Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) construction, and (2) maintenance, contracts issued by departments since 1 January 2018 have used cash retentions; what was the total value of these retentions; how many of these retention monies have been released; and how long on average it took to release these monies.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Information is not collected on the use of cash retentions in construction and maintenance contracts for Central Government.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they provide to (1) departments, and (2) their respective arms-length bodies, regarding the use of cash retentions in (a) construction, and (b) maintenance projects.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Guidance is not provided to departments and arms-length bodies, regarding the use of cash retentions in construction and maintenance projects.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of cash retentions by local authorities in (1) construction, and (2) maintenance, contracts; and what data they hold on the use of such retentions since 1 January 2018.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
No assessment has been made of the use of cash retentions by local authorities in construction and maintenance contracts, and the Department does not hold this data.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they give to local authorities regarding the use of cash retentions in (1) construction, and (2) maintenance, projects.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Guidance is not provided to local authorities regarding the use of cash retentions in construction and maintenance. Local authorities are independent of government, and it is for them to decide whether or not to hold cash retentions in relation to the projects they fund.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on putting in place reciprocal arrangements allowing exemptions from visa requirements for UK citizens to perform short-term paid work in EU countries in return for similar exemptions for EU citizens coming to the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) already includes measures for short-term business visitors, who can perform a list of 11 activities without requiring a work-permit, subject to a limited number of Member State reservations. EU Member States may allow more activities without a work-permit than those specified in the agreement. This will vary country to country.
Visa-free travel is not usually part of Free Trade Agreements, although the UK and EU both allow visa-free visits in their domestic laws. EU nationals can visit the UK for up to 6 months and perform a wide range of business activities (which can be found under the ‘Permitted Activities’ of the Immigration Rules). UK nationals can visit the EU for 90 days in every 180 days and also perform a range of visitor activities, although these will vary from Member State to Member State.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Carillion's financial liabilities, including retentions, to its supply chain and other creditors at the time of its collapse; and when they plan to make the final figures for such liabilities available.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Official Receiver, liquidator of the Carillion group companies, confirms that the total liabilities of the group recorded at the time of the winding-up order in January 2018 was £5.9 billion, of which £1.7 billion was due to trade creditors. No separate figure for retentions is available. Claims from creditors totalling some £7 billion have been received but some debts are due on a joint and several basis and recorded in more than one liquidation.
The Official Receiver first reported information relating to liabilities to the companies’ creditors in 2018, as required under the provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986, and has provided further updates to the creditors in the course of the liquidation. Further reports will be issued in the event of any significant developments in the liquidation.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role the new Institute for Apprenticeships will have in regulating the quality of apprenticeships, and what powers it will have to undertake that role.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The role of the Institute for Apprenticeships will be to ensure the quality of apprenticeship standards.
Apprenticeships will only attract funding from government or the levy if they are against an approved standard or framework. Each standard will contain a plan for how the apprenticeship will be assessed. Although this will be approved by the Institute, the Institute will not assess the apprenticeship training itself: the register of training providers is owned by the Skills Funding Agency and Ofsted will continue to inspect providers.
The Institute will, however, need to ensure there is consistency between the levels of assessment being applied, as part of its role in approving standards and assessment plans.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Institute for Apprenticeships will take over any of the functions carried out by Ofsted, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education or Ofqual, such as the inspection of apprenticeship provision or the regulation of qualifications, and if so, which.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The role of the Institute for Apprenticeships will be to ensure the quality of apprenticeship standards.
Apprenticeships will only attract funding from government or the levy if they are against an approved standard or framework. Each standard will contain a plan for how the apprenticeship will be assessed. Although this will be approved by the Institute, the Institute will not assess the apprenticeship training itself: the register of training providers is owned by the Skills Funding Agency and Ofsted will continue to inspect providers.
The Institute will, however, need to ensure there is consistency between the levels of assessment being applied, as part of its role in approving standards and assessment plans.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in developing the IT system to support the delivery of the Digital Apprenticeship Voucher, and what plans they have for testing and piloting that scheme.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The digital apprenticeship service is being built by the Skills Funding Agency in accordance with Cabinet Office best practice.
To ensure that the service is focused on employer and training provider needs we are performing extensive user research. The service will build on insights gathered from over 2000 employers and around 400 training providers. To make sure that the service is ready for the levy in April 2017, we plan to launch a substantial pilot with employers and providers later this year.
Further details on the apprenticeship levy and the digital apprenticeship service are available in the guide for employers which was published in April: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-levy-how-it-will-work
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements they plan to make to enable firms that pay the Apprenticeship Levy on the basis of their UK-wide pay bill to claim funding from the Apprenticeship Levy fund to support apprenticeships in the devolved nations.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The levy will apply to employers across the UK. As skills policy is a devolved area the Devolved Administrations will continue to have complete flexibility over how to support businesses in their Territories through training and apprenticeships. We are committed to doing all we can to make the system work for employers wherever they are in the UK and we are working closely with the Devolved Administrations to achieve that.
The levy will apply to employers across the UK. As skills policy is a devolved area the Devolved Administrations will receive their fair share of the income from the levy, and have flexibility over how to use it to support businesses in their territories. We are committed to doing all we can to make the system work for employers wherever they are in the UK and we are working closely with the Devolved Administrations to achieve that