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  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department has put incentives in place to encourage uptake of apprenticeship schemes from private companies.

    Nick Boles

    There have been over 2.4 million apprenticeship starts over the previous parliament, and 153,100 between August and October 2015, demonstrating the continued expansion of the apprenticeships programme.

    We are taking action to support and encourage the growth of apprenticeships in all sectors to meet our commitment to reaching 3 million starts by 2020. The UK-wide levy will be introduced in April 2017 for all employers in public and private sector with a pay bill of £3m or more, to help fund the increase in quantity and quality of apprenticeship training in England. All employers that hire apprentices will benefit from the levy.

    Our apprenticeship reforms are giving employers the opportunity to create new apprenticeship standards. More than 1300 employers are involved with 204 new standards published (of which over 60 are Higher and Degree Apprenticeships) and more than 150 are in development. So far there have been over 1,000 starts on the new standards.

    We are continuing to support small employers to hire apprentices through the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which provides eligible employers with a £1,500 grant per apprentice (aged 16 to 24) for up to five new apprentices currently. The AGE will continue to operate until the apprenticeships levy is introduced in April 2017. From April 2016, all employers will not be required to pay employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under age of 25 on earnings up to the upper earnings limit.

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to obtain a special status for UK agricultural products from specific geographical origin within the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

    George Eustice

    Negotiations on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) concluded in 2014 and the agreement is expected to come into force in early 2017. CETA represents a good outcome for the UK. Economic analysis suggests the UK could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this agreement.

    Our most important GI (Geographic Indication) product, Scotch Whisky, will receive greater protection in the market and the agreement removes both tariff and non-tariff barriers to British food and drink exports to Canada.

    We will be working with the EU Commission, other Member States, the UK food industry and trade organisations to extend GI recognition under CETA for EU protected food name products not included in the initial negotiating list. In particular for UK products where exports to Canada have substantially increased since the CETA negotiations started in 2011.

  • David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Jones on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.

    Anna Soubry

    The Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Wales jointly hosted a roundtable in August to discussthese potential benefits. Ministerial and official engagement continues across Departments to capitalise on the opportunities for North Wales from the Northern Powerhouse.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to promote postgraduate loans in 2016-17; and what expenditure his Department has allocated for such promotion.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department is working alongside its delivery partner The Student Loans Company and stakeholders such as Universities UK and Prospects to ensure the correct information and guidance is readily available. The Student Loans Company produces information and guidance materials for institutions and prospective students and expenditure for 2016/17 is expected to be in the region of £120,000.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the three-year residency rule for UK nationals will apply to postgraduate loan eligibility from 2016-17.

    Joseph Johnson

    The position on residency will be confirmed when the regulations are laid in Spring 2016.

    Until the regulations are laid, the Government’s position on loan eligibility is set out in the response to its consultation on postgraduate master’s loans published on 25 November 2015. This is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479703/bis-15-573-support-postgraduate-study-response.pdf.

    “

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will publish the full list of Equivalent or Lower Qualification exempt subjects announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

    Joseph Johnson

    Part time students studying for a second degree in subjects allied to medicine; biological sciences; veterinary sciences, agriculture and related subjects; physical sciences; and mathematical sciences will be eligible for a tuition fee loan from the 2017/18 academic year. These are in addition to the exemption for part time technology, computer science and engineering degrees introduced in 2015/16. Subject lists below these broad headings are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/component/content/article?id=1787

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Work and Pensions on the consequential effects of the introduction of maintenance loans for part-time students.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government announced in the Spending Review that for the first time, student finance would be available to part time students to help meet both tuition and living costs.

    Discussions are ongoing with other Government Departments and stakeholders regarding the new maintenance loan product for part time higher education students, and specifically its interaction with the social security system.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 28993, whether he plans to give Ministerial approval to relax the restrictions of the public sector exit cap on employees of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

    Greg Hands

    The power to relax restrictions on exit payments imposed by the cap will enable decisions to be taken on individual or collective cases where there may be exceptional circumstances that justify the cap being relaxed. This would be subject to scrutiny and approval by the relevant Minister in accordance with directions issued by the Treasury. The relevant Minister for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority would be the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

    The Government can confirm that the regulations detailing the relaxation provisions will not come into force before 1 October 2016 and therefore all exits before that date will not be within the scope of the public sector exit payment cap.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many self-employed people claimed (a) child and (b) working tax credits in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15.

    Damian Hinds

    The latest information for 2013-14 recipients can be obtained from the ‘Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: finalised annual awards – 2013 to 2014’ publication. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-finalised-annual-awards-2013-to-2014

    The equivalent information for 2014-15 will not be available until May 2016.

    “

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the cost to small and medium-sized enterprises of implementing the national living wage.

    Nick Boles

    The Government’s Impact Assessment for the introduction of the National Living Wage estimates the cost of the initial £7.20 rate will be just under £530 million in total for small, micro and medium sized businesses.