Author: admin

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people started apprenticeships in (a) Swindon and (b) the United Kingdom in each of the last five years.

    Matthew Hancock

    Information on the number of apprenticeship starts in England by geography is published in a Supplementary Table to a Statistical First Release (SFR):

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships–2

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/298401/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xls

    The Department does not collect further education information relating to the devolved administrations.

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department has provided to companies facing bankruptcy in each of the last three years.

    Jenny Willott

    The Department has a suite of business support packages available to companies whether or not they are facing an insolvency event.

    In exceptional circumstances the Department can work with companies in difficulty to help find solutions to their needs. Any such support is commercially sensitive and is normally a matter between the Department and the company.

  • John Denham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    John Denham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Denham on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the number of former BAE staff at the Portsmouth shipyard who have been recruited by overseas ship-builders.

    Michael Fallon

    The local taskforce is working to secure positive outcomes for all staff leaving BAE in Portsmouth. It is too early to draw conclusions.

    We recognise the importance of manufacturing and engineering skills to the economy: these will be vital to building the Solent area’s strengths in marine and maritime. BIS is working closely with industry, Job Centre Plus, and Portsmouth Council to support those employees impacted by BAE’s decision to close its shipyard in Portsmouth.

    The Southampton & Portsmouth City Deal announced a £1 million DWP Rapid Response Service that will support those recently made redundant. Government and local industry will invest £3m in a Marine and Maritime Employer Ownership for skills Programme, responding to the immediate skills needs in small and medium sized enterprises in the advanced manufacturing sector.

    Additionally the existing UK wide Talent Retention Solution is available to help match skilled workers to engineering jobs in the UK and is currently advertising 693vacancies in the south of England on its website[1].

    [1] Active TRS vacancies listed on 18 June 2014.

  • Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Sheridan on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with employment agencies on the practice of blacklisting.

    Jenny Willott

    Blacklisting is an unacceptable and illegal practice and we take any allegations of blacklisting very seriously. I have not had any discussions on the practice of blacklisting with employment agencies. We have referred the allegations made about an international recruitment agency to the Information Commissioner’s Office which is looking into the matter.

  • Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Sheridan on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of blacklisting amongst employment agencies.

    Jenny Willott

    Blacklisting is an unacceptable and illegal practice and we take any allegations of blacklisting very seriously. We have always encouraged anyone with evidence of blacklisting to come forward so that we can investigate. Any evidence of blacklisting should be referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Individuals who believe they are being excluded from employment because of a blacklist should seek redress in the county courts in England and Wales, or Court of Session in Scotland.

  • Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thomas Docherty on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether export licences to Syria have been granted for the period since 1 July 2012; and if he will describe any such material so exported.

    Michael Fallon

    Five Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) and one Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) have been granted.

    The information provided relates to goods or services that have been licensed for export. The licences were granted to international and humanitarian organisations to support and protect staff working in these organisations. The six licences granted authorise export of the following:

    SIEL for: components for body armour;

    SIEL for: NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protective/defensive equipment;

    SIEL for: body armour, components for body armour, military helmets;

    SIEL for: body armour, military helmets;

    SIEL for: components for all-wheel drive vehicles with ballistic protection;

    OIEL for: cryptographic software; equipment employing cryptography.

    The licences were granted to international and humanitarian organisations to support and protect staff working in these organisations.

  • Adrian Bailey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Adrian Bailey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adrian Bailey on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the age cohort achieved a A* to C grade in GCSE (a) mathematics, (b) English and (c) English literature by the age of (i) 19, (ii) 20, (iii) 21, (iv) 22, (v) 23, (vi) 24 and (vi) 25 years in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    The following tables show the proportion of 18, 19 and 20 year-olds who had achieved A*-C grade in GCSE English and GCSE mathematics. The figures relate to academic age, that is age at the start of the academic year, so young people of academic age 18 are those turning 19 during the academic year. The figures cover young people who were in the state sector at academic age 15. The data source used for this analysis does not differentiate between English Literature and English Language so the figures for English include those that have A*-C in either subject. The Department does not hold information on the attainment of people older than academic age 20. The earliest data available is for the cohort that was academic age 18 in 2004/05.

    Proportion achieving A*-C grade in GCSE mathematics by academic age and cohort

    Academic age

    Cohort academic age 18 in

    18

    19

    20

    2004/05

    49.3%

    49.4%

    49.4%

    2005/06

    48.6%

    48.7%

    48.8%

    2006/07

    50.5%

    50.6%

    50.6%

    2007/08

    52.7%

    52.7%

    52.8%

    2008/09

    54.6%

    54.7%

    54.7%

    2009/10

    56.5%

    56.6%

    56.7%

    2010/11

    59.1%

    59.2%

    59.3%

    2011/12

    61.9%

    62.0%

    2012/13

    65.2%

    Source: DfE Young Person’s Matched Administrative Dataset.

    Proportion achieving A*-C grade in GCSE English by academic age and cohort

    Academic age

    Cohort academic age 18 in

    18

    19

    20

    2004/05

    55.9%

    56.0%

    56.0%

    2005/06

    56.7%

    56.8%

    56.9%

    2006/07

    57.3%

    57.4%

    57.4%

    2007/08

    58.9%

    58.9%

    59.0%

    2008/09

    60.1%

    60.2%

    60.2%

    2009/10

    61.2%

    61.3%

    61.4%

    2010/11

    63.2%

    63.3%

    63.3%

    2011/12

    65.4%

    65.5%

    2012/13

    69.0%

    Source: DfE Young Person’s Matched Administrative Dataset.

    “

  • Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Sheridan on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of Royal Mail staff who bought shares in the newly-privatised company in (a) Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency, (b) Renfrewshire and (c) Scotland.

    Michael Fallon

    The Government has not made any estimates by constituency, county or country of shares bought by Royal Mail staff.

    As part of the Royal Mail Initial Public Offering, each eligible employee has now received 729 shares free of charge. Only 372 of the 147,000 eligible employees opted out of the scheme. Approximately 99.75% of employees accepted the shares that we offered them. Under the Employee Priority Retail Offer, over 15,000 employees (just over 10%) bought additional shares in Royal Mail.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what change there has been in the level of household (a) borrowing and (b) debt since May 2010.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people employed on zero-hour contracts in Bolton North East constituency.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.