The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when his Department plans to publish its Skills White Paper.
Nick Boles
The Government is implementing reforms to the skills system to ensure we have the technical skills that the economy needs. We are considering when and how to publish details of our plans for further reform of the skills strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-06-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs’ draft report on the proposal for a regulation on securitisation and creating a European framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation; and whether he supports the Committee’s proposal to increase risk retention from five per cent to 20 per cent based on a vertical slice of securitised assets.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government welcomed the development of international and EU standards to revitalise the regulatory framework for securitisation by encouraging the use of simpler and more transparent products. We agree with the Bank of England that a well-functioning and stable securitisation market will benefit financial stability and the wider economy. We support the Basel standards for securitisation, set with the intention of enhancing financial stability, which see features such as tranching and synthetic structures as being legitimate activity. We also support the need for all securitisations to adhere to appropriate rules on transparency and investor due diligence, and that they must be afforded sensibly calibrated capital requirements. Following the financial crisis it was Basel, working with the Financial Stability Board and the International Organization of Securities Commissions which, set the 5 percent risk retention standard.
In the development and delivery of policy, Treasury Ministers and officials are in regular contact with relevant institutions, regulatory authorities, other governments, industry and other civil society groups including think tanks such as Finance Watch.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2016-09-12.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled, Chancellor steps up industry engagement, published on 7 September 2016, what plans he has to engage with the bio-tech and pharmaceutical industry as part of that industry engagement.
Mr David Gauke
The Treasury regularly engages with businesses from all sectors and values the opportunity to hear their views.
Over the next month, the Chancellor will be meeting with over 80 representatives from businesses of all sizes, and from a wide variety of sectors and regions, including the bio-tech and pharmaceutical industry.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to keep records of the (a) number of people who have their tax credits erroneously suspended by Concentrix, (b) number of people who subsequently have those tax credits reinstated and (c) length of time it takes HMRC to subsequently process those payments.
Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collects a wide range of data in order to process a claim. However, this data is not currently held in a form that is accessible for bulk requests without incurring disproportionate costs. For that reason, HMRC is currently focused on resolving outstanding Concentrix cases, but will be preparing analysis which will be made available in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) men and (b) women took their own life in each London borough in each year since 2010.
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 Baroness Rebuck on 2016-02-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the requirement for all learners who did not achieve a Level 2 in English and maths by the age of 16 to continue to study those subjects post-16 since its introduction.
Lord Nash
We publish analysis on English and maths attainment by students aged 16 to 18 who did not achieve A* to C by the end of key stage 4 in an annual experimental Statistical First Release. The latest release (relating to 2013/14) is attached and also available online. [1]
The next publication will provide data relating to 2014/15, the first year of the English and maths requirement.
The English and maths requirement has had a positive effect on attainment. In 2015, for 17-year-olds and over, entries in maths were up 30% while English entries rose by 23%. Last year there were over 4,000 more passes in English by students aged 17 and over and over 7,500 more maths passes.
We also monitor in-year management information returns from further education institutions. In 2014/15, 97% of 16 to 19-year-olds without GCSE A*-C English and/or maths attending an FE institution continued their study of these subjects.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the use of child soldiers by the Afghan local police.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Afghanistan is one of seven countries included in the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan’s campaign “Children, Not Soldiers” which aims to end the recruitment and use of children by Afghan Government security forces.
We share the concerns of the UN Special Representative on the continued recruitment of children in the Afghan security forces, and the lack of oversight of recruitment for the local police forces. While Afghanistan has made some progress, including the adoption of a presidential decree criminalizing child recruitment by Government security forces in 2015, significant efforts are needed to fully implement the Action Plan.
The UK welcomes the creation of six child protection units in recruitment centres and is encouraging Afghanistan to expand this to all provinces. We urge the Government of Afghanistan to hold to account the perpetrators of child recruitment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mowat on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS is taking to improve the conviction rate for hate crimes involving disabled people.
Robert Buckland
The CPS treats all allegations of hate crime, including those involving disabled people, extremely seriously and continues to place priority on this work. Legal guidance on disability hate crime was refreshed in 2015 and a supporting training package was delivered to all CPS lawyers by January 2016. This equips prosecutors with up to date knowledge to inform their decision making and approach to building the strongest cases possible. In addition, a National Scrutiny Panel on disability is assisting with the development of further refinements to policy guidance on crimes against disabled people and the preparation of a joint CPS/Police/HMCTS statement concerning support to disabled victims of crime.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the budget is for the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.
Matthew Hancock
The final costs of the Summit are still to be confirmed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of ongoing maintenance on the UK P-8 Poseidon has been conducted in the US under US International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
Mr Philip Dunne
The main investment decision on the UK’s Maritime Patrol Aircraft programme has not yet been taken by Ministers, and no contracts have been placed to procure the P-8 Poseidon aircraft. No maintenance activity has therefore taken place on a British P-8 Poseidon aircraft.