Tag: Lady Hermon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25652, whether EU nationals are able to apply for apprenticeships in England.

Nick Boles

An EU national can be employed in an apprenticeship in England, and will be eligible for funding for their apprenticeship provided they meet set eligibility criteria.

These criteria are set out in the Skills Funding Agency: common funding rules for the 2016 to 2017 funding year.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans he has to meet representatives of restorative justice schemes in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

The honourable Lady highlighted the work carried out in her constituency by North Down Alternatives during a recent Northern Ireland Affairs Committee evidence session. Following that debate I asked my officials to make arrangements for me to meet the accredited restorative justice groups that co-operate with the police in Northern Ireland.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25652, what media outlets will be used to carry advertising as part of the national campaign for apprenticeships.

Nick Boles

The national campaign for apprenticeships will target a range of audiences including young people, employers and parents.

Advertising will be through a number of different media channels including television, out of home advertising (e.g. posters), radio, digital and social media.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the merits of increasing the capacity of the Moyle electricity interconnector between Northern Ireland and Scotland to improve electricity interconnection within the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman

The Government supports the development of new interconnection where it delivers benefits to the consumer, and our approach is designed to deliver those benefits in the most efficient way. We have a developer-led approach to interconnection where the market identifies the best projects and applies to Ofgem to assess their merits. In the 2016 Budget the Government said that it supports the increase of interconnection capacity to at least 9GW; if a developer was to propose additional capacity between Northern Ireland and the GB market, Ofgem would assess it on its merits.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the Tampon Tax Fund was allocated to (a) Women’s Aid and (b) other women’s charities in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

The Chancellor announced initial donations from the Tampon Tax Fund at Autumn Statement totalling £5m. Further grants totalling £12 million were announced at Budget to support a range of charities that are making a significant impact in the lives of women and girls. This included an award of £118,000 to Parenting NI.

£5.2 million of funding was allocated to Comic Relief and Rosa, who will disburse funding to a range of grassroots women’s organisations across the UK, including those in Northern Ireland.

Details of all charities awarded funding at Budget can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2016-documents/budget-2016

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking fully to utilise the electricity interconnection between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK before the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman

We are pleased that the Moyle interconnector is back up to full strength after a period of reduced capacity. This will help with security of supply, and the stability and flexibility of the grid in Northern Ireland.

One of the issues for the Moyle interconnector is that imports into Scotland are constrained by wider constraints on the Scottish grid and on the border between Scotland and England. A number of measures are being taken to strengthen the Scottish grid and grid connections to England. These include the Western HVDC link, which is due for completion in mid-2017 and will provide an additional 2.2GW of capacity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which women’s organisations in Northern Ireland received funding from the Tampon Tax Fund; what the amount was that each such organisation received; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

The Chancellor announced initial donations from the Tampon Tax Fund at Autumn Statement totalling £5m. Further grants totalling £12 million were announced at Budget to support a range of charities that are making a significant impact in the lives of women and girls. This included an award of £118,000 to Parenting NI.

£5.2 million of funding was allocated to Comic Relief and Rosa, who will disburse funding to a range of grassroots women’s organisations across the UK, including those in Northern Ireland.

Details of all charities awarded funding at Budget can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2016-documents/budget-2016

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what measures his Department has put in place to prevent disability discrimination by HM Revenue and Customs in its recruitment procedures; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been recognised as a Disability Confident Employer.

HMRC has a long-standing and wide variety of measures in place to assist disabled job applicants and to prevent disability discrimination in its recruitment procedures. For example: discussing with disabled applicants their precise needs where they require assistance during the recruitment process; providing selection panels access to a specialist HR team with expert knowledge of the type of adjustments that can reasonably be made, whether it’s ensuring that the test and interview environment is particularly suitable for disabled candidates, providing selection material in alternate formats, offering signers for deaf candidates, allowing extra time for tests, accepting paper applications instead of the usual on-line applications process and so forth; and providing clear information to job applicants about the departmental vacancy filling complaints process.

HMRC guarantees an interview to every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Further, HMRC has introduced unconscious bias training for all its staff including of course those taking part as selectors. It enables them to question personal beliefs and ensure objective evidence gathering in the recruitment process. In addition, all selectors must have completed diversity awareness training before undertaking recruitment work. More recently, HMRC is addressing the issue of ‘recruiter confidence’ when working with disabled colleagues by creating a bespoke disability awareness workshop that is being rolled out to all managers and recruiters.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the Tampon Tax Fund was allocated to (a) Women’s Aid and (b) other women’s charities in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

The Chancellor announced initial donations from the Tampon Tax Fund at Autumn Statement totalling £5m. Further grants totalling £12 million were announced at Budget to support a range of charities that are making a significant impact in the lives of women and girls. This included an award of £118,000 to Parenting NI.

£5.2 million of funding was allocated to Comic Relief and Rosa, who will disburse funding to a range of grassroots women’s organisations across the UK, including those in Northern Ireland.

Details of all charities awarded funding at Budget can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2016-documents/budget-2016

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the procedures put in place by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure there is no disability discrimination in its recruitment procedures; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been recognised as a Disability Confident Employer.

HMRC has a long-standing and wide variety of measures in place to assist disabled job applicants and to prevent disability discrimination in its recruitment procedures. For example: discussing with disabled applicants their precise needs where they require assistance during the recruitment process; providing selection panels access to a specialist HR team with expert knowledge of the type of adjustments that can reasonably be made, whether it’s ensuring that the test and interview environment is particularly suitable for disabled candidates, providing selection material in alternate formats, offering signers for deaf candidates, allowing extra time for tests, accepting paper applications instead of the usual on-line applications process and so forth; and providing clear information to job applicants about the departmental vacancy filling complaints process.

HMRC guarantees an interview to every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Further, HMRC has introduced unconscious bias training for all its staff including of course those taking part as selectors. It enables them to question personal beliefs and ensure objective evidence gathering in the recruitment process. In addition, all selectors must have completed diversity awareness training before undertaking recruitment work. More recently, HMRC is addressing the issue of ‘recruiter confidence’ when working with disabled colleagues by creating a bespoke disability awareness workshop that is being rolled out to all managers and recruiters.