Tag: John Pugh

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of her Department.

Sarah Newton

The Home Office does not employ cleaning staff. The cleaning of the Home Office estate is outsourced. The contract requires that all contracted staff have undergone the necessary pre-employment checks and have the right to work in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what proportion of staff on the payroll of the Government Equalities Office who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

Caroline Dinenage

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. However, there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the effect on the public purse of replacing maintenance loans with maintenance grants.

Joseph Johnson

Replacing maintenance grants with loans will reduce grant expenditure by around £2.5bn per year by 2020-21 and therefore make a substantial contribution to reducing the deficit. From that new baseline position, entirely replacing the new, larger maintenance loans with grants would increase grant expenditure – and the deficit – by around £8bn per year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many unregistered schools there are in England and Wales.

Edward Timpson

We are currently investigating 21 institutions that may be operating as unregistered independent schools in England and have not applied for registration. However, this number often changes as new settings are established and existing ones close, or are confirmed not to be operating as schools. We have taken robust steps to tackle unregistered schools and improve safeguarding which includes being clear it is a criminal offence to operate an unregistered independent school. All these institutions have been warned that it is a criminal offence to operate as an unregistered school. We are asking Ofsted to visit and to prepare cases for prosecution as necessary.

We do not hold data on the numbers in Wales as the Department is not the regulatory body for independent schools in Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

Joseph Johnson

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what proportion of people given security clearance and passes in 2015 to work for construction, maintenance and refurbishment purposes in the Palace of Westminster were not UK nationals.

Tom Brake

In 2015 responsibility for construction, maintenance and refurbishment was held by the Parliamentary Estates Department. The Pass Office database shows that 2,529 CTC (Counter Terrorist Check) clearances were conducted on those working in PED in 2015. Of these, 366 were non-UK nationals. This equates to 14.47% of all those given security clearance for work in the department in 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Attorney General, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of the Law Officers’ Departments.

Robert Buckland

The Law Officer’s Departments do not directly employ any staff to clean its estate. All cleaning services are provided via a national facilities management contract or via managed service agreements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans the Government has to change the rate of interest on student loans (a) retrospectively for recent graduates and current students and (b) for future students during the current Parliament.

Joseph Johnson

There are no plans to change the rate of interest on student loans retrospectively for recent graduates and current students.

The interest rates are reviewed annually and the rates set from 1^st September for the following 12 months. This is set out in the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations. It is too early yet to say what the rate will be from September 2016.

For the pre-2012 scheme, the rate used is the March Retail Prices Index (RPI) figure which applies during the 12 month period commencing 1^st September. If, however, the base rate plus 1% across a specified group of banks is lower than RPI, then this lower rate will be applied instead.

For the post-2012 scheme, the rate is also set by reference to the March RPI figure (2.5%):

• RPI plus 3% is applied whilst the borrower is studying and up until the April after leaving their course;
• After April 2016, variable rates of interest dependent on the borrower’s income will apply for those in repayment. These range from RPI for those earning £21,000 or less to RPI plus 3% for those earning £41,000 or more; and
• Borrowers who lose touch with the SLC after they leave their course will be subject to an interest rate of RPI + 3%.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons the proposed Politics draft AS and A level subject content published by her Department contains no substantive references to feminist ideology or the political achievements of women.

Nick Gibb

The final politics A level content will give all students the opportunity to study the core ideas of feminism, and will set out the female theorists whose work students should study. The consultation on the draft politics A level content closed on 15 December 2015; awarding bodies are currently making changes to the content to respond to the views expressed. The Government will publish its response to the consultation shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

Greg Hands

I refer the hon. Member for Southport to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak on 13 October, UIN 47419, 47396.