The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many divorces between people aged 30 and under took place in the UK in each of the last five years.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to inform public sector workers of the implications of the public sector exit payment cap.
Greg Hands
The Government announced on 31st July 2015 that it intended to end six-figure exit payments for public sector workers, acting on its manifesto commitment. A public consultation over the summer of 2015 asked for views on the details of the policy, which received over 4,000 replies.
The public sector exit payment cap has now been legislated for in the Enterprise Act. The Government intends to publish draft regulations over the summer setting out the detail of how the policy will be introduced, alongside accompanying guidance. All affected parties, including public sector workers, will have a further opportunity to comment on the regulations and supporting guidance during that time.
The regulations implementing the public sector exit cap will not come into force before 1 October 2016 at the earliest. They will apply to bodies in England and those in Wales where the workforce is not devolved in this context. It will be for Welsh Ministers to determine when they bring into force the regulations in the Enterprise Act for bodies devolved to Wales.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library copies of his letter to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield of 4 May 2016 on local government and ethical procurement.
Matthew Hancock
I will place this correspondence in the Library as requested, following the end of the pre-referendum period.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies were invited to the UK Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.
Matthew Hancock
Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jersey, Isle of Man and Gibraltar were invited to the Anti-Corruption Summit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what level of funding was awarded to the UK from the DAPHNE and Progress programmes in each year to 2014; to which Departments this funding was awarded; and which regions received action grants under which headings.
Matthew Hancock
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what UK Trade and Investment’s total (a) operating budget, (b) communications budget and (c) expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies was in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.
Anna Soubry
UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) total (a1) operating budget, (b) communications budget and (c) expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016 was as follows in the table below. We have also provided additional figures (a2) to reflect UKTI total associated operating costs which were allocated by parliament to UKTI’s parent departments, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills prior to 2015/16. These costs have been increasingly consolidated into UKTI operating budget over the last two years:
|
2013/14(£m) |
2014/15(£m) |
2015/16 (£m) |
|
|
A1 |
166.4 |
271.9 |
343.0 |
|
A2 |
209.6 |
90.4 |
– |
|
376.0 |
362.3 |
343.0 |
|
|
B |
12.6 |
4.1 |
4.1 |
|
C |
0.5 |
3.8 |
1.4 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the British Business Bank’s (a) total operating budget, (b) budget for communications and (c) expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies was in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.
Anna Soubry
The British Business Bank is a government-owned economic development bank that makes finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively. It works with the market to increase awareness amongst smaller businesses about the available finance options.
British Business Bank became fully operational on 1 November 2014. Therefore we are able to provide the information requested for the 5 month period ended 31 March 2015 and the 12 month period ended 31 March 2016. This is shown in the table below.
|
Total Operating Budget in £000(a) |
Budget for Communications in £000 (b) |
Expenditure on 3rd Party Communications, Consultancy & PR agencies in £000 (c) |
|
|
5 months ended 31 March 2015 |
9,606 |
280 |
280 |
|
12 months ended 31 March 2016 |
23,207 |
895 |
466 |
*Please note that the Budget for Communications (b) includes salary related costs and Expenditure on 3rd Party Communications Consultancy and PR Agencies (c) does not.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the level of procurement of British steel by local authorities in the UK.
Matthew Hancock
The Government has not made an assessment of the level of procurement of British steel by local authorities in England and it does not collect or hold this information centrally.
Last year Government issued guidance across central government, which sets out how government buyers should source steel for major projects in a more strategic and transparent way. This is underpinned by more detailed guidance explaining how Government departments should take into account the social impacts of competing suppliers as well as environmental factors for certain procurements involving steel.
In April 2016, Government announced that the guidance on procuring steel would be extended to the wider public sector. We are working with key stakeholders to take this forward so that we can maximise take-up of the guidance across the wider public sector.
As local government procurement policy is a devolved matter, it is for the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to determine how they will conduct any assessment for their local authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make a comparative assessment of the effect of tariffs on steel imports in the EU and the US.
Anna Soubry
Each anti-dumping case is different. Moreover the levels of dumping and injury occurring in EU and US markets may be very different. The Government examines the evidence in all EU anti-dumping cases closely before taking a view.
The Government believes that effective trade defence measures should be proportionate, not protectionist, and strike a balance between removing the injury to producers caused by dumping, and avoiding imposing unnecessary costs on user industries, retailers, consumers and the rest of the economy. The evidence we have to date is that duties that have been imposed on imports of Chinese steel into the EU have been effective in delivering rapid, substantial and sustained reductions in imports. For example, imports of wire rod, organic coated steel and stainless steel flat products are down by more than 90%.
Where the European Commission has set duties that we believe to be too low to remove the injury caused to EU industry by dumped imports, we will push for them to be increased, as we have done in the reinforcing bar and cold rolled flat products cases.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when officials of his Department last met representatives of the devolved administrations to discuss (a) how the apprenticeship levy will operate and (b) the proportion of the apprenticeship levy that each of the devolved administrations will receive.
Nick Boles
The digital apprenticeship service will support the English apprenticeship system from April 2017 and my officials engage regularly with their devolved administration counterparts to discuss the implementation of the apprenticeship levy and the new digital service.
Apprenticeships are a devolved policy and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to determine their arrangements for supporting employers to access and pay for apprenticeships.
Discussions are continuing with the devolved administration on funding arrangements.