Tag: Stephen Timms

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34911, which contracted employment support initiatives other than the Work Programme and Work Choice are included in the figure for the total budget for Contract Employment Programmes for 2016-17 given in that Answer.

Priti Patel

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34911 programmes included within the Contracted Employment Programmes budget for 2016-17 are:

• Work Programme (as previously shown);
• Youth Support, which includes:

o Youth Engagement Fund;

o Youth Contract Wage Incentive.

• Pre and Post Work Programme Support, which includes:

o New Enterprise Allowance;

o English Language Requirement;

o Community Work Placement.

• Specialist Disability Programmes, which includes:

o Work Choice including Remploy (as previously shown);

o Residential Training

o Specialist Employability Support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the school specific factors and historic grant factors elements of the payment by the Education Funding Authority to the King David School, Manchester, were reduced by over £1 million in 2013-14.

Mr Sam Gyimah

In 2012-13 King David School received £1.1 million in School Specific factors and Historic Grant funding. For 2013-14 local funding formulae were simplified and the number of allowable formula factors was reduced. This meant that any funding previously allocated through other factors such as Historic Grants had to be moved into one of the allowable factors. Manchester LA chose to distribute this funding at pupil level in 2013-14 using the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) factor, the sum of money allocated to the school for each pupil according to age. As such, King David School received an increase of £630,000 in AWPU for 2013-14. Schools were also protected against losses from the introduction of the new formula using a minimum funding guarantee (MFG). In 2013-14 King David School received an increase of £430,000 under the MFG. Overall pre-16 School Budget share funding (including MFG) for the school was £3,239,833 for 596 pupils in 2012-13 and £3,236,489 for 586 pupils in 2013-14.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals have been on the staff of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU in each year since 2010; and what proportion of such staff in each such year were of administrator grade.

Mr David Lidington

The General Secretariat of the Council of the EU does not publish statistics on numbers of permanent staff by nationality. According to our own internal records, the total numbers of UK nationals employed by the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU, including secondees, in each year since 2010 are:

2010: 159 (98 at AD)
2011: 100 (50 at AD)
2012: 99 (52 at AD)
2013: 91 (56 at AD)
2014: 87 (55 at AD)
2015: 93 (56 at AD)

The latest figure available is for May 2016 and is 101 (62 at AD).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance he has issued to supported housing providers about funding following the absorption of housing benefit into universal credit.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department provides guidance for any changes made to Housing Benefit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to reduce the gap in apprenticeship completion rates for people who are Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic.

Nick Boles

We want to increase the quantity and quality of all apprenticeships, including for people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

Our far-reaching reforms are improving the quality of all apprenticeships. We have insisted that they must all be paid jobs with substantial training, develop transferable skills and have a minimum 12 months’ duration. The Institute for Apprenticeships is being created to ensure the quality of apprenticeship standards in England.

Information on apprenticeship completion rates is published in the National Achievement Rate Tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/sfa-national-achievement-rates-tables-2014-to-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether anyone over 25 who is participating in an apprenticeship is entitled to the National Living Wage.

Margot James

Apprentices aged 25 and over who have completed the first year of an apprenticeship must be paid at least the National Living Wage, currently set at £7.20.

More information on the National Living Wage is available here – https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of apprentices who are of an ethnic minority.

Robert Halfon

In 2014/15, 10.6% of those starting an apprenticeship had a BAME background.

The Government is committed to increasing the proportion of apprentices from a BAME background by 20% by 2020.

We want to increase the quality and quantity of all apprenticeships, including for those from a black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) background.

We have taken action through our current marketing campaign, ‘Get in Go Far’ to ensure that there is clear representation from BAME apprentices. Research undertaken prior to the campaign ensured that it could reach a diverse audience. In addition, we have established a network of employer Diversity Champions, who are committed to sharing good practice and raising awareness of apprenticeships amongst employers.

Research has been commissioned to explore potential barriers that BAME applicants for apprenticeships face so that we can provide support to improve the rates of success for this group. We have started detailed analysis of apprenticeship data to identify areas of under-representation and areas of potential for growth. We are currently developing options to take forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, by what date he expects the full roll-out of universal credit to be completed.

Damian Hinds

The next stages of the delivery of Universal Credit were set out by the Work and Pensions Secretary in a Written Statement to Parliament on 20 July which can be found at:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Lords/2016-07-20/HLWS98/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the announcement made by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 10 October 2016 that the Government plans to provide training in basic digital skills for adults, what funding her Department has allocated for that purpose; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Halfon

Through a new statutory duty, the Digital Economy Bill will enable the Secretary of State to ensure that, in England, an adult aged 19 or over, who is considered to lack basic digital skills and is studying for a relevant publicly funded digital skills qualification, will not be charged for that training. The costs will be met by the existing Adult Education Budget. The Adult Education Budget is £1.5 billion in 2016-17, with indicative projections remaining at this level up to 2019-20.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses are aware of their obligations relating to workplace pensions.

Justin Tomlinson

We are committed to supporting small and micro-businesses to adapt to their new automatic enrolment duties. Together with The Pensions Regulator, we have launched a new broadcast-led communications campaign to raise awareness of automatic enrolment amongst small employers.

The Pensions Regulator has also recently launched a new interactive and simplified online step by step guide to automatic enrolment, designed to meet the specific needs of employers who may not have pensions experience, including those with just one or two staff. Employers using the website can access tailored information relevant to their circumstances. The Pensions Regulator also provides online content for business advisers who play an important role in supporting smaller employers to meet their legal duties. To raise awareness and understanding, the Regulator has had over 500 meetings with intermediary firms and spoken at over 300 events around the UK during the last year

The Regulator sends a series of letters to every employer starting at least 12 months before their staging date, which is the date that the law applies to them. These letters set out what an employer needs to do and by when to comply with the law and signposts to the relevant information on the Regulator’s website.

To help employers adjust to the costs of automatic enrolment the minimum employer contribution level starts at 1% and increases gradually to 3% by October 2018. In addition, to ensure that all firms have access to quality, low-cost pension provision, The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government and has a public service obligation to accept any employer that chooses NEST for automatic enrolment.