million. This is 2% of all employers. We will continue to engage with charity and voluntary sectors in the development and implementation of the apprenticeship levy.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which offices outside London he does not plan to close under the BIS 2020 strategy.

    Joseph Johnson

    The intention to close the BIS Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place is based on our strategy to simplify our delivery and focus expertise in specific areas over five years to 2020. Therefore, our policy function needs to be in one place, close to Ministers, and the Department made a decision to locate all our policy functions in the HQ in London. Other decisions around our estates will be taken in due course and will, of course, be subject to consultation. We therefore cannot give an estimate of when all decisions on the Department’s estate will be concluded.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on his Department’s policy expertise and experience in the development of (a) higher and (b) further education of the closure of his Department’s Sheffield office.

    Joseph Johnson

    Subject to consultation, the Department intends to close the Sheffield office at St. Paul’s Place by January 2018. This intention is based on the strategic vision for the Department that seeks to save 30-40% of its operating costs, reduce the number of locations it operates from (from currently around 80 to 7 centres and a regional footprint for the provision of local services), and halve the number of its Partner Organisations by 2020.

    Intention is subject to consultation, to close the Sheffield office by January 2018. This gives us time to transition the policy roles affected.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure of his Department’s Sheffield office on the delivery of his Department’s policies.

    Joseph Johnson

    Subject to consultation, the Department intends to close the Sheffield office at St. Paul’s Place by January 2018. This intention is based on the strategic vision for the Department that seeks to save 30-40% of its operating costs, reduce the number of locations it operates from (from currently around 80 to 7 centres and a regional footprint for the provision of local services), and halve the number of its Partner Organisations by 2020.

    Intention is subject to consultation, to close the Sheffield office by January 2018. This gives us time to transition the policy roles affected.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department have relocated (a) out of London and (b) into London in each of the last five years.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold that information centrally. To gather and analyse this information would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of investing in video-conferencing facilities to facilitate split-site working by staff in his Department.

    Joseph Johnson

    Video conferencing is used across the Department as a tool for keeping in touch with colleagues split across numerous sites, with around 1,500 meetings held by video-conferencing every month.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of anti-competitive practices in the newspaper wholesale market.

    Nick Boles

    Responsibility for considering competition issues in the UK falls to the independent competition authorities. Since 2014 this role has been carried out by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

    The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the predecessor of the CMA, conducted a detailed investigation of the operation of the distribution arrangements for the supply of newspapers and magazines in England and Wales over a number of years. In September 2009, the OFT decided that, although there might be competition concerns, developments benefiting consumers could come about from industry parties self-assessing their distribution agreements following competition guidance provided by the OFT.

    The OFT considered that it would not be feasible for the Competition Commission to obtain the necessary evidence at that time properly to assess how the supply chains were likely to evolve in the short term. This decision was reviewed and confirmed in March 2012 and was upheld by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in October 2012.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what investment his Department has made in video-conferencing facilities in each of the last five years.

    Joseph Johnson

    My Department has a total of 45 extant video conferencing facilities in place in 12 of its locations in England, Scotland and Wales. The investment costs of those facilities are as detailed below:

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    2015

    Total for 5 years

    Investment costs

    £599,144

    £213,752

    £82,887

    £85,821

    £981,604
  • Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the 2012 temporary liberalisation of Sunday trading regulations on its proposals for the devolution of such regulations to local authorities.

    Anna Soubry

    The ONS analysed the impact of the short term Olympic relaxation of the Sunday trading rules and found that it was not possible to make any inference from the data. They found no definite pattern amongst the growth rates of retail sales and noted that other factors, such as the weather and time of year, will have impacted sales.

    In formulating its final proposals, the Government has carefully considered all the evidence submitted during the consultation process.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he expects all final decisions on his Department’s estate relating to the implementation of the BIS 2020 strategy to be concluded.

    Joseph Johnson

    The intention to close the BIS Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place is based on our strategy to simplify our delivery and focus expertise in specific areas over five years to 2020. Therefore, our policy function needs to be in one place, close to Ministers, and the Department made a decision to locate all our policy functions in the HQ in London. Other decisions around our estates will be taken in due course and will, of course, be subject to consultation. We therefore cannot give an estimate of when all decisions on the Department’s estate will be concluded.