Tag: Kevin Brennan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to develop a standardised methodology for measuring SME spending by government departments which can be used as a baseline over the next five years.

Matthew Hancock

We have developed our methodology over time, starting in 2010 when there was no reliable estimate for spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We now have much better data than before 2010 and we are continuing to improve our understanding of spend. The Government exceeded its target of 25% of central government procurement spend going to small and medium businesses by 2015, achieving over £12 billion (27.1%) of spend with SMEs by the end of the last Parliament.

The Government standardised its methodology for collecting data on direct spend with SMEs in 2011-12; data on direct spend published since that point is comparable. Data on indirect spend for 2013-14 and 2014-15 is also comparable. This is an area of continuous improvement and we intend to standardise our methodology again during 2016-17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost of online retail fraud was to retailers in each year for which data is available.

Karen Bradley

The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

The Home Office runs an annual Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) which asks business premises in different sectors about their experience of various crime types, including fraud, in the latest year.

In order to keep the length of the survey, and hence the burden on respondents, to a minimum, businesses are only asked about the cost of the latest incident of each crime type experienced in the year. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an aggregate cost of fraud or overall crime to businesses in the retail sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he takes to monitor the economic effect of projects his Department has funded.

Anna Soubry

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has taken a number of steps to embed systematic monitoring of our policies and programmes, including economic effects. The Department’s vision for monitoring and evaluation is outlined in our Evaluation Strategy, found on the GOV.UK website.

In particular:

1. For all new spending the Department ensures fit for purpose monitoring and evaluation plans are embedded before policy implementation.
2. The Department publishes an updated summary of the monitoring and evaluation coverage for each policy area on an annual basis. The BIS Evaluation Plan 2016 was published in January and is the second annual publication of BIS’s evaluation coverage, also found on the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the mean annual gross pay was for jobs in (a) manufacturing, (b) services and (c) the whole economy in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the role of the PrescQIPP Programme is in relation to clinical commissioning groups.

Alistair Burt

The PrescQIPP NHS Programme currently has no direct role within the Department as it is an independent social enterprise.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) use its materials to improve the prescribing of medicines. These are mainly publicly available for CCGs and Health Boards, with some additional subscription-only content. Their governance and annual work programme is overseen by a strategic oversight group representing the users.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the level of procurement of British steel by local authorities in the UK.

Matthew Hancock

The Government has not made an assessment of the level of procurement of British steel by local authorities in England and it does not collect or hold this information centrally.

Last year Government issued guidance across central government, which sets out how government buyers should source steel for major projects in a more strategic and transparent way. This is underpinned by more detailed guidance explaining how Government departments should take into account the social impacts of competing suppliers as well as environmental factors for certain procurements involving steel.

In April 2016, Government announced that the guidance on procuring steel would be extended to the wider public sector. We are working with key stakeholders to take this forward so that we can maximise take-up of the guidance across the wider public sector.

As local government procurement policy is a devolved matter, it is for the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to determine how they will conduct any assessment for their local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received on the potential merits of establishing a materials catapult for manufacturing.

Joseph Johnson

The Department refers proposals for new Catapults to Innovate UK, who have an established process for considering the case for new Catapult Centres. This includes proposals for Materials Centres. Innovate UK currently consider the broad materials needs of the manufacturing sector are well served by existing Catapults and Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of legislative proposals in the Trade Union Bill on the finances of the Labour Party.

Nick Boles

The proposals in the Bill are not about party funding. The Trade Union Bill is about employment and industrial relations. We are introducing a greater level of transparency into union activities by requiring union members to make an active decision to contribute to a union’s political fund.

If union members want a political fund, this will not necessarily lead to a reduction in the funds available. Therefore no assessment has been made in relation to the impact on the finances of any political party.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the devolved administrations, (b) civic society and (c) industry on the privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.

Anna Soubry

The Government first announced it was exploring options for bringing private capital into UK Green investment Bank plc (GIB) in the Autumn Statement 2013. It was subsequently confirmed in both the 2014 Autumn Statement and 2015 Budget debate that work was progressing on this matter.

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills set out firm proposals to move GIB into private ownership in a written ministerial statement of 25 June.

On 15 October 2015, My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills made a further written ministerial statement in order to provide an update on work to implement the proposals and the need to repeal legislation relating to GIB.

On 18 November, the Government published a detailed policy document on the future of GIB setting out the case for moving the company into private ownership and seeking to address a number of concerns that had been expressed about this.

In support of these various publications and announcements, there has been substantial engagement and correspondence on the matter with environmental groups, stakeholders, members of Parliament and the Devolved Administrations, particularly the Scottish Government which raised a number of specific concerns. Much of the stakeholder engagement activity has been undertaken by GIB itself in view of its strong existing relationships with relevant stakeholders.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Government’s proposal to sell the Green Investment Bank (GIB) will include provision for the (a) sale of all GIB assets and (b) future of the GIB team.

Anna Soubry

It is the Department’s intention to sell GIB as a going concern. The assets and staff are an inherent part of that company.