Tag: Kevin Brennan

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library a timescale for the introduction of the proposed exit payment cap for the public sector.

Greg Hands

The public sector exit payment cap will come into effect at a date after the Enterprise Bill has received Royal Assent. The Enterprise Bill is currently expected to receive Royal Assent by May 2016. A set of secondary regulations which will give effect to the public sector exit payment cap are currently expected to come into force during autumn 2016.

In the response to the consultation the Government stated that ‘the government would request Legislative Consent Motions from the Devolved Administrations where appropriate, however it would be for the Devolved Administrations to decide the approach they wish to take to this measure.’

On 7 December 2015 the Northern Ireland Assembly declined to agree a Legislative Consent Motion. Subsequently, no provisions relating to Northern Ireland are included in the clauses relating to exit payments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many successful prosecutions there have been against employers who have taken action against workers who have refused to work on Sundays under Section 45 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Anna Soubry

Section 45 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives certain shop workers and betting workers the right not to be subjected to detriment by their employers on the ground that the employee refused (or proposed to refuse) to do shop work, or betting work, on Sundays. This right can be enforced by bringing a complaint to the employment tribunal. There is no relevant criminal offence, so there have been no prosecutions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has invested in (a) large facilities and (b) other (i) national and (ii) international capital projects managed by the Research Councils in each of the last ten years.

Joseph Johnson

This Government a record £6.9 billion in new equipment, new laboratories and new research institutes across the UK from 2015/16 to 2020/21.

Details of investments in large facilities and national and international capital projects by the Research Councils is held by the Councils themselves, in line with the delivery responsibilities placed on the Partner Organisations that BIS funds. We do not hold this level of information for the period you request centrally, however, aggregate capital expenditure for each of the seven Research Councils is available through their individual delivery plans, which are published and available online.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Principle G of the Cabinet Office Consultation Principles 2016, what steps he took to (a) consider how the summer holiday period would affect consultation with stakeholders and (b) mitigate such effects when deciding on the consultation period on proposals relating to exit payments in the public sector.

Greg Hands

The consultation on a public sector exit payment cap ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. These dates ensured that the consultation concluded in advance of the Enterprise Bill’s introduction on 16 September 2015, to inform the content of the ‘public sector employment: restrictions on exit payments’ clause.

In addition, this policy was a clear manifesto commitment made in April 2015 and the intention to legislate was announced in May. The Government also considered responses received after the official consultation deadline.

The consultation received over 4000 responses, which is a good indication that there was sufficient time to comment and demonstrates that stakeholders were able to effectively engage with the proposals. The measure has also undergone full Parliamentary scrutiny during the passage of the Enterprise Bill.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will conduct an assessment of UK science infrastructure to inform departmental decision-making on spending priorities.

Joseph Johnson

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 April 2016 to Question 32088.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what process he is following to develop the Apprenticeship Levy Digital Voucher.

Nick Boles

The digital apprenticeship service is being built by the Skills Funding Agency in accordance with Cabinet Office best practice.

To ensure that the service is focused on employer and training provider needs we are performing extensive user research. The service will build on insights gathered from over 2000 employers and around 400 training providers. To make sure that the service is ready for the levy in April 2017, we plan to launch a substantial pilot with employers and providers later this year.

Further details on the apprenticeship levy and the digital apprenticeship service will be available in the guide for employers which will be published shortly on gov.uk.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many jobs there were in the manufacturing sector in each region and constituent part of the UK in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of all jobs such jobs were in each such year.

Anna Soubry

Data on the number and proportion of manufacturing employees in each region and constituent country of the UK is available from the Office for National Statistics Employee Jobs data.

Please note that this covers employees only and excludes the self-employed.

The data requested is given below.

Employee Jobs in Manufacturing by Region and Country of the UK

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
North East	129	128	121	116	113
North West	364	361	334	329	305
Yorks/Humber	288	283	267	253	248
East Midlands	279	277	264	257	258
West Midlands	350	331	318	285	280
East of England	247	243	232	220	214
London	144	139	133	118	111
South East	302	297	287	267	265
South West	244	245	232	224	216
Wales	157	156	156	140	129
Scotland	214	212	201	189	176
Northern Ireland	84	84	82	75	73
UK	2,800	2,755	2,626	2,472	2,388
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
North East	107	110	109	110	116
North West	316	296	302	314	328
Yorks/Humber	247	249	246	258	262
East Midlands	249	261	253	251	256
West Midlands	277	275	280	294	299
East of England	221	226	213	216	212
London	106	107	106	112	115
South East	262	254	242	239	237
South West	213	218	217	214	214
Wales	133	133	138	147	145
Scotland	178	180	174	182	189
Northern Ireland	74	74	75	77	80
UK	2,384	2,383	2,356	2,414	2,453

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 his Department has made of the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on the British steel industry.

Anna Soubry

The UK is stronger, safer, and better off in a reformed EU, and this very much applies to our steel industry. The EU is our most important market for steel, buying over half our steel exports, and it is a powerful voice pushing for fair international trading conditions. Our membership provides access to a vast open market with a good system that balances the interests of producers and users. Outside the EU, we could find ourselves on the receiving end of EU tariffs, which would result in additional costs for the UK steel industry. In addition, we would be less able to defend ourselves against unfair competition from third countries. The Commission now has a record 37 measures against steel products, 16 of which are on Chinese imports.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to (a) promote and (b) co-ordinate research into the (i) use and (ii) manufacture of (A) steel, (B) glass, (C) plastics, (D) aluminium, (E) titanium and (F) other alloys.

Joseph Johnson

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK oversee coordination and promotion of research in these and other areas.

The White Paper, ‘Success as a Knowledge Economy,’ set out the Government’s plans to create UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI will ensure our research and innovation system is sufficiently integrated, strategic and agile to meet current and future challenges and deliver national capability that drives discovery and growth.

EPSRC has a portfolio of over £450m of materials-related research covering the breadth of materials (including the metals/alloys identified, glass and plastics), from fundamental physics to the re-use and remanufacture of advanced new alloys and other materials.

Innovate UK’s Delivery Plan for 2016/17 sets out support through its Manufacturing and Materials Directorate which includes a twice-yearly £15m collaborative research and development fund aimed at both manufacturing and materials.

Innovate UK has also provided over £70m funding to the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, which includes some materials manufacturing and development research, for example materials research at the National Composite Centre (composites and plastics), the Advanced Forming Research Centre (powder metallurgy), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (Additive Layer Manufacturing) and Centre For Process Innovation (polymer research).

The Henry Royce Institute has a work stream in Advanced Materials Processing, and will seek to coordinate the infrastructure supporting UK-based advanced materials research providing national capability.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees have been admitted to the UK since September 2015 in each region; and how many she plans to admit by the end of 2016.

Richard Harrington

We will not be giving a running commentary on numbers. The refugees that we are bringing to the United Kingdom are very vulnerable people. Our prime concern is their safety and protection as they arrive in this country. We believe that one way to protect their privacy and ensure their recovery and integration is to limit the amount of information about them that we make publicly available. We want to ensure the understandable public interest in the scheme is not based on a running commentary on the numbers that have arrived.

Notwithstanding this, the Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 26 November 2015 and will cover the period July-September 2015.

The programme is driven by need, and the number resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors. This includes the number of referrals we have received from UNHCR and the number of confirmed places we have received from local authorities that are suitable for the specific needs of those who have been accepted for resettlement. Rather than a monthly or yearly target we acknowledge that some months we will resettle more or less than others because it is based on the need in the region at that time and the progress of those people through the system. We cannot, therefore, state at this time how many confirmed places will be made available by the end of 2016.