Blog

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on consumers of businesses issuing seven-day legal procedure notices with invoices.

    Nick Boles

    In response to the Law Commissions’ report on Consumer Redress for Misleading and Aggressive Practices in March 2012, the Government introduced an amendment to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 giving consumers new powers to pursue civil redress for misleading and aggressive practices.

    The regulations expressly cover demands for payment from a consumer in full or partial settlement of the consumer’s liabilities or purported liabilities to the trader (regulation 2(1A)). This means that misleading and aggressive practices in respect of such demands could lead to both criminal sanctions as well as private redress.

  • Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what arrangements are in place to ensure that the pension schemes of abolished non-departmental public bodies which lay within his Department’s remit efficiently discharge their liabilities to pensioners.

    Nick Boles

    The majority of the Department’s non-departmental public bodies (NDPB) contribute into existing multi-employer schemes, these include the PCSPS and Research Council Pension Scheme. Individuals also have the option to contribute to a partnership pension scheme operated by selected pension companies. In both these cases the responsibility to make payments to pensioners lies with the scheme, and not with the individual employer.

    Where an individual NDPB operating its own scheme was to be abolished, as part of that process a decision would be made whether it was appropriate to transfer the liability to the Department or to transfer that scheme to the management of the Cabinet Office.

  • Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will investigate the fitness for purpose of the members’ payments division of the National Consumer Council pension scheme.

    Nick Boles

    The National Consumer Council participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), which is managed by the Cabinet Office. Administration of the PCSPS is contracted out to MyCSP Ltd. MyCSP’s performance in administering the PCSPS is monitored by the Supplier Management team within Civil Service Pensions in the Cabinet Office; the performance of MyCSP is also reported to the Civil Service Pensions Board on a regular basis, which is independent of the Cabinet Office team.

    Contact details for MyCSP are available from the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/contact-us/.

    “

  • Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the transparency of contact details for the National Consumer Council pension scheme.

    Nick Boles

    The National Consumer Council participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), which is managed by the Cabinet Office. Administration of the PCSPS is contracted out to MyCSP Ltd. MyCSP’s performance in administering the PCSPS is monitored by the Supplier Management team within Civil Service Pensions in the Cabinet Office; the performance of MyCSP is also reported to the Civil Service Pensions Board on a regular basis, which is independent of the Cabinet Office team.

    Contact details for MyCSP are available from the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/contact-us/.

    “

  • Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the efficiency of the National Consumer Council pension scheme in discharging its duty to ensure payment to new pensioners on attainment of scheme payment eligibility.

    Nick Boles

    The National Consumer Council participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), which is managed by the Cabinet Office. Administration of the PCSPS is contracted out to MyCSP Ltd. MyCSP’s performance in administering the PCSPS is monitored by the Supplier Management team within Civil Service Pensions in the Cabinet Office; the performance of MyCSP is also reported to the Civil Service Pensions Board on a regular basis, which is independent of the Cabinet Office team.

    Contact details for MyCSP are available from the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/contact-us/.

    “

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding of the Young Women’s Trust on page 13 of its report, Making apprenticeships work for young women, that apprenticeships are reinforcing, rather than challenging, occupational segregation by gender.

    Nick Boles

    We want to make apprenticeships accessible to the widest possible range of people, as part of meeting our commitment to reach 3 million starts in England by 2020.

    Women are well-represented within English apprenticeships – 53.0% of starts in 2014/15 were made by women. This is higher than in both 2013/14 (52.9%) and 2009/10 (49.6%). We will continue to support the extension of this positive representation across all sectors.

    We have made it a priority to ensure that all young people have access to quality careers advice and support to help them make the right personal choices. This includes communicating career opportunities in sectors such as science and engineering. We will launch a new communications campaign in May aimed at promoting the benefits of apprenticeships. Our promotional campaigns include role models of successful female apprentices in sectors where they are under-represented.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Skills Funding Agency statistics on Apprenticeship Achievements by framework code, level and gender, 2002-03 to 2013-14, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the reduction in the proportion of engineering apprenticeships which were undertaken by women between 2002 and 2014.

    Nick Boles

    The proportion of apprenticeship starts by women on the Engineering apprenticeship framework in England decreased from 4.6 per cent in 2002/03 to 3.8 per cent in 2013/14. The volume of apprenticeship starts on this framework by women actually increased by over ten percent over this period, but there was a larger proportionate increase in male apprentices in this period.

    We are encouraging more young women to enter science and engineering careers, including apprenticeships. The annual Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (TEWeek) acts a focal point to encourage them to consider a career in engineering. The Your Life campaign inspires young people to study maths and physics as a gateway to STEM careers. The STEM Ambassadors programme is a network of over 28,000 volunteers working with schools across the UK, 40% of whom are women.

    We are taking action to support the growth of apprenticeships in all areas to meet our commitment to 3 million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. We will launch a new communications campaign in May aimed at promoting the benefits of apprenticeships. Our promotional campaigns include role models of successful female apprentices in sectors where they are under-represented.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33699, what the duties of the board members of the Institute for Apprenticeships will be prior to the launch of that Institute in April 2017.

    Nick Boles

    The Institute for Apprenticeship’s Board will be appointed via a public appointments process later this year. In shadow form, the Board will be expected to oversee the finalisation of the organisation’s workplan and the transition to taking on the Institute’s statutory functions in April 2017. Further information about the roles and duties of the Board members will be provided when the public appointments process is complete.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his policy is on safeguarding the future of the UK helicopter industry.

    Anna Soubry

    We are working with the UK aerospace industry to sustain and grow helicopter capability through the Aerospace Growth Partnership and the Defence Growth Partnership, both of which bring Government and industry together to tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high value jobs.

    Through this work we are supporting the industry’s private investment in technology, competitiveness, productivity, manufacturing capability and skills. For example, we have supported Finmeccanica Helicopters’ investment in new civil helicopter capability at Yeovil, safeguarding employment through diversification into the growing civil aerospace market. In addition, we are co-investing with industry in collaborative R&D projects led by Finmeccanica Helicopters and Airbus Helicopters on new technologies including advanced rotor blades and lightweight structures.

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34465, if his Department will take steps to allow web-users to include honours when completing government online forms.

    Joseph Johnson

    All future digital services, including online forms, will follow the Government Digital Service design principles. Our approach to personal data is to require the information that is relevant for the transaction.