Tag: Greg Mulholland

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Tier 2 visas were made by people holding job offers to become chefs in each year since such visas were introduced; and how many such applications were successful.

James Brokenshire

Acquiring this information on visa applications from chefs would involve examining each individual case record held by UK Visas & Immigration for the Tier 2 category. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.

The Home Office regularly receives representations to lower the criteria (including the salary requirement) for sponsoring chefs under Tier 2, the skilled worker route. Tier 2 is, however, reserved for graduate level occupations. We continue to welcome the very top chefs who promote innovative and authentic cuisine here in the UK — and these types of skilled chefs are on the shortage occupation list. The salary threshold applied to chefs was based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.

We have been clear, however, that the restaurant industry needs to move away from an unsustainable reliance on migrant workers. We want to nurture more home-grown talent and encourage young people in this country who want to pursue a skilled career. This means the restaurant sector offering training to attract and recruit resident workers to meet their staffing needs.

The industry is starting to make progress in this area, recruiting and training more chefs in the UK, and this needs to continue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding streams his Department has for the promotion of tourism to UK regions; and what proportion of those funds was spent on each region in each of the last three years.

David Evennett

DCMS funds the promotion of tourism to regions of the UK through the activities of its Arms Length Body, the British Tourist Authority, which trades as both VisitEngland and VisitBritain. In the recent Spending Review, it was announced that grant-in-aid to both VisitEngland and VisitBritain would remain stable to 2020. The Chancellor also announced a new £40m Discover England fund, which will be open to all regions of England. In addition, the GREAT campaign funds the promotion of Britain: its nations and regions, in overseas markets.

Over the past three years, there have been a number of funding streams for specific regions, including the Northern and South West Tourism Growth Funds in 2015/16 and the Regional Growth Fund ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ programme, which ran for three years from 2012-15. As many projects and campaigns span the whole of England or the UK, investment figures cannot be divided by region.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Leeds North West of 12 January 2016 on meeting hon. Members with constituencies along the River Wharfe.

Rory Stewart

The Secretary of State received five letters in January from the hon. Member for Leeds North West about the recent flooding in Leeds. The Secretary of State met him and all Members for Leeds constituencies on 20 January to discuss the flooding in Leeds, as well as flood defences on the nearby River Aire (to which the River Wharfe is a tributary). The Secretary of State will be responding to the specific points raised by the hon. Member for Leeds North West within the next week. In the meantime, I can confirm that I am happy to meet MPs with constituencies along the River Wharfe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward proposals to require supermarkets to donate unsold food to charities.

Rory Stewart

The Government welcomes the redistribution of good quality surplus food to charities that can make sure it goes to people rather than going to waste.

Based on our experience, a simple law would not fix the barriers to redistribution. We need to look at the bigger picture. The retail sector is responsible for 210,000 tonnes of the total 4.1m tonnes of food waste in the food and drink supply chain, so we need the whole chain to work together.

Instead, we favour a voluntary approach. Signatories to the voluntary Courtauld Commitment with industry have reported a 74% increase between 2012 and end 2014, and we expect it to increase further.

We expect the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to launch a new agreement, Courtauld 2025, later this month. The new agreement will take a whole food supply chain approach, and will build on the progress we have already made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for how long Saxton Bampfylde Ltd has acted as an employment adviser to his Department.

Anna Soubry

Saxton Bampfylde does not act as an “employment adviser” to the Department. When recruiting for some senior positions Ministers may choose to engage an executive search agency to ensure a strong and diverse field of candidates. A procurement exercise is undertaken to contract with a suitable executive search firm for each specific recruitment campaign.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the average value of unused food thrown away by households in the last 12 months.

Rory Stewart

Through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the Government continues to work with the grocery sector to reduce household food waste. The Love Food Hate Waste programme helps UK households to reduce food waste and save money through awareness raising and consumer advice. There has been a 15% (1.3 million tonnes) reduction in household food waste between 2007 and 2012.

WRAP launched Courtauld 2025 on 15 March, which builds on the progress we have already made. This new agreement includes a target to reduce food and drink waste arising in the UK by 20% by 2025 (calculated as a relative reduction per head of population).

For the average household, the price of avoidable food and drink waste is £470 per year. For the average household with children, the cost of avoidable food and drink waste is £700 per year.

The total amount of food thrown away by the average household is 260 kg per year. 160 kg of this is avoidable waste. For the average household with children, this figure rises to 390 kg per year, including 240 kg of avoidable food waste.

These are the latest available figures, applying to 2012. WRAP aims to publish updated figures for household food waste later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with representatives of sports governing bodies on the option for Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence Pathway Two learners to study additional qualifications funded by the Education Funding Agency.

Nick Boles

My officials have held discussions with a wide range of sports organisations including governing bodies on Apprenticeships in Sporting Excellence. A decision will be made on these alternative apprenticeships after further consideration of the extensive evidence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34222, on the humanitarian situation in Madaya, for what reasons approval was not given for aid convoys to access five of the eleven besieged locations.

Mr Desmond Swayne

We are relieved that, as a result of the work of the International Syria Support Group, humanitarian convoys have reached over 220,000 – 45% – of the 487,000 people living in besieged areas since February 2016. However, progress is too slow. In particular, the Syrian Regime has still not granted approval for convoys to the besieged areas of Duma, East Harasta and Darayya, all of which are in dire need and mere minutes’ drive away from UN warehouses in Damascus.

Reasons cited by the regime for not authorising access include the lack of civilians in these areas as well as their inability to guarantee security for humanitarian actors. However, reports from humanitarian actors, including the UN, demonstrate the significant presence of civilians in areas to which access has been denied. For example, on a recent mission to besieged Darayya on 16 April, the UN reported the presence of thousands of civilians including women and children. In addition, whilst we recognise the importance of security concerns, experience in other besieged areas demonstrates that these populations can be reached safely.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average hourly earnings were of her Department’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

George Eustice

Defra employees are paid within salary bands according to their grades, they are not paid by the hour. The tables below set out a calculation of average hourly pay for all employees within the central department, by grade, and by BME, Non-BME, and Undeclared ethnic status (employees that have not declared their ethnicity).

2015	BME	Non BME	Undeclared
AA	*	*	£8.96
AO	£12.15	£12.17	£11.43
EO	£14.96	£13.92	£13.80
HEO	£17.29	£16.79	£15.98
SEO	£20.54	£19.96	£20.05
G7	£27.43	£27.33	£26.30
G6	*	£32.62	£33.10
SCS	*	£39.77	£46.42
2016	BME	Non BME	Undeclared
AA	*	*	£9.84
AO	£12.06	£12.17	£12.16
EO	£14.89	£14.41	£13.99
HEO	£17.23	£16.66	£16.05
SEO	£20.47	£20.51	£20.42
G7	£27.40	£27.35	£26.65
G6	*	£33.04	£32.84
SCS	*	£42.62	£48.85

*Number of staff in this group are below publishable level

Good progress is being made on actions in the Government’s Talent Action Plan and Defra’s Diversity Strategy to ensure that Defra is able to recruit and retain employees from a diverse range of backgrounds, and to enable them to develop and progress on merit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to lay the revised statutory instruments for the Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016 and Pubs Code (Fees, Costs and Financial Penalties) Regulations 2016 before the House.

Anna Soubry

The Government is working hard to bring the Pubs Code etc Regulations 2016 into force as soon as possible. We have drafted the necessary technical corrections, and will lay a revised draft as soon as possible. The Code will come in to force following Parliamentary scrutiny. The Pubs Code (Fees, Costs and Financial Penalties) Regulations 2016 will be laid at the same time.