Tag: Catherine McKinnell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to pages 49-50 of the Survey of the Provision in the UK of Access to Remedies for Victims of Human Rights Harms involving Business Enterprises, by the British Institute for International and Comparative Law, published on 17 July 2015, what assessment he has made of the merits of the report’s recommendations to (a) establish a permanent cross-government Business and Human Rights Unit and (b) extend some aspects of UK criminal law legislation to provide access to remedies to victims of human rights abuses by business enterprises overseas.

Dominic Raab

The Government has no plans to establish a permanent cross-government Business and Human Rights Unit; however, departments continue to cooperate as necessary. Victims of overseas human rights abuses by UK businesses can already seek redress through UK courts. We are one of the few jurisdictions in the world where this can happen.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she has taken to ensure that every government and organisation which her Department funds meets global transparency standards.

Rory Stewart

We require our centrally funded civil society and private sector suppliers to publish details of how they spend UK funding in line with international transparency standards. The department has also reviewed the extent to which multilateral partners are meeting or going beyond these standards, to promote transparency globally and in the countries where they work. DFID supported adoption of new international commitments relating to transparency and anti-corruption, including commitments in the “Grand Bargain” for humanitarian action, and under Cabinet Office leadership, the Open Government Partnership. DFID has increased, and continues to increase, country programming on tax and other areas supporting fiscal transparency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress he has made in transposing the European Non-Financial Reporting Directive into UK law; and whether there will be additional reporting requirements.

Anna Soubry

A consultation will be published shortly seeking views on the Governments plans to transpose this directive into UK law. We have no current plans to implement any reporting requirements beyond those required by the Directive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of workless 18 to 21-year olds who will be enrolled on universal credit in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available. The number of people on benefits is driven by a range of factors, and because of this the programme measures progress by the successful achievement of its delivery plan rather than numbers of claimants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 21 September 2015 to Question HL2285, what progress Public Health England has made on making the Systemic Anticancer Therapy dataset publicly available; what the timetable is for that dataset being fully accessible; and whether he plans that the dataset will be used to collect data on patient outcomes for treatment funded through the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

George Freeman

Public Health England (PHE) is working to making data collected as part of the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) dataset available through its Office for Data Release function by summer 2016. The absolute priority of PHE is to maintain patient confidentiality and therefore data will only be released to external parties in a format that does not compromise patient confidentiality either directly or by inference.

NHS England is currently working closely with PHE on a proposition which will enable the SACT dataset to be used to collect data on patient outcomes for treatment funded through the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is working closely with NHS England to support the new way of working for the Cancer Drugs Fund from 1 April 2016 and the NICE Technology Appraisal process and methods will be considered by the NICE Board at their next meeting on 16 March 2016. We do not have any information on whether the dataset used by PHE will be used to collect data on patient outcomes for treatment funded through the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to page 21 of her Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16, what assessment she has made of progress against its target of doubling its funding on improving tax systems in developing countries by 2020.

Rory Stewart

The UK is recognised as a global leader in tax and development, working to end aid dependency in developing countries. The UK, as a founding signatory to the Addis Tax Initiative, pledged to double our spend on tax and development by 2020. My Department has made strong progress and is on course to deliver this commitment by 2020.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will include a commitment to extend the Open Contracting Principles to cover climate and development finance in the third National Action Plan.

Matthew Hancock

Our third Open Government Partnership National Action Plan (NAP), due for publication in 2016, is currently being developed through an open and collaborative process in partnership with civil society.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many businesses were compensated for the indirect costs of the (a) EU Emissions Trading System and (b) carbon price floor; what the average award per eligible business was; and what the total monetary value of such compensation was in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15 and (iii) 2015-16 to date.

Anna Soubry

Since the compensation schemes for indirect costs of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the Carbon Price Support (CPS) mechanism began, the total number of businesses compensated is 60 and 58 respectively. The table below sets out the amounts of compensation paid from 2013 to 2015 in calendar years. CPS compensation payments began in 2014. The average award per business over that period can be calculated from the table.

2013	2014	2015 (to 21 January 2016)*	TOTAL
(£)	(£)	(£)
EU ETS	31,707,192.00	19,632,228.00	18,130,331.00	69,469,751.00
CPS		33,247,349.00	44,811,626.00	78,058,975.00
TOTAL	31,707,192.00	52,879,577.00	62,941,957.00	147,528,726.00

(* Claimants have until 31 March 2016 to submit Quarter 4 2015 applications).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s consultation on out-of school education settings, launched on 26 November 2015, how many consultation responses were received (a) in favour of and (b) opposing the consultation proposals; and by which date she expects her Department to publish its response to that consultation.

Edward Timpson

The Government wants children to be educated in a safe environment without exposure to hateful and extremist views that undermine British values. The call for evidence on out-of-school education settings was launched on 26 November 2015 and ran for six and a half weeks closing on 11 January 2016

Around 3,000 people completed the published response form, either online or manually. The Department for Education received a significant number of further representations to the consultation by email and post. All responses and representations are being logged, analysed and verified

In line with Cabinet Office guidance, we will be publishing a response to the consultation in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 11 of the National Audit Office’s report on delivering value through the apprenticeships programme published on 6 September 2016, what steps she is taking to increase the number of apprenticeships to deliver maximum gains for UK economic productivity.

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.