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20 July 2009 : Column 1114W—continued


Higher Education: Admissions

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people (a) applied and (b) were accepted through
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the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service for a place on a higher education institution undergraduate course in each year since the service was established. [287776]

Mr. Lammy: The information is in the following table:

Applicants and accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses via Universities and Colleges Admissions Service 1994 to 2008
Academic year of entry Applicants Accepted applicants

1994

405,117

270,898

1995

419,442

290,596

1996

418,400

295,807

1997

458,781

336,338

1998

446,457

329,788

1999

442,931

334,594

2000

442,028

339,747

2001

453,833

358,041

2002

461,365

368,115

2003

476,467

374,307

2004

486,028

377,544

2005

522,155

405,369

2006

506,304

390,890

2007

534,495

413,430

2008

588,689

456,627

Source:
UCAS

In 2008 the nursing and midwifery admissions system (NMAS) was subsumed in to the UCAS application system and part of the increase from 2007 to 2008 can be attributed this factor. In 2008 there were 13,487 applicants who applied via UCAS to ex-NMAS courses only and 14,184 applicants who were accepted to former NMAS courses, the majority of whom were English domiciled (and NMAS was only for English institutions).

Industry: Stress

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the effects of levels of work-related stress on the profitability of British industry; and if he will make a statement. [285817]

Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.


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The Health and Safety Executive does not collect data on the effects of work-related stress on the profitability of British industry. However, HSE estimates the economic costs to society of work-related stress in the order of £4 billion a year (2009).

HSE recognise that stress is a major cause of occupational ill health, leading to poor productivity and potential human error. Given the prevalence of work-related stress in Britain, HSE developed the Management Standards for Work-related stress in 2004. This approach is designed to address the key causes of stress at work and help employers, employees and their representatives manage the issue sensibly and minimise the impact on their business.

Innovation Fund

Tony Baldry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether funding from the new Innovation Fund will be available to (a) public and (b) private sector companies. [284956]

Mr. Lammy: The UK Innovation Investment Fund will invest in a small number of specialist technology funds. These funds will invest in strategically-important companies in life sciences, clean technologies, digital and advanced manufacturing. Investments in individual companies will ultimately be a commercial decision for the fund manager based on the investment opportunity, the potential risk and the current investment portfolio. These companies may be publicly or privately owned.

Insolvency

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies were declared insolvent in (a) Vale of York constituency and (b) England and Wales in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007 and (iv) 2008. [285899]

Ian Lucas: It is not possible to answer part (a) of the question asked because statistics covering corporate insolvencies are not currently available at sub-national level within England and Wales. The following table gives the number of corporate insolvencies by insolvency procedure type in England and Wales for the period requested.

Number

Compulsory liquidations Creditors' voluntary liquidations (CVLs)( 1) Receivership appointments Administrations( 3) Company voluntary arrangements (CVAs)

2005

5,233

8,341

590

2,261

604

2006

5,418

8,633

588

3,560

534

2007

5,165

8,437

337

2,512

418

2008

5,494

11,034

867

4,822

587

(1) Includes CVLs following administration. (2) Includes Law of Property Act receiverships. Receivership figures from 2007 are not consistent with those for the earlier period. (3) Includes administrator appointments prior to Enterprise Act 2002 and administrations under Enterprise Act 2002.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies went into administration in (a) Vale of York constituency and (b) England and Wales in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007 and (iv) 2008. [285900]

Ian Lucas: It is not possible to answer part (a) of the question asked because statistics covering corporate insolvencies are not currently available at sub-national level within England and Wales. The following table gives the number of administrations in England and Wales for the period requested:


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Administrations( 1)

Number

2005

2,261

2006

3,560

2007

2,512

2008

4,822

(1) Includes administrator appointments prior to Enterprise Act 2002 and administrations under Enterprise Act 2002.

Insolvency Service: Marketing

John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much the Insolvency Service spent on advertising and marketing in each of the last five years. [285442]

Ian Lucas: The Insolvency Service on has not spent anything on advertising and marketing in the last five years, therefore, the answer is nil.

Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 2002

Peter Luff: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) whether his Department has conducted research on the size of companies bringing forward cases under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 2002; and if he will make a statement; [286230]

(2) how many cases brought under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 2002 have been heard in court in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [286231]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Ministry of Justice does not hold any statistical information about court applications (including Scotland) relating specifically to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 2002.

This is because the administrative computer systems used in the courts do not presently identify these specific application types. While the relevant cases will be logged on the system, they cannot be distinguished from other types of claims issued. Changing the administrative systems to create specific case types for these types of cases would incur disproportionate cost.

Literacy: Young Offenders

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young offenders in prison have been recorded as improving their standard of literacy during their sentence in each of the last five years. [285263]

Kevin Brennan: The data provided is from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) showing the number of literacy enrolments and achievements by young offenders aged 15 to 17 and 18 to 21 for the academic years August 2006 to July 2007 and August 2007 to July 2008. The data collected records the number of literacy enrolments in a year rather than individual learners. As learners may enrol on more than one literacy course in any year, and may achieve at one level and progress to the next level, the number of enrolments and achievements does not represent individual learners.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is responsible for the provision of education in prison and young offender institutions for learners over the
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age of 18, with the Department for Children, Families and Schools having responsibility for 15 to 17-year-olds. As both sets of data have been supplied by the LSC, they are included for completeness.

Age group

15 to 17 18 to 21

Literacy enrolments for the 2006-07 academic year

6,186

8,366

Literacy achievements for the 2006-07 academic year

1,303

2,336

Literacy enrolments for the 2007-08 academic year

6,386

10,567

Literacy achievements for the 2007-08 academic year

1,660

3,357


The information for the 2006/07 academic year may include a small number of enrolments by young offenders serving community sentences because the LSC started recording the custody and community provision separately from the 2007/08 academic year onwards. There is no comparable data prior to 2006 before the LSC became responsible for capturing and recording the information.

Mail Order Selling

Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations he has received on enforcement action by the Office of Fair Trading in circumstances where companies repeatedly distribute mail order catalogues containing illegal claims about health products. [288018]

Kevin Brennan: This Department has received no such representations.

Members: Correspondence

Mike Penning: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead, on the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, dated 13 April 2009, transferred to his Department from HM Treasury. [285826]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member. My noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Economics Competitiveness, Small Business and Enterprise will respond shortly.

Migrant Workers: Burnley

Kitty Ussher: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many employers in Burnley have had enforcement action taken against them for employing illegal migrant workers in each of the last five years. [286455]

Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.

No illegal working enforcement operations were conducted in Burnley during the period from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007.


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Two illegal working enforcement operations were conducted in Burnley during the period from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.

Four illegal working enforcement operations were conducted in Burnley during the period from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.

No employers in Burnley have been subject to criminal prosecution under section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 or section 21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 for employing illegal migrant workers in each of the last five years.

One employer was served with a civil penalty under section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 in August 2008.

No information relating to enforcement action taken against employers in Burnley for employing illegal migrant workers is available for the period prior to 1 April 2006.


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