The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-03-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish the net migration statistics for 2015.
Lord Bridges of Headley
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 Coussins on 2016-04-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in discussions with examination boards about retaining accreditation routes for lesser-taught languages at GCSE and A-level.
Lord Nash
Government action has resulted in GCSEs and A levels in a range of community languages being continued, to ensure young people can carry on studying a diverse range of foreign languages.
This follows a Government commitment in 2015 to protect a number of language GCSEs and A levels after the exam boards announced that from 2017 they would be withdrawing several courses.
Since then the Government has worked with Ofqual and the exam boards and we have been successful in securing most of the less-taught languages at GCSE and A level for future years. In addition to Chinese, Italian and Russian, the languages now secure are Arabic, Bengali, Biblical Hebrew, Modern Greek, Gujarati, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Panjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish and Urdu.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consultations she has had with trades unions and staff representative organisations on the future of technical and professional recruitment planned for inclusion in the proposed Skills Plan.
Nick Boles
The Government is taking forward reforms to the skills system to ensure we have the technical skills that the economy needs. We will publish details of our plans for further reform of the skills system in due course and will engage with stakeholders from across the sector on these plans.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2016-07-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 307 of the Airports Commission Final Report, published in July 2015, what steps his Department is taking to assess options for a legislative process for permanently banning a fourth runway at Heathrow Airport.
Mr John Hayes
The Airports Commission shortlisted three airport expansion schemes, two at Heathrow and one at Gatwick. The Government accepted the Commission’s shortlist in December 2015 and is considering all of the evidence very carefully before reaching a view on its preferred scheme. It is vitally important that we get this decision right.
The Government is not providing a running commentary on this work and it would not be appropriate to opine on the Commission’s scheme-specific recommendations before an announcement on its preference.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 46284, what assessment she has made of the effect of apprenticeship standards on the productivity and growth of the UK economy.
Robert Halfon
Apprenticeships are a crucial way to develop the skills needed by employers. There is strong evidence that apprenticeships are already a good prospect for investment in terms of returns to individuals, to businesses and to Government. For each pound the Government invests in Level 2 and Level 3 adult apprenticeships, we receive economic benefits of £26 and £28 respectively over the rest of the learners’ working lives.
By increasing the quality and quantity of apprenticeships to reach our commitment of 3 million starts in England by 2020, our goal is to secure greater benefits for more apprentices, employers and our economy. To increase numbers and improve access, we are focussing the work of the National Apprenticeships Service on communicating the benefits, and building strong relationships with a wider range of employers and intermediaries.
The 2020 Vision sets out the key elements of our strategy to further address skills shortages and stimulate economic growth through reforms to apprenticeships. .
Our strategy gives employers the opportunity to develop new apprenticeship standards to meet the skills needs of their sector. By increasing the relevance and quality of apprenticeships and developing the skills of workers, standards will ensure employers have the opportunity to develop and access the skills they need.
We are focusing development of apprenticeship standards where employers identify a skills need and demand exists, subject to suitability. In giving employers this freedom, we have seen increased appetite for standards at higher levels, where we know they add the most value. We have also seen standards developed in sectors where they have not been used before, ensuring the benefits are felt across the economy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what alternative arrangements have been made for residents of Flintshire to take driving tests during the temporary closure of the Chester driving test centre.
Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) are committed to providing testing in the Chester area, from mid-February DVSA will offer both car and motorcycle practical tests from Cheshire County Sports Club as a temporary measure. In the meantime, DVSA is continuing to look for a new permanent site in the Chester area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Fleet Ready Escort will meet the Russian ship Mikhail Dudin as he passes through the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
Penny Mordaunt
I am withholding details of our capabilities and programmes as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom has made of the number of (a) business parks which do not have superfast broadband and (b) businesses based in business parks which do not have superfast broadband.
Mr Edward Vaizey
In its 2015 publication Connected Nations, Ofcom estimated that 68% of SMEs had access to superfast broadband in May 2015, and almost half (around 130,000) in certain business areas were unable to receive speeds above 10Mbit/s.
The Government is supporting investment to provide superfast broadband coverage to 90% of UK premises by early 2016 and 95% by December 2017. In addition, BDUK’s Connection Voucher Scheme issued around 55,000 vouchers to businesses to enable to access Superfast broadband. However, this does not include the provision of leased lines which offer an alternative connectivity option for businesses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what further measures are planned for the labelling of meat and dairy products to recognise the high standards of welfare in British products.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Consumers buying meat and dairy products produced in the UK can be reassured that we have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the European Union.
We pressed for new EU legislation extending country of origin rules from beef to fresh and frozen sheep, goat, pig and poultry meat to help consumers identify food produced in the UK. These came into force in April 2015. We are also pressing for this rule to be extended to dairy products.
To support consumers further in making an informed choice, Defra is pressing the EU to implement rules to require that where food products indicate that they are produced in a specific country they must also state if the main ingredients are from a different country.
2016 is the Year of Great British Food. Through the Great British Food campaign Defra is working in partnership with industry to champion the outstanding quality of UK produce to help fuel demand for Great British Food.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-04-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many schemes have benefited from the Business Premises Renovation Allowance in each of the last five years; and what the average value of such benefit was.
Mr David Gauke
The table below shows the number of Business Premises Renovation Allowance claims by year and the average cost in tax relief per claim for the last five years for which data is available. Some businesses may have made more than one BPRA claim for a single project and some claims may involve more than one project.
|
2009/10 |
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
|
|
Number of claims |
2,050 |
1,450 |
1,550 |
1,400 |
1,400 |
|
Average cost per claim |
£14,200 |
£20,500 |
£63,000 |
£27,800 |
£19,300 |