Adam Afriyie

Energy suppliers are required to offer their domestic customers an In Home Display (IHD) for no upfront charge. Our latest Impact Assessment published in January 2014 estimates that IHDs will cost energy suppliers £15 per display.

GB trials and international experience demonstrate that real time feedback from In Home Displays are instrumental to energy savings.

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) has established a regional network to support UK trade and investment across South East Asia. This helps provide UK companies with access to the fast-growing markets of the region. The network is on target to assist nearly 10,000 businesses this year. UKTI has directly assisted in export deals with the region worth £2bn in the first six months of this financial year, putting us on track to deliver the UK’s best ever trade figures for the region. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister urged the European Union to accelerate negotiations on the EU-ASEAN FTA, a deal that is worth an additional £3 billion a year to the UK economy.

Closer collaboration across the region, supported by continued investment from government, has enabled UKTI to operate ever more efficiently, working with more British businesses and securing a higher value of business wins. Six regional priority sectors have been identified- reflecting UK strengths as well as the scale of opportunities in the region – enabling a more strategic approach to trade delivery in Infrastructure, Education, Energy, Financial & Professional Services, Consumer Retail and Healthcare.

Significant investment is also being made in the development of additional trade service capacity, being delivered by industry partners in the region, principally through Chambers of Commerce. This represents the government’s growing focus on the region as a global growth engine, and is indicative of the continuing importance that this government places in seeking out global opportunities to boost the UK economy.

In July of this year my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister led a trade mission to Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. The mission was made up of 30 British businesses, and included the signing of trade deals worth over £750 million. Concurrently, my right hon. Friend the Secretary for State for Business, Innovation and Skills led the inaugural Northern Powerhouse delegation, comprising over 50 UK companies, to Singapore and Malaysia.

During his visit to Indonesia, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced that the Government will make available up to £1 billion to finance infrastructure projects involving UK business, in Indonesia through its export guarantee scheme. The UK welcomes the recent commitments made by President Joko Widodo’s government on deregulation and improving the business and investment environment in Indonesia, as well as the talks between Indonesia and the EU on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which will benefit both Indonesia and the UK. Richard Graham MP, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Indonesia and the Asian Economic Community (AEC) has paid two visits this year to Indonesia, pushing forward trade priorities and promoting work on second-tier cities within Indonesia.

Two-way trade with Vietnam more than doubled between 2009 and 2014, reaching £2.81 billion, with the UK being amongst Vietnam’s largest trading partners within the EU. During my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s visit in July, the first by a serving British Prime Minister, Rolls Royce and Vietnam Airlines signed an agreement totalling £340 million, Prudential announced a £100 million investment and ZincOx agreed a £75 million investment for hazardous waste recycling.

In the past year, over 1000 UK businesses have been helped to trade with Thailand. Notable improvements to the business environment include: British beef and lamb now being allowed to be imported into the Thai market after a 20-year hiatus, which will bring business of some £9m over the next five years; the British Embassy Bangkok, with other embassies and Chambers, encouraged the Thai authorities not to proceed with new regulations which would have directly impacted foreign ownership of over 5000 companies, many British, as well as deter further UK investment opportunities; finally the Government has encouraged the Thai authorities, with strong support from the Thai Prime Minister, to sign up to the Construction Transparency Initiative, which should improve public procurement practice for major infrastructure projects.

Exports to Malaysia (the UK’s second largest export market in ASEAN) have risen by almost 25% between 2010 and 2014. Over the past four years, there have been more UK Ministerial and VIP visits to Malaysia promoting trade and investment than ever before, including two visits by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. Recent successes include a £4.2bn supply and maintenance deal between Rolls Royce and Air Asia. Posts have successfully worked to tackle market access barriers, for example, helping to open up engineering and legal services in Malaysia.

In the first half of this year UK exports to the Philippines grew by 44%, the third highest growth in exports to any country worldwide. Major deals include a £90m contract for the supply of electronic voting machines, a £70m deal for a British solar company and the appointment of Arup as the lead designer on the country’s second largest airport.

Lord Puttnam, UK Trade and Cultural Envoy to Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam has also made two visits to the region this year, strengthening important business and governmental links and working on campaigns ranging from infrastructure to education.

Table 1 shows Apprenticeship Programme Starts in the Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies and Information and Communication Technologies Sector Subject Areas in 2013/14 and provisional data for 2014/15 in England, the South West and Windsor constituency.

This information is published in a supplementary table (first link) to a Statistical First Release (SFR) at the FE Data Library (second link):

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/467752/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-and-sector-subject-area.xls

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has, as part of its investigation into the energy market, commissioned research into consumer experiences and views of the energy market including the ease of switching energy supplier.

The CMA investigation is still ongoing but the report it commissioned has already been published can be found at:

https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/54e75c53ed915d0cf700000d/CMA_customer_survey_-_energy_investigation_-_GfK_Report.pdf

It is not possible to give an accurate figure on the number of In Home Displays (IHDs) installed as while energy suppliers are required to offer their domestic consumers an IHD where they install a smart metering system, domestic consumers can choose not to accept one.

Data from the Early Learning Project1 (ELP) which covered the very early part of the rollout at time when energy suppliers were trialling and testing approaches to consumer engagement, found that six in ten (61%) smart meter customers who had received an In Home Display (IHD) reported that they still had their IHD plugged in. These consumers had had their smart meters over a period of between six months and two and half years. The research also found that smart meter customers who had received their installation more recently were no more likely than those who did so around two years ago to still have their IHD plugged in.

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-metering-early-learning-project-and-small-scale-behaviour-trials

In 2011 the Energy Demand Research Project reported on a series of Government-supported supplier-led trials covering a range of feedback mechanisms from over 50,000 GB houses. These included but were not limited to In Home Displays with research into energy efficiency advice, benchmarking, billing, financial incentives and digital media (e.g. web and television). The findings showed that electricity savings with an In Home Display were generally 2-4% higher than with a smart meter only.

More recently, the Department has consulted on enabling suppliers to undertake controlled trials of innovative In Home Display alternatives when they install a compliant smart metering system. We are currently considering responses ahead of publishing decisions.

The Government Office for Science is conducting a review of distributed ledger technology, which encompasses Blockchain technology, to highlight the potential benefits of distributed ledgers to the delivery of public services, and to help government identify and remove roadblocks to their safe and effective use.

The review is being conducted by a panel of experts drawn from academia, business and government under the direction of the Government Chief Scientific Adviser. Their findings and recommendations will be published in a report this autumn.

The Data Communications Company (DCC) charges for access to the DCC’s services in proportion to suppliers’ market share, calculated on a meter point basis, rather than an equal amount per supplier. This is designed to strike a balance between ensuring a fair contribution from all parties who will have access to the DECC services, and not disadvantaging those parties that are likely to use these services less than others.

The amount small energy providers will pay in fixed charges is therefore directly reflective of their smaller customer base and likely more limited use of the system that results from their lower market share.

DECC has undertaken a continuous programme of outreach with independent suppliers. This has allowed us to monitor their views on a range of issues, including costs and their ability to use the services of the Data Communications Company (DCC). One challenge we recognised independent suppliers may face was the cost effective procurement of adaptor software enabling them to access DCC services. Over the last twelve to eighteen months, this challenge has been taken up by a number of commercial providers bringing managed service IT solutions to the market which allow independent suppliers to access the DCC with minimal upfront cost. We will continue to monitor the situation to verify that smaller suppliers are able to access the DCC services satisfactorily.

The Balance of Competence Review, published in July 2014, said that costs would dramatically rise if the flexibility afforded by the individual opt-out were no longer available. Respondents to the Balance of Competence Review’s Call for Evidence felt that the ECJ judgments surrounding on-call working, accrual and carry-over of annual leave as well as payment for annual leave posed further significant costs.

The Department has worked with Energy UK, Ofgem, suppliers and other key industry partners to develop and implement proposals which have enabled domestic customers to switch supplier within 17 days, half the time it previously took.

The roll-out of smart metering will make switching energy supplier easier and faster and is a key enabler to 24-hour switching. The Government announced in the Summer Budget 2015 that it will work with Ofgem with the ambition of introducing 24-hour switching by the end of 2018.

Our central estimate of energy savings to domestic consumers as a result of smart metering is 2.8% for electricity every year in comparison to what consumption would have been in that year without smart meters (prepayment and credit) and 2% for gas (credit) and 0.5% for gas (prepayment). The energy savings assumptions are conservative in comparison to international evidence.

In March 2015 DECC published research on the effects of the early rollout of smart meters – The Early Learning Project:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-metering-early-learning-project-and-small-scale-behaviour-trials.

The Early Learning Projects findings around levels of energy consumption reduction are that DECC’s steady-state projections for the main roll-out fall within the confidence intervals of the energy consumption reductions observed in the research for both gas and electricity. However evidence suggests that larger energy savings are achievable; it is realistic to expect durable energy savings of 3 per cent provided engagement is effective, and larger savings are feasible in the future.

The Annual Report on the roll-out of Smart Meters and the Major Project Authority’s report use the same underlying data, taken from the Programme’s Impact Assessment:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-meter-roll-out-for-the-domestic-and-small-and-medium-non-domestic-sectors-gb-impact-assessment.

The difference between the estimated costs is due to the two reports using different methodologies to present the same cost information of the Programme.

The Annual Report on the roll-out of Smart Meters expresses information in real prices and present values. This follows Treasury guidance for policy appraisal and is aimed at providing future cost and benefit information in a way that is most meaningful for decision making.

The cost figures in the Major Project Authority’s report are expressed in nominal terms and are not discounted to present value terms. This is aimed at achieving comparability across Government projects but can result in different figures between Impact Assessments and the data reported by the Major Project Authority.

On 10 June 2014 the Government launched a Technical Review and Call for Evidence on the Secondary Legislation Implementing the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court and EU Regulations Establishing the Unitary Patent. On 1 October 2014 the Legislative Reform (Patents) Order 2014 and changes to patent law in the Intellectual Property Act 2014, and consequential amendments to the Patents Rules 2007, came into force. The details of these changes are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/1-october-2014-changes-to-design-and-patent-law. On 26 February 2015 the Government issued its response to the Law Commission’s report on the law relating to the making of groundless threats to bring proceedings for infringement of patents, trade marks and design rights.

Information on apprenticeship starts by sector subject area and framework is published in supplementary tables to a Statistical First Release (SFR) in the FE Data Library:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships

Apprenticeship data are not available by industrial sector.

The Intellectual Property Office as an Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills leads on intellectual property issues. The Intellectual Property Office offers a comprehensive range of guidance, self help tools and educational seminars which bring clarity to existing regulations for businesses and consumers in the UK and overseas. Full details are available on gov.uk. Where the Intellectual Property Office receives feedback or evidence that regulations require clarification, it will consider this and set out an appropriate plan for action. We have no immediate plan for new regulations.

Official statistics for the cyber security sector have been available since 2013. They indicate that in 2013 (the latest figures currently available) the UK cyber security sector was worth over £6 billion and employed around 40,000 people.

The Government is committed to the continued development of the cyber security sector, which is why we established the Cyber Growth Partnership as the primary vehicle for joint industry–Government initiatives to grow a vibrant sector, both domestically and in overseas markets.

Financial technology is not separately identified within Official Statistics and there is at present no workable definition to identify business activity in this area from other financial or computer and information services. Therefore the employment and financial contribution of these specific activities cannot easily be assessed.

The Government has identified big data as one of the ‘eight great technologies’ that will propel the UK’s future economic growth. Since 2010, the Government has made a series of strategic investments to support the growth of the big data industry in the UK. These include:

- a £159 million investment programme in the UK’s high performance computing and networks infrastructure announced in 2011.

- £189 million investment announced in 2012 to support a programme of big data and energy-efficient computing projects across the UK co-ordinated by the Economic and Social Research Council.

- £10.7 million announced in December 2013 to create a new Higgs Centre for Innovation at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh that will focus on big data and space technologies.

- £42 million announced in March 2014 to establish a world-leading Alan Turing Institute, which will be established in 2015 to research the analysis and application of big data.

- Investment of over £50 million to establish the Digital Catapult, based in London, which will bring researchers and business together to accelerate new innovative products to market.

On 31 October 2013, the Government also published ‘Seizing the Data Opportunity: a strategy for UK data capability’, which examines the UK’s capability to make best use of all data including big data, public sector held data, research data, and data collected by companies. The strategy was developed in partnership with industry to place the UK at the forefront of extracting knowledge and value from data.

Since the publication of the strategy, the Government has introduced new legislation on copyright exceptions in June 2014 to enable text and data-mining for non-commercial purpose, and has developed new UK Trade & Industry marketing material to attract increased overseas investment and custom to the UK data centre market.

We are continuing to work hard to provide the right support to make life easier for everyone who wants to start their own business, including disabled people.

www.greatbusiness.gov.uk provides support and advice for anyone trying to grow a business as well as for entrepreneurs starting out. This includes a 'Business Finance and Support Finder' that can provide a customised source of government backed support and finance for business. In addition to on-line support, the Business Support Helpline (0300 456 3565) is available to provide a quick response on queries about starting a business, or a personalised and in-depth advice service for more complex needs. For those looking for start-up finance and advice there are Start-Up Loans: 10 loans worth a total of £47,500 have been drawn down in Windsor to date.

Finally, the New Enterprise Allowance helps people claiming certain out of work benefits to start up their own business. As of June 2014, 10,040 disabled people (from a total of 53,350) had started a new business with the help of the NEA.

We have worked with Energy UK, Ofgem, suppliers and other key industry partners to develop and implement proposals which will enable domestic customers to switch supplier 17 days, half the time it currently takes. The industry code changes to enable to this will come in to force on 6 November and Energy UK members have all committed to offering it by the end of the year. These code changes will also enable more streamlined switching of non-domestic customers.

The Department is also working with Ofgem to support their proposals for a longer term move to next day switching. A key element of this is the roll out of smart meters.

The Department has made no systematic assessment of the effect of the precautionary principle on scientific innovation in the UK.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Robert Goodwill) announced at the Farnborough International Air show in July 2014 the Government's commitment to establish a spaceport in the UK by 2018. The Government is working to ensure that sub-orbital space participant and science flights are operated from this space port.

The Government recognises that online sources of energy usage information can be useful but does not believe that these can substitute for in-home displays in delivering the benefits of smart meters.

In home displays allow consumers and their family members to see immediately their current and historic energy use and its cost in near-real time and do not rely on consumers having internet access or smart phones. Current evidence shows higher energy savings from those with a smart meter and IHD compared to those with a smart meter only.

Energy suppliers are free to offer additional means for their customers to engage with their energy usage, which may be available online and offer different forms of analysis to the IHD. We expect that some consumers will want different information but believe that all should have the information provided by IHDs readily available.

We will continue to monitor the evidence in this area and emerging technical developments to ensure that our policy remains appropriate.

Since our challenge to industry in the Annual Energy Statement to cut switching times, the Department has worked with Ofgem and the industry to bring forward changes to industry rules to enable and secured industry commitment to a halving switching time from 5 weeks to 2 weeks and 3 days by the end of this year.

My ambition is to see switching times reduced to 24 hours and Ofgem has now brought forward a consultation on how this can be achieved. The Department will continue to work with Ofgem and industry to deliver this in a reliable and cost effective way as quickly as possible.

There is no register covering all businesses in the UK. The Registrar of Companies registers a subset of businesses and provides online registration for those businesses that register as companies or limited liability partnerships. HMRC registers sole traders for tax purposes.

Online incorporation via software filing agents was introduced in July 2001, followed in April 2010 by the launch of the Citizen Incorporation service via Companies House Webfiling. The number of companies on the register has almost doubled, from 1.66 million at the end of March 2001 to 3.25 million at March 2014. In the financial year 2013/14, 98% of all new companies were incorporated electronically.

Companies House has carried out several studies to identify the main factors contributing to the increasing trend for company incorporations. This is attributed to a number of combined factors, such as the benefits of limited liability, changes to tax legislation and developments in the wider UK economy. There is no indication that the electronic enablement of company registration in itself has acted as a direct driver for the increase in new company registration rates, as just one of the methods the Government has used to help reduce the burden on business and the costs of running a company. This in turn has helped to make the UK one of the best places to set up and run a company.

Electronic services have also enabled Companies House to absorb the significant additional workload resulting from the growing register, make organisational efficiency savings and pass these efficiencies on to customers in the form of lower fees. For incorporation, the UK charges some of the lowest fees in the World.

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) was created in April 2011 to lead and foster the growing UK space sector. It does so through funding and delivery of civil space projects and downstream space related activities, developing space policy including advice to Ministers and regulating UK space activities to meet international obligations.

The UKSA formally tests its performance against such objectives in a number ways and includes amongst these a measure of its effectiveness in promoting the UK space industry. This is primarily through an independent bi-annual “Size and Health” survey of the UK industrial sector which assesses the growth of the UK space economy. The Agency also monitors contracts that flow back to UK industry from Agency-targeted subscriptions to the European Space Agency as well as monitoring where Agency-supported research and development work has positioned UK industry for success in future operational contracts. More recently the Agency has extended its role in actively supporting and promoting UK industrial exports of both satellite and emerging space-related data services.

All objective measures from these activities point to a growing success story for our space industry. Indeed it is one of our economy's fastest growing sectors, with an average growth rate of almost 7.5%, and it has ambitions to increase its annual turnover to £40 billion by 2030. The role of the Agency in this development is significant and it has developed close relationships with industry.

The Size and Health survey due to be published in autumn 2014 is expected to show that the Space Economy has continued to grow between 2011 and 2013.

Its coordination of a business-driven industrial space policy has provided leadership for the UK industrial community (acknowledged by the UK space Innovation and Growth Strategy published in 2013) and this has been recognised by the Parliamentary Select Committee report into the UKSA which was published in October 2013.

The Agency serves as an effective platform to raise awareness of the successes of the UK space sector. BIS and Agency officials continue to evaluate its success in promoting that work using Government Communications Service best practice.

A further key measure of success is the increasing number of overseas space companies choosing to invest in the UK and so growing the UK's wider space capability and economic development.

The return on investment delivered by the UK Space Agency (UKSA) is subject to biennial assessment as part of the Agency survey of the size and health of the space industry. Results of the 2014 survey are due to be published in the autumn of 2014, though I hope to be in a position to announce headline figures such as turnover and employment numbers at the Farnborough Airshow in July 2014.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is the primary route for Government R&D space investment. Several economic analyses of investment impact have been undertaken, drawn together in BIS Economics Paper No3 . The Agency's biennial survey of the size and health of the UK space industry has shown growth from £3.4Bn turnover in 1999/2000 to £9.5Bn in 2011, reflecting the results of sustained investment as well as the growth of the market.

UKSA investment through the European Space Agency (ESA) in the last five years is as follows:

2009/10: £242.8m

2010/11: £231.1m

2011/12: £232.0m

2012/13: £207.6m

2013/14: £267.5m

In addition, national expenditure averaging £20M a year has been invested within the UK to build and operate scientific instruments carried on ESA spacecraft. The funding to ESA has been used to contribute to missions and technology in the fields of space science and exploration, Earth observation for science and applications, telecommunications and broadband delivery, access to microgravity facilities for life and physical sciences, space weather, navigation technologies, human spaceflight and weather monitoring. As well as resulting expenditure in the UK due to the juste retour principle, wider benefits have accrued in economic growth; new scientific knowledge and improved delivery of public services.

People of all ages and experiences are setting up and growing businesses all the time. We continue to work hard to provide the right support to make life easier for them all.

www.gov.uk is the home for Government services and information online. One of the tools available is the 'Business Finance and Support Finder;' a source of government backed support and finance for business. The website www.greatbusiness.gov.uk also provides support and advice for anyone trying to grow a business as well as for entrepreneurs starting out.

In addition to on-line support, the Business Support Helpline is available to provide a quick response on queries about starting a business, or a personalised and in-depth advice service for more complex needs. For those looking for start-up finance and advice there are Start-Up Loans: 7 loans worth a total of £37,000 have been drawn down in Windsor since the scheme began in 2012.

UK Export Finance can provide support for intangibles, such as software licenses, where they are provided in connection with goods or services. As far as the supply of intangibles by themselves are concerned, UK Export Finance has initiated a public consultation on proposals to widen its powers under its enabling legislation, the Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991 (as amended). These proposals include giving UK Export Finance the ability to support exports of intangible goods such as intellectual property rights by themselves. If, having regard to the responses to that consultation, it is deemed to implement these proposals, they will form part of a Bill that will be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

The Sirius Programme, led by UK Trade and Investment, enables talented graduates with innovative start up ideas to start a business in the UK. Successful applicants receive support via a structured mentoring programme and participants requiring a visa, are able to access support through a dedicated visa route for the Sirius Programme. The current programme is a 2 year pilot - the first round was launched on 6 September 2013 and closed on 15 January 2014. A total of 1543 people applied.

A second round of the Sirius Programme will open shortly.

People are setting up and growing different types of businesses all the time. We continue to work hard to provide the right support to make life easier for them all.

www.gov.uk is the home for Government services and information online. One of the tools available is the 'Finance Finder;' a searchable database of publicly-backed sources of finance. The website www.greatbusiness.gov.uk also provides support and advice for anyone trying to grow a business as well as for entrepreneurs starting out.

In addition to on-line support, the Business Support Helpline is available to provide a quick response on queries about starting a business, or a personalised and in-depth advice service for more complex needs. For those looking for start up finance and advice there are Start-Up Loans: 7 loans worth a total of £37,000 have been drawn down in Windsor since the scheme began in 2012.

There is no register containing every business in the UK. The Companies House register provides information on a subset of businesses required to file information with the registrar of companies; for example, those businesses that incorporate as companies or limited liability partnerships or register as limited partnerships. Not all of the companies that register with Companies House are businesses or go on to becomeactively tradingbusinesses.

Companies House statistics show that in the years in question the following numbers of companies were registered (a) online and (b) offline:

The United Kingdom is a recognised world leader in public sector digital innovation. The Government Digital Service (GDS) leads on the digital transformation in government, providing common solutions to problems that government service teams have to tackle repeatedly.

GDS provides standards, guidance and best practice to help government to build services that work for everyone. GDS works with departments to provide the right technology to help the public sector deliver great services, through technology that meets user needs; makes cross-government collaboration easier; costs less; and will help civil servants to work more flexibly and efficiently.

The Government Transformation Strategy was published in February 2017. It sets out a vision for transforming the way government operates and delivers services in the digital age and GDS’ role in driving this change. It was developed in conjunction with other government departments and its objectives include business transformation; increasing skills and capability across government; developing better tools, processes and governance; data; and developing more shared platforms such as GOV.UK Notify.

Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and blockchain are exciting new developments. The Government is open minded about their potential, along with other emerging technologies, to help better meet user needs. At this stage more research is needed in order to determine their potential uses and whether the technologies are appropriate as a vehicle for public service delivery. The Government will be guided by the Chief Scientific Adviser’s 2016 report on the topic available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/distributed-ledger-technology-beyond-block-chain

We are unable to provide an estimate of the loss to cyber fraud in the public sector each year since 2010. We have considered the information available to us and do not have any data available to help inform such an estimate.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

In 2010 the Coalition pledged to reduce the number and cost of public bodies. Our Public Bodies Reform Programme is the largest restructuring of public bodies in a generation. It will make the landscape smaller, more accountable, and will offer better value for money to the public.

By April 2011 the reforms brought about by the programme had reduced the number of public bodies by 46. During 2011-2012 the numbers reduced by a further 56. To date over 185 public bodies have been abolished and more than 165 have been merged into fewer than 70.

The total number of public bodies has reduced by over 285.