Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure childcare costs are affordable in the UK.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This government is making childcare more affordable and more accessible. Helping parents with their childcare costs is one of the best ways to support families with the cost of living and ensuring every child has the opportunity of a high-quality early education.
The government will spend around £3.5 billion on early education entitlements this year alone – more than any other government.
All 3 and 4-year-old children in England are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare. Children of working parents are eligible for an additional 15 hours, saving families up to £5,000 per year in total.
15 hours free early education is also available to the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds.
Tax-Free childcare provides additional financial help from government to help with any additional costs, worth up to £2,000 per child per year for children under 12 (or up to £4,000 per year for disabled children under 17).
Those parents in receipt of Universal Credit can claim up to 85% of their childcare costs. The Childcare Choices website supports families’ understanding of what might be available to them. This can be found at: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to undertake a review of the cost of childcare and how it can be reduced for all parents.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government annually collects and reviews data on childcare affordability. The childcare providers and parent surveys are published annually as official statistics. These include data on childcare fees, the amount parents pay for childcare and parents’ experiences of childcare affordability. These are used extensively by the government to inform policy development and understand how existing policies benefit parents.
In September 2010, 15 hours of free weekly childcare was introduced for all children aged 3 to 4, which was extended from September 2017 to 30 hours for working parents of 3 to 4-year-olds. In 2013, 15 hours of free weekly childcare was introduced for disadvantaged 2-year-olds. Tax-free childcare was launched in April 2017, giving eligible families up to £2,000 free per child towards childcare costs for children aged under 12. As part of Universal Credit, parents can claim up to 85% of their childcare costs.
The government will spend around £3.5 billion on early education entitlements this year alone – more than any other government. More than 700,000 of the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds have benefited from 15 hours free childcare since 2013, and more than 340,000 3 and 4-year-olds benefitted from our 30 hours offer in its first year, meaning parents are spending less on childcare or are able to work more flexibly.
The government entitlements are supporting as many families as possible with access to high quality, affordable childcare. Parents using the 30 hours can save up to £5,000 per year on the costs of childcare, and almost 4 in 5 parents using the 30 hours, report having more money to spend as a result.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the introduction of quotas for executive women in the workplace and for all BAME employees.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government is committed to working with the business community to create more inclusive workplaces from the shop floor to the boardroom. The Government commissioned and supports several business-led independent reviews, such as the Hampton-Alexander Review to increase the representation of women on boards and senior leadership positions in FTSE 350 companies to 33% by 2020 and the Parker Review to increase the ethnic diversity of FTSE 350 boards by 2024.
These reviews form part of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy which aims to build an economy that works for all.
This business-led approach is working, with, for example, the representation of women on FTSE 100 boards rising to 30.9% from 12.5% in 2011.
Government agreed with my Noble friend’s recommendation that companies should set and publish aspirational diversity targets; and committed to lead from the front in the public sector. In June 2018 we published targets for the Civil Service to tackle the under-representation of ethnic minority staff in our most senior roles. If successful, we will approximately double the current proportion of new recruits from an ethnic minority to 13.2% by 2025.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are giving to social enterprise start ups in the UK.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Civil Society Strategy sets out a long term vision for how government will work for and with civil society, and recognises the importance of responsible business and social enterprise in creating meaningful social value for civil society and the UK economy.
To build on the UK’s reputation as a global leader in social enterprise, this government continues to champion procurement for social value, support campaigns that raise awareness about the positive impact of purposeful businesses, build the social investment market, and support social enterprises to address issues at scale.
For example, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has committed £3million to supporting the growth and sustainability of mutuals. This includes a package of support announced in January 2018 worth £1.7million to help new mutuals to emerge and existing ones to grow. The Department for Business, Economy and Industrial Strategy has also invested over £56m in the network of 38 Local Growth Hubs across England. In 2017-18 Growth Hubs helped over 130,000 businesses, including social enterprises, and over 8,000 individuals to start-up, thrive and grow. A further £12m has been committed for 2019-20.
The Business Support Helpline also provides trusted and impartial advice to businesses across England. In 2018 it helped around 31,500 businesses, of which 65% were entrepreneurs and start-ups. The government continues to develop online support through GOV.UK, ensuring businesses including social enterprises can access the key information they need on running their business any time they wish.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure the principles of the Social Value Act 2012 are being properly embedded in all public procurement processes and contracts.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
We are committed to using the strength of the Government’s £49bn annual purchasing power to drive social change.
We are extending the requirements of the 2012 Social Value Act to ensure all major central Government procurements explicitly evaluate social value where appropriate, rather than just ‘consider’ it. This will provide a standard framework for key social outcomes and measures to be evaluated in tenders.
Additionally, we will also require all departments to report on the social impact of major new procurements, and we will train all 4,000 commercial buyers to take account of social value and procure successfully from social enterprises.
Furthermore, the Minister for Implementation announced a consultation at the Social Value Summit on 11th March on how government should take account of social value in the award of central government contracts, which closes on 10th June.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what they are doing to ensure that pension rights for women are equal to those for men, with particular reference to those women born in the 1950s and affected by the changes to the state pension under the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Women retiring today can still expect to receive the State Pension for 23.5 years on average – almost three years longer than men. Even after equalising women’s State Pension age (SPa) with men’s, women will spend on average around 2 years more in receipt of their State Pension (SP) because of their longer life expectancy.
The new State Pension is actually much more generous for many women, who have been historically worse off under the old system. By 2030, over 3m women stand to gain an average of £550 extra per year as a result of these changes. If SPa had not been equalised, women would spend on average over 40% of their adult life in retirement.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what changes they expect in relation to public procurement rules post Brexit.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The current public procurement rules will continue to apply until the UK has left the EU following the successful conclusion of exit negotiations. The longer-term opportunities for our procurement regulations are in the process of consideration.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government how they intend to ensure that their focus on equalities will continue in the period leading up to Brexit.
Answered by Lord Nash
The United Kingdom has a proud record of promoting equality and we have some of the strongest laws to prevent and tackle discrimination. In the run up to the United Kingdom exiting the European Union, we will continue to promote and champion the equal rights we believe in and ensure the necessary legal protections are maintained.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
Her Majesty's Government whether the pay cap for civil service employees will be lifted; and if so, when this will happen.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
I refer to exchanges in the other place made by the Chancellor regarding the public sector pay cap during the debate on the Queen’s speech on 29th June (HC Deb, 29 June 2017, vol. 626, cols 788-789). During those exchanges, the Chancellor stated that the Government’s public sector pay policy remains unchanged. The pay policy has always been designed to strike the right balance between being fair to our public servants and being fair to those who pay for them. That approach has not changed and we continually assess that balance.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government how many key workers need accommodation in London; and what is the average gap between their earnings and the cost of owning their own homes.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Information on the number of key workers that need accommodation in London is not centrally collected.
The Office for National Statistics publish data on housing affordability in England and Wales. These show that the ratio of median house price to median gross annual (where available) workplace-based earnings in 2016 was 7.72 in England, and 11.98 in London. The ratio of lower quartile house price to lower quartile gross annual (where available) workplace-based earnings in 2016 was 7.16 in England, and 12.76 in London.