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10 Mar 2010 : Column 392W—continued
Business: Government Assistance
Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many times the panel established to monitor lending to small businesses has met since 1 November 2008. [317253]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since the Monitoring Panel was established in November 2008, officials from BIS, HMT and the Bank of England have continued to meet on a monthly basis to monitor lending to small businesses. The key findings from these meetings are reported at the Small Business Finance Forum.
David Mundell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding has been disbursed to businesses from the Capital for Enterprise Fund to date; and how much such funding has been disbursed to companies registered in Scotland. [318370]
Ms Rosie Winterton: To date there have been 23 investments from the Capital for Enterprise Fund (CfEF) with a value of £33.8. million. A further five businesses have accepted the terms offered by the CfEF with a value of £9.1 million and await final due diligence and completion.
There have been five investments made in Scotland with a value of £6.8 million.
David Mundell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications for funding under the Capital for Enterprise Fund have been approved to date; and how many such applications have been made by companies registered in Scotland. [318371]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Out of the applications received to date there have been 23 investments from the Capital for Enterprise fund with a value of £33.8 million.
There have been five applications leading to investment made in Scotland with a value of £6.8 million.
David Mundell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications for funding from the Capital for Enterprise Fund have been received to date; and how many of such applications were from companies registered in Scotland. [318436]
Ms Rosie Winterton: To date there have been 1,013 applications for funding under the Capital for Enterprise Fund with a value of £1,179.3 million.
There have been 76 applications in Scotland with a value of £100.8 million.
Business: Salford
Hazel Blears: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what (a) small business start-up schemes and (b) other assistance schemes are available to assist businesses in Salford constituency. [317733]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is a facility for additional lending to viable SMEs that sit on the margins of commercial lending decisions due to lack of security or track record. It enables loan facilities of between £1,000 and £1 million, to SMEs with a turnover of up to £25 million. EFG may be used to enable new terms loans, refinancing of existing term loans, overdraft conversion, guarantees on invoice facilities, and guarantees on new or increased overdraft borrowing. Businesses are advised to approach one or more of the 44 approved EFG lenders, which includes the main UK high street banks to discuss their lending needs. However, all decisions on individual lending are at the discretion of the lender. Further details on EFG are on the BIS website:
As of 10 February 2010, 12 businesses in the Salford constituency have been offered EFG loans totalling £1.3 million.
Companies: Registration
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for what reason the filing times for accounts at Companies House for limited companies has been changed from 10 months after the accounting year end to nine months; and if he will make a statement. [321411]
Ian Lucas: The reduction of one month in filing times was effected for all companies as part of the modernisation of the accounting regulations to reflect the fact that companies could now report electronically and as a way of providing information to interested parties on a more timely basis but without imposing undue burdens. In the case of both large and small company accounting regulations, there was no opposition to this change.
Departmental Accountancy
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether any written instructions have been provided to the accounting officer for his Department and its predecessors in accordance with paragraph 5.5 of the ministerial code since May 1997. [315314]
Mr. McFadden: Written instructions to the BIS accounting officer and his predecessors under paragraph 5.5 of the ministerial code (called an accounting officer direction) have been issued on nine occasions since May 1997.
Departmental Consultants
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much consultants employed by his Department and its agencies have been paid (a) in total and (b) in reimbursable expenses since its inception. [314001]
Mr. McFadden: Central records indicate that the Department paid a total of £6,354,203 in consultancy fees since its inception (announced on 5 June 2009) to 31 December 2009.
I have approached the Chief Executives of the Insolvency Service, Companies House, the National Measurement Office and the Intellectual Property Office and they will respond to hon. Member directly.
Further details, regarding reimbursable expenses, are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 28 January 2010:
I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 25 January 2010, UIN 314001, to the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Companies House has paid consultants a total £95,525 since the inception of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in June 2009 and £8,417 of that amount was in reimbursable expenses.
Letter from Sean Dennehey, dated 27 January 2010:
I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 25 January 2010, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The Intellectual Property Office became an Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 5 June 2009. Since that time it has spent £48,000 on consultants; this figure includes £14,000 in reimbursable expenses.
Letter from Peter Mason, dated 23 February 2010:
I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much consultants employed by his Department and its agencies have been paid (a) in total and (b) in reimbursable expenses since its inception.
The National Measurement Office became an Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills when it was established on 5 June 2009. Our records indicate that since that date we have paid £159,361 to external consultants (using the OGC definition of those who supply advice related to the Agency's strategy, structure, management or operations). The reimbursable expenses of such consultants are not separately identified in our accounting system.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 10 March 2010:
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has asked me to reply to your question "how much consultants employed by his Department and its agencies have been paid (a) in total and (b) in reimbursable expenses since its inception".
The Insolvency Service has employed consultants since the inception of The Department for Business Innovation and Skills in the period from June 2009 to 31 December 2009, at a cost of £29,546. There were no reimbursable expenses.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many designs for its website his Department and its predecessors have commissioned since 2005. [318659]
Mr. McFadden: The Department and its predecessors have commissioned five website designs since 2005.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) website was redesigned in 2006 and again in 2008 to reflect the newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). An interim website design was commissioned for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) in June 2007. This design was updated in March 2009. Designs were commissioned for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) website in July 2009. The current BIS website is an interim site, based on these designs and was developed in house. The revised BIS website will go live in March 2010.
Insolvency: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses employing fewer than 50 people were declared insolvent in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point constituency in (i) each of the last 12 months and (ii) each of the last five years. [321443]
Ian Lucas: Official Statistics covering corporate insolvencies are not currently available at a sub-national level within England and Wales.
Additionally, the number of employees from which small businesses may be identified is not recorded on the source datasets.
Self-employed traders may be declared bankrupt (or enter into an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA)), and the table shows the available information for each of the last five years.
| Bankruptcies among sole traders | ||
| Area( 1) | ||
| Essex | Castle Point | |
| (1) Where bankrupt has provided a valid postcode (94.5 per cent. in 2004 to 96.9 per cent. in 2008). | ||
Figures for 2009 are not currently available. Nor are equivalent figures for IVAs. Monthly statistics are not maintained.
Maternity Leave: Greater Manchester
Tony Lloyd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what percentage of women resident in the City of Manchester have taken one or more periods of 26 weeks maternity leave since 1997. [320874]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 8 March 2010]: From April 2007 all employed mothers are entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, of which 39 may be paid. Employers are not required to record or report the uptake of maternity leave to the Government.
The most recent estimates of take-up of maternity leave are based on the DWP "Maternity Rights and Mothers' employment decisions in Britain: Survey of Mothers" (2007). In 2006, when the mothers included in the study went on maternity leave, the statutory entitlement to ordinary maternity leave (OML) was 26 weeks, while mothers who had worked for their employer for a qualifying period of 26 weeks were also entitled to additional maternity leave (AML) of 26 weeks. The Office for National Statistics estimates that in 2006 there were 7,268 live births to women in the Manchester. The employment rate for women of working age (16 to 59) in Manchester in 2006 was 58.5 per cent.
For mothers in Great Britain taking maternity leave in 2006:
84 per cent. took 26 weeks or more maternity leave;
35 per cent. took exactly 26 weeks maternity leave;
46 per cent. of mothers took between 27 and 52 weeks and 3 per cent. were off for more than 52 weeks.
16 per cent. of mothers took less than the statutory minimum entitlement (ie 26 weeks in 2006)
The next "Maternity Rights" survey will be based on mothers who took maternity leave starting in summer 2008. It is due to report later in 2010. The "Maternity Rights" survey sample is not large enough to produce robust estimates at constituency or county levels.
Met Office
John Thurso: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence on the future of the Met Office. [321359]
Mr. McFadden: My noble Friend the Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on the future of the Met Office.
Mobile Phones: Health Hazards
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) what studies his Department has carried out on the specific absorption rate of mobile telephones; [321408]
(2) for what reasons the maximum specific absorption rate for mobile telephone radiation has been set at 2W/kg; and if he will consider the merits of reducing it to 1.6W/kg; [321409]
(3) if he will introduce regulations requiring mobile telephone manufacturers to display prominently and advertise the specific absorption rate of radiation energy for each model they manufacture. [321410]
Mr. Timms: The Government supported basic work to underpin the development of technical standards for assessing the specific absorption rate (SAR) from mobile phones, including several projects in the late 1990s. More recently, the Government have supported work through the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme, and information about this programme is available on its website:
The Department looks to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to advise on appropriate standards for protection from exposure to the radio waves from mobile phones. HPA advice is that the guidelines of the International Commission on non-ionizing radiation protection (ICNIRP) should be adopted in the UK.
Advice on the availability of SAR values from mobile phones was given in the May 2000 report from the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (Stewart Report) and an update was given in the Mobile Phones and Health 2004 Report from NRPB (now merged into the Health protection Agency).
In addition, the UK's five mobile network operators, namely Orange, T-Mobile, 3 UK, 02 and Vodafone, have resources within their customer service departments to provide information and advice to users regarding specific absorption rate (SAR) values on handsets.
Information about SAR values is available on manufacturers' websites and also on the mobile manufacturers forum (MMF) website:
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