Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered question first ministerially corrected answering member label attachment file name title previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

418768

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2015
	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	Low Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support people on low pay.
	tabling member constituency	Boston and Skegness
	tabling member printed	Matt Warman
	uin	901341
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/09/2015 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Apprenticeships are the best form of further education, and we will fund as many as we can. Beyond that we target funding on those who most need help: people of all ages without English and maths, young adults to achieve level 2 or level 3 qualifications, and unemployed people who need help to get a job.</del></p><p><br /><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Nearly 3 million low-paid people will directly benefit from the National Living Wage from April next year. A full-time worker on the current National Minimum Wage will be made £1,200 better off, per year, as a result. Our long-term economic plan is working and we will ensure that the hard work of the British people is recognised through our new National Living Wage.</ins></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 15/09/2015 15:38:22 question first ministerially corrected 15/09/2015 15:48:20 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 21539 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman

420335

	registered interest
	date	09/10/2015
	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	Employment: Females
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government plans to take to reduce the incidence of women being asked about their plans to have children during job interviews with prospective employers.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	11220
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2015 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Skills provision must meet the needs of employers. This is why employer-led Trailblazers are currently leading the way in the design and delivery of new more rigorous apprenticeship standards.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Standards relating to several chef roles have already been developed and these are intended to cover specialisms such as Indian cuisine. Employers in the curry industry may therefore wish to contact the Trailblazer leads Kathryn.Porter@Hilton.co.uk or Annette.Allmark@people1st.co.uk for more details of how to get involved in the standards’ development. If they identify a particular skills gap not accommodated by the existing standards, then they could come together and apply to develop a specific standard to meet their needs.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In 2014 the Government commissioned an extensive research project into perceived pregnancy and maternity discrimination in Great Britain. The research was jointly managed and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, supported by the Government Equalities Office.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">This is the largest ever study of pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination conducted in Great Britain. Interim findings were published in July 2015 and can be found at: <a href="http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/publication/pregnancy-and-maternity-related-discrimination-and-disadvantage-first-findings-surveys-employers-and-0" target="_blank">http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/publication/pregnancy-and-maternity-related-discrimination-and-disadvantage-first-findings-surveys-employers-and-0</a>.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The final report, due to be published later this year, will inform the Government’s response.</ins></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 20/10/2015 15:35:04 question first ministerially corrected 20/10/2015 16:51:21 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 24638 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

433138

	registered interest
	date	30/11/2015
	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	Construction
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support the creation of painting and decorating opportunities in the construction sector.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	18208
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/01/2016 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK. The Government is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to help small business resolve disputes with large companies, tackling, in particular, late payment. The Commissioner will act as a disincentive to unfavourable payment practices, and build the confidence and capabilities of small businesses to help them to assert themselves in contractual disputes and negotiate more effectively with larger businesses.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the public and private sectors. This will allow full public scrutiny of payment performance.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We have also strengthened the Prompt Payment Code to ensure it is a recognised and demonstrated beacon of best practice, and we recently consulted on proposals to give representative bodies wider powers to challenge grossly unfair payment practices.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Government promotes fair payment practices in construction through legislation (the &quot;Construction Act&quot;), the use of public procurement (promoting prompt payment to Tier 3 and the use of Project Bank Accounts), and by working with the industry through voluntary measures (such as the Prompt Payment Code and the Construction Leadership Council's Payment Charter).</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The Payment Charter includes a commitment of zero retentions by 2025. To support this work, the Government recently announced a review of the practice of cash retentions under construction contracts.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK's payment culture.</del></p><br /><p><ins class="ministerial">Opportunities in painting and decorating will be created through the steps Government is taking to increase demand in the construction industry, including its support for housebuilding in England.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Last week the Chancellor announced that the public housing budget for England is to double to over £2 billion per year, and the Housing Bill sets out plans to build 1 million homes in England by 2020.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">To deliver Government ambitions for construction it is vital to attract new people to the industry. The government is committed to significantly increasing the quantity and quality of all apprenticeships in England to 3 million starts by 2020; the construction industry will have a significant part to play in achieving this target.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">However, skills policy (including apprenticeships policy) is a devolved matter and, in Northern Ireland (NI), is the responsibility of the Department of Employment and Learning.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Minister of Employment and Learning, Dr Stephen Farry, published <em>Securing our Success, </em>a new NI Strategy on Apprenticeships in June 2014. This Strategy aims to reform the system of apprenticeships in NI, introducing them in a much broader range of occupational areas and establishing them as an attractive route to gaining higher level qualifications including at degree level and above.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Construction Skills Network Report for NI suggests that there will be an annual recruitment requirement of 100 painters and decorators over the next five years, within a total requirement of 1,490 construction trades each year.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Construction Industry Training Board NI has a role to encourage the adequate training of those employed or intending to be employed in the construction industry and to improve the skills and productivity of the sector. NI’s six Further Education Colleges provide professional and technical training for the painting and decorating trades.</ins></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 06/01/2016 15:08:11 question first ministerially corrected 11/01/2016 16:04:15 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 37693 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

444534

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2016
	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, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20474, how his Department works with businesses in the (a) construction, planning and the built environment sector subject area and (b) engineering and manufacturing technologies sector subject area to create more apprenticeships.
	tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
	tabling member printed	Phil Boswell
	uin	22278
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2016 answer text <p>Skills policy is a devolved area so the Devolved Administrations have complete flexibility over how to support businesses in all sectors to ensure there are sufficient skilled workers. In England, our 2020 Vision sets out how we will reach 3 million apprenticeship starts in 2020.</p><br /><p><ins class="ministerial">We are also introducing the apprenticeships levy to fund the step change in apprenticeship numbers and quality – delivering on our commitment of 3 million starts by 2020. The levy will put apprenticeship funding on a sustainable footing and improve the technical and professional skills of the workforce.</ins></p><br /><p>We are supporting the growth of apprenticeships in all sectors by working with large and small businesses to begin or expand their programmes, setting new expectations for public sector bodies, and through public procurement. We are providing £85 million to extend the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which supports small businesses to take on apprentices, to the end of the 2016/17 academic year.</p><br /><p>Employers in both of these specific sectors are heavily involved in designing new apprenticeship standards that fully meet their needs. Employers in the construction sector are involved in developing new apprenticeships standards in over 20 occupations, including site management and construction technician. Those in the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector are involved in developing new apprenticeship standards in over 30 occupations, including aerospace engineer and manufacturing engineer.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 22/01/2016 14:48:16 question first ministerially corrected 26/01/2016 17:18:49 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 40672 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	4388 label Biography information for Philip Boswell

445417

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2016
	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 Tribunals Service: Fines
	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 financial penalties have been imposed on respondent employers under section 16 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013; and how many such penalties (a) have been paid and (b) remain unpaid.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	22831
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2016 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Eleven financial penalties have been imposed on employers for aggravated breach of employment law, under section 16 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, since its introduction on 6 April 2014.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">To date, four penalties have been paid and seven remain unpaid. Enforcement action is currently being considered for the outstanding penalties.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Twelve financial penalties have been imposed on employers for aggravated breach of employment law, under section 16 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, since its introduction on 6 April 2014.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">To date, six penalties have been paid and six remain unpaid. Enforcement action is currently being considered for the outstanding penalties.</ins></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 26/01/2016 14:33:10 question first ministerially corrected 11/02/2016 17:56:31 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 41148 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

475576

	registered interest
	date	15/03/2016
	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: Qualifications
	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 12 January 2016 to Question 20728, when his Department plans to publish the 2013-14 report on the prior qualification levels of apprentices.
	tabling member constituency	Hove
	tabling member printed	Peter Kyle
	uin	31251
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2016 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">A submission on this report is due to be sent up to Ministers shortly requesting approval for publication. The findings are broadly in line with last year’s study.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">This report is being finalised and will be published in due course.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 21/03/2016 16:17:28 question first ministerially corrected 08/04/2016 09:52:15 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 52482 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	4505 label Biography information for Peter Kyle

521066

	registered interest
	date	24/05/2016
	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	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, with reference to the Answer of 10 May 2016 to Question 36447, how much of the £10.3 million of minimum wage arrears recovered in 2015-16 was recovered from the 145 employers who were not issued with a Notice of Underpayment and who did not have to pay a penalty.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	38139
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">60 employers responded to the National Minimum Wage campaign announced by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 July 2015. Between them, these employers voluntarily disclosed arrears of £786,038 owed to 4869 workers.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In 2015/16 819 employers were issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU), and of this number, 814 were issued with a penalty. The combined penalties issued to these employers totalled £1,780,367.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">5 employers were issued with an NoU but no penalty because they had either gone into liquidation or had otherwise ceased trading, or because an Employment Tribunal had issued a judgment that no financial penalty should be imposed. Collectively these employers owed £57,603 to 30 workers. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">A further 145 employers found to have underpaid their workers were not issued with a NoU or a penalty. Collectively these employers owed £2,065,874 to 14,055 workers.</ins></p> answering member constituency Stourbridge answering member printed Margot James question first answered 01/06/2016 10:27:14 question first ministerially corrected 08/09/2016 16:12:22 answering member 4115 label Biography information for Margot James previous answer version 1387 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

521067

	registered interest
	date	24/05/2016
	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	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, with reference to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8859, how many employers took advantage of the National Minimum Wage campaign announced on 30 July 2015 to self-report their non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage; how many workers were identified as having been underpaid by those employers; and what the total sum was of arrears recovered for those workers.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	38140
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial">In total</ins> 60 employers responded to the National Minimum Wage campaign announced by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 July 2015. <del class="ministerial">Between them, these employers voluntarily disclosed arrears of £786,038 owed to 4869 workers.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">56 employers voluntarily disclosed arrears of £742,587 owed to 4875 workers. A further 4 employers voluntarily also disclosed arrears of £43,451 owed to 36 workers, but since these latter cases were closed after 1 April 2016, these arrears are not included in 2015/16 year end totals. </ins></p> answering member constituency Stourbridge answering member printed Margot James question first answered 01/06/2016 10:27:52 question first ministerially corrected 08/09/2016 16:12:34 answering member 4115 label Biography information for Margot James previous answer version 1385 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

523166

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2016
	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: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to improve the apprenticeship completion rate of disabled young people.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	39529
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2016 answer text <p>Ensuring that apprentices have transferable skills and can progress their career will all help encourage people to complete their apprenticeship.</p><p> </p><p>We encourage the use of a range of available reasonable adjustments so during their learning and at assessment, apprentices with disabilities can demonstrate what they know and can do. Reasonable adjustments include access arrangements such as extra time, use of speech recognition technology, a reader, a sign language interpreter, modified papers (braille, enlarged text).</p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">A Taskforce, led by my hon Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard), has been asked to look at issues around apprenticeships for people with learning difficulties. The Taskforce is currently considering its recommendations.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Our far-reaching reforms will further improve the quality of apprenticeships and ensure delivery of the high quality relevant training expected by both employers and apprentices.</p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 09/06/2016 16:58:44 question first ministerially corrected 14/06/2016 10:58:11 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles previous answer version 2890 answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

435694

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2015
	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	Students: Loans
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of changes in student loan repayments to freeze the £21,000 income threshold cap on students and graduates from lower and middle incomes.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Burt of Solihull
	uin	HL4269
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2015 answer text <br /><p><del class="ministerial">The budget for the Tradeshow Access Programme was £11.05M in 2014/15 and the estimated spend in 2015/16 is £10.25M.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">For 2016/17 and beyond, UKTI will be reviewing how the Tradeshow Access Programme is aligned with other Export Services as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement. It is therefore not possible to confirm the budget at this stage.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">I will respond positively to a request for a meeting with the Sponsors Alliance subject to diary commitments.</del></p><br /><p><ins class="ministerial">The Government published an Equality Analysis of the impact of freezing the student loan repayment threshold on 25th November.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">All borrowers whose earnings are above the repayment threshold will pay around £6 per week more (in nominal terms) by 2020/21. Those individuals with the lowest lifetime earnings will be affected the least, because they will either never earn above the earnings threshold, or will only do so for a more limited period of the loan’s life.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The full Equality Analysis is attached, but can also be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479559/bis-15-635-freezing-student-loan-repayment-threshold-equality-analysis.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479559/bis-15-635-freezing-student-loan-repayment-threshold-equality-analysis.pdf</a></ins></p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 15/12/2015 16:20:37 question first ministerially corrected 21/12/2015 13:24:16 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park attachment 1 file name HL4269 attachment -freezing-student-loan-repayment-threshold-equality-analysis.pdf title Equality Analysis previous answer version 35662 answering member printed Lord Maude of Horsham answering member 115
	tabling member	1567 label Biography information for Baroness Burt of Solihull