Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of encouraging hairdressers to obtain hairdressing qualifications.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided to the petition P002432, “The regulation of the Hair, Barber and Beauty industries”, 20 May 2019, Official Report, Volume 660, Column 6P.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with representatives of the Hairdressing Council on the (a) regulation and (b) registration of hairdressers.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided to the petition P002432, “The regulation of the Hair, Barber and Beauty industries”, 20 May 2019, Official Report, Volume 660, Column 6P.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of existing mortgage prisoners that could benefit from the rule changes announced by the FCA on 28 October 2019.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
I am aware that customers who are unable to access cheaper mortgage deals are in a difficult and stressful situation. Taking action to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers that have prevented some customers from switching has been a priority for me and so I welcome the changes the FCA have made to their mortgage lending rules.
This change in the FCA’s rules should allow customers to switch to a new lender as long as they meet the lender’s risk appetite. This is determined by the lender and will take into account the circumstances of individual customers, which may include being up to date with their payments; not having significant other debt; and not being in negative equity.
Due to the uncertainty of lender’s risk appetites or the number of consumers who will choose to use the new switching opportunities, it is impossible to know precisely how many mortgage prisoners will be helped by the rule change until lenders are able to report progress to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Part of the FCA’s action to support mortgage prisoners is ensuring that borrowers, whose mortgage is currently held by an unregulated entity, are proactively contacted about this rule change. Inactive lenders and administrators acting for unregulated entities are now required to implement a communication strategy for relevant customers to inform them of the rule change within the next 10 months.
The FCA ran a consultation on the rule changes and thoroughly considered representations from various interested parties before implementing the changes in October. Most recently, I have met with Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the FCA, where we agreed to continue to collaborate and engage to support mortgage prisoners moving forward. In addition, I have met specifically with MPs for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on mortgage prisoners and numerous other MPs who, representing their constituents, have wished to discuss mortgage policy.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to encourage employers in the (a) shipping and (b) offshore energy sectors to offer apprenticeships.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government has reformed apprenticeships to include new high-quality apprenticeship standards that meet the needs of employers across all industries.
There are 118 Engineering and Manufacturing standards available for employers in the shipbuilding industry to choose from, and a total of 507 standards available across a wide range of sectors from Business and Administration, to Health and Science.
The Engineering Technician standard at Level 3 has been developed by employers, including employers in the defence industry such as BAE Systems, Babcock and the Royal Navy. This standard includes the following maritime defence pathways: Maritime Electrical Fitter, Maritime Mechanical Fitter, Maritime Fabricator, and Maritime Pipeworker. More detail on the standard can be found on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s website at: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/engineering-technician/.
Employers in all sectors across England, including the shipping and offshore energy sectors, can use their apprenticeship levy funds to invest in these new high-quality apprenticeship standards, unlocking the productivity benefits associated with employing apprentices.
In the 2019-20 financial year, the funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England is over £2.5 billion, which is double what we spent in 2010-11.
We are working with all sectors as they produce their skills deals and we encourage them to consider the opportunities and apprenticeships they offer, by building them into their plans.
The National Apprenticeship Service is supporting employers to develop their apprenticeship programmes. More information on apprenticeships is available at: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he will take to ensure that his officials contact existing vulture funds operating in the UK to ensure compliance with the new FCA regulations on mortgage prisoners.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
I am aware that customers who are unable to access cheaper mortgage deals are in a difficult and stressful situation. Taking action to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers that have prevented some customers from switching has been a priority for me and so I welcome the changes the FCA have made to their mortgage lending rules.
This change in the FCA’s rules should allow customers to switch to a new lender as long as they meet the lender’s risk appetite. This is determined by the lender and will take into account the circumstances of individual customers, which may include being up to date with their payments; not having significant other debt; and not being in negative equity.
Due to the uncertainty of lender’s risk appetites or the number of consumers who will choose to use the new switching opportunities, it is impossible to know precisely how many mortgage prisoners will be helped by the rule change until lenders are able to report progress to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Part of the FCA’s action to support mortgage prisoners is ensuring that borrowers, whose mortgage is currently held by an unregulated entity, are proactively contacted about this rule change. Inactive lenders and administrators acting for unregulated entities are now required to implement a communication strategy for relevant customers to inform them of the rule change within the next 10 months.
The FCA ran a consultation on the rule changes and thoroughly considered representations from various interested parties before implementing the changes in October. Most recently, I have met with Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the FCA, where we agreed to continue to collaborate and engage to support mortgage prisoners moving forward. In addition, I have met specifically with MPs for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on mortgage prisoners and numerous other MPs who, representing their constituents, have wished to discuss mortgage policy.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with representatives of groups acting on behalf of mortgage prisoners on the effect of the announcement made by the FCA on 28 October 2019.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
I am aware that customers who are unable to access cheaper mortgage deals are in a difficult and stressful situation. Taking action to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers that have prevented some customers from switching has been a priority for me and so I welcome the changes the FCA have made to their mortgage lending rules.
This change in the FCA’s rules should allow customers to switch to a new lender as long as they meet the lender’s risk appetite. This is determined by the lender and will take into account the circumstances of individual customers, which may include being up to date with their payments; not having significant other debt; and not being in negative equity.
Due to the uncertainty of lender’s risk appetites or the number of consumers who will choose to use the new switching opportunities, it is impossible to know precisely how many mortgage prisoners will be helped by the rule change until lenders are able to report progress to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Part of the FCA’s action to support mortgage prisoners is ensuring that borrowers, whose mortgage is currently held by an unregulated entity, are proactively contacted about this rule change. Inactive lenders and administrators acting for unregulated entities are now required to implement a communication strategy for relevant customers to inform them of the rule change within the next 10 months.
The FCA ran a consultation on the rule changes and thoroughly considered representations from various interested parties before implementing the changes in October. Most recently, I have met with Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the FCA, where we agreed to continue to collaborate and engage to support mortgage prisoners moving forward. In addition, I have met specifically with MPs for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on mortgage prisoners and numerous other MPs who, representing their constituents, have wished to discuss mortgage policy.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Government regulators are able to undertake end-point assessments of trained apprentices using Trailblazer Apprenticeships standards.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Assessors from any organisation undertaking end-point assessment must be on the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s register of end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs). If an organisation can demonstrate their capability and capacity to deliver, and are not involved in the on-programme delivery of the standard either as a training provider or employer, they are eligible to apply to be an EPAO.
All end-point assessments are subject to external quality assurance by an independent external body to ensure the consistency of high-quality assessments and maintained standards. Regulators such as Ofqual, provide external quality assurance.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the amount of sea time required by employee to qualify as an Able Seafarer (Deck) apprentice.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
This is a matter for the Institute for Apprenticeships. I have asked its Chief Executive, Sir Gerry Berragan, to write to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with (a) GTA England, (b) Association of Employment and Learning Providers, (c) Learning and Work Institute and (d) Association of Colleges on the adequacy of the level of allocation of apprenticeship levy funds for non-levy paying registered charities.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
We are committed to ensuring that our reforms to apprenticeships work for smaller employers and their providers, such as group training associations (GTAs).
GTAs are important members of the training provider market, working for groups of employers to provide high quality training. We ran a procurement exercise to secure high-quality training to support small and medium-sized employers from January 2018 to April 2019. This was a highly competitive exercise attracting interest from a wide range of training providers and we recognise that not all providers were successful in the competition. The contracts we awarded have been subsequently extended to April 2020, supported by over £700 million funding for new starts and existing apprentices.
In addition to these contracts, the smaller employers are also able to receive transfers from levy-paying employers, allowing GTAs access to levy-funded training. We have also announced that we will shortly enable levy payers to transfer funds to cover the full cost of training for 16 to 18-year-olds in the smallest businesses with fewer than 50 employers.
Earlier this year, we confirmed that small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who do not pay the apprenticeship levy, would soon be able to access the benefits of using the award-winning apprenticeship service (AS). The AS, already in use by large levy paying employers, will give SMEs greater control over choosing their apprenticeships, a greater range of training providers to engage with, and a new route to access apprenticeship funding.
We announced at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) conference on 29 October 2019 that from January we will begin to transition SMEs onto the service, and will be supporting up to an additional 5,000 starts per month from January to March 2020 for employers that don’t pay the levy. We will be issuing more detail on the transition arrangements from November and throughout 2020.
Officials meet regularly with GTA England to discuss training provision, including in respect of apprenticeships. We also work closely with the AELP, the Learning and Work Institute, and the Association of Colleges to consider a range of sectoral issues and to ensure that our apprenticeships reforms continue to work for employers of all sizes, including charities.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with representatives from the Local Government Association on the adequacy of health and safety registration procedures in relation to hair salons.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
We have not had any discussions with representatives from the Local Government Association on the adequacy of health and safety registration procedures in relation to hair salons.