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17 Jun 2010 : Column 530W—continued
Advantage West Midlands
Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people are employed by Advantage West Midlands; how many people compose the non-executive Board of Advantage West Midlands; and what the total cost to the public purse of payments to (a) employees and (b) Board members is to date. [2852] [Official Report, 29 June 2010, Vol. 512, c. 3MC.]
Mr Prisk: The following tables show:
| (a) Number of and cost of employees | |
| Number/£ | |
Staff numbers are as at the snapshot reference date 31 March 2010 and cost is for the financial year 2009-10. Costs for payroll employees are defined as pay bill i.e. salary, ERNICs and pension; and
| (b) Number of and cost of board members | |
| Number/£ | |
Board member costs are from the 2008-09 financial year and include chair pension costs and board travel expenses. Board members now receive a remuneration of £8,666 per annum for minimum of two days per month with no pension entitlement.
The chair receives a remuneration of £81,718 per annum for three days a month and receives a pension.
Under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 an RDA board must have 15 members with the majority being business positions.
Apprentices
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many people in (a) Wigan constituency, (b) the North West region and (c) England started an apprenticeship in each of the last five years; [1648]
(2) how many people in (a) Wigan constituency, (b) the North West region and (c) England started an advanced apprenticeship in each of the last five years; [1649]
(3) how many people in (a) Wigan constituency, (b) the North West region and (c) England started a higher apprenticeship in each of the last five years. [1650]
Mr Hayes: Table 1 shows the number of Apprenticeship (Level 2) Programme Starts, table 2 shows the number of Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3) Programme Starts and table 3 shows the number of Higher Level Apprenticeship (Level 4) Programme Starts in Wigan Parliamentary Constituency, the North West Government Office Region and England for years 2004-05 to 2008-09, the most recent year for which full year data is available.
| Table 1: Apprenticeship (Level 2) Programme Starts by Geography for 2004-05 and 2008-09 | |||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| Table 2: Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3) Programme Starts by Geography for 2004-05 and 2008-09 | |||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| Table 3: Higher Level Apprenticeship (Level 4) Programme Starts by Geography for 2004-05 and 2008-09 | |||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| Notes 1. Figures for Wigan Parliamentary Constituency are rounded to the nearest ten. All other figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Figures are based upon home postcode of the learner. 3.'-' Indicates a base value of less than five for Parliamentary Constituency and less than fifty for Government Office Region and England. 4. The England figure contains a small amount of counts where the postcode of the learner is outside England and also learners where the postcode is not known. Source: Individualised Learner Record | |||||
Information on the number of Apprenticeship starts by Parliamentary Constituency, Local Authority, Government Office Region and for England is published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 24 March, and revised on 22 April:
Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of the apprenticeship places announced since May 2010 are to be allocated to each region; and if he will make a statement. [3286]
Mr Hayes: Our announcement on 24 May that, of the £6.2 billion savings for 2010-11, a total of £150 million will be recycled to support capacity for 50,000 extra apprenticeship places demonstrates our commitment to high-quality skills.
The Skills Funding Agency operates a national system to fund post-19 further education and training, there are no regional allocations. The expectation is that colleges and training organisations will look to make available additional apprenticeship places where there is local demand.
Arts: North East
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the provision of support to the creative sector in the North East. [2272]
Mr Prisk: The creative industries are an important contributor to the UK economy. It is essential to ensure that we create the right conditions for the creative industries to be able to innovate and grow.
Better Regulation Executive: Internet
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many ideas for better regulation have been submitted to his Department through the Better Regulation Executive web pages since 7 May 2010. [2806]
Mr Prisk: Since 7 May 2010, 13 suggestions have been received through the Better Regulation Executive's suggestions tool, which is now located on the Business Link website (as at 15 June 2010).
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many unique visits have been made to the Better Regulation Executive web pages since 7 May 2010. [2807]
Mr Prisk: Since 7 May 2010, there have been 31,830 individual sessions on the Better Regulation Executive's web pages, now part of the Business Link website (as at 15 June 2010).
A 'session' is defined as a series of clicks on the site by an individual visitor during a specific period of time. A session is initiated when the visitor arrives at the site, and it ends when the browser is closed or there is a period of inactivity.
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much it cost his Department to maintain the Better Regulation Executive web pages in the latest period for which figures are available. [2808]
Mr Prisk: The Better Regulation Executive's web pages are now incorporated into the Business Link website.
Hosting for the Better Regulation Executive's web pages (including the impact assessment library and the suggestions tool) currently costs £6,220 per year (April 2010 to April 2011).
Broadband
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what definition of the term super fast broadband he uses. [2831]
Mr Vaizey: Super fast broadband means broadband of sufficient speed and quality to deliver the services that will lead to Britain having the best broadband network in Europe. The technology used to deliver this could be fixed or wireless but will represent a significant upgrade on today's fixed and wireless networks.
Broadband: Rural Areas
Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to expand the provision of broadband in rural areas. [1470]
Mr Vaizey: As stated in the coalition's joint programme for Government, we will seek to introduce superfast broadband in remote areas at the same time as in more populated areas. On 8 June, the Secretary of State for Culture, the Olympics, Media and Sport set out the Government's plans for ensuring the UK has the best superfast broadband network in Europe by the end of the Parliament. These plans include enabling access to existing infrastructure to reduce the cost of deployment. Further, the Secretary of State proposed three market testing projects schemes for superfast broadband in rural areas. The Secretary of State's full speech can be read at:
As a first step towards this ambition, the Government are also committed to making a service level of 2Mbps available in towns and villages still without a basic level of access. The office charged with delivering this universal service commitment, Broadband Delivery UK, will be holding an industry event in July to provide further information on the approach to meeting the 2Mbps service commitment and the market testing schemes.
Conditions of Employment
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which section of his Department is responsible for policy on (a) Royal Mail and (b) the review of employment law. [2857]
Mr Davey: Officials within the Shareholder Executive are responsible for the Government's shareholder interests in Royal Mail, and officials within the Information Economy Directorate are responsible for the regulatory framework for UK postal services.
Officials within the Department's Employment Relations Directorate and the Better Regulation Executive will consider the detail of the approach to reviewing employment laws, alongside other colleagues from other Government Departments.
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations he has received on his Department's review of employment law to date. [2858]
Mr Davey: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and other BIS Ministers have had several meetings with business and employee representatives to discuss a range of issues, including employment law.
Copyright: Art Works
Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to extend the artist's resale right to the estates of deceased artists. [2113]
Mr Davey: The Artist's Resale Right (Amendment) Regulations 2009 delayed until 1 January 2012 the application of the Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 to the estates of deceased artists in the UK.
Resale right will be payable on sales of works by deceased artists in accordance with the requirements of the 2006 regulations where the contract date for the sale is on or after 1 January 2012.
Debt Relief Orders
Dr Thérèse Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will review the eligibility criteria for the establishment of a debt relief order for the purposes of removing the criterion relating to funds held in a pension fund which are not accessible prior to retirement. [2903]
Mr Davey: A consultation issued in March, which is available on The Insolvency Service's website, invited views on this issue. Debt Relief Orders are aimed at the most vulnerable, and the consultation asked whether those with a pension fund should be eligible for this form of debt relief. I will consider this issue in the light of responses to the consultation.
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which Ministers in his Department have been issued with (a) a Blackberry, (b) an iPhone, (c) another make of mobile telephone and (d) a personal digital assistant supplied by the Department. [1419]
Mr Davey: The Department has issued the following Ministers with Blackberrys:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Universities and Science (Mr Willetts)
My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Business, Enterprise, Deregulation and Better Regulation (Mr Prisk)
My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs (Mr Davey)
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