The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-04-07.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidelines exist for the sale of assets and land belonging to HM Revenue and Customs.
Mr David Gauke
The guidelines for the sales of assets and land belonging to HM Revenue and Customs are contained in “Managing Public Money” published by HM Treasury.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2014-06-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he has taken to support small and micro-businesses in creating new jobs.
Nicky Morgan
Support for small and micro businesses is part of the Government’s long term economic plan to back business and create jobs. From April this year, businesses can access a £2000 Employment Allowance. Over 90% of the benefit of this allowance will go to small businesses – reducing the cost of creating new jobs.
In addition, from April 2015 we will abolish employer NICs for all under 21 year olds making it cheaper for businesses to employ young people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many jobs have been transferred from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing by his Department since May 2010.
Brandon Lewis
The Department has not transferred any departmental jobs from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing since May 2010.
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.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether recommendations from the Independent Experts Panel on Serious Case Reviews to Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards are advisory.
Mr Edward Timpson
‘Working Together’ states that local safeguarding children boards “should have regard to the panel’s advice when deciding whether or not to initiate a serious case review (SCR), when appointing reviewers and when considering publication of SCR reports.”
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the stability of the shadow banking sector.
Andrea Leadsom
When appropriately conducted, shadow banking can benefit the economy by increasing the availability of credit to a range of individuals or firms, and provide a valuable alternative to bank funding. It provides credit and liquidity to the real economy and can improve efficiency and drive innovation in the financial system through firms developing expert knowledge in a particular area.
However, the Government is aware of the risks shadow banking activities pose to financial stability when things go wrong. The crisis showed that some shadow banking entities created pro-cyclical build-ups of leverage, did not fully transfer credit risk, were susceptible to rapid sell-offs, and were very complex. It also became clear that the shadow banking sector had very complex interconnections with the traditional banking system.
Recognising the need to improve the transparency and supervision of the shadow banking sector, the Government has taken steps to improve the way shadow banking entities are regulated.
Domestically, the Government has created new Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed. In September last year, the Committee agreed as one of its medium term priorities the identification and management of potential systemic risks from shadow banking.
At the international level, the Government is actively supporting the effective regulation of the sector in EU policymaking, and the UK is instrumental in shaping the global regulatory response at the Financial Stability Board.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.
Gregory Barker
The Table below details the companies used and the total amounts paid to them in the last financial year. We are unable to identify separately the amounts retained by the companies as fees and the amounts passed on to the temporary worker by the company.
|
Agency |
2013-14 |
|
£k |
|
|
Adecco UK Ltd |
1,162 |
|
Michael Page International Recruitment Ltd |
533 |
|
Methods Consulting Ltd |
517 |
|
Parity Resources Ltd |
461 |
|
Allen Lane Ltd |
406 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent steps he has taken to speed up the planning system.
Nick Boles
We have reformed the planning system to make it simpler, more positive and faster to navigate. We have abolished top down regional planning and increased the types of development that benefit from permitted development rights. Where planning permission is required, we have stripped away unnecessary information requirements while retaining essential safeguards. The National Planning Policy Framework, and our recently published simplified planning guidance, provides a significantly clearer basis for making decisions than the confusing array of sometimes contradictory policy that we inherited; and we have taken steps to tackle under-performance by planning authorities where this occurs.
The latest statistics show that these steps are having a significant impact. For example, district level planning authorities between January and March 2014 granted 76 per cent of major applications on time compared with 60 per cent in the same quarter in 2013.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the gender balance is of his Department’s management board and its sub-committees.
Hugh Robertson
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Management Board consists of 8 executive (5 male and 3 female) and 2 non-executive members (1 male and 1 female).
The Management Board is supported by the four Sub-Committees which are each chaired by a member of the Board; they are Audit & Risk Committee, Human Resources (HR) Committee, Operations Committee and Health and Safety Committee.
The gender breakdown of the committees is as follows:
Audit & Risk Committee (ARC): 2 male, 1 female;
HR Committee: 9 male, 10 female; and the 20th position is currently filled by two people (1 male, 1 female) in a job-share;
Operations Committee: 9 male and 8 female; and
FCO Health and Safety Committee: 18 male and 8 female members.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the annual cost in each school of setting up a new Combined Cadet Force detachment.
Anna Soubry
The cost of setting up a new Combined Cadet Force (CCF) unit under the Cadet Expansion Programme depends largely on the number of cadets in the unit.
Decisions on opening new CCFs in schools are made jointly by the Department for Education and Ministry of Defence (MOD). The key criteria for deciding which schools can establish a new CCF are the ability of the school to fund the new unit and provide sufficient adult volunteers to run it. However, we are particularly interested in establishing CCFs in areas of deprivation.
No assessment has been made of the effect of establishing new CCFs in state schools on recruitment to community cadet units. However, it should be noted that CCFs and community cadet units deliver different but complementary elements of the MOD’s youth engagement strategy.