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  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department’s document, English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision, published in December 2015, whether the progression from traineeships is intended primarily to be into apprenticeships or into employment.

    Nick Boles

    Traineeships are a demand-led, high quality education and training programme, designed to support 16-24 year olds educated to below level 3 who have little work experience but are strongly motivated by work. Traineeships have been designed to support progress into both apprenticeships and wider employment opportunities.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential financial implications for small businesses with 100 employees or fewer of the Apprenticeship Levy.

    Nick Boles

    Employers with a pay bill of less than £3m will not have to pay the levy. This is more than 98% of all employers. Small employers will continue to have access to government funding to support apprenticeships. Until the levy comes in, the apprenticeships scheme will continue to operate as it does now.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and (b) Chancellor of the Exchequer on how the Apprenticeship Levy will operate in combined authorities to whom powers over skills and training are devolved.

    Nick Boles

    Apprenticeship funding is not devolved and we have no plans to do so.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with (a) public sector employers, (b) private sector employers and (c) UnionLearn on the implications of the Apprenticeship Levy on staff training budgets.

    Nick Boles

    Ensuring that the apprenticeships levy works for all employers is a key priority for BIS. As such, we are engaging with both public and private sector employers, representatives from Unionlearn, and wider Government Departments on how the levy will operate and how they will build apprenticeships into their workforce training plans. We will be continuing engagement over coming months.

  • Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how his Department monitors the use of UK-manufactured arms by those countries to which they are sold.

    Anna Soubry

    All export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking into account all relevant factors at the time of application. We draw on all available information, including checks using both open and classified sources, reports from non-government organisations and our overseas network, involving Desk and Post in the Foreign Office, when considering licence applications.

    Foreign Office posts and departments in London monitor conditions in the respective countries – including human rights, regional tensions and the risk of exports being diverted to unintended end use – and advise on developments that might affect licensing policy.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will place in the Library a copy of the loan agreement that was reached with UK Coal in relation to the closure of Thoresby Colliery.

    Anna Soubry

    The loan agreement is a private document between UK Coal Production Limited and other UK Coal companies and The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. It covers both UK Coal Thoresby Limited and also UK Coal Kellingley Limited, the latter of which is still trading.

    The loan document is classified as Confidential Information and permission is required from UK Coal to release the loan document to third parties. We have sought permission from UK Coal and after due consideration the UK Coal board of directors have declined consent to release the loan document.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has undertaken an impact assessment under section 149 of the Equalities Act 2010 of the Government’s proposals relating to exit payments for public sector workers in respect of older workers.

    Greg Hands

    The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on the potential impacts of the cap and sets out which organisations the Government intends to capture within scope of the public sector exit payment cap. The final policy is in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

    The consultation ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. Over 4000 responses were received. These representations were considered during and after the consultation to inform the Government response that was published on 16 September 2015.

    The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf

    An impact analysis was published within the exit payment cap consultation document which respondents had an opportunity to comment on. Further, the Government worked with departments and took into account consultation responses received after the official deadline to inform the impact of a public sector exit payment cap set at £95,000 in different sectors and for different categories of workers. This assessment gave due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

    The exit payment cap is intended to capture organisations classified as public sector by the Office for National Statistics with few exceptions as identified in the consultation response.

    The Government does not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy.

    At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.

  • Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received from the Welsh Government in the last week on the announcement of job losses in South Wales by Tata Steel.

    Anna Soubry

    In the light of this announcement, we have been discussing with the Welsh Government how we can work together to ensure a sustainable and successful future for the steel industry in Wales. Officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills attended the first meeting of the Port Talbot Taskforce on 20th January, which was convened by the Welsh Government to develop plans to limit the impact of the job losses and support the industry further. The Welsh Government also wrote to my Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 19th January.

  • 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 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to provide regular updates to Parliament on the work of the Apprenticeship Delivery Board.

    Nick Boles

    Updates on the activities and achievements of the Apprenticeship Delivery Board will be posted on Gov.uk.

    More broadly, subject to Parliamentary approval, the Welfare Reform and Work Bill places a new duty on Government to report annually on progress towards meeting 3 million apprenticeships starts in England by 2020. This report will reconfirm Government’s commitment to that policy ambition, as well as ensuring transparency on progress.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Lilley on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what contingency plans the Skills Funding Agency has in place to launch tenders for training contracts in 2017 open to all training providers and including current sub-contractors in the event of the introduction of the European Union rule that contracts must be fairly awarded in open tendering processes; and what discussions the Government has had with representatives of the EU on this matter.

    Nick Boles

    The Skills Funding Agency is aware of the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations which came into force in February 2015 and has processes in place to ensure that it complies with the requirements of the Regulations when procuring education and training services.