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100088

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	ACAS
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to evaluate the effect of the ACAS early conciliation service on keeping workplace disputes out of court.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	211244
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p>Early Conciliation was introduced in April 2014 and it is too early to make any meaningful assessment on the effect of Early Conciliation on Employment Tribunal cases at this stage. However, officials in the Department and Acas are already monitoring the impact of Early Conciliation and I will make an announcement on evaluation in due course, once we have a sufficient evidence base to do so.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 24/10/2014 11:30:02 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

100103

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2014 to Question 201383, how much was spent on national minimum wage enforcement in 2013-14.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	211245
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p>£7.5m was spent by HM Revenue and Customs on the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage in 2013/14.</p><p>We have increased the budget allocation for National Minimum Wage enforcement in 2014/15 to £9.2m. This extra funding will enable HMRC to increase the number of compliance officers working in this area who, as well as continuing to respond to every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline, will also undertake targeted enforcement, focusing on the worst offending employers in the highest-risk sectors.</p><p>Anyone who believes they are entitled to the National Minimum Wage and has not received it should contact this free and confidential helpline on 0800 917 2368.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 24/10/2014 11:29:09 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

105815

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the company registration number is of (a) Master Distribution Limited, Essex and (b) Zoom Limited, Havant, named for non-payment of the national minimum wage in his Department's press notice of 8 June 2014.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	212931
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>Details of the employers that have already been named under the BIS Naming Scheme can be found on the original press notices (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-gets-tough-with-employers-failing-to-pay-minimum-wage" target="_blank">28 February 2014</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-employers-who-fail-to-pay-minimum-wage" target="_blank">8 June 2014</a>).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Information about individual companies, including registration numbers, is available through the Companies House website <a href="http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/" target="_blank">www.companieshouse.gov.uk</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should call the Pay &amp; Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368. HM Revenue &amp; Customs investigate all complaints.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 06/11/2014 17:29:40 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

147414

	registered interest
	date	10/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Apprentices: Risk Assessment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what risk assessments employers taking on apprentices are required to undertake.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	213983
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government does not direct employers to undertake risk assessments for the recruitment of apprentices. Employers are required to follow their own employment practices in the same way as they would for the recruitment of any other employee.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 17/11/2014 14:58:10 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

164306

	registered interest
	date	24/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Apprentices
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to encourage people from ethnic minorities to apply for apprenticeships.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	215636
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government commissioned research into gender and apprenticeships and ethnicity and apprenticeships. A report was published in December 2013. Following this a new advisory group has been established to help address barriers and increase diversity within apprenticeships.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In the last two years, projects under the Skills Funding Agency’s Equality and Diversity Good Practice Fund have encouraged people from ethnic minorities to apply for apprenticeships, including Chiltern Training, Awaaz and Heba.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Additionally the ‘Get In. Go far’ campaign launched in September this year, aims to promote apprenticeships to a wide range of potential applicants and has generated over a million hits on YouTube.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The number of applications made through the Apprenticeships Vacancies website from ethnic minority candidates increased from <strong>328,110</strong> in 2012/13 to <strong>382,520</strong> in 2013/14. Full information on the number of apprenticeship applications by ethnicity is published here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371696/ApprenticeshipVacancyReportNumberofapplicationsbyAgeGenderEthnicityorSSAorProgrammeLevelNov14.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371696/ApprenticeshipVacancyReportNumberofapplicationsbyAgeGenderEthnicityorSSAorProgrammeLevelNov14.xls</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 27/11/2014 17:23:23 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

167972

	registered interest
	date	04/12/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Apprentices
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) white and (b) Black and minority ethnic applicants started, (i) apprenticeships and (ii) traineeships in the last three years; and what proportion of each such group completed them.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	217257
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2014 answer text <p>Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by ethnicity is published in a supplementary table to a Statistical First Release (SFR):</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378235/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378235/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xls</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Apprenticeship success rates show the proportion of apprenticeships that are successfully completed in each year. Success rates by ethnicity are published in Table 13A of the Equality and Diversity data report:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/351432/1213_E_D_-_Main_Tables_FINAL_XLS_September_14.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/351432/1213_E_D_-_Main_Tables_FINAL_XLS_September_14.xls</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The number of traineeship starts by ethnicity is presented in Table 1.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Traineeship starts by ethnicity, 2013/14 </strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Ethnicity</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Traineeship Starts</strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>% Ethnicity</em></strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>BME</p></td><td><p>2,000</p></td><td><p><em>18.8%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>White</p></td><td><p>8,400</p></td><td><p><em>80.2%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Not known/not provided</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p><em>1.0%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> 10,400 </strong></p></td><td><p><strong><em>100.0%</em></strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>1) The source is the Individualised Learner Record.</p><p> </p><p>2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 100.</p><p> </p><p>3) Percentages are calculated using pre-rounded data.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Traineeships is a new programme and we will look to publish further completion and progression data once the data quality is deemed acceptable. A separate note is available online where further details can be found:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378733/traineeships-completions-and-progressions-note-nov14.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378733/traineeships-completions-and-progressions-note-nov14.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 09/12/2014 15:14:15 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

169368

	registered interest
	date	10/12/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the total income lost each year to employees who are entitled to but are not paid the National Minimum Wage.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	218189
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2014 answer text <p>There is no reliable estimate of the total income lost each year as a result of non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage.</p><p> </p><p>Office for National Statistics estimates of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) show that there were 236,000 jobs with pay less than the NMW held by employees aged 16 and over in April 2014. This constituted 0.9% of UK employee jobs.</p><p> </p><p>However, although it is our best measure of earnings, ASHE is not a complete measure of non-compliance as, for example, it does not account for employers making authorised deductions for accommodation.</p><p> </p><p>Calculating the income lost would require more assumptions to be made about the level of underpayment for individual jobs and would be significantly less robust.</p><p> </p><p>We have increased the resources available for enforcement, strengthening HMRC’s capacity to investigate complaints and target employers where the likelihood of non-compliance is highest. We have also increased the sanctions for non-compliance. Employers will face a maximum penalty of £20,000 per worker and will be publicly named and shamed. Any worker who feels they are not getting what they are due can call the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 15/12/2014 15:52:07 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

169724

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many employers who were issued with notices of underpayment for the national minimum wage and were eligible for naming and shaming under the arrangements introduced since 1 October 2013 he has decided not to name and shame.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	218354
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2014 answer text <p>Under the revised Naming Scheme the Government will name all employers that have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU) unless employers meet one of the exceptional criteria or have arrears of £100 or less.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>To date 3 employers have made successful representations against being named and 8 employers have not been named as they had arrears of £100 or less.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government has already named 55 employers. Between them they owed workers a total of over £139,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £60,000. We will be naming other employers that do not comply with National Minimum Wage regulations soon.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Anyone not receiving the minimum wage that they are legally entitled to should call the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 16/12/2014 16:36:27 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

172125

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2015
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Self-employed: Regulation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on steps to reduce regulatory burdens on self-employed people; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	906878
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/01/2015 answer text <p>This Government is committed to reducing the regulatory burden for all businesses. I recently announced that we have saved £10 billion over the last 4 years. For example, the Deregulation Bill will see changes made to health and safety law by removing a requirement for many self-employed people to carry out time-consuming risk assessments.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 08/01/2015 17:58:09 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

172744

	registered interest
	date	08/01/2015
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Work Programme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans for the Skills Funding Agency to have a data sharing agreement in place with London Work Programme providers so that referrals to Skills support for Work Programme participants in Employment can commence.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	220236
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/01/2015 answer text <p>The specification for this programme was approved by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); however data protection issues emerged after contracts were issued. The Agency is working with DWP to tackle these challenges, and a learner consent form was issued to DWP Work Programme providers in November 2014. While this has enabled the sharing of data, referrals have not increased as expected. The Agency is urgently discussing further solutions with DWP to secure a satisfactory resolution.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 13/01/2015 13:23:30 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms