The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to issue a revised Procurement Policy Note to public authorities on the relationship of their procurement policies to UK foreign policy.
Matthew Hancock
Cabinet Office issues any revision to guidance from time to time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy that comprehensive statistics are collated on the incidence of deaths and hospitalisations as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.
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 Louise Haigh on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of savings to his Department as a result of (a) ISSC1 and (b) ISSC2 in each year since 2013.
Matthew Hancock
Cabinet Office does not hold current financial information for Independent Shared Service Centre 1 (ISSC1). As the sole customer receiving services as part of ISSC1, responsibility for the majority of the programme and contract management is now undertaken by DfT.
ISSC2’s Founding customers achieved net savings of £0.9 million in financial year 2013-14 and £8.19 million net savings in financial year 2014-15. There was a 17% reduction in costs of service in 2014-15 compared with the 2012-13 baseline.
The Cabinet Office achieved £0.12 million net savings in 2013-14 and £0.31 million net savings in financial year 2014-15 as a result of receiving services through ISSC2. The figure for 2014-15 represents a 17% reduction in costs compared with the 2012-13 baseline.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the findings were of the Commercial Capability Review conducted by Bain & Company for the Efficiency and Reform Group.
Matthew Hancock
The Cabinet Office used 4 FTE over a nine month period in 2014 and 2015, to cover 10 Commercial Capability Reviews. Bain & Company supported the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury with providing assurance that departments were on track with clear plans to ensure they have the right commercial capability, both in the short-term and for their future functions.
The findings of the review, along with updates on progress since the Reviews were conducted, can be found within the Cabinet Office’s December 2015 submission to the Public Accounts Committee: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/followup-on-transforming-contract-management/written/27765.pdf
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many consultants from Bain & Company were working on his Department’s Commercial Capability Review; for how long those consultants were so engaged; and what remit those consultants have been given.
Matthew Hancock
The Cabinet Office used 4 FTE over a nine month period in 2014 and 2015, to cover 10 Commercial Capability Reviews. Bain & Company supported the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury with providing assurance that departments were on track with clear plans to ensure they have the right commercial capability, both in the short-term and for their future functions.
The findings of the review, along with updates on progress since the Reviews were conducted, can be found within the Cabinet Office’s December 2015 submission to the Public Accounts Committee: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/followup-on-transforming-contract-management/written/27765.pdf
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department has had with local businesses and LEPs on the economic effect of the area reviews for further education.
Nick Boles
Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) have a central role to play in supporting area reviews and are contributing to the analysis of the current and future economic and educational needs of their area. They are also supporting the review process through their wider economic development role and use of their potential resource leverage including capital funding and other related funding streams like European Social Funding. Being impartial and economically driven, LEP involvement is allowing the business voice to feature largely in discussions and to ensure there is a full understanding of employer demand.
There is regular contact with the LEP network and with individual LEPs through the local steering group arrangements. In addition local employers are being actively engaged in each area review through the wide range of stakeholder engagement taking place.
LEPs and the British Chamber of Commerce are also represented on the National Area Review Advisory group which is influencing how the area reviews are taken forward.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the RAB charge for students entering higher education in England in 2016-17 who take up a full maintenance loan and tuition fees when finishing a three-year course; and if he will make a statement.
Joseph Johnson
The Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge is calculated for the total full time student population, rather than separately for students on courses of different lengths or on the basis of the size of the loans taken out. We estimate that the RAB charge for full-time tuition fee and maintenance loans, and part time fee loans, is between 20% and 25%.
These estimates take into account the changes to student finance and the new HM Treasury discount rate used to value the student loan book announced at the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015. We will update our estimates in summer 2016 and publish these at the same time as BIS accounts, alongside an updated version of the simplified loan repayments model.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what types of evidence he plans will be considered for assessment for the Teaching Excellence Framework.
Joseph Johnson
The Higher Education Green Paper proposed that judgements about teaching excellence will be made by a panel of independent experts, considering both a common set of core metrics and additional contextual data, both quantitative and qualitative, submitted by the provider. The core metrics proposed in the Green Paper are derived from quality assured national datasets and would measure employment outcomes, retention and student satisfaction.
We are considering the responses to the consultation and intend to publish a further technical consultation which will explore how the evidence should be used.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23508, by what mechanisms his Department plans to check and monitor standards and quality of apprenticeships until the Institute for Apprenticeships is fully operational in April 2017.
Nick Boles
Existing quality checks will remain in place until the Institute for Apprenticeships is fully operational in April 2017. These include scrutiny and approval of standards and assessment plans by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department for Education, Skills Funding Agency and education advisors, inspection of training provision by Ofsted, and quality assurance of qualifications by Ofqual.
Employer-led reforms continue to improve the quality of apprenticeships, providing the skills that employers need. All apprenticeships must be full time paid jobs; have a minimum duration of 12 months and involve substantial, sustained training including at least 20% off-the-job training. Apprentices develop transferable skills and English and maths to enable them to progress in their careers. New quality measures for training providers and assessment organisations have also been developed to help employers make informed choices.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the differences in the ability of the Green Investment Bank to invest in higher risk emerging green technologies as a (a) public and (b) private sector bank.
Anna Soubry
The Government’s position on this matter was set out in paragraphs 31 – 36 of our November 2015 policy statement on the future of the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) which can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.
This makes clear that GIB’s remit has always been to invest in green projects on fully commercial terms to help demonstrate green investment can be profitable and attract additional private sector investment into green sectors from mainstream finance providers. GIB will continue to perform that role in private ownership.
There are other Government policy mechanisms in place aimed at promoting investment in more high risk projects and early stage technologies.