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Tag: Valerie Vaz

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the merits of providing concessions to ease the cost of automatic-enrolment pensions for small businesses.

    Justin Tomlinson

    In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small businesses. Following the recommendations of the MAEW review, the Pensions Act 2011 introduced a package of measures to reduce costs and make implementation easier for small employers. DWP’s impact assessments continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses.

    DWP is working hard to minimise the additional costs of automatic enrolment, particularly for small employers. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government specifically to ensure that smaller firms have access to high quality, good value pension provision.

    NEST continues to undertake service improvements, including making it possible for small employers to set up and run NEST directly through their payroll software. The Pensions Regulator is also undertaking research and testing in order to enhance its tools and educational material, and to simplify the automatic enrolment process for small employers.

    The decision to defer the staging period of small and micro firms from April 2014 to June 2015 brought significant easement to small and micro employers, leading to lower contribution costs and lower administrative costs. Additionally the contribution level is being phased in, in order to help employers adjust to these costs. The minimum employer contribution is currently 1% and this will rise to 3% when the auto-enrolment programme is fully rolled out over the next few years.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the costs of automatic-enrolment of pensions on small businesses.

    Justin Tomlinson

    In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small businesses. Following the recommendations of the MAEW review, the Pensions Act 2011 introduced a package of measures to reduce costs and make implementation easier for small employers. DWP’s impact assessments continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses.

    DWP is working hard to minimise the additional costs of automatic enrolment, particularly for small employers. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government specifically to ensure that smaller firms have access to high quality, good value pension provision.

    NEST continues to undertake service improvements, including making it possible for small employers to set up and run NEST directly through their payroll software. The Pensions Regulator is also undertaking research and testing in order to enhance its tools and educational material, and to simplify the automatic enrolment process for small employers.

    The decision to defer the staging period of small and micro firms from April 2014 to June 2015 brought significant easement to small and micro employers, leading to lower contribution costs and lower administrative costs. Additionally the contribution level is being phased in, in order to help employers adjust to these costs. The minimum employer contribution is currently 1% and this will rise to 3% when the auto-enrolment programme is fully rolled out over the next few years.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-04-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the extent of the availability of free telephones in jobcentres for jobseekers to contact officials within his Department.

    Esther McVey

    Jobcentres provide face to face support for claimants. There is also controlled access to telephones for claimants who need to contact officials in this department over the phone.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-04-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of allowances being paid to senior bank executives to enable them to avoid the EU bonus cap.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to tackle excessive pay in the financial sector and ensure that pay is aligned with performance; our tough Remuneration Code requires deferral of at least 60% of bonuses of senior bankers and limits the amounts that can be paid in cash. Bonuses are down significantly since their peak under the last Government, and are now largely deferred and paid in shares.

    In contrast, the EU’s bonus cap is a poorly thought through measure that undermines rather than reinforces our efforts by pushing up fixed pay. It was introduced without any proper impact assessment and has serious issues around its compatibility with the EU Treaty, and for these reasons we are challenging it in the European Court of Justice. However, pending the outcome, the Government is fully implementing the cap in the UK.

    The Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority have responsibility for ensuring that remuneration practices in the banking sector are compliant with the new rules.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843 his Department (i) operates and (ii) sponsors; how many calls each such number has received in the last 12 months; and whether alternative numbers charged at BT local rates are available in each such case.

    Andrea Leadsom

    HM Treasury do not use 0845, 0844 or 0830 telephone numbers.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many chemistry teachers in secondary schools in each constituency have a chemistry degree.

    Mr David Laws

    An estimate for the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how long the recruitment period will be for subject knowledge enhancement courses for 2015-16.

    Mr David Laws

    Recruitment to subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses is a matter for providers of initial teacher training and lead schools in the School Direct programme. We have announced funding support for SKE courses up to 31 March 2015 and will make a further announcement for the period beyond that in due course.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many chemistry teachers undertook a chemistry subject knowledge enhancement course in each of the last five years.

    Mr David Laws

    There are two types of subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses: pre initial teacher training (ITT) SKE, to support recruitment of trainee teachers in shortage subjects; and post ITT SKE, to support workforce challenges in schools.

    We have surpassed our target for trainees entering chemistry teacher training in each of the last three years, recruiting 121% of the target in 2011/12, 108% in 2012/13, and 127% in 2013/14.

    In addition, the latest annual School Workforce Census (2013)[1] shows that 80.4% of chemistry teachers who teach pupils from years 7 to 13 have a relevant post-A Level qualification, up from 72.7% in the 2010 census[2].

    Data for the number of chemistry SKE courses for 2009-2013 is below. Post ITT SKE courses were available only from the academic year 2011/12. SKE course data for 2013/14 is not yet available.

    Academic year

    Number of pre ITT chemistry SKE courses undertaken

    Number of post ITT chemistry SKE courses undertaken

    2009/10

    577

    N/A

    2010/11

    522

    N/A

    2011/12

    574

    87

    2012/13

    399

    91

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2010-provisional

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools in England have a (a) science subject leader and (b) subject leader who has a science degree.

    Mr David Laws

    The information requested is not collected centrally.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843 his Department (i) operates and (ii) sponsors; how many calls each such number has received in the last 12 months; and whether alternative numbers charged at BT local rates are available in each such case.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    There has been a 79% fall in the Department’s use of higher-rate numbers since 2009.

    The Department has received no revenue from higher rate telephone numbers for the period under review.

    The information held centrally for the public use of (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843 telephone numbers operated (i) and (ii) sponsored by the Ministry of Justice are as follows:

    (a) 0845 numbers – 32

    (b) 0844 numbers – 2

    (c) 0843 numbers – 0

    The majority of these numbers are operated by the County Court Business Centre (CCBC).

    Information on volumes for calls to higher-rate telephone numbers for the last twelve months is not systematically collected by the service providers, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

    Nineteen higher rate numbers in the CCBC are in the process of being replaced by 0300 numbers. The four 0845 numbers receiving the highest volumes of calls in the CCBC are being discontinued on 1 August 2014, and when enquirers call these numbers they are being advised to contact an alternative 0300 number.

    As stated in previous answers to parliamentary questions, the Department’s approach is not to use higher rate numbers and instead, wherever possible, to assign 0300 numbers, for which the tariff is similar to calling an 01 or 02 (geographic) number, whether the caller is using a fixed line or a mobile phone.