Tag: Seema Malhotra

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of his road investment strategy on productivity.

Andrew Jones

The Road Investment Strategy provides certainty about road investment ensuring more efficient operation and faster delivery for the English strategic road network. It sets out the vision and investment plan for a five year period from 2015 to 2020, encouraging the supply chain to invest and innovate from the long term certainty that this provides. Highways England is responsible for delivering the strategy and has been set a series of demanding targets by Government, which is regularly assessed, including independent monitoring by the Office of Rail and Road.

The combination of the measures will save the taxpayer £1.2 billion in the next 5 years and at least £2.6 billion over ten years. It also means clearer accountability and greater transparency, providing better assurance on the investment of public money.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the document Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, Cm 9098, what the evidential basis is for funding to UK Collaboration for Research in Infrastructure and Cities increasing productivity.

Joseph Johnson

As discussed in the “Fixing the foundations” document, long term investment in economic infrastructure is key to raising productivity[1].

The aim of the UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure & Cities (UKCRIC) is to coordinate research in UK cities and promote collaboration between disciplines and across sectors, boosting industrial engagement and helping to develop future infrastructure.

[1] HM Treasury (2015) “Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation” https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443898/Productivity_Plan_web.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the evidential basis is for his contribution of 25 November 2015, Official Report, column 1366, that Britain topped the league table of the best places in the world to invest in infrastructure.

Greg Hands

As anounced in the Autumn Statement the UK is recognised as the number one country for attracting infrastructure investment by Nabarro LLP’s 2015 infrastructure index. Nabarro ranks the UK as the top infrastructure investment destination based on its “chart-topping” sustainability and innovation, one of the highest scores for private participation, and strong credit and stability. The report also highlighted the government’s devolution policy as helping to facilitate a favourable investment environment.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 19017, what information his Department holds on the reasons why the Office for Budget Responsibility does not view changes to net migration as one of the key risks or sensitivities to the medium term forecast.

Harriett Baldwin

As set out in the Charter for Budget Responsibility, the OBR is required to provide an analysis of the risks surrounding the economic outlook. As a result in every Economic and Fiscal Outlook the OBR sets out the risks and uncertainties surrounding the economic and fiscal forecast. The Treasury does not hold information on the reasons why the Office for Budget Responsibility did not include net migration as one of the key risks or sensitivities to the medium term forecast.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on accumulated pension wealth on the lifetime allowance basis.

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 2016-02-24.

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.