Chris Leslie

Following a city-wide review of further education provision in Nottingham by the Further Education Commissioner, the Boards of Governors of New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham have agreed to pursue a merger of their colleges to take effect from September 2016.

Colleges are independent corporations and responsible for their own decision making, including the governance arrangements that will apply to the merged entity.

This Government is committed to ensuring there is a strong legislative framework to encourage workers to speak up about wrongdoing, risk or malpractice without fear of reprisal. The whistleblowing legislation ensures there is a legal remedy for those that do suffer a detriment in their employment as a result of whistleblowing. We recognise there is further to go and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is currently implementing further legislative and non-legislative changes to improve the understanding and application of the law.

Following the Chancellor's announcement in the 2014 Budget UK Export Finance formally launched the Export Refinancing Facility (ERF) on 30 April 2014.

ERF is aimed at supporting UK bids for projects that require finance above $150m. As these projects typically involve lengthy contract negotiations, it may be sometime before we see a pipeline of deals that benefit from the ERF.

Under this Government's transparency programme, details of spend are published on GOV.UK which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills

To provide the level of detail requested in relation to agency fees would incur disproportionate cost.

The Table below details the companies used and the total amounts paid to them in the last financial year. We are unable to identify separately the amounts retained by the companies as fees and the amounts passed on to the temporary worker by the company.

The following table lists the top five companies used by the Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol), to provide temporary workers in 2013-14, by expenditure. TSol financial systems do not distinguish between the costs of temporary workers and the associated agency fee. TSol data also covers any expenditure incurred by HM Crown Prosecution service inspectorate and the Attorney General's Office.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has spent the following amounts with four companies during 2013/14 in relation to the provision of temporary workers. The expenditure includes the cost of temporary staff. It is not possible to separately identify the agency element of the payments.

This information has been produced from the CPS accounting system.

The following table lists the top five companies used by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to provide temporary workers in 2013-14, by expenditure. SFO financial systems do not distinguish between the costs of temporary workers and any associated agency fee.

In 2013-14 Professor Shute was paid £2,286.30 and Dr Tapley was paid £1,735.70 for consultancy services to HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI). There has been no other consultancy spend within that financial year by HMCPSI, the Treasury Solicitor's Department or the Attorney General's Office.

The two companies listed below are the only organisations to have been paid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for consultancy work during the last financial year.

SCC £32,316

CIO Partnership Ltd £2,100

Inaddition, two individuals carried out consultancy work for the SFO. The total amount paid for this work was £13,812

The table below details payments made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consultancy firms during the last financial year.

This information has been produced from the CPS accounting system, analysing spend against account codes for consultancy and professional services. Expenditure may include some payments for services not covered by the Crown Commercial Service Consultancy Value Programme definition of consultancy but provided by companies categorised as a consultancy firm. Excluded are payments for professional services supplied by third parties not classified as a consultancy firm such as employment agencies, training providers, solicitors, ICT managed service suppliers and freelance consultants engaged directly by the department.

I refer the hon. member to the answers I gave, on 9 October, to him, the right hon. member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden), Official Report, column 52, the hon. member for Bishop Auckland (Mrs Goodman), Official Report, column 60, the hon. member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Mrs Siddiq), Official Report, column 62 and the right hon. member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw), Official Report, column 50.

The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

Before the last General Election, including for the entire period while the Hon. Member was a minister in this very department, there were no effective cross-Governmental controls on consultancy spend. Nor were spending controls exercised on other areas such as procurement, advertising and marketing, and IT spend.

That's all changed and ministers - supported by Cabinet Office officials - now closely scrutinise what we spend on consultants and temporary labour. Departments saved over £1billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures) compared to the spending levels in the final year of the last administration, 2009-10. This helped us save taxpayers £10 billion in 2012-13 against a 2009-10 baseline.

We will continue to spend money on consultants and temporary labour when there is an appropriate business need to do so. Indeed in some cases engaging temporary labour is more flexible and cheaper for the taxpayer than taking on new staff. But we are also ensuring that the Civil Service has the skills needed. Our Capabilities Plan is designed to address long-standing gaps in four particular areas: digital skills, project management skills, commercial skills, and the leadership and management of change.

We publish all spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.

The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

Before the last General Election, including for the entire period while the Hon. Member was a minister in this very department, there were no effective cross-Governmental controls on consultancy spend. Nor were spending controls exercised on other areas such as procurement, advertising and marketing, and IT spend.

That's all changed and ministers - supported by Cabinet Office officials - now closely scrutinise what we spend on consultants and temporary labour. Departments saved over £1billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures) compared to the spending levels in the final year of the last administration, 2009-10. This helped us save taxpayers £10 billion in 2012-13 against a 2009-10 baseline.

We will continue to spend money on consultants and temporary labour when there is an appropriate business need to do so. Indeed in some cases engaging temporary labour is more flexible and cheaper for the taxpayer than taking on new staff. But we are also ensuring that the Civil Service has the skills needed. Our Capabilities Plan is designed to address long-standing gaps in four particular areas: digital skills, project management skills, commercial skills, and the leadership and management of change.

We publish all spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.

The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

Before the last General Election, including for the entire period while the Hon. Member was a minister in this very department, there were no effective cross-Governmental controls on consultancy spend. Nor were spending controls exercised on other areas such as procurement, advertising and marketing, and IT spend.

That's all changed and ministers - supported by Cabinet Office officials - now closely scrutinise what we spend on consultants and temporary labour. Departments saved over £1billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures) compared to the spending levels in the final year of the last administration, 2009-10. This helped us save taxpayers £10 billion in 2012-13 against a 2009-10 baseline.

We will continue to spend money on consultants and temporary labour when there is an appropriate business need to do so. Indeed in some cases engaging temporary labour is more flexible and cheaper for the taxpayer than taking on new staff. But we are also ensuring that the Civil Service has the skills needed. Our Capabilities Plan is designed to address long-standing gaps in four particular areas: digital skills, project management skills, commercial skills, and the leadership and management of change.

We publish all spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.

The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

Before the last General Election, including for the entire period while the Hon. Member was a minister in this very department, there were no effective cross-Governmental controls on consultancy spend. Nor were spending controls exercised on other areas such as procurement, advertising and marketing, and IT spend.

That's all changed and ministers - supported by Cabinet Office officials - now closely scrutinise what we spend on consultants and temporary labour. Departments saved over £1billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures) compared to the spending levels in the final year of the last administration, 2009-10. This helped us save taxpayers £10 billion in 2012-13 against a 2009-10 baseline.

We will continue to spend money on consultants and temporary labour when there is an appropriate business need to do so. Indeed in some cases engaging temporary labour is more flexible and cheaper for the taxpayer than taking on new staff. But we are also ensuring that the Civil Service has the skills needed. Our Capabilities Plan is designed to address long-standing gaps in four particular areas: digital skills, project management skills, commercial skills, and the leadership and management of change.

We publish all spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.

The reform of Disabled Students’ Allowances is intended to ensure higher education institutions are consistently meeting their duties to disabled students under the Equality Act, and is not expected to impact on application rates.

The Government carried out an Equality Analysis as part of the recent consultation on reforms to Disabled Students’ Allowances. This is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481527/bis-15-658-disabled-students-allowances-equality-analysis.pdf

An Equality Analysis was undertaken as part of the consultation exercise on reforms to Disabled Students’ Allowances. This was published on 2 December 2015.

Student support for Higher Education in the UK is a devolved issue.

Statistics showing the number of English applicants awarded Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) are published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education in England’.

http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx

We are only partway through the academic year 2015/16 and so published figures only provide an early indication of DSA support for the whole academic year.

The changes being introduced in 2016/17 will apply to all students applying for DSAs for the first time from the 2016/17 academic year, and are intended to ensure that Higher Education Institutions are meeting their responsibilities to disabled students under the Equalities Act.

DCMS’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2013-14 was published on Wednesday 29^th October.

The 10 professional services firms that were paid the most in 2013/14 are listed in the table below:

These are unaudited figures from the Department's financials systems, net of recoverable VAT. The department uses professional services firms for a variety of purposes. In addition to consultancy services, they include expenditure on external legal support and advice on programmes, research fieldwork, evaluation, specialist technical advice and the provision of interim managers. Legal services from the Treasury Solicitors and providers of recruitment services have been excluded in order to arrive at a list of firms that are predominantly providers of consultancy.

Regarding the number of child contact services contracts entered into by local authorities in England and Wales, this information is not held centrally.

The Gazelle College Group is an independent organisation, not funded by Government. Decisions taken by Colleges to join or fund independent sector bodies are for their Corporations as charitable trustees, who should ensure they receive value for money for any expenditure incurred.

We will announce more detail on the funding for alternative provision under the new commissioning arrangements in due course. We are mindful of the diverse range of provision which comes under the banner of alternative provision, and the particular logistical and geographical issues related to hospital schools.

Assessing the costs and benefits to the community is a local issue. Funding for alternative provision is delegated to local authorities within their high needs budgets so that they can determine the provision needed for children and young people in their area.

Local authorities also have duties to secure sufficient suitable education and training provision for all 16-19 year olds, and to support them to participate. Where gaps in provision are identified, the Education Funding Agency will either fill those places through negotiation with existing providers or run a competitive tender.

Academies provide the Department with an annual return which reports their expenditure in various categories, such as staff salaries, utilities or catering. Some expenditure is incurred that is difficult to categorise, and is therefore collated as ‘other expenditure’. Examples include some insurance costs, and PFI charges.

For the 2013-14 Department for Education Group Annual Report and Accounts, this ‘other expenditure’ was £466.7 million.

We are working to improve our sector reporting to reduce this figure and improve transparency. It should be noted that this year we reduced our reliance on the ‘other expenditure’ classification from £783.2m in 12-13 to £466.7m in 13-14, despite the significant increase in the number of academies.

The animal and plant health conditions applicable to trade between the UK and the EU after the UK leaves the EU will be subject to negotiation. The outcome of these negotiations will influence what form of official controls will be required for trade with the EU in future, including at the UK border. Like all Government departments, Defra is working on preparations for a range of scenarios to deliver a smooth departure from the EU.

The most recent notification for the EU domestic support in agriculture is for the marketing year 2012/13.

The total aggregate measure of support notified was €5.9bn. This is overwhelmingly market price support which is only calculated for the EU as a whole and not for individual member states. The products with the largest notified support are:

The EU currently notifies over 120 tariff rate quotas in agriculture and a further 19 non-agriculture tariff rate quotas. There can be several tariff rate quotas within a single sector such as beef or sugar, for different products and different countries which export to the EU and UK. We do not currently assess tariff rate quotas by economic value: they are defined and administered according to the volume rather than the value of imports. All tariff rate quotas which other countries use to export to the UK, however, will be important to them, and important to the industry affected.

In leaving the EU, we will need to update the terms of our WTO membership where, at present, our commitments are currently contained in the EU’s schedule. We recognise the need to work with the EU and with other WTO Members in order to ensure a smooth transition which minimises the disruption to our trading relationships with other WTO Members, including developing country Members and our closest trading partners.

As the Secretary of State for International Trade said in his Written Ministerial Statement on 5^th December “the Government will prepare the necessary draft schedules which replicate as far as possible our current obligations”. We do not intend to alter the scope of concessions currently enjoyed by WTO members. While this is largely a technical process, there are a number of areas where we will need to consult with other WTO members.

In leaving the EU, we will need to update the terms of our WTO membership where, at present, our commitments are currently contained in the EU’s schedule. We recognise the need to work with the EU and with other WTO Members in order to ensure a smooth transition which minimises the disruption to our trading relationships with other WTO Members, including developing country Members and our closest trading partners.

As the Secretary of State for International Trade said in his Written Ministerial Statement on 5^th December “the Government will prepare the necessary draft schedules which replicate as far as possible our current obligations”. We do not intend to alter the scope of concessions currently enjoyed by WTO members. While this is largely a technical process, there are a number of areas where we will need to consult with other WTO members.

The Government is seeking to deliver continuity of existing international agreements as we leave the EU.

The EU has agreed to notify third countries that, during the implementation period, the UK is treated as an EU member state for the purposes of international agreements. This includes all EU international agreements, including free trade, and trade-related agreements. This provides a basis for continuity across all such agreements during this period.

In parallel, we’ve been engaging with third countries to identify which agreements are relevant, important and need action. Where this is the case, we are working with them to put in place successor agreements that replicate the effects of existing agreements as far as possible and which will come into force following the implementation period or on exit in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario. The Secretary of State recently deposited information in the House Library on those international agreements which have already been signed and those which we expect to sign shortly. A number of these agreements include trade-related elements; for example the Trade in Wine Agreement with Australia, and Mutual Recognition Agreements with Australia and New Zealand. There are other agreements where the UK is seeking to ensure readiness by the end of March 2019. The precise number will depend on ongoing discussions with third countries, and we will provide a further update on these other agreements after technical discussions have concluded.

The Government has provided a range of explanatory material to accompany the EU (Withdrawal) Bill in its passage through Parliament. We will update this material periodically to reflect any changes to the Bill as necessary.

We will set out our broad plans before triggering Article 50 by the end of next March, repeating the proviso as agreed by the House on 12 October 2016, without division, confirmed on the 7th December, that nothing we do or say should undermine the UK's negotiating position.

We want to see UK companies having the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the Single Market, and for EU companies to be able to do the same here.

We are currently looking at all the options. To support this work, officials across Government are carrying out a programme of sectoral and regulatory analysis, which will identify the key factors for UK businesses and the labour force that will affect our negotiations with the EU. They are looking in detail at over 50 sectors as well as cross-cutting regulatory issues.

As the UK is party to the EEA agreement only in its capacity as an EU member state, once we leave the European Union the EEA agreement will automatically cease to apply to the UK.The model we are seeking is one unique to the United Kingdom and not an off the shelf solution.

The Prime Minister has said we want a smooth and orderly exit from the EU, and to provide certainty where we can. How the government achieves that will depend on the nature of the negotiations and the agreement reached with the EU, but it would not be in the interests of either side– Britain or the EU – to see disruption. The government is considering all possible options, focusing on the mutual interests of the UK and the EU.