The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the rates of (1) total deaths from liver disease, and (2) age-standardised deaths from liver disease in (a) England, and (b) each parliamentary constituency, in each year since 1997.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will revise its Key Success Measures, Target Performance for completeness of register from ‘completeness does not deteriorate’ to a policy of ‘increasing completion rates year on year’.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Commission’s key success measures are included in its Corporate Plan which is updated and presented to the Speaker’s Committee for approval on an annual basis. The next opportunity to update the Corporate Plan will be when the 2015-16 to 2019-20 plan is presented to the Speaker’s Committee in spring 2015 and the Commission will be reviewing the key success measures in preparation for this plan in autumn 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they are doing to help young people buy their own homes.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home. That is why we have introduced schemes such as Help to Buy Equity Loan and Mortgage Guarantee, and reinvigorated Right to Buy. Since the spring of 2010, these, together with our affordable housing schemes have helped or are helping nearly 112,000 people to buy a home of their own. Since April 2010, 420,000 homes have been built, with new housing construction output now at its highest level since 2007.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the business case for the universal credit programme.
Esther McVey
In line with standard practice, as the Universal Credit Business Case includes details of a sensitive nature the Department will not be putting the Business Case into the public domain.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Growth is Our Business: A Strategy for Professional and Business Services published in July 2013, what progress his Department has made in encouraging bodies to find innovative ways of improving employability of young people within the national curriculum.
Matthew Hancock
These questions ask about a number of actions related to skills development from “Growth is our business: a strategy for professional and business services”, published in July 2013 as part of Government’s industrial strategy. The strategy was developed in collaboration with the professional and business services sector, focusing on the industry’s agenda for long term growth. It is led by the Professional and Business Services Council.
The strategy reflects two key business priorities in skills development. First, to expand recruitment routes into the sector, in particular higher apprenticeships, to access a wider, more diverse talent pool. Second, to help businesses engage with the education system to raise aspirations and promote work readiness. A business-led skills taskforce for professional and business services has been established. It is developing approaches to implement the strategy and will report progress at the end of this year.
The skills taskforce is leading work to help towards the strategy’s ambitious target to treble the number of higher apprenticeship starts across professional and business services to 10,000 over five years; and to follow progress in the interim, so that the numbers of these apprenticeships can be monitored. As a first step, the taskforce is supporting the London Professional Apprenticeship scheme, which was launched in December 2013, and is now recruiting apprentices and employers to take part. The scheme will pilot the proposal for a “clearing house” to help small firms access higher apprenticeships in professional and business services. In addition, the taskforce is backing new ‘trailblazer’ initiatives, announced in March 2014, to develop employer-driven standards for apprenticeships in several professional and business services occupations.
The skills taskforce is currently researching the metrics for schools’ reporting and their effect on the prestige of higher apprenticeships as initial career destinations. It will consider if more could be done to ensure higher apprenticeships have parity of esteem with higher education.
The taskforce is also mapping current school engagement activity involving professional and business services firms with a view to identifying and sharing good practice.
The new emphasis on wider use of higher apprenticeships across professional and business services should contribute towards a greater diversity of routes into these careers in the years to come; potentially offering opportunities to a wider pool of talent.
The skills taskforce intends to consider how the employability of young people can be supported within the national curriculum, but believes that greater engagement between employers and young people is the best way of improving employability skills.
My noble friend Lord Lingfield has set up the independent Institution for Further Education to take forward work on a new chartered status quality schemeand is considering the application and assessment process for Further Education providers.
The skills taskforce is exploring how web-based services can support engagement between firms and the education sector, including a planned digital “inspiration” tool being developed by this Department to encourage business-schools engagement.
Further information on the implementation of “Growth is our business: a strategy for professional and business services” is included in a progress report on industrial strategy, published on 23 April 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-early-successes-and-future-priorities.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 176W, on work capability assessment, if he will make it his policy to set a target timescale for employment and support allowance and incapacity benefit reassessment work capability assessments in order to monitor and reduce the waiting times for those assessments.
Mike Penning
We are committed to completing Work Capability Assessments as quickly as possible so that eligible claimants receive the appropriate rate of benefit.
However it is important to get assessments right rather than setting an artificial timescale for completion. We are working with the existing supplier to improve processing times and reduce waiting times. In addition, we are seeking a replacement supplier to undertake Work Capability Assessments.
In the meantime we continue to rigorously monitor and manage the existing contract to ensure that both quality and performance are maintained as part of our drive to improve the quality of decision making and process claims more quickly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-04-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department made of the annual level of fraud involving the existing one pound coin in order to inform the decision to introduce a new style coin.
Nicky Morgan
At Budget the government announced that it will introduce a new and highly secure £1 coin.
According to Royal Mint estimates counterfeiting of the £1 coin has been on an upwards trend for the past decade. The latest data shows an increase in the counterfeiting rate to 3.04%. This data is based on a survey undertaken in November 2013. Further information can be found at www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/counterfeit-one-pound-coins
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by John McDonnell on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library and publish the tender and bid for the Child Maintenance Options contract.
Steve Webb
Contract documents for the Child Maintenance Options Contract are published on the Contracts Finder website. These documents include the Contract itself, the requirements issued to bidders, and the successful bidder’s response. Contracts Finder is a publicly accessible website where contract documents are published in order to meet government transparency commitments. The specific link to this Contract is: https://online.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/Common/View%20Notice.aspx?site=1000&lang=en¬iceid=1072427&fs=true
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Seabeck on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of armoured fighting vehicles which will be (a) returned to the UK, (d) destroyed or (c) sold by the time of the main withdrawal from Afghanistan; and what the costs associated with each of those categories are to date.
Mr Mark Francois
All armoured fighting vehicles deployed to Afghanistan will be returned to the UK. None of these have been destroyed and none are currently due to be sold.
The information on costs associated with this activity cannot be readily broken out from the wider costs of all equipment and personnel recovery.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department has provided to companies facing bankruptcy in each of the last three years.
Jenny Willott
The Department has a suite of business support packages available to companies whether or not they are facing an insolvency event.
In exceptional circumstances the Department can work with companies in difficulty to help find solutions to their needs. Any such support is commercially sensitive and is normally a matter between the Department and the company.