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1130945

registered interest
date	11/06/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	UK Research and Innovation: Grants
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the diversity of UK Research and Innovation grant recipients by (a) gender, (b) ethnicity, (c) disability and (d) socio-economic group.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	262366
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) believes that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) – of people and ideas – is crucial for delivering excellence in research and innovation. It has made EDI a priority – as a national research and innovation funder, as an employer, and as an influential voice in wider research and innovation sectors.</p><p> </p><p>The seven Research Councils have historically collected information on applicants for and recipients of funding regarding age, gender, ethnicity, and disability. The councils do not collect information on social-economic group. Neither Innovate UK nor Research England collect diversity data of applicants or those in receipt of funding or loans.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Successive UK Governments have supported the principle that funding for basic research should be awarded through competitive processes on the basis of excellence and likely impact - as assessed through peer review. This is widely considered to be a underpinning factor in the success of UK research, and a key enabler of value for money for tax payers money. Consequently, HM Government takes an arms length approach to research funding, in line with the Haldane Principle.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition, initial analysis of 2018-19 funding data from the seven research councils by gender shows that:</p><ul><li>71% of funding from research council grants and fellowships in 18/19 were awarded to bids led by men and 27% of funds were allocated to bids led by women. The remainder are bids where gender is undisclosed or not known.</li><li>42% of the funding for Fellowships went to female Fellows, 52% of the funds went to male Fellows and 6% of the funds went to Fellows with undisclosed or unknown gender.</li><li>73% of the funding for research grants were awarded to projects led by male Principle Investigators (PIs), 25% of the funds were awarded to projects led by female PIs and 2% of the funds were awarded to projects with PIs of undisclosed or unknown gender.</li></ul><p><br> UKRI has appointed Professor Jennifer Rubin, Executive Chair, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as the UKRI Champion for EDI, and established an External Advisory Group for EDI. The group is working with UKRI to identify and prioritise areas.</p><p> </p><p>UKRI aims to publish a UKRI-wide EDI Strategic Framework in Autumn 2019, which will help UKRI to bring together and scrutinise evidence on what works, develop and prioritise actions, and ensure that EDI is considered and supported in all that UKRI does.</p><p> </p><p>Work is currently underway to improve data collection and analysis capabilities about the people UKRI funds. A detailed cross-UKRI analysis of funding data will be published in Autumn 2019.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 13/06/2019 13:05:02 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1130868

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Exchanges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to EU universities wanting to send non-EU students to UK universities on exchange programmes.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	262364
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The terms of international exchanges are the responsibility of individual higher education institutions. The main exchange programme supported through public funding in the UK is Erasmus+, a European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport, which provides funding for both EU and non-EU students to come to UK universities.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 13/06/2019 16:03:57 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1130869

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Translation Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department uses when assessing asylum applications in cases where a substantive interview with an applicant has not been able to take place due to the unavailability of a translator for that interview.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	262414
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>Where a translator is unavailable to carry out a substantive asylum interview, the Home Office will look to rebook the interview when a translator for the preferred language is next available.</p><p>On the rare occasion where we are unable to source a translator to carry out the substantive asylum interview, we would seek to use a detailed witness statement provided by the applicant, to decide the asylum claim.</p><p>The Home Office will continue to explore and act upon potential interpreter recruitment avenues, both regionally and nationally, for all languages. Alongside the ongoing recruitment campaign, we will continue to work with stakeholders in assessing demand and have in place contingencies to ensure the available national resource is utilised as effectively as possible.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes question first answered 13/06/2019 11:39:43 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1130871

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	GCE A-level and GCSE
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number schools teaching GCSEs over three years; and what assessment he has made of the effect of this practice on A level subject choices.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	262365
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>In the Department’s Winter 2017 School Snapshot Survey, responses from secondary schools that teach Year 9 pupils were as follows: 35% of respondents stated that all their Year 9 pupils would start studying for Key Stage 4 for all subjects, 28% stated that all their Year 9 pupils would start studying for Key Stage 4 for some subjects, 9% stated that some of their Year 9 pupils would start studying for Key Stage 4 for some subjects, 27% stated that none of their Year 9 pupils would start studying for Key Stage 4.</p><p>The snapshot survey report can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017</a>.</p><p>The information requested is not held centrally regarding administrative data of when individual schools start teaching Key Stage 4. The Department has made no assessment of the effect of this practice on A level choices.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 13/06/2019 15:16:49 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1130873

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Employment Schemes: Young People
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to sections five and six of the evaluation of the Young and Successful programme, published by Groundwork Greater Nottingham in 2018, if she will take steps to ensure that young people furthest from the labour market are not adversely affected by payment by results requirements of employability programmes.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	262407
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The department offers a whole range of support of employment provision, of which contracted provision is one element. There is insufficient evidence from previous programmes, to show young people furthest from the labour market are adversely affected by payment by results requirements of employment programmes. For example, the extensive independently run Work Programme evaluation (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/425081/rr892.pdf) suggested that there was not a significant amount of variation in the level of support received and in general most participants were happy with the support they received. Published statistics suggest that job outcome rates were similar by age, indicating diverse groups of people can benefit from this provision.</p><p>Helping young people who are furthest from the labour market is a priority and the department has a variety of support to which we refer young people. 18 to 21 year olds who are in the all work requirements group take part in the Youth Obligation Support Programme which is now in every Jobcentre in Great Britain. Working with young people the Jobcentre can assess the particular need of the young person and then refer them to the most appropriate place. For example, sector-based work academies last for up to 6 weeks and have elements of work experience, short training and a guaranteed interview for a real apprenticeship or other job. Those further from the labour market may benefit from a traineeship which can last for up to 6 months and includes a focus on helping the young person reach level 2 in English and Maths.</p><p> </p><p>The department continues to gain learning from previous programmes and evaluations to ensure it designs tailored provision, such as the new Work and Health Programme, that has minimum support levels for all customers and deliver improved outcomes to the customer and the department.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 13/06/2019 15:25:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1130880

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) investment choices available to workplace pension customers are regularly reviewed by Independent Governance Committees and (b) those investment choices are aligned with the interests of customers.
tabling member constituency	Wallasey
tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
uin	262255
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced rules in 2015 to require contract-based pension providers to set up independent governance committees (IGCs) to address poor consumer outcomes.</p><p>IGCs have a duty to scrutinise the value for money of the provider’s workplace personal pension schemes, taking into account transaction costs, raising concerns and making recommendations to the provider’s board as appropriate. IGCs have a duty to assess whether all the investment choices available, including default options, are suitable for the interests of consumers.</p><p>In 2016, the FCA reviewed IGCs and found that they were “generally effective” in influencing and advancing cost reductions for members. The review also found that the Independent Project Board’s work in auditing high legacy charges and implementing IGCs had been successful. As a result, a substantial majority of consumers received improved outcomes regarding costs and charges, with 1m consumers receiving reduced costs and charges.</p><p>The FCA has announced that it will undertake a further review of IGCs in 2019/20.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 262256 262257 question first answered 13/06/2019 13:34:39 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1130881

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy that Independent Governance Committees attached to contract-based workplace pensions have a duty to monitor the suitability of the retail fund choices available to scheme members.
tabling member constituency	Wallasey
tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
uin	262256
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced rules in 2015 to require contract-based pension providers to set up independent governance committees (IGCs) to address poor consumer outcomes.</p><p>IGCs have a duty to scrutinise the value for money of the provider’s workplace personal pension schemes, taking into account transaction costs, raising concerns and making recommendations to the provider’s board as appropriate. IGCs have a duty to assess whether all the investment choices available, including default options, are suitable for the interests of consumers.</p><p>In 2016, the FCA reviewed IGCs and found that they were “generally effective” in influencing and advancing cost reductions for members. The review also found that the Independent Project Board’s work in auditing high legacy charges and implementing IGCs had been successful. As a result, a substantial majority of consumers received improved outcomes regarding costs and charges, with 1m consumers receiving reduced costs and charges.</p><p>The FCA has announced that it will undertake a further review of IGCs in 2019/20.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 262255 262257 question first answered 13/06/2019 13:34:39 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1130882

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of scrutiny by Independent Governance Committees of the retail funds offered within workplace pensions products.
tabling member constituency	Wallasey
tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
uin	262257
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced rules in 2015 to require contract-based pension providers to set up independent governance committees (IGCs) to address poor consumer outcomes.</p><p>IGCs have a duty to scrutinise the value for money of the provider’s workplace personal pension schemes, taking into account transaction costs, raising concerns and making recommendations to the provider’s board as appropriate. IGCs have a duty to assess whether all the investment choices available, including default options, are suitable for the interests of consumers.</p><p>In 2016, the FCA reviewed IGCs and found that they were “generally effective” in influencing and advancing cost reductions for members. The review also found that the Independent Project Board’s work in auditing high legacy charges and implementing IGCs had been successful. As a result, a substantial majority of consumers received improved outcomes regarding costs and charges, with 1m consumers receiving reduced costs and charges.</p><p>The FCA has announced that it will undertake a further review of IGCs in 2019/20.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 262255 262256 question first answered 13/06/2019 13:34:40 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1130883

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential conflict of interests in the business model of vertically integrated companies offering retail investment platforms, asset management and workplace pensions products.
tabling member constituency	Wallasey
tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
uin	262258
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is operationally independent from Government. The question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 13/06/2019 13:30:26 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1130884

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Compassionate Leave
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of providing a statutory entitlement to up to 10 days paid care leave.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	262228
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises the challenges of balancing work and care. Improving support for carers to do so is a key part of the action plan that we published in June 2018.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is working with colleagues across Government to consider the question of dedicated employment rights for carers alongside existing employment rights (such as the right to request flexible working and the right to time off for family and dependants).</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 262229 question first answered 13/06/2019 13:04:04 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe