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  • Lord McAvoy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord McAvoy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McAvoy on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the minutes and papers of the last seven meetings of the Joint Exchequer Committee.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The UK and Scottish governments publish a joint communique after each meeting of the Joint Exchequer Committee, it outlines what was discussed at the meeting. The negotiations are ongoing and require a private space in which discussions can make progress.

    The UK government has no plans to publish any further minutes or papers from the Joint Exchequer Committee.

  • Lord McAvoy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord McAvoy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McAvoy on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Joint Exchequer Committee’s negotiations will conclude, and when the fiscal framework will be published.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Whilst there is no set date for the Joint Exchequer Committee to conclude negotiations on the fiscal framework, the UK government is doing everything it can to achieve an agreement.

    The Business Managers and usual channels have agreed to move the final day in Committee on the Scotland Bill to Monday 22 February to allow more time for negotiations between the Scottish and UK Governments to progress.

    The UK government is working towards a deal that is fair for Scotland, fair for the UK and meets all of the principles of the Smith Commission Agreement.

    The fiscal framework document will be published shortly after it is agreed.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their policy of transparency applies to the Belfast Agreement 1998, and if not, why not.

    Lord Dunlop

    This Government is committed to transparency across a range of areas, including in respect of its role in the implementation of successive political Agreements in Northern Ireland.

  • Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much is being spent on (1) billboards and poster sites, (2) television and radio advertising, (3) digital advertising, and (4) other forms of advertising, for the National Living Wage campaign.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will run until the end of April and we expect to come in under budget.

    A breakdown of the anticipated costs for the campaign advertising can be found in the table below:

    Poster advertising £751,612.69

    TV and video on demand (VOD) £1,730,387.70

    Social media advertising £354,000

    Digital display advertising and Pay per click (PPC) £520,000

    Newspaper/magazine advertising £250,000

    Radio £299,826

    The Government’s new National Living Wage is a step up for working people, so it is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. Britain deserves a pay rise and as a One Nation Government we are making sure it gets one. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at employers, and workers currently earning the National Minimum Wage.

  • Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total cost of the advertising campaign for the National Living Wage.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will run to the end of April and we expect to come in under budget.

    The Government’s new National Living Wage is a step up for working people, so it is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. Britain deserves a pay rise and as a One Nation Government we are making sure it gets one. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at employers, and workers currently earning the National Minimum Wage.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the action they and their allies can take to enable the UN agencies in Syria to carry out their mandates fully and freely.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has played, and will continue to play, a leading role in ensuring that UN agencies are able to carry out their mandates in Syria. Through our membership of the UN Security Council and as part of the International Syria Support Group we helped generate a mandate for the UN Special Envoy for Syria to launch intra-Syrian peace negotiations this month. We have also co-sponsored a series of UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) on humanitarian issues, including most recently UNSCR 2258 on cross-border humanitarian access. These resolutions provide a mandate for the delivery of aid into Syria.

    We are deeply concerned about the restrictions placed on UN agencies to deliver these mandates, particularly the obstructionism and lack of response from the Syrian Regime to repeated requests from the UN for humanitarian access to towns and regions across Syria. We regularly raise these issues in the UN Security Council.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many schools in England are using non-specialist teachers to cover teaching vacancies.

    Lord Nash

    The Department does not hold this information.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) teachers, and (2) Personal, Health and Social Education teachers, currently practising in schools in England, have qualified teacher status.

    Lord Nash

    The latest statistics show that 96 per cent of the headcount of teachers in service in state funded schools in England (as at November 2014) have qualified teacher status.

    Information on the number of teachers teaching Personal, Health and Social Education (PSHE) is only collected for secondary schools in England. Of the estimated 31,000 teachers recorded as teaching PSHE, 96 per cent were recorded as having qualified teacher status.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 19 January (HL4840), why the independent review of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership will only focus on the commissioner perspective.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We are advised that NHS England’s review of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership will focus on the commissioner perspective. Monitor, as the sector regulator for health services in England, will also be conducting a review.

    However, Monitor’s review will assess the contract from the perspective of the providers involved and consider how relevant issues might be mitigated in the future. Monitor and NHS England will share their respective findings with each other.

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether persons coming to live in the UK on spousal visas are entitled to make use of existing schemes of English language tuition provided through public funds; and on what terms.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Funding for english for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision in England is normally restricted to people who have been resident in the UK or another EEA country for at least the previous 3 years on the first day of learning. For the 3-year residency rule not to apply to a person coming to live in the UK on a spousal visa, the spouse in the UK whom they are joining would have to have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years.

    Full-funding is prioritised for people who are in receipt of certain work-related benefits and are mandated to undertake skills training to improve their English in order to find work. This is funded through a provider’s Adult Skills Budget. People on other state benefits who are unemployed and where poor English skills are a barrier to finding work, may still be eligible for full funding at the discretion of the training provider. All others can be co-funded but are expected to make a contribution towards the costs of training.

    Other opportunities to learn English on publicly-funded programmes include BIS supported community-ESOL programmes and DCLG community-based English language projects.