Apprenticeships Funding

Debate between Gary Streeter and Robert Halfon

Tuesday 1st November 2016 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gary Streeter (in the Chair)]

That is not a point of order. The Minister may continue.

[Robert Halfon]

The right hon. Gentleman should check his statistics. There have been more than 4,000 starts on standards, and 400 standards are in development. Many frameworks are going up, and we are putting a huge amount of money into uplifting the STEM frameworks. That is what employers want, and we are designing an employer-led system.

We are raising the prestige of apprenticeships, helping the socially disadvantaged, and introducing the levy to change behaviours and so that the cost is borne evenly throughout society. We will reach the target of 3 million; as I said, we have had 619,000 since May last year. We are raising the quality of apprenticeships through the Institute for Apprenticeships and through degree and higher apprenticeships, which many thousands of people have taken up.

The Government are transforming the country into an apprenticeship nation. I am proud of the work that has been done, and of the officials who have worked hard to ensure that we listen to employers, as we said we would when we first announced the levy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and Robert Halfon

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

On 15 March, the Electoral Commission submitted its response to the Home Office consultation on the draft statutory instruments for police and crime commissioner elections. A copy of the response has been placed in the Library of the House of Commons. The commission’s main concern is the Government’s proposal to create a website to host information from candidates. It believes that this is not the most effective way of ensuring that all voters, especially those who do not have regular internet access, know about the candidates standing in their areas. The commission also made a number of other recommendations to ensure that the elections are well run.

[Robert Halfon]

Harlow residents are hugely excited about these elections, not least because Essex Conservatives are encouraging any resident to apply to be our candidate if they are up to the job. Will my hon. Friend assure me that the Electoral Commission will help candidates with leaflets and in other ways, rather than be a bureaucratic hindrance?

[Mr Streeter]

As we have learned to know in this House, where Harlow leads, others will follow. My hon. Friend endorses the main point made to the Government by the Electoral Commission—that a website alone will not be enough for individual candidates, many of whom were not well known previously, to get the message across. I very much hope that the Government will listen to the Electoral Commission’s proposal that leaflets to every household are also important.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and Robert Halfon

Thursday 13th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

I think the hon. Gentleman is raging against the policy rather than the Electoral Commission’s role in it. The costs are those incurred by the Government and local authorities, not the Electoral Commission, but I am sure that his plea for the cost of the elections to be minimised will be heard in the appropriate quarters.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

8. What recent discussions the Electoral Commission has had on giving communities the power to hold local referendums; and if he will make a statement.

[Mr Streeter]

The Electoral Commission has had no recent discussions on giving communities the power to hold local referendums. It has, however, set out its views on the proposals contained in the Localism Bill in briefings to Parliament. The commission’s priorities are that any referendum should be consistently well run and that the question put to voters should be intelligible and unbiased.

[Robert Halfon]

I thank my hon. Friend for his answer. In Harlow a planning application for a waste transfer site has been pushed through by Essex council against the will of local residents, the Tany’s Dell primary school and Harlow council. How soon will the powers for local referendums be put in place, so that Harlow people can have their say?

[Mr Streeter]

As ever, my hon. Friend is a doughty champion for the people of Harlow, but he will know that the local referendum provisions are contained in the Localism Bill, which is currently going through the House of Lords. Once the Bill has received Royal Assent, the Government will then need to produce detailed rules for local referendums, which the Electoral Commission will study very carefully indeed, so I am afraid that his constituents may have to wait a little while longer.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and Robert Halfon

Thursday 12th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

3. What steps the Electoral Commission is taking to increase voter registration among hard-to-reach groups.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

The commission’s public information campaigns are targeted at groups that are less likely to be on the electoral register. The commission also sets standards for electoral registration officers, provides them with guidance and materials to increase electoral registration, and provides targeted support where underperformance is found. The commission has recently announced that it will take specific steps with the 45 electoral registration officers in Great Britain who have not met the standards for a number of years.

[Robert Halfon]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the reasons for low voting numbers is lack of literacy and people being unable to read the forms? In my constituency, we have problems with literacy. What is he doing to increase the powers of the Electoral Commission to help those with literacy problems so that they can register to vote?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and Robert Halfon

Tuesday 18th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

2. What steps the Electoral Commission plans to take in respect of areas where voter registration remains low.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

The Electoral Commission monitors the performance of electoral registration officers using a set of published performance standards designed to support the completeness of electoral registers. The Electoral Commission advises and works with local authorities that do not meet the standards in order to improve their performance.

[Robert Halfon]

I thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Where electoral registration officers are failing on the ground, what specific powers does the Electoral Commission have to intervene?

[Mr Streeter]

My hon. Friend is on to a good point. The Electoral Commission has the power to make recommendations to electoral registration officers—after all, they are primarily responsible for concluding the registers—if they are underperforming, but it has no power to intervene and change the way that things are done. This may be something that the House might like to examine in due course.