Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to publish the gap in earnings between the (a) highest-paid and lowest-paid full-time employees in his Department and (b) highest-paid employees and average pay in his Department overall.
Answered by Margot James
Government departments do not publish details of the salary of their highest to lowest paid employees.
The Office for National Statistics do, however, publish the salary ratio of highest to median earners for each Civil Service organization. These ratios are published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics and can be found on the Office for National Statistics website:
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there is a representative of his Department's employees on its departmental board; and what plans he has to provide for additional stakeholder representation on that board.
Answered by Margot James
Yes, employees are represented on the Department’s board. The Permanent Secretary is a standing member of the Departmental Board, and meets with the Departmental Trade Unions as staff representatives.
There are several other ways in which the views of employees of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are currently already taken into account by the Departmental Board and its supporting committees.
The Board regularly discusses staff related matters, such as the Civil Service People Survey results which reflect the views of the Department’s employees, including views on the transition programme to create a new Department.
The Department’s governance structure includes a People and Operations Committee, chaired by the Directors General responsible for People, Corporate Services and the transition programme. This Committee has standing representation from the HR Director and staff diversity networks as full members. Recommendations from the Committee are routinely taken to the Department’s Executive Committee for endorsement and approval.
The composition of the Departmental Board is determined by Cabinet Office and HMT’s Corporate Governance in Central Government Departments: Code of Good practice (2011). Cabinet Office and HMT are currently in the process of refreshing this guidance to reflect current best practice.
The Board also has external Non-Executive Board Members (NEBMs) as standing members. NEBMs provide external challenge and scrutiny and offer wider stakeholder views to the Board.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many interns are currently working in his Department; at what rate those interns are paid; and what the maximum length of an internship is.
Answered by Margot James
There are currently 32 interns working in the Department. They are paid at the pay band minima for the grade they are recruited into, which is comparable to the pay received by permanent employees.
The total duration of an internship must be less than 2 years.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many complaints have been received on breaches of the Overseas Companies Regulations 2009 by overseas companies; and how many such complaints resulted in (a) compliance or (b) prosecution.
Answered by Margot James
Companies House received the following number of complaints on breaches of the Overseas Companies Regulations 2009 by overseas companies.
Year | Number of Complaints |
2010 (from 1 October) | 2 |
2011 | 4 |
2012 | 14 |
2013 | 36 |
2014 | 26 |
2015 | 4 |
2016 (to date) | 11 |
Total | 97 |
Two of the complaints resulted in compliance by the company and one case resulted in prosecution. In the other cases it was found that there was insufficient evidence for prosecution action.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of (a) the Senior Civil Service and (b) policy-making civil servants in his Department are based in London.
Answered by Margot James
The proportion of (a) the Senior Civil Service and (b) policy-making civil servants working for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and based in London is shown in the table below.
Senior Civil servants based in London | 96% |
Civil servants based in London engaged in policy making | 91% |
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has for the future staffing of Innovate UK.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Innovate UK’s Chief Executive is responsible for determining the organisation’s staffing level, ensuring it is both affordable and that recruitment controls are observed. The creation of UK Research and Innovation, subject to Parliament, and the announcement at the 2016 Autumn Statement of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, may have an impact on staffing at Innovate UK in due course. The Government will work with the Chief Executive to ensure the organisation is appropriately resourced.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has for the future staffing of the Insolvency Service.
Answered by Margot James
We are reviewing the current operating model of the Insolvency Service to enable us to further increase our efficiency and effectiveness. This will include an assessment of future staffing requirements.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has been paid to McKinsey for its work on the BIS 2020 project; and what further such payments are due.
Answered by Margot James
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to the Hon Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh) to question UIN 19649 answered on 15 December 2015. No further payments are due to McKinsey for its work on BIS2020.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the BIS 2020 project is ongoing.
Answered by Margot James
The BIS 2020 reform programme was developed to ensure the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was able to deliver efficiency savings while making the Department simpler and better for users. Following the Machinery of Government changes, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is considering how best to align the reform agendas of its two predecessor Departments.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2016 to Question 39039, whether she will place the results of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary May 2015 Wellbeing Survey in the Library.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Civil Nuclear Constabulary May 2015 Wellbeing Survey is a document owned by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. It’s a matter for the CNC whether to publish the survey.