Tag: Stephen Timms

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) people and (b) women who work in more than one job but do not pay national insurance even though their total earnings are above the lower earnings threshold.

Mr David Gauke

Estimates of the number of (a) people and (b) women who work in more than one job but do not pay national insurance, even though their total earnings are above the lower earnings threshold; and, of those, how many are women, are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-coverage-lower-earnings-limit-and-multiple-jobs

The rest of the information requested is not available.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will visit further education colleges to discuss the effect of his proposed 17.5 per cent reduction from September for funding for 18 year olds in full-time education.

Elizabeth Truss

I have received a large number of invitations to discuss this topic and sadly cannot accept nearly as many as I would like to.

Nevertheless, I have listened to the views of the hon. and Rt hon. Members, as well as those of colleges and other providers of 16-to-19 education. I am pleased that we have been able to afford to mitigate the impact of the funding reduction on 18-year-olds in the academic year 2014/15. We will cap any losses in relation to this at 2% of the funding that an institution receives for the education of 16-to-19 year olds.

However, the overriding need to tackle the budget deficit remains, and so the full funding reduction for 18-year-olds will still be necessary in 2015/16. We have carried out and published an impact assessment, which is available online:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-reduction-for-18-year-olds-impact-assessment.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Jobmatch employer accounts have been found to be in breach of its rules since the service started.

Esther McVey

Today, many jobs are only advertised on the internet. That’s why we are doing everything we can to give those looking for work the skills and the opportunities to access them. Universal Jobmatch is a powerful tool for successfully connecting people to jobs, and it is delivering.

The website launches a public service into the digital age, allowing people to search for work from their home, handheld devices, local libraries, as well as the traditional Jobcentre. It allows employers to match jobseekers to their vacancies and gives our customers access to a greater number of opportunities. It puts them on an equal footing with everyone else seeking a new job in the UK. With over 6 million job searches per a day, the service is clearly popular, successful, and value for money.

At 18 March 2014, there were 507,474 vacancies on the service.

All internet job sites face the issue of duplicate vacancies. We take this issue very seriously, and whenever we have a doubt about the validity of a job offer we will intervene, suspend the vacancy and investigate. If an employer breaches our terms and conditions we remove their right to advertise. Our continuing removal of such employers or jobs demonstrates that our system of checks works.

Since Universal Jobmatch was launched in November 2012, we have removed 1216 employer accounts that did not comply with our terms and conditions. That figure is equivalent to 0.2% of the total number of registered employer accounts.

Universal Jobmatch has revolutionised the way we deliver the public employment service. With over 6,000,000 job searches per day at a cost of far less than 1 pence each, it represents excellent value for money.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what effect on the budget of universal credit the decision to develop a second IT system will have; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 12 December 2013, Official Report column 314w.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the minimum service levels are in the Work Programme.

Esther McVey

The minimum service delivery standards for Work Programme providers can be found through the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/minimum-service-delivery-standards-for-work-programme-providers

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent social and employment programmes financed through the European Social Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey

The European Social Fund supports a range of activities to help unemployed and disadvantaged people improve their employment prospects and skills. These activities expand or enhance the support provided by national and local programmes. Recent activities are being evaluated by a number of research studies and a cohort survey of participants. Reports on these will be published during 2014 and 2015.