Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures her Department has implemented to support children who are permanently excluded from school.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Exclusion from school is not the end of a pupil's education. Where a pupil has been permanently excluded, the Local Authority must arrange suitable full-time education for them to begin no later than the sixth school day following the exclusion.
In the White Paper ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ we announced reforms to the system of alternative provision which will strengthen the accountability of schools when permanently excluding pupils. Under these changes schools will remain accountable for the education of pupils in alternative provision and will be responsible for commissioning high quality provision. In addition to this, the reforms include a number of measures to raise the standards of alternative provision providers so that every child is given the best possible opportunity to fulfil their potential. The full text of the Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere.
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses accessed the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) in 2014-15; what the cost of SEIS was to his Department in that year; and what the return on investment was for the economy as a result of the SEIS.
Answered by David Gauke
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) is forecast to cost the Exchequer £180m in 2014-15. Outturn figures for 2014-15 are not yet available. Updated figures on the cost of the relief will be published in December 2016.
The first official statistics on the number of companies raising funds, number of subscriptions, and amounts raised for Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes for 2014-15 will be published in April 2016.
No results have been published on the return on investment from the SEIS.
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses benefited from video games tax relief in 2014-15; what the cost of that relief was to his Department in that year; and what the return on investment was for the economy as a result of that relief.
Answered by David Gauke
Video Games Tax Relief is forecast to cost the Exchequer £10m in 2014-15. The first Official Statistics on the number of claims and cost of Video Games Tax Relief will be published in Summer 2016, allowing sufficient time for claims to have been submitted for the 2014-15 tax year. No estimate of the benefit for the economy as a whole is available.
The forecast has been certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and is consistent with their latest forecast of Corporation Tax receipts.
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to (a) encourage greater use of email and (b) implement other measures to reduce costs in communication by government departments.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to support departments as they digitally transform their business operations, making government services easier and more efficient to use. There is a ‘digital first’ strategy across Government to save on time as well as paper and postage costs, including the use of email to achieve this aim.
The Government Communication Service (GCS) saved nearly £330m for taxpayers in 2014/15 compared to 2009/10 by making its campaigns more cost effective. The communications profession is also more streamlined, with headcount across Government reduced by a third since 2009/10. These reforms helped the Government reduce communications spending by a total of £1bn over the last Parliament. GCS continues to investigate new ways of reducing costs in Government communications.
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses benefited from R&D tax credits in 2014-15; what the cost of R&D tax credits was to his Department in that year; and what the return on investment was of R&D tax credit expenditure for his Department.
Answered by David Gauke
R&D tax credit statistics are published by HMRC each September, so the final figures for 2014-15 won’t be available until September 2016.
HMRC’s latest statistics for 2013-14 show that there were 20,100 claims to R&D tax credits in that year, and that the scheme cost £1.75bn.
In March 2015, HMRC published an evaluation of R&D tax credits. This evaluation estimates that for every pound spent by the government onR&Dtax credits, between £1.53 and £2.35 is additionally spent onR&Dby UK companies.
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to increase the number of apprentices.
Answered by Nick Boles
We are committed to reaching 3 million apprenticeship starts in 2020. In the 2014/15 Academic Year, there were 499,900 apprenticeship starts.
Our 2020 Vision for English Apprenticeships sets out how we will increase the number of apprentices and put employers in the driving seat. We are introducing new targets for public sector bodies and extending the successful Apprenticeship Grant for Employers.
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to increase participation in part-time higher education courses in STEM subjects.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
This year we relaxed the Equivalent and Lower Qualification (ELQ) rule for part time students taking engineering, technology and computer science courses. This means that students who already hold a degree will be able to access student support. At the Autumn Statement we announced a further relaxation to the eligibility rules so that students who already hold a degree can from 2017/18 access student support for part time study of other STEM subjects. These changes do not affect those undertaking full time study.
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the number of adults that will be participating in non-apprenticeship vocational training by 2020 in (a) the UK, (b) England and (c) Warwick and Leamington constituency.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Department does not produce forecasts for participation in further education.
The funding available for adult skills up to 2015/16 is outlined in the Skills Funding Letter. The letter sets out the Government’s priorities for the budget and it is for providers to decide how they use their adult skills funding to reflect those priorities and meet the needs of learners and employers in their local area.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-letter-april-2015-to-march-2016
Information on historic participation in government funded further education by geography is published online at the FE Data Library:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-further-education-and-skills
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with local government representatives on ensuring social value is taken into account in proposals for greater devolution; and what his policy is on the recommendation of the Local Government Association's National Procurement Strategy for Local Government on the wider adoption of Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government is looking at the full costs and benefits of devolution proposals in line with Government guidance. This is supported by detailed conversations with areas to help them refine their work such as guidance about onward devolution to neighbourhoods.
The Government fully supports local authorities applying the concept of social value more widely than required by the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and this is reflected in the Revised Best Value Statutory Guidance which was published in March of this year and can be viewed at the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revised-best-value-statutory-guidance
Asked by: Chris White (Conservative - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the contribution of creative industries to the economy.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The creative industries continue to play a key role in our economic recovery, outperforming almost all other sectors of the economy. Figures published on 30th June showed the creative industries accounted for 1.8 million jobs in the UK in 2014, an increase of nearly 16% since 2011, with a further 900,000 creative jobs in the wider economy.