Tag: Paul Blomfield

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2015 to Question 10048, if she will take steps to ensure that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority collects data in a way that would allow information about compensation awarded to victims of modern slavery to be identified.

James Brokenshire

There are currently no plans to change the way data is collected that would allow information about compensation awarded to victims of modern slavery to be identified. As explained in my earlier response of 17 September the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) cannot provide data on the compensation it has awarded to victims of a particular crime type. This is because it awards compensation in line with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme tariff of injuries rather than the type of incident that led to those injuries. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 makes both modern slavery offences – slavery, servitude and forced labour and human trafficking – “criminal lifestyle” offences, making perpetrators subject to the most robust confiscation regime available under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the net effect of her Department’s projects on greenhouse gas emissions in each of the next five years.

Mr Nick Hurd

The principal channel through which the UK Government targets reductions in greenhouse gas emissions overseas is the International Climate Fund (ICF), managed jointly by DFID, DECC and Defra.

The ICF seeks to prevent emissions by supporting countries to shift to cleaner, low carbon approaches and technology. The expected savings by the end of this financial year are over 6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. This is a result of a variety of programmes and interventions across developing countries which seek to exploit the economic benefits of clean energy technologies, avoid locking countries and cities in to high-carbon futures, help poor people to access energy, and reduce the risks of harmful climate change.

The latest results for greenhouse gas emission reductions, both achieved, expected to be achieved (by April 2016), and expected over the full lifetime of the programmes are as follows:

	Achieved results (results reported by April 2015)	Expected results by April 2016	Expected total benefits*
Reduction in Greenhouse Gas emissions (Tonnes of CO2e)	2,300,000	6,600,000	440,000,000

*Some ICF programmes will continue to deliver results long after our financial support ends. Expected total benefit figures include long term legacy benefits beyond the lifetime of the programmes, and outside of the 2011 – 2016 Spending Review period.

The full set of ICF results can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/463954/ICF_Results_Note_Final.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 21728, how many applications for a Tier 2 (General) restricted Certificate of Sponsorship have been rejected on the grounds that the job is in an establishment which provides a take-away service in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire

The information is not readily available and could not be obtained within the proportionate cost limit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many calls were made to (a) the Pay and Work Rights Helpline and (b) ACAS reporting non-payment of the National Minimum Wage by sector in each of the last five years.

Nick Boles

Final approved answer for 2016/02785

No assessment has been made on the impact of confidentiality agreements on the identification of National Minimum Wage (NMW) non-compliance.

Confidentiality is an important protection for workers who wish to make a NMW complaint. If any worker is concerned they have not received what they are entitled to they should contact the ACAS helpline on 0300 123 1100 for free and confidential advice. HMRC follow up every complaint referred to them by Acas and compliance officers can investigate without knowledge of the complainant’s identity. In addition to complaint-led work HMRC investigate employers using third-party intelligence and risk-based targeted enforcement in sectors and areas where there is a higher risk of workers being paid below the NMW.

The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break NMW law. Between April 2015 and November 2015 HMRC took action against over 500 businesses, identifying over £8 million for 46,000 workers. This is already the largest amount of arrears identified in any single year since the introduction of the NMW.

Building on existing reforms, the Prime Minister announced on 1 September 2015 further measures to strengthen the enforcement of the NMW including higher penalties, a dedicated HMRC team to tackle the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance and additional funding for HMRC from April 2016. We have also increased communications so that working people can access support to make complaints in confidence if needed

Table 1: NMW enquiries to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline by trade sector, 2009/10 to 2014/15.

Trade Sector	2009/103	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Activities of households as employers	20	20	40	20	20	10
Admin/Office work	2,530	4,410	3,910	2,950	3,310	2,390
Agriculture and related activities	140	100	120	100	110	100
Cleaning services	440	400	350	320	420	320
Construction and related trades	1,350	1,290	1,050	760	1,010	810
Education and teaching	270	370	350	300	540	450
Food processing and packaging	90	40	50	20	30	30
Hairdressing	1,670	1,520	1,360	930	1,040	730
Health, social work and child care	1,590	1,750	1,590	1,430	2,090	1,930
Hospitality	1,880	1,580	1,560	1,400	1,780	1,340
Information technology and communication	150	170	180	120	240	150
Modelling, entertainment, recreation	90	90	110	80	160	50
Other manufacturing	240	200	150	140	140	120
Security services	240	170	140	120	150	110
Shellfish gathering	–	–	–	–	–	–
Taxi/minicab services	60	40	30	30	30	20
Textiles	30	10	20	20	80	30
Training Provider	–	–	–	–	70	70
Transport (other than Taxi/mini-cab)	350	380	280	270	440	260
Warehousing, storage and distribution	490	440	420	340	360	310
Wholesale and retail trade	1,580	1,560	1,550	1,150	1,470	930
Other	4,980	3,880	2,590	1,980	2,780	2,210
Not Known	3,580	2,190	5,020	5,350	5,210	7,180
Total	21,700	20,600	20,900	17,800	21,500	19,500

Source: Pay and Workers Rights Helpline and the Acas Helpline

Notes:

1. Calls to the helpline are in part driven by NMW policy announcements and communications activity.
2. Sector level figures are rounded to the nearest 10, totals are rounded to the nearest 100.
3. Reporting years are based on April to March, with the exception of 2009/10 as the Helpline opened in May 2009.

Since the 1^st April 2015, the Acas Helpline has, in addition to its usual services, been answering queries previously handled by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline.

Provisional in-year data for 2015/16 show there have been 9,800 queries relating to NMW legislation to the Acas Helpline and 3,700 queries relating to non-payment/deductions from NMW. Information on the number of NMW enquiries by trade sector is not collected on a comparable basis as Acas do not ask callers to disclose information about the sector worked in. Therefore, Acas only record this information when a caller chooses to provide it.

Table 1: The number of NMW related calls received by Acas, 2011/12 to 2015/16.

Query topic	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/164
NMW	4,400	3,800	3,800	4,400	9,800
Non-Payment/Deductions from NMW	2,000	2,500	2,900	3,100	3,700

Source: Acas

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
2. One call may be counted as both a ‘NMW’ and ‘Non-payment/Deductions from NMW’ issue. A caller may enquire about the NMW rates and then raise a NMW underpayment issue therefore these categories should not be added together as it will involve double counting.
3. For years earlier than 2015/16, a proportion of calls would have been referred to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline.
4. Reporting years are based on April to March, with the exception of 2015/16 which covers April 2015 to January 2016, the latest period for which information is available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what methodology his Department used to determine that the proposed Sheffield station should be at Meadowhall and not Victoria; and whether that methodology has been independently verified.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Analysis of the Sheffield City Region station options was published in the ‘Engineering options report; West Midlands to Leeds’ dated March 2012. This included analysis of several station sites around the city centre.

The current estimated difference in cost between locating a High Speed station at Victoria and Meadowhall is £680m. Previous work on the cost of options at Victoria and other city centre sites are not comparable to the current estimate given above. With regards to the Meadowhall station, following the 2013 public consultation, no significant changes have been made to the original station design therefore there have not been any changes in cost.

When recommending a station location HS2 Ltd. uses a number of criteria, including;

1. engineering and construction feasibility;
2. sustainability;
3. demand considerations, including journey times;
4. cost; and
5. wider impacts

Potential options were sifted by HS2 Ltd. according to these criteria. To support and challenge this approach, external stakeholders and advisors from the Department’s Project Representative Team were involved in reviewing the process and outcomes where appropriate. Further information about the appraisal process can be found in the 2012 ‘Options for phase two of the high speed rail network’ report and 2013 ‘Appraisal of Sustainability’ report. Both of these documents are available on the government website.

Analysis undertaken by HS2 shows that the introduction of the Sheffield Meadowhall HS2 station could support up to 5,400 jobs and up to 300 residential units, while a HS2 station at Victoria could support an estimated 9,000 jobs and 900 housing units.

Finally, I can confirm that Department for Transport officials have received a copy of Sheffield City Region’s study into connectivity for a city centre High Speed 2 station at Victoria which Network Rail was involved in.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25611, on employment: telephone services, if he will commission an assessment of the outcome for workers of the transfer of the functions of the Pay and Work Rights Helpline to Acas from 1 April 2015.

Nick Boles

There is currently no plan to undertake a formal assessment of the outcome for workers regarding the transfer of the functions of the Pay and Work Rights Helpline to Acas.

Acas regularly monitor and test the service to help continually improve the customer journey.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many reparation orders have been made by HM Courts and Tribunals Service against people convicted of modern slavery offences under section 10 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015; and how much compensation has been awarded to victims of modern slavery related to such reparation orders.

Mike Penning

The information requested can be found in the CJS Outcomes by Offence data tool at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014

Data for 2015 and 2016 will be published in due course.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with staff at his Department’s office at 2 St Paul’s Place, Sheffield, since the announcement of the proposed closure of that office.

Joseph Johnson

The responsibility for running the Department, including personnel issues lies with the Permanent Secretary and the BIS Executive Board. The Permanent Secretary went to Sheffield in January to inform staff of the intention to close the Sheffield office and to answer questions. Since then, many of the Department’s Directors and Directors-General have visited the Sheffield office to discuss the proposals, answer questions and provide support to affected staff.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of potential savings to his Department’s budget that will arise from reduction in headcount as a result of the closure of its Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place.

Joseph Johnson

We cannot at this time provide an estimate of overall savings to BIS’ budget arising from headcount in the event that a decision to close the HQ office in St Paul’s Place is taken. Since the consultation was launched in February we have started to work through the likely associated costs of different options, recognising that final decisions on headcount have not yet been taken. Our internal work uses the annual costs of running the Sheffield office to illustrate the range of permanent, annual savings under different scenarios for staff replacement. This did not consider the one-off costs of transition including redundancies, which remain subject to decisions following the conclusion of the consultation. As we have previously indicated, our London headcount will decrease by 2020 and we have committed to making overall operating expense savings of £350m, of which this will form a part.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he had discussions with HSBC before its announcement of 16 May 2016 on moving offshore 490 roles currently based in Sheffield; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

This is a commercial matter for HSBC – Ministers in the Department had no discussions with HSBC prior to their 16 May 2016 announcement. We recognise that this will be a worrying time for the workforce and, since HSBC’s announcement, I have spoken to the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership who will now be working with local partners to ensure that suitable support is available for any HSBC worker made redundant as a result of this announcement.