The Creation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Departmental Annual Report 2008-09
The Creation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Departmental Annual Report 2008-09

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Innovation and Skills Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780215542595

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The new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) was formed in June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). This report looks back on the last departmental report of the old Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and considers the progress made in moving forward the new Department. The Committee welcomes the creation of the new Department which brings under one roof the business and further and higher education sectors. The Committee believes this could deliver significant potential benefits. The report examines the merger process, the delivery agencies, public service agreements and departmental strategic objectives, and future departmental reports and resource accounts. The report also focuses on the Automotive Assistance Scheme, designed primarily to support investment in low carbon plant and research and development. It welcomes the lowering of the limit of the Scheme from £5 million to £1 million, in line with its recommendation made in July, but is deeply concerned that not a single loan or loan guarantee has been made under the programme. The Committee calls on the Government to expedite its negotiations, and prove to the Committee and the automotive industry that the Scheme can provide tangible benefits to companies in the sector.

National Audit Office - Department of Business, Innovation and Skills - HM Treasury: Improving Access to Finance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - HC 724
National Audit Office - Department of Business, Innovation and Skills - HM Treasury: Improving Access to Finance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - HC 724

Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-11

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780102986976

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Despite a renewed focus by government on the financing challenges facing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), there is scope for the range of funding initiatives currently in place to work as a more unified programme, according to the National Audit Office. Preparations for the Business Bank, which was publicly launched in October 2013 but will start operating as an independent entity in 2014, prompted the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) to re-examine the nature of the finance problems facing SMEs. These include a possible need by SMEs by 2017 for an additional £22 billion over and above the finance available to them. BIS and HM Treasury are able to draw on an increasingly strong body of data to inform decision-making, including Bank of England reports on credit conditions, the SME business barometer and aggregated information from the British Bankers' Association on loan applications and approvals. At present, although BIS and HM Treasury both have teams dealing with 'enterprise' policy, there is no formal research programme joining the Departments with other departments, such as HMRC, with an interest in SMEs. One of the Treasury's priorities is to support the development of new routes to finance for SMEs, while BIS schemes target specific parts of the market. To date, the Departments have not articulated clearly enough what the various schemes are expected to deliver as a programme. The NAO found that BIS-led schemes such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee and Start-Up Loans provided direct support to around 5,900 firms in 2012-13, and the current schemes are generally performing positively in terms of meeting the largely activity-based success measures set for them. BIS has also taken steps to provide better explanations to SMEs on the options available to them for financing their business, but raising the profile of the help available will be a challenge for the Business Bank.

Managing Early Departures in Central Government
Managing Early Departures in Central Government

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2012-08-30

Total Pages: 46

ISBN-13: 9780215047625

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The 2010 Spending Review required most departments to make cost savings, which would require staff reductions. Departments have reduced their number of employees to around 35,000 in 2011, nearly 18,000 of which have been achieved through early departures. If these staff reductions achieved and planned, are to be sustainable then they will need to be supported by a redesign of the way business is carried out. The Committee is not convinced that all departments are putting in place the fundamental redesign in working practices that is needed to operate permanently with a lower number of staff and this with the pace and scale of reductions means that there is a real risk to departments' ability to deliver services. And there concern about the lack of clear information to track the extent to which this risk is materialising. Without this information it is difficult to know to what extent services are being adversely affected by staff departures. The efficiency of early departures has been hampered by poor management information. Departments are considering individuals' performance when making decisions on staff departures. But the quality of data in performance appraisals has not been detailed enough to support this decision-making. The Committee considers that improving the quality and consistency of performance appraisal arrangements would bring both efficiency savings and better decision-making about the management of the workforce. The Treasury is responsible for signing off any individual exit payments that exceed the terms of the compensation scheme. It was discovered that the Treasury does not keep proper records of such requests and the Committee expects to see this rectified. The Cabinet Office estimates that around half of the required headcount reduction is yet to come and this is likely to be more challenging as the more achievable cuts have already been made and future cuts are likely to involve more compulsory redundancies.

House of Commons - Business, Innovation and Skills Committee: Draft Consumer Rights Bill - HC 697-II
House of Commons - Business, Innovation and Skills Committee: Draft Consumer Rights Bill - HC 697-II

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Innovation and Skills Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-12-23

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9780215065957

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The Government's draft Consumer Rights Bill has the potential to consolidate, simplify and modernise consumer law however issues and inconsistencies must be resolved. The current proposals would apply a statutory right that services under a contract must be provided with reasonable care and skill [a fault-based standard]. This does not provide sufficient consumer protection. The Draft Bill should require that services must achieve the stated result, or one which could be reasonably expected [an outcomes-based standard]. As the Bank of Ireland case demonstrated, the right to terminate a contract does not necessarily protect consumers from detriment. This report recommends an addition to the grey list - the indicative list of contract terms which may be regarded as unfair. The Government's proposals for enhanced consumer measures, which would require traders that have breached consumer law to compensate consumers, are welcome. However, private enforcers should also be able to use them. The collective proceedings regime has the potential to improve access to redress for victims of competition law breaches but the Government must clarify the certification requirements for such proceedings. The creation of rights and remedies for digital content is welcome, but the Government must do more to communicate how the proposals will work in practice. Under the draft Bill, the remedies available to consumers of digital content would depend on whether the content is intangible (such as a music download) or tangible (such as a CD). In appropriate circumstances, consumers should have the right to reject and obtain a refund irrespective of whether they purchase intangible or tangible digital content

Bourne on Company Law
Bourne on Company Law

Author: Nicholas Bourne

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 0415504023

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Retaining the popular and accessible style of previous editions, this updated textbook examines the areas of company law studied in an undergraduate course, helping students to grasp the complexities of this fast moving subject.

Red Tape
Red Tape

Author: Robin Ellison

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-06-14

Total Pages: 717

ISBN-13: 1108688241

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Red Tape tells the sometimes astonishing story of the making of laws, both good and bad, the recent explosion in rule making, and the failure of repeated attempts to rationalise the statute books - even governments themselves are concerned about the increasing number and complexity of our laws. Society requires the rule of law, but the rule of too much law means that the general public faces frustrating excesses created by overzealous regulators and lawmakers. Robin Ellison reveals the failure of repeated attempts to limit the number and complexity of new laws, and the expansion of regulators. He challenges the legislature to introduce fewer yet better laws and regulators by encouraging lawmakers to adopt practices which improve the efficiency of the law and the lives of everyone. Too much law leads to frustration for all - Red Tape is a long overdue exposé of our legal system for practitioners and consumers alike.

Introducing Employment Relations
Introducing Employment Relations

Author: Steve Williams

Publisher:

Published: 2020-04-09

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 0198835531

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This new and extensively updated edition of Introducing Employment Relations draws on the most up-to-date research and contemporary examples to help students develop their knowledge, understanding and critical assessment of the main issues relating to employment relations.Essential reading for undergraduates and postgraduates studying employment relations, human resource management, and business studies, Introducing Employment Relations contains a wealth of features designed to prompt students to critically reflect on how employment relations are regulated,experienced, and contested by organizations and employees; collectively or individually. Facilitating learning and prompting lively debates, such features include case studies, reflective segments, international perspectives, insights into practice, summary points, and end-of-chapter assignment anddiscussion questions.Whilst maintaining a critical focus to draw out the contemporary debates surrounding employment relations, this text is written in a lively, engaging and accessible style.This book is supported by a range of online resources, including:For students:Annotated web linksWeb case studiesUpdates to content relating to legislation, research, or policyVideo linksFor lecturers:PowerPoint slidesCase study guideA guide to end-of-chapter questionsA guide to web cases

Product Liability
Product Liability

Author: Duncan Fairgrieve

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-05-20

Total Pages: 1112

ISBN-13: 0191669954

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Product Liability is a recognised authority in the field and covers the product liability laws through which manufacturers, retailers, and others may be held liable to compensate persons who are injured, or who incur financial loss, when the products which they manufacture or sell are defective or not fit for their purpose. Product defects may originate in the production process, be one of design, or be grounded in a failure to issue an adequate warning or directions for safe use and practitioners advising business clients or claimants will find this book provides all the necessary information for practitioners to manage a product liability claim. This new edition has been fully updated to take account of 10 years of development in case law and regulation, and the increasing impact of cross-border and transnational sale of goods. The Court of Justice of the European Union handed down major rulings concerning the Product Liability Directive which affect the application of the Directive and national arrangements and Fairgrieve and Goldberg examines this in detail. For any legal practitioner operating in areas which require knowledge of European product liability law, an understanding of the impact of recent developments is essential and this work is an essential resource for practitioners working on product liability, sale of goods, personal injury and negligence. The work provides comprehensive coverage of the law of negligence as it applies to product liability, of the strict liability provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 1987, and of the EU's Product Liability Directive on which the Act is based. Although the majority of cases involve pharmaceuticals and medical devices, in recent English cases the allegedly defective products have been as diverse as a child's buggy, an All Terrain Vehicle, and even a coffee cup. Many cases are brought as group actions, and the book examines the rights of those who are injured by defective products. As well as considering the perspective of the law as it has developed in the UK, this edition contains detailed discussion of case law from other jurisdictions including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and Germany. The coverage in the work is complemented by a full analysis of issues which arise in transnational litigation involving problems of jurisdiction and the choice of laws.

Rethinking Job Security
Rethinking Job Security

Author: Joanna Howe

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-10-14

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 131706402X

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This book critically examines the proper role of the law in protecting job security in the contemporary workplace. It provides a historical, theoretical, practical and comparative perspective on this under-researched, but fundamentally important, legal mechanism at a time when the pressure to deregulate and dilute worker-protective laws has taken on increased importance. The volume critically analyses both statute and case law from three advanced industrialised liberal democracies with a common law foundation, the UK, Australia and the USA, to understand the extent to which job security is realised. By applying a common approach and a conceptual framework that emphasises the complex relationships between law, the economy and society to analyse a series of national studies, the book is also designed to draw upon the insights of comparative analysis to deepen our understanding of the limits and possibilities of legal regulation of job security. The national case studies are supplemented by research that focuses on how supra-national organisations have sought both to develop and disseminate new legal norms around the practices and processes of dismissal. This study critically analyses and assesses the adequacy of the international regulatory framework for protecting the rights of employees in the dismissal process.

Entrepreneurship and Small Firms 6e
Entrepreneurship and Small Firms 6e

Author: David Deakins

Publisher: McGraw Hill

Published: 2012-03-16

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0077145534

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The sixth edition of Entrepreneurship and Small Firms has been fully revised and updated with contributions from leading academics in the field. Retaining the popular style of the previous editions and offering a clear and accessible introduction to the topic, this book provides a thorough coverage of entrepreneurial and small firm theory, concepts, evidence, policy and practice. Integrating academic theory with the day-to-day realities that entrepreneurs may encounter it furnishes the student with a comprehensive analysis of entrepreneurship.This well established text is justly popular for its clear and accessible approach, presenting the key topics of an entrepreneurship module in an engaging yet rigorous style. The book covers wide ranging topics from the economic influences on entrepreneurship and sources of finance, to issues of diversity, family business and social entrepreneurship.New to this edition is a chapter on Corporate Entrepreneurship offering students a unique insight into entrepreneurship activities in larger businesses and organizations. A reorganized chapter structure for the sixth edition allows students to navigate the four parts of the text from introductory concepts, the domains of entrepreneurship, through to strategy and to implementation. New part cases help to highlight the core themes and apply them to real business scenarios.