Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 For the year ended 31 March 2015 Accounts presented to the House of Commons pursuant to Section 6(4) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 Annual Report presented to the House of Commons by Command of Her Majesty Annual Report and Accounts presented to the House of Lords by Command of Her Majesty Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 14th July 2015 HC 75 © Crown copyright 2015 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] Print ISBN 9781474118255 Web ISBN 9781474118262 ID 15061503 07/15 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the Williams Lea Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Contents Overview by the Secretary of State 6 Permanent Secretary’s Review 7 Our Purpose Our Purpose 14 Our business model 14 How we have performed 18 Knowledge and Innovation 19 Enterprise and Skills 23 Business and Local Growth 30 Shareholder Executive 35 Economics and Markets 40 How we have performed People, Strategy & Higher Education 43 Finance and Commercial 53 Accountability 59 Report from the lead Non-executive Board Member 59 Ministers and Departmental Board 60 Governance Statement 62 Remuneration Report 74 Accountability Consolidated Accounts 85 Strategic Report 85 Director General’s Financial Review 86 Statement of Accounting Officer’s Responsibility 93 Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and 94 Auditor General Statement of Parliamentary Supply 96 Primary Statements 110 Consolidated Accounts Annexes 198 Annex A – Glossary of Financial Terms 198 Annex B – Expenditure Tables 200 Annex C – Other annual report data 214 Annexes Overview by the Secretary of State Thanks to the hard work and dedication of So we will support the public and private British businesses, the UK’s economy is sectors in the creation of three million more growing faster than any of our G7 rivals, with apprentices. We’ll cut another £10 billion of more people in work than at any point in burdensome regulation, and create a Small history. Business Conciliation Service to help resolve the kind of disputes that can all-too-easily spell Over the past five years we’ve gone from a disaster for small firms. The vehicle for much of record-breaking recession to record-breaking this will be the Enterprise Bill, which I hope to levels of employment, a fantastic achievement, introduce to Parliament later this year. but one that would not have come about without the tireless support of the the And we’ll continue to play our part in cutting Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. costs and eliminating the deficit, placing the economy on a sustainable footing and ensuring As this report shows, in 2014-15 we cut the cost the UK is a better place for our children and of business regulation by more than £2 billion, grandchildren. issued the 25,000th Start-Up Loan, and helped treble the number of medium-sized businesses This Government wants to make Britain the receiving export advice from our partners at UK best place in the world to start and grow a Trade and Investment. business. This report shows how, in 2014/15, BIS laid the groundwork for this ambitious goal. We’ve also been making sure Britain’s I’m immensely proud to have been asked to employers can find the skilled workers of lead the department as we seek to make it a tomorrow right here in the UK. Last year reality in the months and years ahead. we reached the landmark of two million apprenticeship starts and saw record numbers Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP of young people enter higher education. And Secretary of State for we created an extra 30,000 university places, Business, Innovation and Skills so more people than ever can benefit from the world-class education on offer. All this was achieved while also making considerable efficiency savings, helping to deliver more for taxpayers while spending less of their money and contributing to a halving of the deficit as a percentage of GDP. It’s a great record, and one that I look forward to building on as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. Because although we have, together, pulled Britain’s economy back from the brink, there is much more we can do to secure lasting growth. 6 Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Permanent Secretary’s Review The Department for Business, Innovation In 2014-15 we continued our programme to & Skills (BIS) plays a key role in promoting reform the higher education system with the sustainable economic growth across the UK. aim of enabling all students with the aptitude We have continued to invest in adult skills, and ability to go to university to do so. Through boost innovation, promote trade and help reforms to student number controls, record people to start and grow a business. This year numbers of young people, including those from we have worked hard to complete delivery of disadvantaged backgrounds, are now going the priorities we set out at the start of the last to university. Plans were announced in the Parliament. Autumn Statement 2014 and Budget 2015 to provide student loans for postgraduate taught We have made good progress implementing and research qualifications. This will benefit the industrial strategy, setting out the long industry and allow a greater number of students term direction needed to give businesses the to develop the skills the country needs through confidence to invest. To date, the Automotive postgraduate study. Investment Organisation has supported projects which secured over £1 billion of As well as meeting our target to achieve 2 investment, creating and safeguarding over million people learning on an Apprenticeship, 10,000 jobs in the UK. The Agri-Tech strategy we are continuing to listen to employers when is also putting the UK at the forefront of global designing how Apprenticeships should be innovation in the agricultural sector. funded. In March 2015 we announced a new digital Apprenticeship voucher scheme, placing This year saw the successful launch of the employers in direct control of how Government British Business Bank following State Aid funding for Apprenticeships is spent. Plans to clearance from the European Commission. introduce degree Apprenticeships, bringing The British Business Bank is helping unlock together the best of higher and further finance for smaller businesses, providing education, are also underway. a greater choice of financing options and helping business finance markets work more For the UK to deliver a more innovative effectively and dynamically. At the end of this economy we must continue to plan ahead. year, the British Business Bank had supported This year we have committed £5.9 billion in £1.8 billion of finance to approximately 40,000 support for science through the publication smaller businesses. of the Government’s ten year Science and Innovation Strategy. Placing science at the heart of economic growth the Strategy sets out our plan to build on the UK’s strengths in science and innovation and create high value jobs. The Strategy also recognises the need to invest in our skills pipeline, from primary to higher education, and creating the right environment for business to commercialise new technologies. Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 7 This year saw further progress on the As we enter a new Parliament there will be new Government’s modern workplaces agenda challenges and we continue to equip managers through the introduction of new shared parental with the tools, training and skills needed to leave reforms, allowing nearly 300,000 working do their job well. We have continued to roll couples greater flexibility in how to share caring out our Management Matters programme, responsibilities in the first year of their child’s providing managers with guidance and tools life. We have also taken action to promote as well launching the BIS Story, a clear and diversity in the UK’s largest companies. In the inspiring narrative that helps us articulate the last four years the percentage of companies Department’s overall purpose. We have also with women on their Board has doubled, continued to develop our award winning “Ways and by the end of this year we expect 25 per of Working” programme, focused on developing cent of FTSE 100 companies to have women and implementing solutions that help BIS work represented on their Board. more effectively and efficiently. BIS had developed a reform programme, I am very proud of all the Department has spanning the previous parliament, which achieved, and the level of dedication and hard included a significant reshaping of policy work displayed by staff, both this year and over and delivery landscape, a focus on coalition the life of the last Parliament. priorities and a financial strategy, balancing fiscal and policy objectives. 2014-15 was the last year of the programme, which has been Martin Donnelly delivered successfully. The Department’s total outturn in 2014-15 was £25,896 million, a decrease of £1,202 million (4%) on the previous year.