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453628

registered interest
date	22/02/2016
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	English Language: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to publish a national strategy for English for speakers of other languages for England.
tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
uin	27619
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2016 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government work together to support the policy ambitions of state-funded ESOL: to enable unemployed people on benefits to get the skills they need to get into and stay in work; and to support the integration of long-standing migrant communities and particularly those individuals most at risk of isolation from services and wider society.</p><p>There are no plans to publish a national strategy. We fund ESOL through the Adult Education Budget, and colleges and training providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use this budget to meet the needs of their local communities. It is therefore their responsibility to plan which ESOL courses they deliver locally, within their resources.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 03/03/2016 10:36:30 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle

453629

registered interest
date	22/02/2016
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	Further Education: Lancashire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much Government funding further education colleges in (a) East Lancashire and (b) Burnley received in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.
tabling member constituency	Burnley
tabling member printed	Julie Cooper
uin	27624
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2016 answer text <p>Information on the number of government funded further education learners at each further education provider is published online at the FE Data Library.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502598/feandskills-learners-by-provider-local-authority-learner-characteristics-1415.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502598/feandskills-learners-by-provider-local-authority-learner-characteristics-1415.xls</a></p><p>The table provides a list of all further education providers, the local authority and local education authority of the provider head office, and information about the number of learners that attended in the 2014/15 academic year.</p><p>Funding allocated to training providers and colleges from both the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency is also published online for academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. Links to the funding numbers are provided below.</p><p>Skills Funding Agency:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2013-to-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2013-to-2014</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2015-to-2016" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2015-to-2016</a></p><p>Education Funding Agency:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2013-to-2014-academic-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2013-to-2014-academic-year</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2014-to-2015-academic-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2014-to-2015-academic-year</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2015-to-2016-academic-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2015-to-2016-academic-year</a></p><p>Some further education colleges also receive government funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for their higher education provision. Information on HEFCE’s recurrent grant allocations in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years are published on their website:</p><p>2014-15 <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1415/institutions/" target="_blank">http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1415/institutions/</a></p><p>2015-16 <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1516/institutions/" target="_blank">http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1516/institutions/</a></p><p> </p><p>Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Student Loans are available to assist higher education students with the payment of their tuition fees. Information on tuition fee loans paid to individual higher education providers is published by the Student Loans Company at the following link for the Academic Years 2011/12 to 2014/15.</p><p><a href="http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx</a></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles grouped question UIN 27625 question first answered 01/03/2016 16:59:31 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4405 label Biography information for Julie Cooper

453630

registered interest
date	22/02/2016
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	Further Education: Lancashire
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 students currently attend further education colleges in (a) East Lancashire and (b) Burnley.
tabling member constituency	Burnley
tabling member printed	Julie Cooper
uin	27625
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2016 answer text <p>Information on the number of government funded further education learners at each further education provider is published online at the FE Data Library.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502598/feandskills-learners-by-provider-local-authority-learner-characteristics-1415.xls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502598/feandskills-learners-by-provider-local-authority-learner-characteristics-1415.xls</a></p><p>The table provides a list of all further education providers, the local authority and local education authority of the provider head office, and information about the number of learners that attended in the 2014/15 academic year.</p><p>Funding allocated to training providers and colleges from both the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency is also published online for academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. Links to the funding numbers are provided below.</p><p>Skills Funding Agency:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2013-to-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2013-to-2014</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2015-to-2016" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2015-to-2016</a></p><p>Education Funding Agency:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2013-to-2014-academic-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2013-to-2014-academic-year</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2014-to-2015-academic-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2014-to-2015-academic-year</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2015-to-2016-academic-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2015-to-2016-academic-year</a></p><p>Some further education colleges also receive government funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for their higher education provision. Information on HEFCE’s recurrent grant allocations in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years are published on their website:</p><p>2014-15 <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1415/institutions/" target="_blank">http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1415/institutions/</a></p><p>2015-16 <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1516/institutions/" target="_blank">http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1516/institutions/</a></p><p> </p><p>Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Student Loans are available to assist higher education students with the payment of their tuition fees. Information on tuition fee loans paid to individual higher education providers is published by the Student Loans Company at the following link for the Academic Years 2011/12 to 2014/15.</p><p><a href="http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx</a></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles grouped question UIN 27624 question first answered 01/03/2016 16:59:31 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4405 label Biography information for Julie Cooper

453646

registered interest
date	22/02/2016
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	Construction: Government Assistance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what work his Department is undertaking to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in the construction industry to expand and create more jobs.
tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
uin	27688
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2016 answer text <p>The Government is working to help all construction companies to expand and create jobs. At the Spending Review the housing budget was doubled to over £2 billion per year, and the Chancellor also committed to £100 billion of spending in this Parliament for new roads, rail, flood defences and other vital projects.</p><p>We are making sure that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have access to government contract opportunities, making it easier for them to do business with us. We are requiring departments to publish details of future projects on the “contracts finder” website, giving businesses the confidence and time to invest in relevant skills, labour and capabilities.</p><p>Access to finance can be a barrier to growth. There is a range of support and assistance available through the Business Support Helpline. The British Business Bank is a government-owned business development bank dedicated to making finance markets work better for smaller businesses, through schemes such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG). The British Business Bank promotes the EFG to high street lenders to encourage them to lend to viable smaller businesses that would otherwise be declined for lacking adequate security.</p><p>More widely the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ red tape challenge programmes are targeting rules and regulations in the construction sector. Many of those red tape requirements fall disproportionately heavily on smaller construction employers.</p><p>In addition the Government is placing employers, including small businesses, in the lead in developing new apprenticeship standards and providing financial support. Specific grants are available for smaller businesses and for younger apprentices. In addition there is a range of support for all approved learning outcomes available from the Construction Industry Training Board.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 01/03/2016 16:59:50 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

453044

registered interest
date	19/02/2016
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	Employment: Telephone Services
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 3 February 2016 to Question 25610, on minimum wage, what the average call time was to the Pay and Work Rights and ACAS helplines; how many calls reached an ACAS operative; what definition of call was used in the data provided; and what translation facilities are available on the ACAS helpline.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	27462
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/03/2016 answer text <p>The average length of calls for the former Pay and Work Rights Helpline was 6 minutes 32 seconds. For the Acas Helpline which covers all call types, not just National Minimum Wage (NMW), the average length of calls is 7 minutes 54 seconds</p><p>Between April 2015 and January 2016, the latest period for which data is available, Acas have handled 768,849 calls on workplace relations and employment law.</p><p>The data collected by the Acas Helpline records the topics discussed by a caller. The figures show that there were 9,800 calls specifically related to NMW legislation and 3,700 where the caller was specifically concerned with non-payment or deductions related to the NMW. Some callers may have had queries about both subjects but due to the complexity of the data we cannot identify the number of callers that would fall into this category.</p><p>The Acas Helpline uses LanguageLine to allow real time translation with customers over the phone. Callers can request a translator at any stage in the call. A translator will join the call via a conference call, usually within seconds.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 02/03/2016 11:29:23 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

453046

registered interest
date	19/02/2016
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: Telephone Services
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 11 February 2016 to Question 25611, on employment: telephone services, if he will commission an assessment of the outcome for workers of the transfer of the functions of the Pay and Work Rights Helpline to Acas from 1 April 2015.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	27210
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/02/2016 answer text <p>There is currently no plan to undertake a formal assessment of the outcome for workers regarding the transfer of the functions of the Pay and Work Rights Helpline to Acas.</p><p>Acas regularly monitor and test the service to help continually improve the customer journey.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 29/02/2016 11:24:30 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

453047

registered interest
date	19/02/2016
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 assessment he has made of the number of apprentices at each of the apprenticeship educational levels 2 to 6 whom the Government plans to be part of its target of three million apprentices by 2020.
tabling member constituency	Wallasey
tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
uin	27238
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2016 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>Apprenticeships are paid jobs and so their availability and level are dependent upon employers offering opportunities and recruiting apprentices. We will continue to support the growth in apprenticeships at all levels to meet our commitment to 3 million new starts in England by 2020.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to expanding Degree Apprenticeships, which combine a high quality degree with an apprenticeship. Higher and Degree Apprenticeships are widening access to the professions, providing the higher level technical skills employers need to improve productivity and giving young people an equally valid career route to purely university-based courses.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>All Apprenticeship Starts by Level (2014/15 and 2015/16 - Reported to Date)</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Level</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015/16</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Full Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>August to October</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Level 2</p></td><td><p>298,280</p></td><td><p>86,620</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Level 3</p></td><td><p>181,760</p></td><td><p>60,140</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Level 4</p></td><td><p>7,090</p></td><td><p>2,880</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Level 5</p></td><td><p>12,590</p></td><td><p>3,200</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Level 6</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>240</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total Higher Apprenticeships</p></td><td><p>19,770</p></td><td><p>6,320</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total Apprenticeships</p></td><td><p><strong>499,900</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>153,100</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 03/03/2016 17:30:01 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 46973 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

453197

registered interest
date	19/02/2016
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Horticulture: Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on horticultural training in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	South Antrim
tabling member printed	Danny Kinahan
uin	27421
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2016 answer text <p>It is not possible to give an estimate of how much funding the Department has spent on horticultural training, as the post-16 funding formula does not attribute funding to specific subjects. We fund institutions based on their whole programme content and student profile. Institutions then divide their funding between subjects as they see fit.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 25/02/2016 15:29:34 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4381 label Biography information for Danny Kinahan

452334

registered interest
date	11/02/2016
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	Trade Unions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, further to the oral contribution of the Minister for Skills of 2 February 2016, Official Report, column 776, whether his Department intends to bring forward amendments relating to check-off and facilities time before the Trade Union Bill reaches Report Stage in the House of Lords.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	26990
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/04/2016 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>Government amendments to Clause 12 (Facility Time Reporting) and Clause 13 (Facility Time cap) of the Trade Union Bill were included in the Bill at Lords Committee.</p><p> </p><p>The remaining stages in the Lords are amending stages and the Government will table amendments as necessary.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 21/04/2016 15:24:25 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

452344

registered interest
date	11/02/2016
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	Newspaper Press: Competition
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 assessment he has made of the extent of anti-competitive practices in the newspaper wholesale market.
tabling member constituency	Greenwich and Woolwich
tabling member printed	Matthew Pennycook
uin	27103
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2016 answer text <p>Responsibility for considering competition issues in the UK falls to the independent competition authorities. Since 2014 this role has been carried out by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).</p><p> </p><p>The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the predecessor of the CMA, conducted a detailed investigation of the operation of the distribution arrangements for the supply of newspapers and magazines in England and Wales over a number of years. In September 2009, the OFT decided that, although there might be competition concerns, developments benefiting consumers could come about from industry parties self-assessing their distribution agreements following competition guidance provided by the OFT.</p><p> </p><p>The OFT considered that it would not be feasible for the Competition Commission to obtain the necessary evidence at that time properly to assess how the supply chains were likely to evolve in the short term. This decision was reviewed and confirmed in March 2012 and was upheld by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in October 2012.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 23/03/2016 16:45:30 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	4520 label Biography information for Matthew Pennycook