My Rt. Hon. Friend the then Minister for Skills and Enterprise (Matthew Hancock) met with the four nation Ministers including Dr Stephen Farry, MLA, Minister for Employment and Learning, on 19 June 2014.<\/p>
He updated Ministers on the review of apprenticeships and trailblazer reforms in England.<\/p>
Dr Stephen Farry informed Ministers that Northern Ireland would be producing a new strategy on apprenticeships and this was formally announced on 24 June 2014.<\/p>
Ministers agreed that an official-level group would be beneficial and my Rt. Hon. Friend. the now Minister for Business and Energy Matthew Hancock suggested extending the remit of the UK strategic policy forum to include apprenticeships. The UK Strategic Forum meets approximately one month prior to the four nation Ministerial meetings and the first meeting took place on 4 June 2014.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3995", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nick Boles"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Grantham and Stamford"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nick Boles"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-11-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-11-10T12:43:40.4812171Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "26"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Innovation and Skills"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Innovation and Skills"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-11-03", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Apprentices: Northern Ireland"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on encouraging businesses to offer apprenticeships to young people.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/655", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Antrim"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr William McCrea"} ], "uin" : "212916"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/105814", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Innovation and Skills"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/105814/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
London is the tech capital of Europe. The Government has played a key part in its success. It supports Tech City UK which delivers support services and programmes to tech businesses in London and UK-wide. London and Partners promotes the London wide tech sector, working on behalf of the Mayor of London and other commercial partners, including Tech City for which it took over specific responsibility in April this year.<\/p>
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Technology companies in London will benefit from a range of government funding such as the:<\/p>
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\u2022 recently announced 5m funding (£2m in 2015/2016 and a provisional allocation of £3m in 2016/17) for a pilot digital skills programme to be run by the London Enterprise Panel as part of the London Growth Deal.<\/p>
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\u2022 A new Digital Catapult, located in King\u2019s Cross, with £50m over 5 years to provide tech companies with access to expertise and enable them to develop new products and services.<\/p>
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\u2022 £40K, this financial year, for Tech City UK\u2019s Future Fifty Programme. Of the 50 tech companies, 37 of them are headquartered in London.<\/p>
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\u2022 £400K this financial year for Tech City UK\u2019s Digital Business Academy - an online training programme to ensure everyone has the much needed digital skills.<\/p>
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We will have the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7 from next year. Technology companies can also benefit from other tax incentives such as the Patent Box, which can give an effective 10% tax rate for qualifying net revenue arising from EU or UK registered patents, R&D tax credits, the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.<\/p>
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The Government launched the new computing curriculum in September 2014, to ensure a pipeline of digitally skilled individuals. £3.5m of funding has been provided to ensure teachers have the skills to teach the curriculum and there are a number of coding clubs available in London schools, to inspire young people about the career opportunities digital skills provide.<\/p>
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