Tag: Lord Browne of Belmont

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made with their adult apprenticeship schemes.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Final data show that there were 499,900 apprenticeship starts in the 2014/15 academic year. 374,000 of these were aged 19+, an increase of 16.6% on 2013/14.

We have delivered 2.6 million apprenticeships starts since May 2010, 73% (1.9 million) of these were adults (aged 19+).

We are committed to reaching 3 million new apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. Our 2020 Vision for English Apprenticeships sets out how we will increase apprenticeships numbers for people of all ages – working with employers and setting new expectations for public sector procurement.

Apprenticeship reforms are being led by employers designing standards to meet their skill needs. Over 1300 employers are currently involved. 198 new standards have been published and more 150 are in development (including 60 Higher or Degree level). More Degree Apprenticeships are being developed, combining a high quality degree with an apprenticeship.

Through the UK-wide apprenticeships levy, we are also giving employers control over funding apprenticeship training in England.

We are establishing an independent employer-led Institute for Apprenticeships to regulate the quality of apprenticeships in England which will be fully operational by April 2017.

We are doubling the annual level of spending on apprenticeships between 2010-11 and 2019-20 in cash terms to £2.5bn, including income from the new apprenticeship levy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many business establishments in Northern Ireland have been fined for employing illegal national workers in each of the last four years.

Lord Bates

The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures are based on the number of civil penalties issued to individual employers during each of the last four complete financial years and the current financial year to 31st January 2016. This includes public and private limited companies, sole traders, partnerships and franchises.

Financial year	Civil penalties issued
2011-12	14
2012-13	19
2013-14	42
2014-15	85
2015-16 (to 31st January 2016)	57

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to curb gang culture across the UK.

Lord Bates

Ending gang violence and exploitation is a priority for the Government and on 13 January 2016 we published a paper setting out our refreshed approach. This has a twin focus concerned with both reducing violence, including knife crime, and protecting vulnerable individuals from exploitation by gangs. The full refreshed approach can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ending-gang-violence-and-exploitation.

This builds on our work since 2012 when we introduced the Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme aimed and targeted at supporting local areas building their resilience and ability to respond to gangs. Since 2012, we have worked with 52 local areas facing problems associated with gangs through supporting peer reviews to identify the main local challenges.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that young people gain key transferable skills in order to increase their future employment opportunities.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

This Government is taking a series of important steps to help young people gain a good broad education with transferable skills such as literacy and numeracy, as well as employability skills from work experience.

This includes our reforms to GCSEs to ensure that they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy and numeracy than the old GCSEs. We are also reforming Functional Skills to improve the rigour and relevance of these qualifications as well as improving their recognition among employers. The new Functional Skills qualifications will be ready to teach in 2018.

As of August 2015, the condition of funding has been revised, so all 16-18 year old full-time students starting their study programme who have a grade D GCSE or equivalent in maths or English must be enrolled on a GCSE or approved IGCSE qualification in maths or English to work towards attaining a good pass.

We have also built English and maths into the heart of traineeships and apprenticeships to ensure that young people have the literacy and numeracy skills needed by employers. Our traineeship programme is supporting 16-24 year olds to gain the skills and work experience they need to be able to compete for apprenticeships and other jobs. In addition, all of the new employer-led apprenticeship standards must demonstrate acquisition of transferable skills and offer more than just training for a single job or employer. Standards must ensure that an apprentice can adapt to a variety of roles, with different employers, developing the ability to progress in their careers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many extra days or weeks imprisonment have been given to prisoners for assaults committed on (1) fellow prisoners, and (2) prison staff, in each of the last five years.

Lord Faulks

The table attached shows the numbers of awards of additional days in prison establishments as a result of adjudications in each year since 2011, for breach of prison discipline involving violence, including the number of adjudications where awards of added days were as a result of an assault against (1) another prisoner or (2) a member of prison staff.

Violence in prison has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of new psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to improving safety in prisons but we are making progress.

We are trialling the use of body worn cameras and training sniffer dogs to detect New Psychoactive Substances. We have made it an offence to smuggle New Psychoactive Substances into prison, but ultimately the only way to reduce violence in prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to reform and rehabilitate offenders more effectively.

Data for 2015 – 2016 is not yet available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had about the work of UK Trade and Investment in promoting inward investment in Northern Ireland.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The established relationship between UKTI and Invest Northern Ireland (INI) enables both to support each other’s efforts to achieve the shared ambition to increase trade and investment and in turn jobs and growth, this includes regular engagement at Ministerial, Chief Executive, and operational levels.

For example, over the last month Lord Maude visited Northern Ireland on 28^th and 29^th January, including both a meeting with the Chief Executive of INI and a number of company meetings. He has also conducted one overseas visit alongside Northern Ireland Assembly Minister Bell to Canada in February.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance is provided to magistrates and judges about when it is appropriate to apply the maximum tariff available in cases of animal cruelty.

Lord Faulks

Animal cruelty is a summary offence with a maximum penalty of a level 5 (unlimited) fine and/or 6 months’ imprisonment. The maximum penalty for any offence is set by Parliament to deal with the most serious possible cases. Guidance on sentencing for this offence is contained in the Magistrates’ Courts Sentencing Guidelines, which are published by the independent Sentencing Council.

These are the sentencing starting points from the guidelines for animal cruelty, based on a first time offender pleading not guilty:

Examples of nature of activity	Starting point Range	Range
One impulsive act causing little or no injury;	short term neglect	Band C fine Band B fine to medium level community
Several incidents of deliberate ill-treatment/frightening	High level community order	Medium level community order to 12 weeks custody
Attempt to kill/torture; animal baiting/conducting or permitting cock-fighting etc.; prolonged neglect	18 weeks custody	12 to 26 weeks custody

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what options and support are available for young people with special educational needs, but who do not have a statement of special needs, during the transition between school and further education.

Lord Nash

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice makes it clear that both schools and further education colleges in England should support all children and young people with SEN through this important transition, whether or not they have a statement of SEN or an Education, Health and Care Plan.

The Code of Practice sets out expectations for this transition. These include a working partnership between schools and colleges; opportunities for young people to familiarise themselves with the new setting; and that the new setting ensure the right provision is in place to meet the young person’s needs and aspirations.

Schools also have a duty to secure independent careers guidance for all Year 8 -13 pupils, including those with SEN. This must include information on the full range of education and training options, including further education and apprenticeships.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current level of immigration into the United Kingdom across the land border with the Republic of Ireland.

Lord Bates

The Home Office does not hold the information requested. Routine immigration controls are not conducted on the land border between the UK and Republic of Ireland. However, the Government takes protecting our border security very seriously, and there is a high level of collaboration on work with Ireland to strengthen the Common Travel Area’s external border.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of paramilitary-linked organised crime in Northern Ireland.

Lord Dunlop

The assessment of the structure, roles and purpose of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland, published on 20 October stated that individual members of paramilitary groups are involved in ‘serious criminal activity’. Examples cited in the assessment include: ‘large scale smuggling operations, fuel laundering, drug dealing and extortion of local businesses’.