Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to support (a) peer-to-peer lending and (b) challenger banks.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Access to finance on flexible, competitive terms is essential for growing businesses. Challenger banks and alternative finance providers have an important role to play in widening choice and promoting competition.
Government is bringing into effect provisions in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 which will require the largest banks - where they decline lending requests from small business customers - to offer those customers the opportunity for their details to be referred to a government-designated funding platform. These platforms will be brought into operation later this year and will allow SMEs to match their requirements with offers from peer-to-peer platforms and challenger banks.
During the last 12 months, the British Business Bank has supported 3,301 businesses through the peer-to-peer platforms Funding Circle, RateSetter and Zopa. The British Business Bank also supports the growth of challenger banks by providing wholesale funds alongside private sector investors.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the cyber security implications of driverless cars.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Government recognises that vehicle security is a priority to ensure the safety and security of the public and their data.
Government believes connected and autonomous vehicles should be “secure by design” and handle data appropriately. We are working closely with industry to achieve these aims as part of a wider programme of activity to ensure that the significant opportunities of these technologies can be realised safely and securely.
Connected technologies present cyber security challenges across a range of sectors. Cyber security has been identified as a key priority in the latest National Security Strategy. The Government has announced the formation of a National Cyber Security Centre, which will bring together the UK’s cyber expertise from different parts of Government into one organisation. The Government will also publish a new National Cyber Security Strategy later this year.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support research into and development of machine learning.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills supports the research and development of machine learning through the Research Councils, for example the current Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council portfolio contains nearly 150 research and training grants involving aspects of artificial intelligence.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre uses high performance computing combined with big data analytics, cognitive computing and visualisation techniques to collaborate with industry and research partners. The latest government investment of £113 million at Hartree in a cognitive and data centric computing centre (announced in the 2014 Autumn Statement) has attracted inward investment from IBM and other hi-tech industry exceeding £200 million.
Research Councils also support existing machine learning applications, for example the Medical Research Council support programmes which involve the use of machine learning tools for image analysis and in analysing and predicting risk of Serious Adverse Events for hospital patients.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council also support aspects of research and development on machine learning relating to its importance within the rapidly emerging field of the digital humanities and issues relating to ethical, philosophical, legal and historical perspectives of machine learning and human-computer interactions.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when the Government will introduce incentives for the adoption of new technologies designed to manage noise from aircraft on the ground.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Government is supporting investment in new technologies to reduce aircraft noise through grants for R&D supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute. The Government has committed £1.95 billion for aerospace R&D to 2025/26, bringing the total joint Government and industry funding commitment since 2013 to £3.9 billion. So far, 20 projects, worth £136 million, are directly concerned with new technologies to reduce noise from aircraft engines, propellers, rotors, wings and landing gear. These projects are focused on demanding international environmental targets and ensure UK aerospace companies are leading the technological evolution to achieve these.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he plans to take to widen access to sources of alternative finance.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Alternative finance is a rapidly growing sector. Latest figures from the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) show that new SME loans originated by their members increased by 89% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2015. Equity crowdfunded deal numbers and investment totals have also been steadily rising. The British Business Bank is an active participant in the sector and during the last 12 months has supported 3,301 businesses through the peer-to-peer platforms Funding Circle, RateSetter and Zopa.
A key element in the growth of the UK alternative finance sector has been a regulatory environment that supports innovation while protecting both investors and businesses. In addition, government is bringing into effect provisions in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 which will require the largest banks - where they decline lending requests from small business customers - to offer those customers the opportunity for their details to be referred to a government-designated funding platform. These platforms will help match SMEs with alternative finance providers and will be brought into operation later this year.