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  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what he expects the RAB charge to be for extra students entering higher education when the present cap on student numbers is removed in 2014-15.

    Mr David Willetts

    We produce a single RAB charge that is an estimate of the overall cost of issuing loans to students. This charge is currently around 45% for full time students. Similarly, a single RAB charge will be applied to all students entering higher education in 14-15.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his Department’s estimate is of the latest RAB charge for further education students.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Department models the proportion of loans which we expect will not be repaid (the RAB charge). The 2012 impact assessment on the introduction of 24+ Advanced Learning Loans stated that we anticipated this RAB charge would be 60% of the total loan amount. Now that we are beginning to receive figures on actual learner numbers, we are reviewing the assumptions within the RAB charge model. This 60% figure may therefore be subject to change in the future.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his Department’s estimate is of the latest RAB charge for part-time students.

    Mr David Willetts

    The current estimate for the resource accounting and budgeting charge for part-time students is 65%.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of student loans issued under the (a) pre-2012 and (b) new funding system that will be fully written off.

    Mr David Willetts

    Our model is designed to estimate aggregate repayments across the full range of borrowers. It does not estimate outcomes at the individual level, such as the probability of an individual’s loan balance being fully written off.

    However, Student Loans Company data for early pre-2012 cohorts show that that around 10% of the cohorts up to 2005 have made no repayments since taking out their loans.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will break down by component elements the increase in the RAB charge from 33 per cent to 45 per cent.

    Mr David Willetts

    The increase in the RAB charge has been due to:

    – macroeconomic effects – earnings growth has been lower than expected since the £21,000 threshold was set making it more generous in real terms than was expected at the time it was set; and

    – modelling changes – we have made methodological improvements to our modelling of individual borrower’s earnings over time. We have done this through a new approach that takes greater account of an individual’s past earnings and of Student Loans Company data on actual loan repayments.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which 10 consultancy firms were paid the most by his Department in the last financial year; and how much each of those firms was paid.

    Jenny Willott

    Under this Government’s transparency programme, details of spend are published on GOV.UK which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills.

  • Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, 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.

    Michael Fallon

    Following the sale of 60% of Government shares in Royal Mail on15 October 2013 some 150,000Royal Mail jobs in the UKtransferred from the public sector to the private sector.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, 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.

    Jenny Willott

    Under this Government’s transparency programme, details of spend are published on GOV.UK which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills

    To provide the level of detail requested in relation to agency fees would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) bonuses, (b) additional salary increments and (c) premiums are offered to UK Trade & Investment staff for proficiency in foreign languages; for which foreign languages these are available; what level of financial support is available for each language; and how many staff receive support for each foreign language for which support is offered.

    Michael Fallon

    UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) draws mainly on civil service staff employed by one or other of its two parent departments – the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO).

    BIS does not give bonuses, additional salary increments or premiums to the staff of UKTI for proficiency in any foreign languages. BIS does however actively encourage individuals to learn languages and they have access to the FCO’s language school.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many projects in Ashfield constituency have been selected to receive funding from the Regional Growth Fund in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many projects from Ashfield contituency have received final offer letters from the Regional Growth Fund in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Michael Fallon

    There was one Round 4 Regional Growth Fund (RGF) project award from the Ashfield constituency. However, the postcode of the project has changed since and the project now falls under a different constituency.

    There are two awards made to RGF programmes to which small and medium-sized enterprises in the Ashfield constituency may bid.