Tag: Kevin Brennan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has carried out benchmarking of the public sector exit payment cap against comparable private sector roles.

Greg Hands

At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.

Exit payment terms vary significantly across the private sector, and there will be examples of terms that match or even exceed those in the public sector. However, the Government has seen no evidence that redundancy terms such as employer-funded early retirement, which are widely available across the public sector and often cost employers tens, or even hundreds of thousands of pounds per person, are replicated to anything like the same extent in the private sector.

The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years.

However, as the average cost of an exit in the public sector in recent years has been around £25,000 the vast majority of exits are below the level of the cap. For example, less than 2% of recent exits in local government were above the level of the cap.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether academy schools will be covered under the public sector exit payment cap proposed in the Enterprise Bill.

Greg Hands

The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on which organisations and types of payments the Government intends to capture within the scope of the public sector exit payment cap. This accords with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf

The exit payment cap will apply to payments made as a result of an employee leaving their employment. It will not affect any pension a person has earned through their years of service or have any impact on accrued pension rights or pension lump sum entitlements on retirement. It will capture contributions, made by the employer, to fund early access to an unreduced or partially reduced pension. This is because such costs are ultimately funded by the tax payer.

The Government has been clear that early retirements relating to ill health are outside the scope of the cap and will not be affected. Additionally, any payments directed by a Court or Tribunal will not be included in the scope of the cap.

Exits on compassionate grounds are not such a clearly defined concept as exits related to ill health or redundancy. There will generally be a large degree of employer discretion on the terms of such exits, and on any payments. In these cases there will be discretion available to relax the cap in individual cases, subject to relevant Ministerial or local council approval, as will be set out in further detail in forthcoming Treasury guidance and directions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether (a) his Department and (b) another department has commissioned independent research on the economic effects of extending Sunday trading hours.

Anna Soubry

In 2006 Indepen were commissioned by the Department for Trade and Industry to evaluate the economic costs and benefits of extending Sunday Trading hours, a copy of the report can be found on the GOV.UK website.

Neither my Department nor another Department has commissioned independent research since then on the economic effects of extending Sunday trading hours, although, we are aware of recent independent research from the London School of Economics that found evidence of positive impacts in retail on employment and expenditure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of tax revenue lost due to the illicit trade in tobacco in each year for which data is available.

Damian Hinds

Estimates of tax revenue losses associated with illicit tobacco are published every year. The latest estimates, for the years 2006/7 to 2014/15, are published in ‘Tobacco Tax Gap estimates 2014-15’.

This can be accessed via the GOV.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-tax-gap-estimates

HM Revenue and Customs makes no other estimate of the value of the illicit tobacco trade.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Student Loans Company and HM Revenue and Customs spent on maintaining and collecting student loan repayments in each year for which data is available.

Joseph Johnson

The Student Loans Company (SLC) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have spent the following on maintaining and collecting income contingent repayments since the financial year 2011-12:

	Student Loans Company	HM Revenue and Customs
FY 2011-12	£15.7m	£5.6m
FY 2012-13	£15.6m	£6.4m
FY 2013-14	£18.6m	£5.5m
FY 2014-15	£18.5m	£5.8m
FY 2015-16	£20.9m (forecast)	£6.3m (forecast)

The figures in the table above include both the direct costs and associated ICT and back office overheads incurred by SLC and HMRC in maintaining and collecting income contingent repayments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information he holds on the number of private sector employment agencies in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Boles

According to the Office for National Statistics the number of employment placement agencies and temporary agencies is given in the table below.

2015	22,445
2014	19,440
2013	18,180
2012	17,865
2011	17,515
2010	18,195

Data on number of the employment agency businesses are not available on a consistent basis prior to 2010. This is due to changes in methodology and the industrial classification system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the productivity level was in (a) manufacturing and (b) non-manufacturing jobs in each year for which data is available.

Anna Soubry

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) provides data on the labour productivity of the Manufacturing, Production and Service sectors between 1990 and 2015. These are presented as levels relative to 2012 and offer both output per worker and output per hour measures.

The ONS data is copied below and can also be found on the ONS website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of goods manufactured in the UK were exported in each of the last five years.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the contribution of the Materials Processing Institute to the development of a modern British steel industry.

Anna Soubry

The Government is exploring all options to support steel and the foundation industries. We are interested to consider how we can develop the best way forward for the UK industry alongside all parties with steel expertise, including the Materials Processing Institute.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received about plans to redevelop Cardiff Central railway station.

Claire Perry

I am aware of local stakeholder interest in the redevelopment of Cardiff Central Station which was identified by the rail industry in the Welsh Route Study as a choice for funders for the next five year Network Rail funding period (CP6, 2019-2024). I stand ready to discuss with the Welsh Government and the new Cardiff City Region Capital Transport Authority how a potentially viable and fundable scheme for Cardiff Central Station could be developed.

Later this year, the rail industry will present its initial advice on investment needs for the national network, for 2019 onwards. On the basis of this advice, Government intends to articulate its emerging priorities for improvements to the national network during 2017.