Tag: Steve McCabe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44306 and with reference to ONS figures detailing the record amount of bonuses paid in Great Britain last year, released in Average weekly earnings, bonus payments in Great Britain: financial year ending 2016, on 15 September, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his policies in curbing excessive performance bonuses; and what plans he has to tackle inequality in performance bonuses between industry sectors.

Simon Kirby

The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to tackle unacceptable pay practices in the banking sector and has the toughest regime on pay of any major financial centre.

Firms are now required to have policies in place to defer, reduce, cancel or clawback bonuses in the event that poor performance or misconduct comes to light and the Government expects firms to be proactive in their application of these policies. Used in this way bonuses can be an effective incentive for staff to act in the long term interests of a business.

The Government’s efforts have resulted in a restructuring of pay including a significant reduction in cash bonuses, and a better alignment of risk and reward in the financial sector.

Outside the financial services sector, it is for businesses to decide how they remunerate their employees provided minimum legal requirements are met. The ONS statistics show that bonuses as a percentage of total pay for sectors other than finance and insurance have remained relatively stable since 2000 at an average of 4.0%.

The Government intends to publish a consultation document later this year that will set out a range of options for strengthening corporate governance and the way executive pay is set and reported, including greater disclosure of the targets that trigger bonus payments to company directors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 46284, on apprentices, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the new standards are developed in areas where skills shortages exist in the economy.

Robert Halfon

Employers are already designing high-quality apprenticeships across a range of occupations to meet their skills needs. More than 1,400 employers are involved with 260 new apprenticeships standards already published and more than 180 are in development.

Employers are in the best position to determine the skills they need and we will work with them as the Apprenticeship Levy is introduced, and as the wider approach to the Industrial Strategy is developed, to ensure their needs are met and more opportunities are created for apprentices of all ages and from all backgrounds.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2016 to Question 46532, what constitutes the extra support her Department will provide for 19 to 24 year old care leavers; and if she will provide extra support for ex-offenders.

Robert Halfon

Under the apprenticeship funding proposals published in August, we set out plans to pay employers and training providers £1,000 each when they train an apprentice aged 19-24 years old who was formerly in care, to help with the extra costs of providing support. We invited feedback on our proposals and the final funding policy for apprenticeships in England from May 2017 will be published shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what long-term plans the Government has to protect and maintain the English coast.

Rory Stewart

Coastal Local Authorities are responsible for developing Shoreline Management Plans which provide a long term framework to manage the risk of coastal change to people and the environment. These plans are overseen by the Environment Agency to ensure a joined up approach to the management of the coastline and that decisions made in one area take account of the impacts on another.

Over the next six years the Government will be investing over £1bn to better protect homes and businesses from coastal flooding and erosion in England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will include a specific reference to the abolition of the death penalty in its global human rights priorities.

Mr David Lidington

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) work on abolition of the death penalty is intrinsic to this Government’s pursuit of human rights in their universality. The FCO’s Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy, which for the financial year 2016-17 will be doubled in value, is available to support abolitionist projects under any of its three objectives: democratic values and the rule of law; strengthening the rules-based international order; and human rights for a stable world.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how the Transitional Grant available to certain local authorities was calculated and allocated.

Mr Marcus Jones

The local government finance settlement distributed revenue support grant by looking at the main resources that are available to local councils. The Local Government Finance Report (England) 2016/2017 sets out the basis of this distribution and the results can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2016-to-2017.

My rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark) has made clear that the Transitional Grant is for places that did not benefit from these changes in the formula. I refer the hon. Member to the debate on the Local Government Finance Report (England) on 10 February 2016, Official Report, Columns 1643-1645. The fund will be applied in direct proportion to the difference in the revenue support grant that would have been experienced and so it will ease the change from a system based on central Government grant to one in which local sources determine a council’s revenue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of preventing civil society organisations from submitting complaints about school admission arrangements on the transparency and accountability of the admissions system.

Nick Gibb

I refer my honourable friend to the answer to parliamentary question number HL5704.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2016 to Question 27312, what proportion of children whose Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire score has suggested that there may be a problem have subsequently been assessed further.

Edward Timpson

The Department for Education and Department of Health strengthened the statutory guidance Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked after children[1] in March 2015 to include information on how Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) should be used. The Department wrote to local authorities in 2014 and 2015 to remind them about the purpose and importance of SDQs. Ahead of this year’s data collection (published in September 2016), the Department will also write to Virtual School Heads and Independent Reviewing Officers about the use of SDQs for looked-after children. In addition we are considering how to utilise best practice from local authorities that have had consistently good return rates for SDQ scores in their annual children looked after data returns to the Department.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-the-health-and-wellbeing-of-looked-after-children–2

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to introduce mandatory five yearly electrical safety checks in the private rented sector.

Brandon Lewis

The Government has committed to carry out the necessary research to understand what, if any, legislative changes regarding electrical safety checks in the private rented sector should be introduced.

Feedback on this research will be provided during the Lords Report stage of the Housing and Planning Bill.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in (a) England and (b) Wales applied for employment and support allowance in each of the last five years.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.