The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will undertake a comparative assessment of Government spending on apprenticeships in the UK and Germany.
Matthew Hancock
A wide variety of public sources frequently make comparative assessment of international Apprenticeships systems.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 291W, on Royal Mail, for what reasons the underwriters’ discretionary fee has not been paid.
Michael Fallon
No decision has been made on the payment of this discretionary payment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what amount the Government spent on full-time students in technical colleges in 2013-14.
Matthew Hancock
The funding available for adult further education and skills in 2013-14 financial year was £4.1bn of which £3.6bn was routed through the Skills Funding Agency to support the capacity for 3 million learners. More detailed data on spend in that financial year are not yet available.
The funding available for apprenticeships in 2013-14 financial year was £1,566m of which £802m was provided by the Department for Education for those aged 16-18 and £764m was provided by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills for those aged 19 and over. More detailed data on spend in that financial year are not yet available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what amount his Department spent on all apprenticeships in 2013-14.
Matthew Hancock
The funding available for adult further education and skills in 2013-14 financial year was £4.1bn of which £3.6bn was routed through the Skills Funding Agency to support the capacity for 3 million learners. More detailed data on spend in that financial year are not yet available.
The funding available for apprenticeships in 2013-14 financial year was £1,566m of which £802m was provided by the Department for Education for those aged 16-18 and £764m was provided by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills for those aged 19 and over. More detailed data on spend in that financial year are not yet available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) Official Receivers and (b) all Insolvency Service officials who will receive training leading to a (i) personal insolvency partial licence and (ii) corporate insolvency partial licence.
Jenny Willott
The legislation relating to official receivers and Insolvency Service technical staff, does not require study to hold an Insolvency Practitioners’ Licence and, as such, no staff will receive training that will lead to either a personal insolvency partial licence or a corporate insolvency partial licence.
Under S399(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986 “………the official receiver, in relation to any bankruptcy, winding up, individual voluntary arrangement, debt relief order or application for such an orderis any person who by virtue of the following provisions ………….is authorised to act as the official receiver ………..” and S399(2) “The Secretary of State may ……. appoint persons to the office of official receiver ……………….”.
All technical staff are required to study for, and pass, a bespoke accredited training programme at Qualifications & Credit Framework Level 3 and are required to undertake a minimum of 5 days Continuous Professional Development per year.
Incidentally, over 50% of Official Receivers hold a professional qualification e.g. ACCA.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will undertake an assessment of the effects that pay between assignment contracts have on agency workers’ pay.
Jenny Willott
The exact number of agency workers in the UK who are employed on pay between assignment contracts is not known. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills continues to monitor available evidence and is talking to relevant stakeholders to gather further information about the effects of pay between assignments contracts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of higher apprenticeships in Lancashire.
Matthew Hancock
Higher apprenticeship starts in Lancashire Local Education Authority have increased from 40 in the 2009/10 academic year to 370 in 2012/13.
The Budget announced £20 million over 2014-15 and 2015-16 for new support for employer investment in apprenticeships in England up to postgraduate level, which will provide apprentices with the technical skills that employers need. This will complement the £80 million funding over 2014-15 and 2015-16 for 20,000 more higher apprenticeships announced in the autumn statement – more than doubling current volumes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Government spent on full-time university education for undergraduates in 2013-14.
Mr David Willetts
Full-time undergraduate student support expenditure by the Student Loans Company for the 2013-14 financial year included £8.9bn of cash outlay on maintenance and fee loans and £1.9bn of grant expenditure (on maintenance grants and other allowances). These totals include expenditure on English-domiciled students in the UK and EU students in England.
For the financial year 2013-14, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) estimate that £2.1bn of the expenditure set out in the 2014 grant letter refers to teaching grant for full-time undergraduate study. It is not possible to calculate a full-time undergraduate share of every element of recurrent teaching grant such as Senior Professional pay, teaching strategy funding, institution-specific initiatives or additional funding for Equivalent Level Qualifications and vulnerable science subjects.
The figures do not include expenditure by other Governments departments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will support the introduction of legislation at EU level to ensure that pay between assignment contracts does not result in agency workers being paid a lower wage than other employees.
Jenny Willott
There are no proposals for change to the relevant legislation on agency workers at EU level at this stage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to disabled students’ allowances on the number of disabled students completing higher or further education.
Mr David Willetts
The announced changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) will be subject to a full equality analysis to determine the impact of these changes on students with protected characteristics. The equality analysis will be given full consideration before regulations are laid before the House.
These changes will apply to all full-time, full-time distance learning, part-time and postgraduate students in higher education applying for DSA for the first time from the 2015/16 academic year. DSAs are not available to further education students, as the Government provides Learning Support funding to further education colleges and providers to help meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.