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  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-02-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what advice his Department provides to pensioners on how to invest their money.

    Andrea Leadsom

    At Budget 2014, the Chancellor announced a number of measures to give people more choice about how they use and manage their money in retirement.

    The Chancellor announced that from April 2015, anyone 55 and over will be able to access their defined contribution pension savings and use the savings as they choose.

    A new service, Pension Wise, will provide guidance online, face-to-face and on the phone, and will be up and running in time for April 2015.

    The website, in pilot form, is already available.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to enforce prompt payments to small and medium-sized enterprises by large companies.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government is taking forward a suite of measures to tackle prompt payment.

    Through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, currently before Parliament, we will introduce measures to improve transparency on payment practices and policies. Increased transparency, through a tough and transparent new reporting requirement on the UK’s largest companies, will help take significant steps to addressing the current imbalance in economic power between small and large contracting parties. Our consultation on draft secondary regulations to underpin these measures closed on 2 February. We will publish a summary of responses shortly.

    The Government is currently seeking views on how to best give representative bodies wider powers to be able to challenge grossly unfair payment practices on behalf of members. The discussion paper is available online and is open until 9 March.

    The Government is also working to strengthen the impact of the Prompt Payment Code. We are currently considering proposals, including introducing a maximum payment term for Code signatories, more rigorous monitoring of signatory behaviour, and the enforcement of tougher sanctions on bad payers. We will announce our proposals in Spring.

    These measures will drive forward a shift in payment culture that will make it unacceptable for large companies in positions of extreme bargaining imbalances to exploit smaller suppliers.

  • John Stanley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    John Stanley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Stanley on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2015 to Question 222938, regarding the standard individual export licence for equipment employing cryptography and software for equipment employing cryptography to the value of £7.7 billion approved by his Department for export to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, what the reasons were for the surrender of that licence by the exporter in August 2014; what role was played by his Department in the surrender of that licence; and what the reasons were for his Department’s approval of that licence in the first quarter of 2013 when it was then surrendered unused by the exporter 18 months later.

    Matthew Hancock

    Exporters are not obliged to give reasons for surrendering licences. This was a purely commercial decision by the company and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills played no part in the decision to surrender the licence.

    As is the case with all applications, this application was assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria in the usual way, taking into account the nature of the goods and the intended end-use. The application was for electronic components and circuit boards, which are specifically designed for building mobile phone networks for public use. The proposed export did not breach any of the Criteria and therefore the licence was granted.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 3, Part 2 and the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine to interventions aimed at modifying the genome of the recipient’s descendants.

    Jeremy Wright

    By convention whether or not I have given advice or conducted legal assessments, is not disclosed outside of Government.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with the Crown Prosecution Service in respect of the possibility of prosecuting HSBC Bank for conspiracy to assist some of its customers to evade paying tax.

    Mr Robert Buckland

    The Attorney General and I frequently meet representatives of the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps he has taken to promote awareness of the laws on contempt of court among social media users.

    Mr Robert Buckland

    Where appropriate the Attorney General and I publish online the warnings about potentially prejudicial reporting that Attorneys General had previously only given to the mainstream media. My office also sends tweets warning social media users of the risks of being in contempt of court.

    In addition, the Attorney General has recently issued advice to social media users and others that identifying a victim in a sexual offence case is a criminal offence.

    We continue to look at whether there is anything more that can be done to raise awareness in this area.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in youth unemployment between June to August and September to November 2014.

    Esther McVey

    Unemployment figures from the Labour Force Survey are based on a sample of individuals and normal sample variation means the estimated level of youth unemployment can fluctuate from any one period to the next. The number of young people in work is increasing, up by over 100,000 in the last year and by over 125,000 since 2010.

    The underlying trend has seen falling youth unemployment and during 2014 overall youth unemployment recorded its largest annual fall on record. The number of unemployed 16-24 year olds fell 171,000 in the year to September – November 2014 and is down nearly 200,000 since 2010. Long-term youth unemployment has also fallen by more than 50,000 over the last year. The number of young people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, which is more up to date and not affected by sampling issues, fell by 118,400 in the year to January 2015. It continued to fall in the latest month, down 10,700 between December 2014 and January 2015. This is the 38th consecutive monthly fall and means the youth claimant count is at its lowest level since the 1970s.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of the Youth Contract Wage Incentive Scheme on youth unemployment; and if he will make a statement.

    Esther McVey

    The wage incentive was always intended to be a time limited measure. It was designed to support employers during the recession. It has provided nearly 100,000 job opportunities for young people. The economy is recovering; the UK has witnessed the largest annual drop in youth unemployment since records began.

    Our focus now is to make sure young people have the skills they need to take up these vacancies. The reinvestment of money from the wage incentive scheme into other areas has enabled us to continue to drive down youth unemployment with the most recent figures showing youth unemployment down 188,000 in the last year and by nearly 200,000 since 2010. During 2014 youth unemployment recorded its largest annual fall on record and long-term youth unemployment has also fallen by more than 50,000 in the last year.

    Since the wage incentive was introduced, take up by employers has been lower than expected. Employers found it less attractive than other elements of the scheme. DWP listened to businesses and responded to their needs, as such we reinvested money into those groups who are hardest to help to:

    · Provide additional advisor time for young people in areas of high youth unemployment and for disadvantaged 18-19 year old NEETs;

    · Provide additional funding for BIS to support young people further away from the labour market by providing education and training activities intended to lead initially to traineeships or equivalent provision and subsequently employment.

    · Support the 16-17 NEET pilots and BIS 18-21 Work Skills pilots

    · Provide additional funding for City Deals;

    · Extend the New Enterprise Allowance scheme to December 2014 and provide funding for BIS for start up loans

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has received from Jobcentre Plus staff, working on Universal Credit in jobcentres where it has been rolled out, about technical and communications problems associated with Universal Credit.

    Mr Mark Harper

    The Department routinely seeks and receives insight from Work Coaches and other front-line staff on all aspects of DWP operations.

    We use this feedback to ensure our services are operating at an optimal level.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons his Department and the Skills Funding Agency have not agreed a data sharing protocol with the Work Programme contractors delivering the Skills Support for Work Programme participants in employment project in partnership with Newham College of Further Education.

    Esther McVey

    The department has established an information sharing protocol enabling relevant data to be shared by Work Programme providers with all Skills Support for Work Programme providers. This involves providers first obtaining the participants’ consent, so their information can be shared.