Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the press release, PM hosts major summit as part of global drive to expose, publish and drive out corruption, published on 12 May 2016, whether he plans to publish information on the ownership of property in the UK owned by foreign companies.
Answered by Anna Soubry
At the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we will require foreign companies that own or purchase UK properties or bid on UK government procurement contracts to provide details of their beneficial owners to a public central register. This will be the first register of its kind in the world.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will consult on the detail of the policy later this year. The Prime Minister has committed to a publicly accessible register of foreign company beneficial ownership on which we plan to consult in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the press release, PM holds major summit as part of global drive to expose, punish and drive out corruption, published on 12 May 2016, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals requiring foreign companies that own property in the UK to declare their real owners.
Answered by Anna Soubry
At the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we will require foreign companies that own or purchase UK properties or bid on UK Government procurement contracts to provide details of their beneficial owners to a public central register. This will be the first register of its kind in the world.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will consult with experts to develop the policy throughout the year and consult formally on the detail of the policy in due course. Implementation of the new register requirements is expected to require both primary and secondary legislation, which we intend to introduce when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the press release, PM holds major summit as part of global drive to expose, punish and drive out corruption, published on 12 May 2016, what the timetable is for the (a) formulation and (b) implementation of the Government's plans to require foreign companies that own property in the UK to declare their real owners.
Answered by Anna Soubry
At the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we will require foreign companies that own or purchase UK properties or bid on UK Government procurement contracts to provide details of their beneficial owners to a public central register. This will be the first register of its kind in the world.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will consult with experts to develop the policy throughout the year and consult formally on the detail of the policy in due course. Implementation of the new register requirements is expected to require both primary and secondary legislation, which we intend to introduce when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of her Department resigned in each of the last six years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of leavers in each financial year from 2011/12 is show in the following table. Leavers data for the full year 2010/11 is not available as data prior to 1 November 2010 is not held on the current HR database.
All figures include Core DECC and the Oil and Gas Authority Agency. Headcount figures include Permanent staff, Fixed Term and Short Term appointments.
Year | No of Leavers | % of Headcount |
2011/12 | 42 | 3% |
2012/13 | 41 | 3% |
2013/14 | 63 | 4% |
2014/15 | 90 | 5% |
2015/16 | 57 | 3.3% |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of his Department resigned in each of the last six years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The number of employees in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills HQ who have resigned, in each of the last 6 years and the proportion of the headcount, are shown in the table below.
Year | Number who resigned | % of headcount |
2010-11 | 0 | 0% |
2011-12 | 49 | 1.6% |
2012-13 | 70 | 2.2% |
2013-14 | 67 | 2.2% |
2014-15 | 89 | 2.9% |
2015-16 | 82 | 2.6% |
The number of officials who have resigned in any year is in the period April – March, whilst the % is of the headcount at 31 March in that year.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) total sick leave such sick leave was in each such year.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The number of officials in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, including UKTI, who were absent for reasons relating to stress are shown in the table below.
| Number of people with a stress related absence | Number of people with a stress related absence as a % of total headcount | Total number of working days lost due to stress related absence as a % of total absence |
2015 | 52 | 1.62% | 21.8% |
2014 | 50 | 1.42% | 14.1% |
2013 | 67 | 1.91% | 19.6% |
2012 | 88 | 2.85% | 24.9% |
2011 | 84 | 2.68% | 18.6% |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many and what proportion of officials of her Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of individuals who have been absent from work for reasons relating to stress or anxiety, the proportion of officials and the proportion of total sick leave taken for those reasons in each of the last years can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The table below provides a breakdown of overtime paid and the number of claimants for each month in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) HQ, in the last 24 months from February 2014 to January 2016.
The relevant budget holder must give approval before overtime can be worked or overtime pay claimed. Overtime pay is non-pensionable and can only be paid to staff below the Senior Civil Service. Approximately 0.3% of the annual BIS paybill is paid in overtime.
Month | Overtime Payments – BIS HQ | Number of BIS HQ Staff Making Claims |
February 2014 | £55,032.15 | 98 |
March 2014 | £73,754.92 | 102 |
April 2014 | £61,699.33 | 97 |
May 2014 | £38,664.16 | 75 |
June 2014 | £64,135.44 | 91 |
July 2014 | £79,053.18 | 106 |
August 2014 | £45,977.38 | 75 |
September 2014 | £38,306.55 | 69 |
October 2014 | £33,276.09 | 85 |
November 2014 | £44,786.28 | 68 |
December 2014 | £47,025.85 | 80 |
January 2015 | £45,380.49 | 64 |
February 2015 | £58,541.14 | 95 |
March 2015 | £68,139.08 | 99 |
April 2015 | £52,546.46 | 98 |
May 2015 | £34,257.16 | 69 |
June 2015 | £44,667.14 | 87 |
July 2015 | £55,187.86 | 81 |
August 2015 | £47,242.28 | 71 |
September 2015 | £27,737.41 | 61 |
October 2015 | £44,006.48 | 72 |
November 2015 | £52,376.22 | 74 |
December 2015 | £48,453.85 | 71 |
January 2016 | £52,221.58 | 69 |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) publications, (b) consultation documents and (c) circulars his Department has issued since August 2012; and what the title was of each such publication, consultation document or circular.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
My Department does not hold a central list of publications, consultations or circulars.
All publications, consultations, press releases and statistics are published on the GOV.UK website and can be found listed there:
Publications: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills
Press releases: https://www.gov.uk/government/announcements?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills
Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many consultants' contracts were terminated early in each of the last six years for which figures are available; and what the cost of each such termination was in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
During the period of the last six years there have been no early terminations of consultants’ contracts for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.