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12 Oct 2009 : Column 642W—continued
Higher Education: Overseas Students
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many non-UK domiciled students of each nationality were offered and accepted places on veterinary science degree courses at universities in England in the last five academic years. [291535]
Mr. Lammy: The information is in the following table. A further breakdown of each non-UK student's country of domicile or declared nationality is not available. Figures for academic year 2009-10 are not yet available.
| Offers and acceptances for non-UK domiciled applicants for veterinary science degrees at institutions in England | |||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| Notes: 1. 'Offers' covers students who were offered a place which was dependent on obtaining satisfactory exam results or on non-academic conditions. 2. Accepted applicants cover students who obtained specified results and were accepted for study on their chosen course. Source: UCAS | |||||
Higher Education: Tamworth
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many pupils in Tamworth constituency entered higher education in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the number of such pupils entering higher education in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011. [291460]
Mr. Lammy: The Government do not make forward estimates of the number of students entering higher education disaggregated at a constituency level.
The numbers of 18-year-old undergraduate entrants to UK higher education institutions from Tamworth constituency, in each year since 1997, are shown in the
table. Figures for the 2008/09 academic year will be available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in January 2010.
| 18-year-old undergraduate entrants( 1) from Tamworth constituency( 2) , UK higher education institutions( 3) , academic years 1997/98 to 2007/08 | |
| Academic year | Number |
| (1) Covers entrants to full-time and part-time courses. (2) The table does not include entrants where the parliamentary constituency of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid home postcodes. (3 )Excludes the Open university due inconsistencies in their coding of entrants across the time series. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). | |
Industrial Sector: Ownership
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what percentage of each of the 30 main industrial sectors in the UK is foreign-owned. [292134]
Ian Lucas: The following information is as follows:
| Percentage of output (gross value added (GVA)) generated by UK and foreign-owned companies, 2006 | ||
| Sector | Foreign owned | UK owned |
| (1) The Annual Business Inquiry does not cover all parts of the services and other categories. Source: National Statistics (derived from Annual Business Inquiry regional data, published in Regional Economic Performance Indicators, 2009 (BERR)) | ||
Infrastructure UK
Gregory Barker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what work Infrastructure UK plans to take in relation to (a) broadband communications and (b) the development of a smart grid electricity network. [289852]
Mr. McFadden: We are in the process of establishing the future work plan for Infrastructure UK. As detailed in "Building Britain's Future", full details of the new body will be announced and it is intended that a chair appointed in time for the pre-Budget report.
Infrastructure UK: Meetings
Gregory Barker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with the Department for Energy and Climate Change on energy infrastructure in relation to the establishment of Infrastructure UK. [289774]
Mr. McFadden: We have regular discussions with DECC on energy infrastructure.
Infrastructure UK: Ofgem
Gregory Barker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what work Infrastructure UK plans to take in collaboration with Ofgem. [289854]
Mr. McFadden: We are in the process of establishing the future work plan for Infrastructure UK. As detailed in "Building Britain's Future", full details of the new body will be announced and it is intended that a chair appointed in time for the pre-Budget report.
Insolvency
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many reports reviewed as part of the recent Statement of Insolvency Practice 16 performance report did not provide sufficient information to creditors on valuation and marketing. [290055]
Ian Lucas: The disproportionate cost threshold for providing an answer to a parliamentary question is £750.
The area of the Department responsible for answering a parliamentary question assesses the costs involved, including staff and other resources, and whether this represents disproportionate cost.
To answer this question would involve examining some 202 separate reports. To determine which of those reports did not provide sufficient information regarding valuation and/or marketing would require significant staff resources, which would be in excess of the £750 disproportionate cost threshold.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of the failed reports referred to in the recent Statement of Insolvency Practice 16 performance report related to insolvency practitioners under each of the authorising bodies in the UK. [290056]
Ian Lucas: The disproportionate cost threshold for providing an answer to a parliamentary question is £750.
The area of the Department responsible for answering a parliamentary question assesses the costs involved, including staff and other resources, and whether this represents disproportionate cost.
To answer this question would involve examining some 202 separate reports. Administration appointments are also often held by more than one insolvency practitioner acting on a joint and several basis.
To determine which insolvency practitioners provided information deemed non-compliant with SIP 16 by reference to their authorising body would therefore require significant staff resources, which would be in excess of the £750 disproportionate cost threshold.
Lorely Burt:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which insolvency practitioners persistently breached Statement of Insolvency
Practice (SIP) 16 as referred to in the recent SIP 16 performance report. [290058]
Ian Lucas: The Insolvency Service considers that the information you have requested is exempt information under section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Section 40 (2) applies where the information sought is not the personal data of the applicant and either of the conditions in subsections 3 or 4 of that section is satisfied.
The Insolvency Service considers that subsection 3 applies, and disclosure of the personal data of the insolvency practitioners reporting to The Insolvency Service under the SIP 16 provisions to you would contravene the first data protection principle. The first data protection principle is defined in part 1 of schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act (DPA) and requires that data be processed fairly and lawfully and only processed if at least one of the conditions in schedule 2 is met.
The disclosure of personal information about the insolvency practitioners to you would amount to data processing as defined by the DPA in contravention of this principle as none of the conditions in schedule 2 apply.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he has taken to ensure that creditors have been provided with missing information in Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP) 16 cases where compliance was lacking, as referred to in the recent SIP 16 performance report. [290059]
Ian Lucas: The issuing of a report under the requirements of SIP 16 is in addition to the requirements of the Insolvency Act 1986 whereby the administrator must issue a full report on his proposals for the administration within eight weeks of his appointment. In the circumstances we have not requested further missing information be published as it should be contained within the administration proposals and sent to creditors. It is always open to creditors to seek further information from the administrator if they wish to do so.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take to incorporate the recommendations of the recent Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP) 16 performance report in SIP 16 guidance. [290084]
Ian Lucas: The Insolvency Service will work with the Recognised Professional Bodies (which authorise the majority of insolvency practitioners) to strengthen SIP 16 where necessary and issue further guidance to practitioners to ensure that creditors are given a detailed explanation and justification of why a pre-packaged sale was undertaken, so that they can be satisfied that the administrator has acted with due regard for their interests.
Mark Hunter: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department takes to recover funds from disqualified directors after their companies have been declared insolvent; and if he will make a statement. [290404]
Ian Lucas:
If an order for costs is made against a disqualified director as a result of an application by the Secretary of State or official receiver under the Company
Directors Disqualification Act 1986, then the Insolvency Service uses contract solicitors to recover those costs or to negotiate an appropriate sum.
Mark Hunter: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what responsibility his Department has for the (a) investigation and (b) bringing of legal proceedings against directors of insolvent companies in circumstances in which there is evidence of misfeasance during the winding up of the company in question; and if he will make a statement. [290405]
Ian Lucas: If the company has entered voluntary liquidation, receivership or administration, the responsibility for the investigation and the bringing of legal proceedings for misfeasance, in an asset recovery context, is a matter for the insolvency practitioner. In compulsory winding up cases, it is the responsibility of the official receiver if the official receiver remains liquidator. In practice if there is a misfeasance case to answer, in an asset recovery context, the official receiver will write to the creditors to ask whether they are prepared to fund legal proceedings. If sufficient creditors are prepared to do so, the official receiver will seek the appointment of an insolvency practitioner as liquidator to take the matter forward. Without funding from the creditors it is not possible to take recovery proceedings unless there are already substantial asset realisations in the estate and the creditors have agreed to there monies being used for this purpose.
If misfeasance is alleged as a matter of unfitted conduct in a disqualification context, then in a voluntary liquidation, receivership or administration, the insolvency practitioner has a statutory duty to report the matter to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then has discretion to decide whether it sufficiently serious to warrant further investigation and disqualification proceedings being taken in the public interest. In a compulsory liquidation, the official receiver must decide whether it is sufficiently serious to justify submitting a disqualification report to the Secretary of State and if a disqualification report is submitted, the Secretary of State must consider the report and decide whether to authorise disqualification proceedings.
Mark Hunter: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department releases to company creditors Insolvency Service reports on the actions of disqualified directors; and if he will make a statement. [290403]
Ian Lucas: Details of unfit conduct by a disqualified director are made available to creditors and other third parties via the Insolvency Service's website and via press releases. Official Receivers may also provide an additional report to creditors on the unfit conduct.
Insolvency Service: Finance
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 13 July 2009, Official Report, columns 196-7W, on the Insolvency Service: finance, how much was held in the Insolvency Service's (a) insolvency services accounts, (b) insolvency services investment account and (c) national insurance fund on average in each month of each of the last three years. [289329]
Ian Lucas: The amounts held in the Insolvency Service's (a) Insolvency Services Accounts, (b) Insolvency Services Investment Account and (c) national insurance fund on the last day of each month for the last three years were:
| £000 | |||
| Month | (a) | (b) | (c) |
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