Tag: Kate Hollern

The parliamentary question asked by Kate Hollern, the Labour MP for Blackburn, in the House of Commons on 6 March 2023.

Kate Hollern (Blackburn) (Lab)

14. What estimate he has made of levels of unemployment in towns and cities. (903881)

The Minister for Employment (Guy Opperman)

The January Office for National Statistics labour market statistics publication shows that payroll employment reached a new record high of 30 million in January 2023. That is, of course, higher than at any stage under the last, or any, Labour Government.

Kate Hollern

We hear of a record number of vacancies, yet so many who are looking to get into work are out of work. In Blackburn, the claimant count among 18 to 24-year-olds is at 7.9%, against a national rate of 4.6%. What is the Minister doing to bring down barriers to work such as unaffordable childcare, transport, a failed apprenticeship scheme and a levelling-up agenda that is just not meeting the skills agenda?

Guy Opperman

The hon. Lady should be aware that last Tuesday there was a jobs fair in her constituency. There were 59 exhibitors, and 900 customers attended the event. They provided fantastic feedback on the support and interventions given. If she did not attend that particular jobs fair, she might want to go to “March into manufacturing” on 21 March, an upcoming jobs fair in her patch.

Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)

We started the sitting with a non-party political point, so may I continue in that mode? I absolutely agree that those on the Opposition Benches want to reduce the level of unemployment. Unfortunately, their policies do not follow. Does the Minister agree that every single Labour Government have left unemployment higher than when they came to office?

Guy Opperman

Yes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that calculation of cost estimates for the new generation of Successor Trident submarines has taken into account optimism bias in compliance with the HM Treasury Green Book and supplementary guidance.

Mr Philip Dunne

Successor cost estimates take into account optimism bias in a way consistent with Green Book guidance.
As announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, the level of contingency represents around 35% of the submarine cost to completion. This is a prudent estimate based on past experience of large, complex projects, such as the 2012 Olympics.
The cost estimates have been subjected to, and will continue to be the exposed to, rigorous cross-Government scrutiny.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the risk provision is in the cost estimate announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review for the Successor submarine programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, our latest cost estimate for manufacturing the four Successor submarine programme is £31 billion, plus a contingency of £10 billion. This includes an assessment of the likely inflation over the lifetime of the programme and the risks appropriate for a project at this stage.

I am withholding the specific estimate for inflation and risk, as to do so would prejudice the Department’s commercial interests.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of defence expenditure was spent through small and medium-sized enterprises in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2013-14.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes data on direct expenditure with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), excluding its trading funds, in the Finance & Economics Annual Bulletin: Trade, Industry & Contracts Statistics on the Gov.UK website. The final figures for financial years 2014-15 and 2013-14 are available at the link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-trade-and-industry-index. The final figures for financial year 2015-16 are not yet available.

The MOD does not hold data on expenditure with SMEs through the supply chain (indirect expenditure). The Cabinet Office has published indicative indirect expenditure with SMEs, collated from spend figures reported by suppliers, in their publication ‘Central Government direct and indirect expenditure with SMEs’. Figures for 2014-15 and 2013-14′ are available at the respective links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2014-to-2015

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/central-government-spend-with-smes-2013-to-2014.

Figures released by the Cabinet Office in this publication indicate that MOD direct and indirect spend with SMEs was 19.4% in each year. The figures for 2015-16 are not yet available.

The MOD has agreed a new target with the Cabinet Office of 25% procurement spend (both direct and indirect) with SMEs by 2020.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department plans to take to engage with (a) industry bodies and (b) trades unions on the sourcing of steel for equipment procured by his Department from UK suppliers.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Government is committed to implementing measures to address any barriers that prevent UK steel suppliers from competing effectively for public sector contracts. To that end, new guidelines for departments on sourcing and buying steel for major projects were published in October 2015. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has written to its largest defence contractors to highlight these guidelines, which emphasise the importance of pre-market engagement, including through industry days and signalling future pipelines for steel.

The MOD would not routinely meet with trades unions on this type of issue and has not received any representations. It has met with the UK steel industry through its membership of the Cabinet Office Steel Procurement Working Group. This group is looking to ensure that UK steel suppliers can compete on a level playing field with international suppliers on major projects.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects the formal internal scrutiny process for the current calculations for optimism bias for the Successor submarine programme to be completed.

Mr Philip Dunne

Optimism Bias work will be completed as part of the evidence required to inform the next investment decision.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in his Department’s supply chain, other than direct suppliers, in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2013-14.

Mr Philip Dunne

Small businesses are an important source of innovation and flexibility, as both direct and indirect suppliers, to meet our defence and security requirements. The estimated number of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) directly supplying the Ministry of Defence (MOD) during financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15 is provided below. The figures for 2015-16 are not yet available.

MOD Direct Expenditure with SMEs	Estimated Number of SME Suppliers
2013-14	7,000
2014-15	5,400

The MOD spent 19.4% (direct and indirect) of its procurement budget with SMEs in both 2013-14 and 2014-15. The MOD has a new 25% target for SME procurement spend by 2020.

The information has been taken from the Department’s published Official Statistics on Trade, Industry and Contracts which summarises MOD contracting with industry. Further information about MOD expenditure with SMEs is available on the Gov.UK website at the respective links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015 and https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2014

The MOD does not hold information on the number of SMEs providing indirect supplies through the supply chain.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many responses he has received to the consultation, Freezing the student loan repayment threshold, launched in July 2015; and when he expects the results of that consultation to be published.

Joseph Johnson

The consultation on freezing the student loan repayment threshold closed on 14^th October. Over four hundred responses have been received and are being analysed. We will publish the results in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the police on the police grant settlement.

Mike Penning

The Home Secretary has regular meetings with policing partners on a range of issues, including police funding. The Government published the Final Police Grant Report for 2016/17 on 4 February following the usual public consultation. The Final Police Grant Report was approved by the House on 10 February. This represents a good settlement for policing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the provision for inflation is in the cost estimate for the Successor submarine programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, our latest cost estimate for manufacturing the four Successor submarine programme is £31 billion, plus a contingency of £10 billion. This includes an assessment of the likely inflation over the lifetime of the programme and the risks appropriate for a project at this stage.

I am withholding the specific estimate for inflation and risk, as to do so would prejudice the Department’s commercial interests.