The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the nationality of employers found to have failed to pay the national minimum wage in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Nick Boles
We do not collect information on the nationality of employers who have been found to have underpaid the national minimum wage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will instruct exam boards to offer GCSE and A-Level examinations in Persian after 2018; and if she will make a statement.
Nick Gibb
Examination boards are independent organisations and the Secretary of State cannot instruct them to offer any particular qualifications. On 22 April we announced the successful preservation of community language qualifications following negotiation with the examination boards. This fulfilled the commitment made by the Government in 2015. The announcement can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/future-of-community-language-qualifications-secured.
It remains open to the exam boards to decide to offer qualifications in Persian in future.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of overstayers have subsequently been granted leave to remain due to their family or private life in the UK in each of the last seven years.
James Brokenshire
A manual review of every application resulting in a grant of leave to remain on the basis of private or family life would be required to determine the proportion of those made by overstayers. This information cannot therefore be provided without exceeding proportionate costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of migrants staying in the UK for more than three months did not have an ID card containing both their photograph and fingerprints in each of the last seven years.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office does not hold this information.
Biometric residence permits (BRP) are issued to non-European Economic Area (EEA) migrants who are granted leave to come and stay in the UK for more than six months. The BRP contains the photograph and fingerprints of the holder. Since August 2015, all non-EEA nationals applying for leave for more than six months must also apply for a BRP.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations in the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines report, published in September 2016, on stimulating research and development in underfunded areas and improving access to medicines; whether she has plans to take those recommendations forward; and if she will make a statement.
James Wharton
The UK government is committed to ensuring access to low cost, effective medicines in the developing world. We support the provision of essential medicines and other health products through global partnerships such as the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), UNITAID, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). We place a great emphasis on research and development of new vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for conditions that affect millions of poor people. For example, the UK is a leading investor in public-private Product Development Partnerships (PDPs), an innovative financing mechanism to stimulate research and development (R&D) where market incentives are insufficient.
We support the aims of the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines and welcome efforts to shed light on this important issue. However, we note that this panel of experts could not reach agreement on the best approach, given the evidence presented. Our view is that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has already undertaken a large amount of work to consider the full range of barriers that limit access to medicines, and is well placed to consider which recommendations add the most value.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding the UK received from the European Regional Development Agency in (a) total, (b) each action region of the UK and (c) each local authority area in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
Margot James
The UK was allocated €7.8 billion from the European Regional Development Fund for the period 2007-16. This was broken down between the different parts of the UK for each year as follows:
|
€m |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
England |
545.3 |
515.9 |
485.2 |
453.0 |
414.6 |
427.7 |
436.3 |
Nil |
985.8 |
507.8 |
|
Wales |
177.9 |
181.5 |
185.1 |
188.8 |
192.6 |
196.5 |
200.4 |
189.2 |
193.0 |
196.9 |
|
Scotland |
80.5 |
77.6 |
74.6 |
71.5 |
68.1 |
64.6 |
61.0 |
64.1 |
65.4 |
66.7 |
|
Northern Ireland |
41.3 |
42.1 |
42.9 |
43.8 |
44.7 |
45.6 |
22.5 |
41.4 |
42.2 |
43.1 |
Within England, the European Regional Development Fund for 2007-2013 was administered on the basis of NUTS 1 regions (as defined by the European Statistical Office). The breakdown for each year was as follows:
|
€m |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
North West |
156.8 |
138.5 |
119.5 |
99.6 |
78.9 |
80.4 |
82.0 |
|
Yorkshire & Humber |
127.1 |
110.8 |
93.7 |
76.0 |
57.5 |
58.7 |
59.8 |
|
North East |
50.5 |
51.5 |
52.6 |
53.6 |
54.7 |
55.8 |
56.9 |
|
East Midlands |
36.1 |
36.8 |
37.6 |
38.3 |
36.5 |
39.9 |
40.7 |
|
West Midlands |
53.8 |
54.9 |
56.0 |
57.1 |
58.2 |
59.4 |
60.6 |
|
East of England |
14.9 |
15.2 |
15.5 |
15.8 |
16.2 |
16.5 |
16.8 |
|
London |
24.5 |
25.0 |
25.5 |
26.0 |
26.5 |
27.0 |
27.6 |
|
South East |
3.2 |
3.3 |
3.3 |
3.4 |
1.4 |
3.5 |
3.6 |
|
South West |
16.8 |
17.1 |
17.4 |
17.8 |
18.2 |
18.5 |
18.9 |
|
Cornwall & Isles of Scilly |
61.6 |
62.8 |
64.1 |
65.4 |
66.7 |
68.0 |
69.4 |
For the 2014-2020 period, England’s share of the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund was allocated across Local Enterprise Partnership areas (see list of allocations at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/307492/bis-14-772-uk-allocations-eu-structural-funds-2014-2020-letter.pdf). Local partners decided how the total in each area should be split between the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what further steps he plans to take to allow local authorities to use capital receipts from the sale of its assets to fund local authority services; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Marcus Jones
The time limited flexibility, recently introduced by the government, allows local authorities to use capital receipts to fund the revenue costs of any project that is designed to generate ongoing revenue savings in the delivery of public services. Such projects will deliver an ongoing benefit for taxpayers.
Parliament has decided that capital receipts cannot normally be applied to finance revenue expenditure. This is consistent with the fundamental principle that long term assets should not be used to finance immediate costs. I have no plans to seek approval from Parliament to revoke this principle and allow local authorities to use capital receipts to fund ongoing service delivery.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which agreed EU directives have not yet been transposed directly into UK law; and if he will make a statement.
Damian Hinds
The only agreed EU directive which has not yet been transposed directly into UK law is 2013/59/Euratom (laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation, and repealing Directives 89/618/Euratom, 90/641/Euratom, 96/29/Euratom, 97/43/Euratom and 2003/122/Euratom).
This is a joint transposition with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The transposition deadline is 6 February 2018.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will release some revenue support grant funding for local authorities to help councils affected by sudden increases in need once 100 per cent of business rates income is devolved to local authorities; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Marcus Jones
We recently conducted a consultation on our approach to the implementation of 100% Business Rates Retention. This consultation included questions on how to take account of changes in need over time, how to manage volatility in business rates income and how to distribute funding between different tiers of government. My officials are currently considering the 454 responses we have received to this consultation and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposed way forward in due course. In the meantime, we will continue close collaboration with the Local Government Association, other groups representative of local government, and individual local authorities, in taking this work forward.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-29.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking encourage the Prudential Regulation Authority to assist credit unions in expanding the services they offer to their members; and if he will make a statement.
Harriett Baldwin
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of credit unions. It has a general objective to promote the safety and soundness of the firms it regulates and a secondary objective to facilitate effective competition.
The PRA is an independent non-governmental body and, although the Treasury sets the legal framework for all regulation, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the regulators. However, last year the Government asked the PRA to use the evidence gathered from the Government’s Call for Evidence on Credit Unions to inform their 2015 review of the Credit Union Sourcebook (CREDS).
The PRA have confirmed that they have taken into account the feedback received by HM Treasury in response to the Call for Evidence when formulating suggested reforms to CREDS.
The PRA’s reforms seek to establish a more risk-based and flexible framework for credit union regulation, which imposes higher expectations for more sophisticated activity. The PRA recognises the unique structure and important role credit unions play in their local communities and is proposing to reform the rules to better reflect their evolving but distinctive business model.
The PRA are looking to adjust the regulation so that rules around investments, capital levels and reporting requirements will be determined by looking at the risk profile and business model of the credit union. Existing rigid restrictions will be removed, giving credit union boards more freedom to decide how their businesses are to be run.