The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time of cases in employment tribunals was in each of the last five years.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The average length of time of cases in the Employment Tribunal can be located at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25610, how many national minimum wage enquiries relating to non-payment or deductions were made to (a) the Pay and Work Rights Helpline and (b) Acas by people working in (i) domiciliary and (ii) residential care between 2009-10 and 2014-15.
Nick Boles
Information on the number of enquiries to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline or Acas by workers from the ‘domiciliary care’ and ‘residential care’ sector is not available. The answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25610 represents the most detailed breakdown of trade sector information available.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-21.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) enforcement actions have been undertaken by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) involving victims of modern slavery and (b) victims of modern slavery HMRC recovered national minimum wage arrears for in each of the last five years; and how much in national minimum wage arrears HMRC has recovered for victims of modern slavery in that period.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has developed a specific training package targeting Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking which is mandatory for all visiting officers. This training advises officers on the indicators to look for and the responses to take where exploitation is suspected.
HMRC participates in multi-agency investigations into cases of Modern Slavery where there are potential tax or National Minimum Wage (NMW) offences. Since February 2015, HMRC has opened 73 tax investigations in cases where Modern Slavery is suspected. HMRC does not collate specific data on any NMW arrears identified in cases involving Modern Slavery.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 29835, and with reference to the Answer of 10 June 2013 to Question 158962, for what reasons information on the number of national minimum wage inquiries made to the Pay and Work Rights and Acas helplines relating to the domiciliary care and residential care sectors is not being collected at the previously available level of disaggregation.
Nick Boles
Information on the number of National Minimum Wage enquiries made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH) and Acas Helpline for the ‘domiciliary care’ and ‘residential care’ sectors has never been systematically collected.
However, additional information about a complaint is collected after it is referred to HMRC and investigated further. This can include more detailed information on the sector in which the employer in question operates.
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 the costs or savings to his Department of (a) none, (b) 25 per cent, (c) 50 per cent, (d) 75 per cent and (e) 100 per cent of the staff based at the St Paul’s Place office leaving his Department as a result of the closure of that office.
Joseph Johnson
If the proposal to close the BIS HQ office at St Paul’s Place goes ahead the Department would undertake to offer another round of voluntary exit proposals to staff based in Sheffield, as well as the other smaller numbers in other locations who are affected. We would also expect in such a scenario that a number of staff would find roles elsewhere, and that some members of staff might retire, as well as the possibility that redundancies might be required in some cases. Actual costs would depend on these variables. As regards any estimate of savings to the Department I refer the hon Member to my answer to his related question number UIN 33959.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether data gathered from border exit checks will enable her Department to distinguish between short and longer-term overstaying of visas.
James Brokenshire
Exit checks were introduced in April 2015. They will, over a period of time, provide us with a range of insights into the behaviours of migrants and how they comply with restrictions placed upon their length of stay in the UK.
Data collected from exit checks is a record of cross border movement. It may in the future help inform but will not in itself answer questions on emigration.
The Home Office has announced that it is considering the use of exit checks data for statistical reporting and intends to publish an initial evaluation of the use of exit checks for this purpose. The evaluation will be a technical assessment of the analysis carried out thus far and of the further analysis necessary to better understand short, medium, and long term opportunities.
The initial evaluation of the use of exit checks will be published on 25 August to coincide with the next quarterly immigration statistics release.
Publication of the initial evaluation on the use of exit checks will be on the GOV.UK website
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016, on BIS consultation, HCWS30, what proportion of his Department’s £350 million projected savings by 2020 he expects to be achieved as a result of the decision to centralise policy functions in London.
Joseph Johnson
Delivering the scale of change required to reduce our operating expenditure by £350m requires the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to fundamentally transform the way it delivers services, works with partners, and makes policy. To help deliver this substantial saving we will be reducing our locations from around 80 sites to 7 business centres, one of which will be the combined policy centre and headquarters in London. The decision to establish this policy centre forms part of this much larger reform programme. The Department estimates that establishing a policy centre will generate savings of at least £7.5m per year by 2019-20, and it will also better enable the Department to operate a more flexible, agile and easily re-deployable policy function which will continue to deliver BIS’ priorities as it reduces in size over the course of the Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to reduce his Department’s vacancy rate.
Joseph Johnson
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is developing a Resourcing Strategy that will include targeted recruitment over the next few years including apprenticeships, graduate recruitment, loans from other Government Departments and increasing the use of secondments from the private sector. These interventions, along with having clear workforce plans across the organisation, including undertaking more internal managed moves to deliver priority work, will help reduce the Department’s vacancy rate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2016 to Question 39341, on his Department’s reorganisation, how much he estimates the reorganisation of his Department’s 1 Victoria Street building will cost.
Joseph Johnson
The Department’s 1 Victoria Street building is actively managed to allow for routine changes to its occupancy as the needs of the Department alter over time. Those needs include any organisational change, including changes to pan-Government arrangements, and any opportunities to accommodate other public bodies which lead to estate savings elsewhere. The costs of reorganisation, which will vary by year depending on requirements, are met from the Department’s estates budget through active financial planning. The budget also allows for planned and responsive buildings maintenance where this liability falls to the tenant.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will reverse the former Department of Business, Innovation and Skills plans to centralise that Department’s policy functions in London.
Joseph Johnson
Given the machinery of Government change we will be considering in the coming months how the reform plans of BEIS’ two predecessor departments should best be aligned.