Tag: Paul Blomfield

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 29 September 2016 to Question 44820, whether any subsequent action is taken by HM Revenue and Customs against employers named and shamed for non-compliance with the national minimum wage and national living wage to check that they have changed their business practice and are continuing to pay their workforce legally.

Margot James

HM Revenue and Customs does not have a formal process for revisiting previously non-compliant employers.

However, HMRC responds to 100% of worker complaints, including into employers where arrears have previously been found. As well as responding to complaints, HMRC also maintains a risk-led targeted enforcement programme which involves proactively investigating employers in high-risk sectors.

HMRC will always take action where they believe an employer is not paying the National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage to ensure that every worker receives what they are legally entitled to.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 62 of the Government’s consultation document, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, published in October 2015, what limitations currently exist on data sharing between labour market enforcement bodies.

Nick Boles

While information is already shared between labour market enforcement bodies, the existing information sharing gateways in numerous Acts of Parliament are limited as regards with whom information can be shared and for what purpose. Legislative changes may be required to allow greater information sharing between enforcement bodies. For example we want to ensure that HMRC National Minimum Wage enforcement officers are able to share information effectively with the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities.

We are also engaging with the relevant enforcement bodies to identify possible non-legislative barriers to information sharing.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what provision the Government made in the conditions of the sale of Royal Mail for suitable local alternatives to be provided in the event that local sorting or collection offices were closed.

Anna Soubry

Decisions on whether to close and re-locate local collection offices have always been operational matters for Royal Mail. The Government played no role in such decisions prior to the sale of Royal Mail.

Regardless of ownership, Royal Mail, as the United Kingdom’s designated universal service provider, is required to provide a universal postal service that meets the minimum requirements as set out under the Postal Services Act 2011.

It is the responsibility of the postal regulator, Ofcom, to ensure that Royal Mail provides sufficient access points to meet its universal postal service obligations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications in which (a) towns, (b) cities and (c) regions for 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 only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

For the future, the Government intends that Tier 2 should be restricted to roles where there are genuine skills shortages or which require highly-specialised experts. We asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on how to achieve this, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. The MAC has now submitted its advice and the Government is considering the report carefully.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the average period of time which (a) male and (b) female nurses who enter training at the age of (i) 19, (ii) 25, (iii) 30 and (iv) 40 in 2017-18 will take to pay off their student loans in line with those changes to the student support system in place from 2016-17.

Joseph Johnson

The changes announced at the Spending Review will enable us to lift the cap on the number of students on nursing courses and will provide nursing students with access to around 25% additional financial support. We expect this reform will enable universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing, midwifery and allied health training places over this Parliament.

The average repayment term on student loans is calculated for the total full time student population, rather than separately for students taking certain courses or their age on starting their course. On this basis, we estimate that the average repayment term for a full time student entering Higher Education in 2017-18 is around 20 to 25 years.

This estimate includes both borrowers who fully repay their loans and those who have loans written off due to death, disability leading to permanent inability to work, or reaching the end of the repayment term. The estimate takes into account the changes to student finance announced at Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on ensuring that High Speed 2 stations should be located where they can deliver maximum impact on public investment.

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 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on his Department’s policy expertise and experience in the development of (a) higher and (b) further education of the closure of his Department’s Sheffield office.

Joseph Johnson

Subject to consultation, the Department intends to close the Sheffield office at St. Paul’s Place by January 2018. This intention is based on the strategic vision for the Department that seeks to save 30-40% of its operating costs, reduce the number of locations it operates from (from currently around 80 to 7 centres and a regional footprint for the provision of local services), and halve the number of its Partner Organisations by 2020.

Intention is subject to consultation, to close the Sheffield office by January 2018. This gives us time to transition the policy roles affected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has to support efforts to achieve goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on water and sanitation.

Mr Nick Hurd

In the manifesto in April 2015 and in the UK Aid Strategy published in November 2015, we committed to help 60 million people get access to clean water and sanitation in support of goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

We will achieve this target through projects managed by our Country Offices, through projects managed from the UK and through our contributions to multilateral organisations such as the World Bank. We will continue to invest in country and regional programmes to improve water resources management, water efficiency and improve water quality, as well as drive value for money.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of her Department’s reform of AS and A-level qualifications on the number of hours of study students are undertaking in post-16 education.

Nick Gibb

The number of guided learning hours for AS and A levels have not changed as a result of our reforms. However, with the move to linear qualifications, there will no longer be the routine and automatic external assessment of students at the end of year 12 which places unnecessary burdens on students’ and teachers’ time.

Study programmes are funded per student rather than per qualification. Funding rates are based on an average of 600 hours per year of planned activities per student.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how the final decision on proposals to centralise all policy functions to one headquarters in London and close the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place will be made once the consultation on those proposals has finished.

Joseph Johnson

The final decisions on whether to centralise all policy functions a single headquarters, and to close the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place, will be made by the department’s Executive Board following the end of consultation with staff and Trade Unions in May.