Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans there are to increase the number of civil service (a) jobs and (b) offices located in Scotland.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government is clear that the administration of government needs to be less London-centric.
The Cabinet Office has established the Places for Growth programme to drive the necessary planning and preparation within departments and arm’s length bodies to relocate roles out of London into the nations and regions of the United Kingdom.
We want to ensure we are realising the potential of all four nations of the United Kingdom and delivering opportunity across the UK.
This includes Scotland, which will benefit from the relocation of Civil Service roles, for example the new government hubs being created in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on whether funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be available to local authorities in Scotland.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
Officials in my Department meet regularly with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to discuss how the UK Shared Prosperity Fund can be designed to support local communities in Scotland. We have also run 5 stakeholder engagement events in Scotland in order to aid policy development, in partnership with MHCLG. Attendees of these events included representatives from COSLA and individual Scottish Local Authorities, as key beneficiaries of EU Structural Funds.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will review the decision to re-locate the East of Scotland Universities Royal Naval Unit from Aberdeen to Edinburgh.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
A review of all University Royal Naval Units (URNUs) is being conducted by the Royal Navy to consider how the organisations are governed and managed, while examining the objectives of the URNU and the way they deliver the maritime experience. Geographical footprint will be considered as part of this review.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on the oil and gas sector deal.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry supports almost 300,000 jobs, of which four in ten are in Scotland. We believe that the North Sea oil and gas industry has a key role to play as we move to a Net Zero economy. We will support this transition with a transformational oil and gas Sector Deal. BEIS officials have already held preliminary discussions with industry to discuss how such a Sector Deal could enable the sector to play a leading role in the energy transition. Discussions will develop further over the next few months, as the process develops.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Attorney General:
What recent progress the CPS has made on tackling online crime.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The CPS is committed to robustly prosecuting online crime cases, including offline offences with online elements.
In December, the CPS successfully prosecuted three men who, via fake accounts on an online dating platform, met victims to inflict horrendous violent and homophobic abuse. The defendants received significant custodial sentences of between 15 and 17 years.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving. It has reversed the decline in workplace pension participation seen in the decade prior to its introduction. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as of November 2019.
In the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency, since 2012, approximately 10,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,870 employers have met their duties.
Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.
The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to provide funding for study abroad programs from 2020 in the event that UK students do not have access to Erasmus+ in time for the 2020-21 academic year.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The government places great value upon international exchange and collaboration in education and training. This will continue to be the case after we leave the EU and establish new relationships with academic institutions across Europe and the rest of the world.
If it is in the UK’s interests, we will seek to participate in some specific EU programmes as a third country. The draft Political Declaration envisages the possibility of UK participation in EU programmes like Erasmus+ and the negotiation of general terms of participation. My officials are preparing for all eventualities and are considering a wide range of options with regard to the future of international exchange. These include potential domestic alternatives to the Erasmus+ programme for the 2020/21 academic year and beyond, should we need them.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made on implementing an oil and gas sector deal; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has met with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) representatives of the oil and gas industry in Scotland to discuss (i) domestic skills, (ii) training and (iii) recruitment in that industry in Scotland.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Both Ministers and officials in this department regularly meet with counterparts from the Scottish Government to discuss a wide range of issues impacting the oil and gas sector in Scotland. However, given that skills and related issues in Scotland are devolved these issues are a matter for the Devolved Administration.
BEIS Ministers and officials meet regularly with the oil and gas industry. For example, I met a range of oil and gas industry representatives and a member of the Scottish Government during a visit to Aberdeen on 2 September 2019. The visit included attendance at the Maximising Economic Recovery UK (MER UK) Forum, where a range of industry issues were discussed. On 20 August 2019 the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy visited Aberdeen where she met representatives from the energy industry.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to support businesses in the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is supporting businesses in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine to develop and thrive. The British Business Bank has issued 46 loans in the area totalling £493,319 and we continue to deliver the £250 million Aberdeen City Region Deal investing in oil & gas, bio-therapeutics and food innovation, improvements in digital infrastructure, a strategic transport appraisal and the expansion of Aberdeen harbour.