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  • Steve Rotheram – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Steve Rotheram – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to tackle skills shortages in the construction industry.

    Nick Boles

    The Construction Industry Training Board’s (CITB) Construction Skills Network estimates224,000 new construction jobs are set to be created throughout the UK in the next five years. This means that more than 44,000 jobs could be created every year for the next five years.

    According to CITB estimates, 19% of UK construction workers are aged 55+, and are set to retire in the next 10 years (406,000 people), creating equivalent replace demand.

    The Government has no estimate of the number of construction workers expected to leave the industry due to ill-health.

    The Government is committed to significantly increasing the quantity and quality of all apprenticeships in England to 3 million starts by 2020; the construction industry will have an important part to play in achieving this target. Development of skilled labour can only be achieved with engagement of the industry. Construction employers in England are engaged in the Trailblazer process to develop apprenticeship standards that are fit for business, and we have announced a new apprenticeships levy which will put investment in training, and apprenticeships specifically, on a long-term, sustainable footing. CITB returned over £42m last year, supporting 18,500 first, second and third year construction apprentices.

    Initiatives, by the Construction Leadership Council, or through the CITB are seeking to encourage more young people into construction careers. This work includes the launch of the GO-Construct website and work with the National Careers Service and Construction Ambassadors for schools. The CITB has also developed a range of initiatives, working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Armed Forces resettlement service and Local Enterprise Partnerships, to encourage experienced individuals into the sector.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 14108, which projects are part of the Green Investment Bank’s forward business plan; what the (a) stage of completion and (b) amount of funding given is for each of those projects; and what guarantees are in place to ensure that these schemes are completed by any new owners of the Green Investment Bank.

    Anna Soubry

    Potential investment opportunities identified in the forward business plan of UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), and the company’s estimates of what level of financing it might commit to these, are commercially sensitive matters and are not made public. Potential investors in GIB will be invited to consider the company’s business plan in accordance with appropriate confidentiality agreements.

    Irrespective of whether GIB remains in Government ownership or is moved into the private sector, there is no way to guarantee that any of the projects identified in GIB’s business plan will in fact proceed nor any certainty that GIB will be involved in their financing if they do – they remain only potential investment opportunities.

    Details of the commitments GIB has entered into to date can be found on the company’s website at: http://www.greeninvestmentbank.com/our-investments/.

    “

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many defibrillators are provided in each building the Law Officers’ Departments manage.

    Robert Buckland

    Staff in the Government Legal Department (GLD) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate who are based at One Kemble Street, have access to two defibrillators which are held by the landlord in their reception areas. GLD client based staff have access to whatever provision is made by those who manage the buildings occupied by their host Department.

    The Attorney General’s Office does not currently have access to a defibrillator in its 20 Victoria Street office.

    The Serious Fraud Office has access to two automated external defibrillators at their offices in Cockspur Street.

    The Crown Prosecution Service does not provide defibrillators in any of its buildings. However, some staff may have access to defibrillators provided by other tenants or the buildings managing agent in buildings that they occupy.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Balfe on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take steps to prevent the Egyptian cleric Fadel Soliman from speaking at British universities.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government introduced a duty on universities in September 2015 to ensure that they have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. The statutory guidance which accompanies the duty makes clear that universities must ensure that they assess the risks associated with organisations and speakers at events on campus, putting mitigations in place where necessary or cancelling events where the risk cannot be mitigated.

    The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has been appointed as the body to monitor compliance at English universities, including where potential breaches of the duty are reported. Appropriate arrangements will apply in Wales and Scotland.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Balfe on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take steps to ensure that the organisation CAGE is prevented from speaking at British universities.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government introduced a duty on universities in September to ensure that they have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. The statutory guidance which accompanies the duty makes clear that universities must ensure that they assess the risks associated with organisations and speakers at events on campus, putting mitigations in place where necessary or cancelling events where the risk cannot be mitigated.

    The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has been appointed as the body to monitor compliance at English universities, including where potential breaches of the duty are reported. Appropriate arrangements will apply in Wales and Scotland.

  • Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that water, sanitation and hygiene are considered in all plans to tackle malnutrition.

    Baroness Verma

    All DFID nutrition programmes are based on an assessment of the causes of malnutrition, in line with the UNICEF conceptual framework. These include the role that lack of clean water and poor sanitation and hygiene plays in making children ill and therefore increasing the risk of malnutrition. DFID is already integrating water, sanitation and hygiene activities into nutrition programmes in a number of countries and we are actively looking for opportunities to do so in other places where we are addressing malnutrition.

  • Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the relationship between malnutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene.

    Baroness Verma

    DFID commissioned the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to undertake a review of the evidence on the links between water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and nutrition in 2012. The review concluded that there was good evidence that WASH has an impact on under-nutrition. At the very basic level, the act of infant and child feeding needs good personal hygiene – hand washing with soap and water, plus good food hygiene. In addition, water is important in that it is generally required to prepare complementary foods. It needs to come from a safe source and then be collected, transported and stored safely. The living environment of infants has to be free from faecal contamination to minimise the risk of ingesting pathogens or coming into contact with intestinal worms.

    This review is currently being updated drawing on a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2014 which estimated that 50% of child under-nutrition is associated with repeated diarrhoea or intestinal worm infections as a result of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene. There is increasing evidence that chronic diarrheal disease may inhibit nutrient absorption even if sufficient food is consumed. This latter condition referred to as Environmental Enteropathy is currently one of the subjects of a large randomised control trial being conducted in Zimbabwe with DFID support.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 13 January (HL4703 and HL4704), whether they will place in the Library of the House a list of the grounds for retention linked to the relevant retention instruments.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    I refer the noble Lord to the response to HL4704.

  • Lord Colwyn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Colwyn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Colwyn on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to extending the Nursing Agencies’ VAT concession to all healthcare workers in the UK.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government has no plans to extend the Nursing Agencies VAT concession to all healthcare workers in the UK.

  • Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morris of Aberavon on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 30 November 2015 (HL3712), whether, in the interests of transparency, they will arrange for police forces to collate and publicise the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office currently has no plans to arrange for police forces to collate and publish data in relation to the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.

    Police are guided in making such decisions by the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) Guidance on ‘Relationships with the media’.

    There are clearly great risks in naming suspects and the College of Policing guidance makes clear that decisions should only be made on a case-by-case basis, and that the police should not release the names of those who are arrested or suspected of a crime unless they have clearly identified circumstances to justify disclosure.