Blog

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce measures to set quotas for women on boards.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Government is committed to seeing more women on the boards of British companies. We believe that a business led, voluntary approach is the best way to get more women on boards, as set out in Lord Davies of Abersoch’s review 2010 into the subject.This approach is working, with 26.2% representation in the FTSE 100, up from 12.5% in 2011. We will build on this with a new programme of work set out by Lord Davies in his recent 5 year report on progress. Government will therefore not be introducing measures to set quotas for women on boards.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for financial services executives being paid according to the number of women in senior roles.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government has asked Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, to lead a review into the representation of women in senior managerial roles in the financial services industry. One of Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s potential recommendations is to link variable pay for the Executive Team to reaching internal targets set by the organisation on the representation of women at a senior level.

    The government welcomes Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s work to date and will consider the final recommendations when the review reports next year.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the likely impact of the apprenticeship levy on wage growth over the next five years.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The OBR forecasts that wages will grow over the next few years, though at a slightly lower rate than would have been the case had the apprenticeship levy not been introduced.

    However, we know that apprenticeships have long-run productivity and wage benefits for apprentices and the wider economy, which are not included in the OBR’s modelling. On average, an apprenticeship increases an individual’s earnings by 11-16% within three to five years.[1]

    The medium-term benefits of apprenticeships can therefore outweigh short-term wage pressures. We thus consider the net impact of the apprenticeships levy on the economy to be positive.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-measuring-the-net-present-value-in-england

    “

  • Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the arrangements for preserving departmental archives, including the role of the Cabinet Secretary.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Each government department is responsible for managing its own records up to the point when such records are transferred to the National Archives. This complies with the Lord Chancellor’s Code of Practice on the management of records issued under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

    The Cabinet Secretary has commissioned two recent reviews of record management practices. The first covered the arrangements for the annual release of departmental papers to the National Archives and was published in November 2014. The second, which was published earlier this month, focuses on the transition from paper-based to electronic record keeping; HM Government has accepted all the recommendations of the review and will begin to implement the actions he recommends through the course of 2016.

  • Lord Blunkett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Blunkett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blunkett on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 9 December (HL3996), what assessment is being made of the impact on the provision of child and adolescent mental health services, broader special needs support and psychological services, of reductions announced in the Autumn Statement to the provision for areas of education spending in England that are not ring-fenced.

    Lord Nash

    As set out in the response to the previous question from the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett (HL3996), the £600 million reduction to the Education Services Grant, announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement, should have no direct impact on the provision of child and adolescent mental health services, broader special needs support, or psychological services.

    Support for special educational needs is funded from the core schools budget, which we are protecting in real terms.

    The government has made children and young people’s mental health support a priority and we are investing an additional £1.4 billion in children and young people’s perinatal mental health services over the next five years. Each Clinical Commissioning Group has put in place a local transformation plan for children and young people’s mental health to set out how services will be improved. These have been drawn up in partnership with local authorities, schools and colleges to ensure they cover the full spectrum of interventions, from prevention to support and care for existing or emerging mental health problems, transitions between services, and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable.

    Local authorities have statutory duties to provide services and support for children and young people with SEND, including providing educational psychologist expertise. Local authorities are best placed to judge local priorities and to make local funding decisions, and it is therefore for them, in consultation with local people and having regard to the range of statutory responsibilities placed on them, to determine the exact nature of provision in their areas, including how best to allocate resources and how to fulfil their obligations.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel regarding the attacks on the University in Tulkarem situated in Area A of the West Bank and their impact on students’ access to education.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not made representations to the Government of Israel on this specific issue we strongly condemn all acts of violence and all incitement to commit acts of violence. Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government, urging them to use their influence to de-escalate the tensions.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel regarding the IDF Fence that separates nursing ewes from their lambs at Qalqilyah in the West Bank.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not discussed this specific incident with the Israeli authorities, we remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised the issue of freedom of movement with Israeli National Security Advisor Cohen on 2 November. Our Consul-General in Jerusalem also raised this issue with the Mayor of Jerusalem on 28 October.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel regarding the hospital bills sent to the Palestinian Authority for medical treatment of Ahmad Dawabsha.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have not made representations to the Government of Israel on this issue. However, the Government of Israel has confirmed to us that they covered the cost of the medivac. We had also previously understood from contact with the Dawabsheh family that their hospital fees were being met by Israel.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 7 December (HL3871), what assessment they have made of the contribution of economic security to achieving peace between Israel and Palestine, and based on that assessment whether they will now raise this issue with the government of Israel.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We assess that economic security is vital and that Palestinians see tangible improvements in their daily lives. That is why we are a leading donor to the Palestinian Authority and why the Department for International Development have put such emphasis on strengthening Palestinian institutions and fostering private sector-led, sustainable economic growth in the West Bank. We do not plan to make representations on the specific issue of the stone factories. However, we regularly raise the need to enable development of the Palestinian economy. On 19 November our Ambassador in Tel Aviv discussed the need to create economic sustainability in the West Bank and Gaza with the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs, Public Security and Information.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel about the treatment of Palestinian prisoners, and in particular of Wasim Marouf at Ofer prison.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Although we have not raised Wasim Marouf’s particular case, we remain concerned about Israel’s extensive use of administrative detention and also have concerns about mistreatment of Palestinian detainees. We have raised these concerns with the Israeli authorities on many occasions, including at Foreign Minister, Attorney General and National Security Adviser levels.