The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with how many local authorities his Department has worked to improve budgeting advice for universal credit claimants.
Damian Hinds
Universal Credit has introduced Personal Budgeting Support to provide budgeting and money advice to claimants as part of Universal Support provisions. We have engaged with all 380 local authorities in delivering this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how much has been lost to the National Insurance Fund from salary sacrifice schemes for occupational pensions in each of the last five years.
Damian Hinds
Department for Work and Pensions has published estimates on salary sacrifice available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-pension-provision-survey-2013 Estimates are not available for the number of active members who take advantage of these schemes or the loss to the National Insurance Fund.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff from Crown Post Offices that were franchised in 2014 and 2015 (a) transferred to employment with a franchise partner and (b) reached settlement agreements with the Post Office to leave its employment.
George Freeman
Post Office Limited runs and manages its directly managed Crown post offices. Arrangements for employees of these offices and changes to the Crown network are the operational responsibility of the Post Office.
I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to you on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made in encouraging private companies to create or expand their apprenticeships programmes.
Nick Boles
There have been over 2.4 million apprenticeship starts over the previous parliament, and 153,100 between August and October 2015, demonstrating the continued expansion of the apprenticeships programme.
We are taking action to support and encourage the growth of apprenticeships in all sectors to meet our commitment to reaching 3 million starts by 2020. The UK-wide levy will be introduced in April 2017 for all employers in public and private sector with a pay bill of £3m or more, to help fund the increase in quantity and quality of apprenticeship training in England. All employers that hire apprentices will benefit from the levy.
Our apprenticeship reforms are giving employers the opportunity to create new apprenticeship standards. More than 1300 employers are involved with 204 new standards published (of which over 60 are Higher and Degree Apprenticeships) and more than 150 are in development. So far there have been over 1,000 starts on the new standards.
We are continuing to support small employers to hire apprentices through the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which provides eligible employers with a £1,500 grant per apprentice (aged 16 to 24) for up to five new apprentices currently. The AGE will continue to operate until the apprenticeships levy is introduced in April 2017. From April 2016, all employers will not be required to pay employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under age of 25 on earnings up to the upper earnings limit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the proposal to the International Maritime Organisation to develop a work plan to define shipping’s fair share in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the meeting on 18 to 22 April 2016.
Mr Robert Goodwill
We welcome the paper submitted to the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee proposing the development of a work plan to define international shipping’s fair share in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Negotiations on how the global shipping sector can contribute to the goal in the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts towards 1.5°C, are at an early, technical stage.
Department for Transport officials have been working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other departments to ensure that the UK is well placed to play a leading role in the upcoming discussions regarding this “fair share” and will continue to do so as progress is made towards a global solution to tackling emissions from international shipping.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were on the roll of university technical colleges in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.
Nick Boles
According to published January census data, the number of pupils on roll in all University Technical Colleges (UTCs) was 795 in academic year 2012/13, 2,946 in 2013/14 and 6,363 in 2014/15.
The census data for January 2016 has not yet been published. However, the 2015 October census data shows 9,454 pupils on roll in all UTCs in the 2015/16 academic year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on supporting access to mobile digital technology for farmers.
Rory Stewart
Improving mobile connectivity across the country is a key priority for the Government. Defra works closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on this, with a key focus on rural and hard to reach areas. Defra Ministers are directly involved through meetings with DCMS Ministers and the Digital Implementation Taskforce.
4G mobile rollout in the UK has been one of the fastest in Europe; 90% of premises now have 4G coverage from at least one operator. Two legally binding licence obligations will help deliver improved mobile coverage across the UK. Telefonica will provide indoor 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises by the end of 2017. This complements the obligation on each of the UK’s four mobile network operators to provide voice and text coverage to at least 90% of UK landmass, also by the end of 2017.
To facilitate rollout, the Government is reforming the Electronic Communications Code to make it cheaper for the industry to provide coverage and is introducing reforms to the planning regime to allow, amongst other things, taller masts and to enable upgrades of communications infrastructure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with HM Treasury on the use of Farepak unclaimed funds in 2019.
Margot James
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, has not held discussions with HM Treasury on the use of Farepak unclaimed funds in 2019; Farepak creditors will still be able to make claims for monies they are owed when they are handed over where the claims were accepted as valid by the joint liquidators.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mc Nally on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the number of spaces available for disabled people in music venues; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Edward Vaizey
We believe that everyone should have equal access to arts and culture – having a disability should not be a barrier to enjoying Britain’s awe-inspiring cultural treasures. That is why we are working with venues and organisations representing disabled people to identify barriers to access, while at the same time seeing how we can share examples of best practice and what more cultural venues need to do to be accessible to people with disabilities. We support the work of Attitude is Everything, which works with audiences, artists and the music industry to improve deaf and disabled people’s access to live events. I also recently held a roundtable meeting with Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People, to look at access to cultural venues and events for disabled people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department’s press release of 5 February 2016, New National Minimum Wage offenders named and shamed, whether HM Revenue and Customs follows up successful investigations into companies found not to have complied with national minimum wage legislation with additional investigations into whether other employees of the same company were also not in receipt of the national minimum wage.
Nick Boles
This Government is absolutely clear that anyone entitled to be paid the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and, from April 2016, the National Living Wage, should receive it. The Department for Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS) are responsible for the policy on NMW compliance and enforcement, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforces the NMW Act on BIS’s behalf.
HMRC responds to all worker complaints. Where NMW arrears are identified, HMRC ensures the employer corrects the position for all their workers and pays any outstanding arrears. HMRC carries out follow-up checks to ensure arrears have been paid. If subsequent issues are found HMRC will investigate and, if arrears are identified, take further action.