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  • Andrew Griffiths – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Griffiths – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Griffiths on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the (a) potential merits and (b) cost to the public purse of extending the class 1 secondary national insurance contributions exemption for employees aged under 21 to include employees aged under 25.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government is determined to support young people into work. The existing Employer NICs relief for under 21 year olds recognises that the problem of youth unemployment is most acute for those at the youngest end of the scale. The Employer NICs relief for apprentices under 25 (to be introduced this April) focuses resources on those seeking to gain skills and experience through an apprenticeship to improve their employment prospects.

    HM Revenue and Customs does not routinely estimate the cost of extending tax or NICs reliefs, so an accurate assessment of the cost of extending the Employer NICs relief to all under 25s is not available. However, the Government keeps all taxes and tax reliefs under review as a matter of course. Any decision on extending these existing NICs reliefs would depend on whether this would offer value for money in helping young people find and stay in work.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the overall cost was of residential training for civil servants in each of the last three years.

    Matthew Hancock

    This information is not held centrally.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Office of the Independent Adjudicator is able to send the complaint outcome to the complainant and member higher education provider within 90 days of the reviewer’s determination that the file is complete.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Office of the Independent Adjudicator’s Annual Report (2014), which contains the latest published figures available, states that it took an average of 207 days to close a complaint from the time the student first submitted a complaint form. Provisional figures indicate that improvements have been made since then and the 2015 Annual Report is likely to show a significant reduction in this figure.

    The European Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution, which came into force on 9 July 2015, now requires dispute resolution bodies such as the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) to issue complaint outcomes within 90 days of receiving the full complaint file, unless the case is highly complex. The OIA and other alternative dispute resolution bodies are required to report to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, which is monitoring compliance with the Directive.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the prevalence of the practice in the retail and leisure sectors of sending employees home during their shift without notice.

    Nick Boles

    We encourage employers to be clear with their staff up front on how work will be structured. However, the way in which work is arranged, or how shifts are decided upon will depend on each situation and sector. A ‘one size fits all’ solution would not be appropriate.

    Where appropriate, Government publishes guidance. For instance, we recently considered the issue of late notice cancellation of shifts for those on zero hours contracts and have published updated guidance on gov.uk.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how long on average the Office of the Independent Adjudicator took to close a case in 2015.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Office of the Independent Adjudicator’s Annual Report (2014), which contains the latest published figures available, states that it took an average of 207 days to close a complaint from the time the student first submitted a complaint form. Provisional figures indicate that improvements have been made since then and the 2015 Annual Report is likely to show a significant reduction in this figure.

    The European Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution, which came into force on 9 July 2015, now requires dispute resolution bodies such as the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) to issue complaint outcomes within 90 days of receiving the full complaint file, unless the case is highly complex. The OIA and other alternative dispute resolution bodies are required to report to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, which is monitoring compliance with the Directive.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will takes steps to ban the practice in the retail and leisure sectors of sending employees home during their shift without notice.

    Nick Boles

    We encourage employers to be clear with their staff up front on how work will be structured. However, the way in which work is arranged, or how shifts are decided upon will depend on each situation and sector. A ‘one size fits all’ solution would not be appropriate.

    Where appropriate, Government publishes guidance. For instance, we recently considered the issue of late notice cancellation of shifts for those on zero hours contracts and have published updated guidance on gov.uk.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) statutory and (b) other guidance is available to higher education institutions on their duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards disabled students.

    Joseph Johnson

    Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support their students, including those with disabilities.

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has produced a range of guidance for institutions on their obligations under the Equality Act 2010, including technical guidance setting out the detail of the law.

    Guidance is also produced by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), a higher education sector body that supports equality and diversity for staff and students across the UK, including for disabled staff and students on managing “reasonable adjustments”. The ECU also published a report on the implications for institutions of the key issues contained in the Equality Act 2010.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the level of investment in UK oil and gas production until May 2020.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The latest published projections of development capital expenditure by the UK upstream oil and gas industry are those in Supplementary Table 2.1 to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s June 2015 Fiscal Sustainability Report:

    http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/fsr/fiscal-sustainability-report-june-2015/.

    This had annual investment (in £ billion) at the following levels:

    2016

    2017

    2018

    2019

    2020

    8.3

    6.6

    5.9

    4.9

    4.2

    Updated projections informed by recently-received information from operators should be published alongside the Economic and Fiscal Outlook which will accompany the forthcoming Budget.

    “

  • Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of replacing maintenance grants on the ability of the Government to reach its target of doubling the proportion of people from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education between 2009 and 2020.

    Joseph Johnson

    An Equality Analysis of changes to the living costs support package for full-time students in 2016/17 was published on the GOV.UK website on 3rd December 2015. Ministers considered the evidence in the analysis to assess the impact on particular groups and to inform their decisions on changes to the student support system.

  • Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the cost to higher education budgets in (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales of the replacement of maintenance grants with additional student loans, as a result of the Barnett formula.

    Joseph Johnson

    This reform in England reduces public sector net borrowing and was accounted for in the settlement for my department. Higher Education is a devolved matter and the Barnett formula was applied to the department’s Spending Review settlement in the usual way.