Tag: Lord Taylor of Warwick

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to help SMEs expand overseas.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Small businesses can find out what support is available to them by contacting their local Growth Hub. There are now 30 Growth Hubs across England that are bringing together local and national business support so that people can find the help they need quickly and easily. This includes referring on to UK Trade & Investment those businesses who want help and advice on how to export

UK Trade and Investment provides a range of support to help companies develop their capacity to export; that includes elements such as helping companies devise an export strategy, guide them on researching and selecting markets, and addressing language and culture barriers. UKTI also helps companies access international markets by organising a wide range of events and missions, supporting companies at overseas exhibitions and highlighting export opportunities.

UKTI supported almost 55,000 businesses in 2014/15, around 90% of which were SMEs

UK Export Finance (UKEF) also continues to support those who wish to export, including small and medium sized businesses and mid-sized businesses (MSBs)

In 2014/15 UK Export Finance provided over £2.7bn of support to help 160 exporters (129 of which were smaller businesses) win overseas contracts in over 100 markets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reconsider expanding Gatwick airport in the light of comments by the Chief Executive of that airport.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government continues to consider the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase diversity in police forces, in particular to close the gap between the percentage of applicants and percentage of appointments from black and minority ethnic groups.

Lord Bates

It is vital that the police reflect the communities they serve and I am determined to improve BME representation in all 43 forces in England and Wales.

Decisions on when and how to recruit individuals are for the chief officer of a police force. It is important that they use equalities legislation, including positive action provisions, to make better progress in terms of recruitment of under-represented groups.

The Government’s reforms have already made improvements, for example we set up the College of Policing which has embarked on a major programme of work, BME Progression 2018, looking at recruitment, retention and progression of black and minority ethnic officers, including the development of an evidence base of successful approaches used by forces.

As part of this programme the College recently published Positive Action Practical Advice, which advises forces on the use of lawful positive action to support the recruitment, retention and progression of officers from under-represented groups, and it has published case studies from forces showing what can be done.

The College of Policing is currently undertaking a review of initial police recruitment, including the SEARCH assessment centre for police recruits, to better understand disproportionality that can occur between white candidates and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The review is due to report by the 31 March 2016.

Under this Government, innovative schemes such as Direct Entry and Police Now are increasing the number of BME recruits to the police, showing that you can achieve better representation while attracting the best and the brightest into policing.

Of the nine direct entry superintendents who began their superintendent training on November 2014 four (44%) are women and two (22%) are from an ethnic minority background. This is significantly more representative than the current make up of the superintendent rank which comprises 17% women and 4% ethnic minority.

Police Now, introduced in the Metropolitan Police, has appointed 69 people to start their training, up from an anticipated 50 owing to the high calibre of applicants. Of these, 43% are women and 9% are from a BME background, compared to the national BME proportion of 5.5%.

With the joint leadership of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Commissioner, the Metropolitan Police also introduced its London residency criteria for recruits in August 2014. Recent Metropolitan police figures show that in the three months from June to August 2015, 26% of new Metropolitan police recruits came from a black or minority background, more than double the 12% recruited in the same quarter of 2014, and the 12% of Metropolitan police officers currently from a black and minority ethnic background.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are supporting and promoting the #itaffectsme campaign, which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues and their prevalence.

Lord Prior of Brampton

This Government is working to reduce stigma around mental health and supports all campaigns, including #itaffectsme, in this area. Any campaign, such as #itaffectsme, which raises awareness in mental health issues, is welcomed. In his speech announcing almost a billion pounds in investment into mental health services on 11 January, the Prime Minister recognised the need to reduce the stigma around mental illness. He said that, ‘as a country, we need to be far more mature about this. Less hushed tones, less whispering; more frank and open discussion. We need to take away that shame, that embarrassment, let people know that they’re not in this alone’.

We continue to provide financial support to the Time to Change programme which works to reduce the stigma associated with mental health and to encourage people to talk about mental health issues and seek help when needed. We are working with the programme and funders to develop the next stage of the programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to help revive the UK’s oil industry.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

At the Budget, my rt. hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a radical £1bn package to support the North Sea Oil and Gas industry, including reductions to the headline rates of tax and targeted measures to encourage investment in exploration, infrastructure and late-life assets.

This package will ensure the UK has one of the most competitive tax regimes for oil and gas in the world, safeguarding jobs and investment.

The Budget measures build on the action plan the Prime Minister set out in January to help build a bridge to the future for the industry, which included:

• A £20m package of new investment in exploration, innovation and skills;

• A new Inter-Ministerial Group on Oil and Gas to coordinate the UK’s response to the oil price crash and focus on vital issues such as exports, skills and investment, and;

• Funding for the £250m City Deal Package for Aberdeen, which includes a new energy innovation centre to support exploiting remaining reserves.

In addition, we have established the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) and it is already helping industry to drive down costs and improve efficiencies. Subject to the will of parliament, the OGA will transition to a fully empowered, strong, independent regulator in summer 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the timetable for deciding whether to allow a third runway at Heathrow.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

A number of important decisions on airport capacity were taken by the Government in December, including to accept the case for expansion in the South-East. However, we must take the time to get the decision right on a preferred scheme. The Government is further considering the environmental impacts and the best possible measures to mitigate the impacts of expansion, this work will conclude by summer 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to support all businesses in the UK to best take advantage of the opportunities presented by the EU referendum result.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

We remain committed to making Britain the best place in Europe to start and grow a business and build an economy that works for all. The best way of supporting business is to ensure that the economic fundamentals are strong. Employment is at a record high, there are almost a million new businesses in our country since 2010, and the budget deficit has been reduced by almost two thirds.

The BEIS ministerial team have during the summer met businesses, investors, workers and local leaders in all four home nations, as well as travelling to India, China and Japan.

Furthermore, and for the first time, each local enterprise partnership area and each of the devolved Administrations will have a specific Minister in my Department assigned to them. Personal relationships matter in business, and that should start with the Business Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to encourage more firms to use name-blind job applications in order to counter unconscious bias.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government is committed to tackling discrimination in the graduate jobs market. On 26 October the Prime Minister announced that agreement to implement name-blind applications had been reached with a range of major public and private sector graduate employers. The agreement covers some of the largest graduate employers, including the NHS, Teach First , HSBC, Deloitte, Virgin Money, KPMG, BBC, Learn direct and local Government and the Civil Service. Collectively, the organisations that have signed up to this agreement employ 1.8 million people in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are holding discussions about reducing EU regulation of UK business.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Reducing the burden of EU regulation is a critical element of stimulating jobs, competitiveness and growth in Europe. We welcome the European Commission’s recent progress in this area, but want them to go further. Together with other like-minded Member States, we are pressing the Commission to bring forward proposals for an EU target to cut the total burden on business, in line with the Prime Minister’s EU reform letter to European Council President Tusk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on aid to least developed countries of spending on refugees arriving in European countries.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Spending on refugees in the UK is expected to increase over the course of the Parliament to reflect the government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years. However, this is in the context of wider growth in the UK’s aid budget.

This is in line with the UK aid strategy: UK aid: tackling global challenges in the national interest, which is available on the gov.uk website.

The precise geographical focus of the Department for International Development’s aid spending will be determined through the multilateral and bilateral aid reviews, to be published in Spring 2016.