Tag: Lord Taylor of Warwick

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to strengthen the British pound in the light of the result of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The UK does not have an exchange rate target. The UK’s monetary policy framework gives operational responsibility for monetary policy to the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The MPC has the primary objective of maintaining price stability, defined as an inflation target of 2 per cent as measured by the twelve month increase in the Consumer Prices Index. Under the Government’s macroeconomic framework, the exchange rate is allowed to adjust flexibly, and movements in sterling are determined by market forces.

Action by the government and the Bank of England over the last six years has substantially strengthened the resilience of the financial system. The contingency plans that the Treasury, Bank and Financial Conduct Authority put in place prior to the referendum have proved effective to date, and we will continue to monitor financial markets closely.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support structure they have put in place for women who are returning to the workforce after they have had children.

Lord Freud

We are helping women to return to the workforce after they have had children through the support provided by Jobcentre Plus. Work Coaches provide personalised support, tailored to meet the needs and requirements of parents, helping them to find work that fits with their individual circumstances. The Flexible Support Fund allows Work Coaches to address barriers to employment and support parents into work. This can be used in a variety of ways including paying for travel and childcare to allow parents to undertake training, attend interviews or start work.

We are also putting in place a new package of government support that will make childcare more affordable and more accessible. This will build on the support already offered and will mean more parents have choice, security and peace of mind when it comes to being in work and supporting their family.

Parents on Universal Credit have been offered more generous support from 11 April 2016, where they are able to claim up to 85% of childcare costs, compared to 70% previously. This is up to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1,108 for two or more children, up to the age of 16.

The Government currently offers 15 hours of free childcare for all three and four year olds and some of the most disadvantaged two year olds in England. From September 2017, this free childcare offer will be doubled for working parents of three and four year olds in England from 15 to 30 hours per week.

We are also introducing Tax-Free Childcare, which will be available to around two million households to help pay for childcare costs from early 2017. For every £8 parents pay into an online account, the Government will pay £2 – up to a maximum contribution of £2,000 per child each year, for children aged up to 12. Parents of disabled children will receive extra support worth up to £4,000 per year per child, until their child is 17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the OECD global trade outlook and its recommendation that governments should step up investment to support growth.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The latest OECD Economic Outlook forecasts the UK to be the joint fastest growing major advanced economy in 2015. The OECD have revised down the forecast for both world trade growth and global GDP growth in 2015 and 2016. This demonstrates the need to continue to fix the economy to ensure the UK can deal with risks from abroad.

The government remains committed to encouraging long-term investment and promoting a dynamic economy, and recently set out comprehensive reforms to support productivity growth in “Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to promote gender, orientation and ethnic diversity in the workplace, in particular in the architecture profession.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

This government is committed to promoting equality in all professions, including architecture. The Equality Act 2010 provides a strong legislative framework to prevent and tackle discrimination, harassment, and victimisation in the workplace. The government also funds the Equality and Advisory Support Service, which provides an accessible and inclusive source of advice for people who may have been discriminated against.

We have committed to closing the gender pay gap in a generation. We will soon require larger employers to publish the difference between the average pay and bonuses of their male and female employees. We are also tackling the root causes of gender pay gap with the introduction of Shared Parental Leave, the extension of flexible working and the offer of 30 hours free childcare.

The government is proud of its record to support LGB&T people and the UK continues to be recognised as a leader in this area. However, we know there is more to do which is why we have recently published guidance for employers on the recruitment and retention of trans employees in the workplace.

Finally, the Prime Minister has underlined the government’s commitment to increasing racial diversity in the workplace in his 2020 Vision, in which he made a commitment to increase BME employment by 20% by 2020.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the claim by Aegis Europe that granting market economy status to China could put more than one million European jobs at risk.

Lord Maude of Horsham

A report by the Economic Policy Institute, on which the claim by Aegis Europe draws makes some significant omissions, uses some questionable assumptions and does not take account of a number of potential positive or mitigating effects in reaching its estimates. We understand that the European Commission will be undertaking a detailed assessment of the economic impacts of granting MES as part of their consideration of this issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to impose large extra tax rises or spending cuts at short notice in order to meet their target of cutting the deficit by 2019–20.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The government has set out a fixed target to achieve a surplus on the headline measure of public sector net borrowing by the end of 2019-20. This is a transparent commitment showing the government’s resolve to complete the repair of the public finances. The Spending Review and Autumn Statement set out the action required to return the country to surplus over the course of this Parliament and on the basis of the latest Office for Budget Responsibility forecast in their November 2015 ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’ the government is forecast to achieve a surplus of £10.1bn by the end of 2019-20.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-04-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to protect people against fraud as they are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme, in the light of the recent cuts to the pensions watchdog.

Baroness Altmann

The resources allocated to the Pensions Regulator to cover its regulatory responsibilities, together with those for automatic enrolment compliance activity, increased by £3.4m to £79.5m for the financial year 2016/17.

Schemes that can be used by employers to meet their automatic enrolment duties are subject to specific quality requirements. The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority both play an active role in monitoring schemes used for automatic enrolment to ensure that they meet these standards. The Pensions Regulator has also published a list of independently audited ‘master trusts’ pension schemes that employers may wish to use for automatic enrolment.

Both Regulators carry out targeted activity to investigate and mitigate risks, including indicators of possible fraud.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the risk that leaving the EU could negatively affect the growth of startup companies in the UK.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

There will be no immediate changes to the UK’s relationship with the EU, in the way goods can move or services can be sold.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains open for business and continues to grow and thrive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to help the Local Government Association prevent children being taught in illegal schools.

Lord Nash

We are determined to keep children safe in and out of school and have made it very clear that it is an offence to operate an unregistered independent school. In January 2016, we announced funding for Ofsted to establish a dedicated team of specialist inspectors to investigate such settings and since that time, there has been a significant escalation of Ofsted investigations.

The Department for Education and Ofsted are working closely with local authorities to identify and tackle illegal schools, and close collaboration has resulted in the closure of many such settings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to support growing small businesses that require more facilities after they leave business hubs.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Growing small businesses can get assistance from a number of Government schemes. For example the Government set up Enterprise Zones across England to support new and expanding businesses by offering incentives such as tax relief on top of the doubling of Small Business Rates Relief which we have extended for a further year until April 2016.

There are also Catapult centres round the country – places where the very best of the UK’s businesses, scientists and engineers work together to transform ideas into products and services. They allow small businesses access to resources and equipment they may need.

Small businesses can find out more about these schemes and also obtain other advice that may help them by approaching 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.[i]

[i] http://www.lepnetwork.net/about-leps/the-network-of-leps/

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