Tag: Seema Malhotra

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to implement the conclusions of Fixing the foundations: creating a more prosperous nation, Cm 9098, published in July 2015, and simplify and streamline the number of qualifications.

Nick Boles

Compared to other countries, technical and professional education in England is still too complex. The government’s ambition is for a system that provides individuals with clear, high-quality routes to employment.

Following Professor Alison Wolf’s 2011 Review of Vocational Education, the government has already removed thousands of low-quality qualifications, which were not valued by employers, from the school and college performance tables.

Building on these reforms we will introduce up to 20 specific new professional and technical routes will be created, leading up to employment or degree-level study. This will simplify the system so individuals no longer need to choose from thousands of qualifications.

To advise on these reforms, the government has appointed an Independent Panel on Technical and Professional Education, headed by Lord Sainsbury, former Minister of Science and Innovation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to publish the report of the Cutting Red Tape programme.

Anna Soubry

The Cutting Red Tape programme has completed the evidence gathering stage for the six reviews launched earlier this year. The programme is now working with the responsible departments and regulators to understand the scale of potential savings, and to support them in developing next steps which respond to the findings of the reviews. The Government’s next steps will be to publish the review findings and associated responses in the New Year.

The programme is also running an open call for evidence for future reviews via its Twitter account @CutRedTapeUK and #CutRedTape, and its website https://cutting-red-tape.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on which date his Department announced the creation of each enterprise zone in (a) urban and (b) rural areas of each region; and what plans he has to create new enterprise zones in what (i) rural and (ii) urban areas.

Greg Hands

26 new and extended Enterprise Zones were announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement on 25 November, details of which are available on gov.uk. The government has provided feedback to those Local Enterprise Partnerships that were unsuccessful in their applications, and where possible, will work with them to consider how the proposals could be improved.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the proportion of people in London who will be able to afford to (a) rent and (b) buy a home in 2016.

Brandon Lewis

My Department does not produce estimates on the proportion of people who will be able to afford to rent or to buy a home in London.

The Spending Review doubled investment in housing to more than £20 billion over the next five years to support the largest housing programme by any Government since the 1970’s, including:

• £4 billion for 135,000 Help to Buy: Shared Ownership homes, which will allow people to buy a share in their home and increase that equity over time;
• £2.3 billion towards delivering 200,000 new Starter Homes, which will be available at 20 per cent discount to young first time buyers;
• £1.6 billion for 100,000 affordable homes for rent;
• £12 billion of additional housing investment to provide thousands more homes, including expanding Help to Buy in London where the scheme will increase equity loans up to 40% instead of the standard 20% to support thousands of aspiring homeowners in the capital.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the ease by which UK SMEs can access the export market.

Anna Soubry

Increasing exports is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan and, through the GREAT campaign, it continues to promote the support available to those UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics, since 2010 UK exports have increased from £444.4bn to £513.5bn per annum. At the same time, the number of UK exporting businesses has increased from 188,000 in 2010 to over 221,000 in 2014. The Government commitment is to increase this figure to over 288,000 UK exporting businesses per annum by 2020; an increase of 100,000 on the 2010 figure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) primary and (b) secondary policy purposes are of income tax and corporation tax relief on payments to relevant scientific research associations.

Mr David Gauke

This is a longstanding tax relief which ensures that business payments made to scientific research associations which carry out research relevant to the business can be taken into account in calculating taxable profits.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-05-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.4 of the minutes of the Social Security Advisory Committee meeting held on 9 March 2016, if he will publish the impact assessment of increasing maximum recovery rates from ongoing tax credit awards.

Damian Hinds

There are no plans to publish an impact assessment in relation to the Tax Credits and Child Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2016.

The government carefully considers all relevant legal obligations when formulating welfare policy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average cost to a (a) school and (b) local authority of employing a (i) teacher and (ii) classroom assistant; and what forecast she has made of that cost in each year from 2016-17 to 2019-20.

Nick Gibb

The government published a statistical release in July 2015, ‘School Workforce in England: November 2014’, which contains the latest statistics on average salaries for teachers employed by schools and local authorities in England. This release can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2014

The latest available statistics on the average salaries of teaching assistants employed by schools and local authorities in England were published in response to PQ856 in June 2015. This can be found online at: www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-06-02/856/

The Department for Education’s pay reforms have given schools greater flexibility to decide how much to pay their teachers and how quickly their pay progresses over time.

Future average salaries of teachers will be informed by the annual recommendations of the School Teachers Pay Review Body. The pay of teaching assistants and school support staff are set by schools themselves. The department does not produce forecasts of future average pay for these staff.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish a Digital Transformation Plan.

Mr Edward Vaizey

As part of the Government’s Productivity Plan, we are developing a cross-Government Digital Transformation Plan that will be published in due course. This will set out how we will support theadoption of digital technologies andtackle the barriers to new businesses entering and creating new markets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.10 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, if he will publish the analysis and methodology used to estimate that the proposed apprenticeship levy will raise £3 billion by 2020-21.

Greg Hands

The government has published the policy costing note for the apprenticeship levy on gov.uk. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/480565/SRAS2015_policy_costings_amended_page_25.pdf

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