Tag: Baroness Burt of Solihull

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how they will assess higher education institutions to determine whether they are delivering effective outcomes for widening access and social mobility.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Universities wishing to charge higher fees must agree Access Agreements with the independent Director of Fair Access, showing what more they will do to widen access for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. These Access Agreements include measures and benchmarks for success, in line with the universities’ own particular mission and challenges.

The Director of Fair Access monitors the performance of Universities against their targets and provides a report each year on the progress that has been made.

The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 sets out additional steps the Government plans to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education including through the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of economic output was attributed to the retail sector in each of the last 10 years, and what estimate they have made of that sector’s contribution over the next 10 years.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The table below sets out the percentage of nominal output attributed to retail trade (except of motor vehicles and motorcycles) in each of the last 10 years:

Year	Retail trade as share of nominal output
2006	5.6%
2007	5.6%
2008	5.6%
2009	5.6%
2010	5.7%
2011	5.6%
2012	5.7%
2013	5.6%
2014	5.6%
2015	5.6%

The Office for Budget Responsibility was created in 2010 to provide independent and authoritative analysis of the UK’s public finances, and economic forecasts.

The Office for Budget Responsibility do not forecast growth on a sub- sectoral level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the timescale for carrying out reviews of post-16 education and training institutions.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Individual area reviews are expected to take about four months, the timescale being dependent on the number of colleges and complexity of the local issues involved in each area. The overall review process has been divided into five waves of area reviews and is scheduled to be completed by March 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people were employed in the retail sector in each of the last 10 years, and what estimate they have made of the number of people who will be employed in that sector over the next 10 years.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The number of jobs (both employees and self-employed) in the retail sector in each of the last ten years and the proportion of total UK Workforce Jobs is given in the table below:

Year	Workforce Jobs (‘000s)	% of UK Total
2006	3,189	10.0%
2007	3,194	10.0%
2008	3,218	9.9%
2009	3,127	9.8%
2010	3,076	9.7%
2011	3,065	9.7%
2012	3,098	9.6%
2013	3,084	9.4%
2014	3,126	9.4%
2015	3,159	10.0%

Source: UK Employees Jobs and Self Employed Jobs (ONS)

Her Majesty’s Government has not made forecasts of future job levels in the retail sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce local outcome agreements for the Adult Skills Budget in devolved areas.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The conditions under which we will devolve funding to combined authorities are set out in the relevant devolution agreements. When funding has been devolved the Combined Authority will be responsible for allocations to providers and the outcomes to be achieved, consistent with statutory entitlements. Government will not seek to second guess these decisions, but it will set proportionate requirements about outcome information to be collected in order to allow students to make informed choices.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of (1) the number of jobs, and (2) the total value of sales, within the retail sector attributable to (a) online retail, and (b) high-street retail premises.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

In 2015 the retail sector accounted for nearly 3.2m jobs. It is not possible to allocate these jobs to online or offline retail nor to “high-street” or “non-high street” premises.

Excluding sales of automotive fuel the total value of retail sales was £340bn in 2015, with around 12.4% of these sales (£42bn) attributable to online retail.

It is not possible to determine what proportion of sales were made by “high-street” premises. There is not an operational statistical definition of this term, so data is not collected on this basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that regional schools commissioners are accountable for poor school sixth-form provision in their areas.

Lord Nash

Regional Schools Commissioners are accountable for monitoring the performance of school sixth-forms in their areas when they are part of an existing academy.

Decisions regarding intervention action are informed by the academy’s performance against minimum standards, including the 16-19 minimum standards, and Ofsted judgements, as well as local intelligence.

In the past few months, we have begun to review the post-16 education and training landscape through a programme of area reviews. Through these reviews, colleges, local authorities, local enterprise partnerships, and commissioners (RSCs, as well as FE and Sixth Form College Commissioners) scrutinise all local post-16 provision and are developing recommendations to secure high quality provision for students and employers which is delivered through a financially viable and resilient college sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-06-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many companies required to pay levies to the Pension Protection Fund had put in place a contingent asset that replaced the Pension Protection Fund’s Failure Score for the company with that of a different company in each of the three years to 2012–13; and what are the names of those companies.

Baroness Altmann

We are unable to supply the information requested as to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Furthermore, the names of the companies concerned are classed as ‘Restricted Information’ under the Pensions Act 2004.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether they will meet their target of doubling exports by 2020.

Lord Maude of Horsham

Ministers have acknowledged that the £1 trillion target is a stretch; however, the Government has a clear strategy for increasing both the value of UK exports and the number of British exporters.

Progress in delivering against the target will be reported through the ONS.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-06-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many companies list separate pension schemes for senior management in addition to their primary employee pension scheme.

Baroness Altmann

The information requested is not collated centrally either by DWP or TPR and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.