Tag: Seema Malhotra

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training and guidance is provided to medical assessors who examine claimants for personal independence payment on the implications of (a) dialysis and (b) other long-term medical treatments for such claimants.

Justin Tomlinson

All health professionals receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes a functional evaluation as to how medical conditions and the long-term medical treatment of those conditions affect an individual’s ability to perform day-to-day activities. Prior to carrying out an assessment they routinely refresh their knowledge of any condition with which they are not fully familiar.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-10-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which projects in the UK are (a) currently funded and (b) due to be funded by the European Investment Bank.

Mr David Gauke

While the UK remains a full member of the European Union it retains all of the rights, obligations and benefits that membership brings. The long-term relationship between the UK and the EIB will need to be resolved as part of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the UK Governor of the European Investment Bank and continues to fulfil his governance duties. The Chancellor continues to meet his European counterparts on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues.

The EIB publish all loans made to UK borrowers as well as details on all future projects yet to be financed. Between 2013 and 2015, the UK received €20.7bn in EIB financing. The link below provides full details on EIB lending to the UK.

http://www.eib.org/projects/regions/european-union/united-kingdom/index.htm

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government has taken to (a) improve destination data for school leavers and (b) develop online portals to help advise school leavers of all post-16 learning options.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Information on the destinations of Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 students was published on 20 October 2015. These experimental statistics are available online.[1]

The statistics are published at national, local, constituency, and institution level.Since they were first released in 2012, we have added data about employment destinations; improved the coverage by including independent schools, special schools, pupil referral units and other alternative provision; and have improved the timeliness of the data. We have also included the Key Stage 4 education destinations in performance tables.

We are looking to improve the quality of the destinations data by linking it to employment and benefits data. We plan to publish all Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 destinations as headline performance measures in the 2016 performance tables.

In our guidance on post-16 funding, we set out the expectation that providers of post-16 education and training will add information on their Government funded courses to a national database. The aim is that portal providers will be able to access this information and present it in a user-friendly way, to help young people make informed decisions about their options. Providers of post-16 education and training are currently uploading course information to this database.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeships were available in the (a) food and (b) tourism sectors in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2015.

Nick Boles

Apprenticeship starts by academic year and the framework of the apprenticeship is published at the FE data library (first link) as a supplementary table to a Statistical First Release (second link):

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/477738/apprenticeships-starts-by-sase-framework.xls

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish his Department’s analysis of the effects of proposed changes to business rates retention and the local government grant on the income of local authorities.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government intends to move to 100% business rates retention in England by the end of this Parliament. We have confirmed that as part of the new system there will continue to be redistribution of local tax revenue between authorities and protections in place for authorities that see their business rates income fall significantly. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme. Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact will be on local areas or authorities, but before the start of the financial year, local authorities in England estimated that the total business rates income for 2015-16 would be £23.1 billion.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on the outsourcing of its compliance review to Concentrix; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

The value of the contract was estimated at between £55m and £75m at contract award. Payments to Concentrix are based on the results they deliver, taking into account the quality and accuracy of their work.Concentrix are not paid for any cases where the decision they make is overturned.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what basis his Department assessed the effect of changes to the (a) annual allowance and (b) lifetime allowance on pension contributions.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government does not hold its own records on total accumulated pension wealth, only on pension contributions. For the purposes of the Lifetime Allowance, officials have used data from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, which includes estimates of pension wealth.

The Government assessed the effects of changes to the Annual Allowance and Lifetime Allowance by considering how many people would have to reduce their saving in response to these reductions. This methodology was agreed with the OBR.

The reduction in the Lifetime Allowance will affect only 4% of savers currently approaching retirement. The Lifetime Allowance will be reduced to £1 million from April, but the average pension savings of someone approaching retirement is only £85,000.

Just 1% of savers make contributions of £40,000 per year, the level of the Annual Allowance since April 2014. The average saver contributes £6,000 per year.

The introduction of the Tapered Annual Allowance for individuals who earn over £150,000 in April 2016 will impact less than 2% of people saving into a pension.

The Government laid out its modelling on the effect of changes to the Annual and Lifetime Allowances on pension contributions in its policy costings documents at the March and Summer Budgets 2015.

For changes to the Lifetime Allowance, the Wealth and Assets Survey was used to estimate pension wealth, and this was projected forward using assumed pension contributions and estimates of the real rate of return on pensions savings taken from the OECD and the Government Actuary’s Department.

For the Tapered Annual Allowance, modelling used estimates from the Survey of Personal Incomes, HMRC operational data on personal pension contributions, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and the Occupational Pension Scheme Survey.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.228 of Budget 2016, when he expects the new pensions guidance body to be established.

Harriett Baldwin

At Budget 2016, the government published its response to the Public Financial Guidance Review and launched a consultation seeking views on the government’s plans to restructure the statutory financial guidance providers – the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. This paper, which closes on 8 June 2016, sets out a new delivery model for public financial guidance and seeks views on how, within this model, the proposed services could best be offered. The new delivery model is designed to better complement the financial guidance provided by the third sector and the industry and provide more targeted support for consumers.

The government will consider the responses to this consultation over the summer, and in parallel, work closely with the affected organisations to finalise the delivery structure. A detailed timetable will be set out with the final response, which will be published in the autumn. The government has been clear that the three affected organisations will continue to provide guidance to consumers until at least 2018.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-10-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his plans are for the UK’s future relationship with the European Investment Bank.

Mr David Gauke

While the UK remains a full member of the European Union it retains all of the rights, obligations and benefits that membership brings. The long-term relationship between the UK and the EIB will need to be resolved as part of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the UK Governor of the European Investment Bank and continues to fulfil his governance duties. The Chancellor continues to meet his European counterparts on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues.

The EIB publish all loans made to UK borrowers as well as details on all future projects yet to be financed. Between 2013 and 2015, the UK received €20.7bn in EIB financing. The link below provides full details on EIB lending to the UK.

http://www.eib.org/projects/regions/european-union/united-kingdom/index.htm

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what evidential basis there is for there being a link between enabling students from low and middle income backgrounds to attend university and improving UK productivity set out in his report, Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, published in July 2015.

Greg Hands

The link between productivity as measured by wage returns and higher education is well established. Academic evidence shows that a woman can expect on average to earn £252,000 more over their lifetime after studying at university, net of taxes and loan repayments. For a man the equivalent figure is £168,000. This government believes that people from all backgrounds should be able to benefit from a university education. UCAS data suggests that those from disadvantaged areas are 38% more likely to apply to university now than they were in 2009.