The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2016 to Question 40488, on civil service recruitment, who has been appointed the board level diversity champion in his Department.
Joseph Johnson
Gareth Davies, Director General for Business and Science, is the Department’s board-level diversity champion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of his Department’s staff are based in the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place; and what plans he has for the future of those jobs.
Joseph Johnson
As of 1 November 2016, there are 21 members of staff based in the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place. Following the recent Machinery of Government changes, BEIS is considering how to best align the reform agendas of its predecessor departments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the response of the then Minister of State in the Department for Energy and Climate Change to the Oral Question of 14 July 2016, Official Report, column 411, what assessment he has made of the effect of the publication of the National Grid’s four plausible and credible pathways for the UK’s energy sector between now and 2020 on the likelihood of the UK meeting the EU-mandated target to increase renewables to 15 per cent of energy consumption by 2020.
Mr Nick Hurd
We have considered the National Grid’s report but this is one assessment from one organisation. In 2015 25% of electricity generated came from wind farms, solar panels and other renewable power sources.
On the UK’s progress towards meeting the 2020 target we are currently progressing in line with the trajectory set out in the Renewable Energy Directive, having met the Directive’s interim targets.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-10-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Question 1 of the consultation, Tackling exploitation in the labour market, published by her Department and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in October 2015, what account of international law her Department took in defining labour market exploitation.
Karen Bradley
As explained in my answer to question 13916, my Department has not legally defined ‘labour market exploitation’, but set out what we mean by the phrase for the purposes of this consultation to provide context for stakeholders considering our proposals. Government has taken account of international law in preparing the consultation and will consider it further in considering the Government response to the consultation in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the annual police expenditure on joint operations with the Gangmasters Licensing Authority has been in each of the last five years.
Karen Bradley
This information is not held centrally. It is an operational decision for Chief Constables, working with the relevant Police and Crime Commissioner, to determine the level of resources used in such instances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions she has visited an Immigration Removal Centre since becoming Home Secretary.
James Brokenshire
The Home Secretary and Home Office Ministers conduct visits, and host meetings, on the whole spectrum of Home Office business regularly. As with the previous administration, it is our policy not to provide details of such visits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-03.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department and the FCA have made on the Connaught Income Fund Series 1.
Harriett Baldwin
The FCA is an independent, non-governmental organisation, and so it would not be appropriate for the government to intervene in, or comment on, their ongoing investigation into the Connaught Income Fund Series 1.
On 29 January, the FCA published on their website an update to investors on the Connaught Income Fund. This update outlines that a settlement has been reached between the liquidators of the fund and Capita Financial Managers Ltd. The FCA have asked the liquidators to distribute the settlement sum to investors as soon as possible. The update also states that while the FCA’s investigation is ongoing, they will not provide any comments or details on progress because to do so may later turn out to be misleading.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the publication, entitled The Department for Education review, published in November 2012, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential benefits of departmental regional office bases to the delivery of his Department’s policies.
Joseph Johnson
There have been no conversations between the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Secretary of State for Education on the subjects above.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether employers named and shamed by his Department on 5 February 2016 for non-payment of the national minimum wage and found to be owing arrears to a select number of employees subsequently had their whole workforce investigated by HM Revenue and Customs to ascertain if the same practice applied to all other workers employed.
Nick Boles
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) fully investigate all worker complaints and where they identify arrears of pay, issue a Notice of Underpayment to recover arrears for the complainant. Since 2015, HMRC have also instructed the employer to "self-correct" for all other workers and report the details to HMRC. An assurance process is in place to make sure employers have fully self-corrected. If they do not, and HMRC believes other workers are likely to have been underpaid, the employer will be investigated again.
HMRC are unable to provide an exact figure for how many of the 92 employers have been investigated beyond the original complaint. The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many claims for underpayment of the national minimum wage have been brought before employment tribunals in each of the last five years; how many such claims were successful; and how much was awarded to claimants in claims related to underpayment of the national minimum wage in that period.
Andrew Selous
The number of National Minimum Wage claims accepted by the Employment Tribunal in each of the last five years, including those accepted by the Tribunal since 1 July 2015, are published in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly. The number of successful National Minimum Wage claims are also published in the quarterly statistics. The most recent report, for the period October to December 2015, published on 10 March 2016, can be viewed at:
The Tribunal only records and publishes awards made to claimants in discrimination cases. The amount awarded in National Minimum Wage claims in each of the last five years can only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Information relating to the period of time an Employment Tribunal claim refers to underpayment of the National Minimum Wage for a period of more than (a) two and (b) six years is not recorded by the Tribunal and can only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
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