Jim Cunningham

The House of Commons has implemented a variety of initiatives to reduce the amount of food waste. The only food which is disposed of consists of products that are not safe to be consumed, following guidance from, for example, the Catering Services’ Food Safety Policy and in relation to use-by dates.

Measures taken to monitor and reduce food waste from our catering venues includes:

• Menu plans and cycles are used which enables orders to be planned in advance;

• Most dishes are made fresh in-house, which allows for improvisation if products need to be used up, and enables short life products to be used in smoothies, soups and salads;

• Stock is regularly counted, and order volumes consider the level of stock-in-hand;

• Dates are checked regularly on ambient food products and any short life products are issued to the kitchens for immediate use;

• Many of the high-volume protein items are ordered by unit (rather than weight) which makes portion control more accurate and reduces the likelihood of over ordering;

• Venue orders are checked by a purchasing team for accuracy, to ensure that orders and volumes are correct and in-line with historic figures;

• The kitchens make salad items in-house, meaning venues can cook-off and utilise any surplus protein products effectively;

• Stock is always rotated using ‘first-in, first-out’ principles;

• Various smart storage methods and materials are used to help prevent premature spoilage;

• Some products are frozen if not used on the day;

• Products which show high levels of wastage are changed (for example, some high frequency/low volume lines are now frozen which enables portion control);

• Any hot food which is re-usable is transferred immediately to where it can be sold (or blast chilled within food safety requirements and used the following day).
  

The Sustainable Restaurant Association has rated the House of Commons as a good practice organisation in respect of food waste.

The Government strongly condemns sexual harassment in the workplace, and is committed to seeing it end.

The UK has some of the strongest workplace protections in the world. These include explicit protections against sexual harassment in the workplace under the Equality Act 2010, and the Government will be consulting this summer on whether these should be further strengthened.

The gender pay gap for women between 40 and 49 has actually fallen since 2010. Employers reported their gender pay gaps for the first time this year and we now expect them to take action to close them.

The Government published the Fuller Working Lives strategy last year, and continues to work with businesses to ensure everyone can adapt to the changing face of the workforce.

The Commission has no remit in relation to employees of Members of Parliament. It has therefore had no discussions with the Minister for Women and Equalities on increasing the proportion of Members’ parliamentary researchers who are women.

My Rt Hon Friend has not held any discussions with the Leader of the House on this matter. Where a Parliamentary assistant or researcher is engaged under a contract of employment, apprenticeship or contract personally to do work, the Member of Parliament, as their employer, is subject to the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, and therefore must not unlawfully discriminate in any aspect of recruitment covered by the Act. The positive action provisions in the Act enable an employer to treat one gender more favourably than the other in connection with recruitment providing certain conditions are met.

As at 19 July 2018, the Pass Office database showed that 782 security passes were held by male researchers, and 512 security passes were held by female researchers. Parliamentary Assistant is not a category on the pass application.

Local funding for women’s centres is a matter for my Right Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice. The Minister for Women and Equalities has not had any discussions with the Treasury on this.

In addition, I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice on this topic on 26^th June 2018.

Local funding for women’s centres is a matter for my Right Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice. The Minister for Women and Equalities has not had any discussions with the Treasury on this.

In addition, I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice on this topic on 26^th June 2018.

The need to pay men and women equally for the same work has been required by statute for nearly 50 years, and we expect employers in the private sector to comply with equal pay law.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has a Statutory Code of Practice on Equal Pay, and provides extensive advice guidance on its website to ensure employers know what is required to comply with the law. The EHRC and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) also provide guidance to help individuals understand their rights and take action if they believe that they are being discriminated against in the pay they receive.

Employees who are concerned that they may not be being paid fairly can seek authoritative and free advice from Acas, before deciding whether to bring a claim before an Employment Tribunal. Where an employer is found to have breached equal pay law, an Employment Tribunal can order it to carry out an equal pay audit.

Our requirement for all larger employers to publish their gender pay gap is helping to increase transparency of all the factors underlying the endemic differences in pay between men and women.

The LGBT policy team at the Government Equalities Office meet with a range of organisations regularly and will continue to do so as part of their ongoing policy engagement. In 2017, they met with key stakeholders including the LGBT Foundation, Intersex UK, the LGBT Consortium, Stonewall, GIRES Gendered Intelligence and the Commonwealth Equality Network.

The UK has a proud record of promoting equality for LGBT people, including introducing marriage for same-sex couples. We continue to be recognised as one of the most progressive countries in Europe for LGBT rights by ILGA-Europe. Meeting with LGBT+ organisations ensures that we continue to be at the forefront of progressing LGBT rights in this country.

We launched a national survey on 23 July to ask lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people living in the UK about their experiences of using public services, and about any experiences of discrimination that they may have faced throughout their lives.

The survey closed on 15 October. We received more than 100,000 responses, making this one of the largest ever surveys of LGBT people in the world. We will analyse the results and use them to inform the Government’s policy on LGBT equality. We will publish our findings when this analysis has been completed.

Since 2010, the number of women on FTSE 350 boards has more than doubled and we now have the highest ever percentage of women on boards – over 24% in the FTSE 350. We also have only eight all-male boards remaining in the FTSE 350, and none in the FTSE 100. We are supporting the Hampton-Alexander Review to meet their target of women holding 33% of FTSE 100 senior leadership positions and 33% of FTSE 350 board positions. The Hampton-Alexander Review will report on 9 November regarding progress over the last 12 months of women on boards for FTSE 350 companies.

We will continue to work with businesses to highlight the benefits they gain from a more diverse board membership.

The Department announced on 23 July that it will be consulting on changes to the Gender Recognition Act in the Autumn. We are currently considering the content of the consultation. We will be making an announcement shortly.

The support available under the student finance system is reviewed annually.

An Equality Analysis of changes to the support package for full-time students in 2016/17 was published on the GOV.UK website on 3 December 2015.

Statistics showing the number and value of Maintenance Grants awarded to English applicants for study at UK providers are published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education in England’.

The latest publication covering the last five academic years can be found here:

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

Publications covering previous academic years can be found here:

http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/full-catalogue-of-official-statistics/student-support-for-higher-education-in-england.aspx

We are working with UK universities in a number of important ways to increase our collaboration with Chinese researchers.

We have regular discussions with the Chinese government on education and research collaboration These discussions are both at the working level, where BIS science and higher education teams have a close relationship with their opposite numbers, and also through regular Ministerial exchanges such as the annual People to People Dialogue, the UK-China Education Summit, the biennial UK-China Science and Innovation Joint Committee meetings and the annual Prime Ministerial summit meetings.

In addition, our flagship international science and innovation fund, the Newton Fund, has achieved a transformation in UK-China research collaboration since it was launched in April 2014 and continues to strengthen our collaborative work. The fund, includes significant university participation in programmes on urbanisation, climate change, environment, food security and health. Universities also play a major role in building research capacity in China through means of Newton grants for partnerships, PhD placements, training and joint workshops.

The renewable electricity planning database (REPD - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewable-energy-planning-database-monthly-extract) extracts data on planning from authorities across the country but it does not collate information on the square mileage of projects

The table below provides the figures for full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed by the Research Councils as at 31 March 2015. It is not possible to estimate the number of FTE positions supported by grant funding awarded by the Research Councils given the multiple sources of funding which support many researchers.

¹ Figures in this column include Research Councils UK Executive Directorate and cross-research council support staff.

² Locally employed staff at the MRC’s two units in Africa are not included in this data.

More people than ever before are now able to benefit from higher education, and the student loan system ensures that access to finance should not be a barrier to participation.

For students starting their Higher Education course prior to the 2020-21 academic year the nominal value of student loans that are expected to be written off in each of the financial years 2025-26 to 2036-37 are as follows:

Source: BIS Student Loan Repayment Model. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10m.

This table includes loans written-off owing to any of the following circumstances: a) if the loan borrower started their Higher Education course prior to 2006-07 academic year and has reached the age of 65; b) the borrower has died; c) the borrower becomes disabled and is permanently unable to work; or d) if the loan borrower started their Higher Education course between 2006-07 and 2011-12 academic years and 25 years have passed since the borrower became eligible to repay.

The total administrative budget associated with the BIS Automotive sector team for the last five financial years was £6,265,356. This is illustrated below:

Financial Year Administrative Cost

11/12 £1,393,614*^

12/13 £1,187,636^

13/14 £1,207,986^

14/15 £1,256,570^

15/16 £1,219,550^

*Includes funding for the Advanced Manufacturing Showcasing team who were under the same administrative budget for these years.

^ Includes one FTE on loan to the Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

The total budget to support Industrial R&D primarily for the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Driverless cars over the last 3 years* was:

RDEL(Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit) - £79.327m

CDEL (Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit) - £11m.

RDEL CDEL

13/14 £452,000 £0

14/15 £26,000,000 £5,000,000

15/16 £52,875,000 £6,000,000

*There is no data available for 11/12 and 12/13

The administrative budget associated with the BIS Automotive sector team for the last five financial years is illustrated below.

*Includes funding for the Advanced Manufacturing Showcasing team who came under the same administrative budget for these years.

^ Includes one FTE on loan to the Office for Low Emission Vehicles

The table below shows (a) the number of commissioned installations under the feed – in tariff scheme, and (b) generation payments made under the scheme:

*Source; feed-in tariff annual report 2014-15

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/feed-in_tariff_annual_report_year_five_2014-15.pdf

** Source; DECC feed-in tariff statistics

Monthly feed-in tariff commissioned installations by month - Publications - GOV.UK

More people than ever before are now able to benefit from higher education. The student loan system ensures that access to finance should not be a barrier to participation in higher education.

For students starting their Higher Education course prior to the 2020-21 academic year the nominal value of student loans that are written off in each of the next 10 years is forecast as follows:

Source: BIS Student Loan Repayment Model. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10m.

This table includes loans written-off due to any of the following circumstances: a) if the loan borrower started their Higher Education course prior to 2006-07 academic year and has reached the age of 65; b) the borrower has died; or c) the borrower becomes disabled

The Automotive Council will lead a review of the Automotive Industrial Strategy in the first half of 2016, to take stock of progress since its publication in July 2013 and to confirm future priorities.

Information on the number of staff in the BIS Automotive sector team over each of the last five years is illustrated in the table below.

The Government has regular and constructive dialogue with the automotive industry – including through the Automotive Council, which is taking a leadership position in ensuring the sustainable growth of the sector in the UK.

The Government recognises that new businesses can encounter difficulties in obtaining the finance they need to start-up or grow. However I am encouraged that net lending to smaller businesses has been recovering strongly since the end of 2014. The Bank of England has reported that credit conditions for SMEs seeking finance are improving and the SME Finance Monitor shows that 80% of SME loan and overdraft applications were successful in the 18 months to 2015 Q3, up from 68% in Q4 2013.

Latest figures show that net SME lending from banks participating in the Funding for Lending Scheme grew by £675m in the third quarter and the Bank of England recently announced that allowances earned by banks for increasing their net lending under the scheme will be available to draw down for a further two years. The government also continues to fund start-up loans, with more than 33,000 loans worth over £180 million issued so far and a target to deliver 75,000 loans by the end of the parliament.

I am also encouraged by our growing alternative finance sector, with the UK the leading fin tech centre of Europe.

A recent report from the Legatum Institute rated the UK as the best country in the EU in which to start a business and the government will continue to back our small businesses to start and grow.

All Government Departments have a role in helping to raise productivity and foster a dynamic economy. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) holds many of the key productivity levers, including skills, innovation, competition and regulation. The bulk of BIS spending therefore supports the Productivity Plan. The table displays total BIS Departmental Expenditure Limits up to 2019/20, as set out in the Spending Review. Specifically with regard to research, the Government has committed to protect the science resource and capital budget in real terms during this Parliament.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479749/52229_Blue_Book_PU1865_Web_Accessible.pdf

Energy price assumptions underpinning DECC’s 2015 Energy and Emissions Projections are available in Annex M of the supporting documentation available online.1 The table includes wholesale coal, crude oil, electricity, and natural gas price assumptions, and retail electricity, natural gas, and petroleum product price assumptions for a range of sectors. Assumptions are available out to 2035, and for a range of scenarios.

The Government is implementing a package of measures to reduce the projected cost of policies on the average household dual fuel bill by £30 from 2017. The bulk of these savings will come from reforms to the current Energy Company Obligation, which will be replaced by a new cheaper supplier obligation from April 2017. The new scheme will deliver on the government’s commitment to help 1 million homes see lower energy bills through energy efficiency improvements by the end of this parliament. The government is committed to ensuring that energy is affordable for families and businesses.

[1] Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2015.

The Government’s Productivity Plan in July set out our ambition that UK Universities will continue to increase their collaborations with industry to drive the translation and commercialisation of research and broader knowledge exchange. Universities’ external income from engagement with business and the community reached £3.93 billion in 2013-14, up by 27% from 2009-10. The World Economic Forum ranks the UK among the top four nations in the world for university-industry collaboration in R&D. The recent Research Excellence Framework 2014 has demonstrated the breadth and extent of economic impact arising from university research, with 84% of submissions assessed as outstanding or very considerable by expert and academic peer review.

We estimate that the proportion of electricity produced in the UK (gross total electricity supplied) which will be generated by non-renewable means over the next five years is as follows:

2016 75%

2017 71%

2018 68%

2019 66%

2020 62%

This excludes electricity supplied from other countries via interconnectors.

The above data is taken from the reference scenario in Annex J of DECC’s 2015 Energy and Emissions Projections. This and other scenarios with differing economic growth and fossil fuel prices are available online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2015

No landward Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences have been applied for, nor issued, during the last 12 months. However, in the latest (14^th) Onshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round, which closed for bids on 28 October 2014, 95 applications were received from 47 companies covering 295 Ordinance Survey Blocks. The Oil and Gas Authority announced on 18 August 2015 that a first tranche of 27 onshore blocks will be formally offered to companies, and that a second group of 132 further blocks has been subjected to detailed assessment under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010. Subject to the outcome of this consultation, the OGA intends to announce offers for the second group of licence blocks later this year. A map showing the location of the first tranche blocks and those being considered further can be found here:

https://decc-edu.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=29c31fa4b00248418e545d222e57ddaa.

There are currently no sites approved for fracking in England and Wales. Any operator would need a Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence (PEDL) in place before commencing hydrocarbon operations. A PEDL does not, in and of itself, allow an operator to commence hydrocarbon operations. Rather, they grant exclusivity to licensees within a defined area. All operations would also require local planning permission,Environment Agency permits, Health and Safety Executive scrutiny, Oil and Gas Authority consent and access agreement(s) with relevant landowner(s).

The Infrastructure Act 2015 introduced a range of further requirements that must be met before an operator can carry out hydraulic fracturing in a responsible, sustainable and safe manner. A hydraulic fracturing consent will not be issued unless my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State is satisfied that the conditions are met. The Secretary of State must also be satisfied that it is appropriate to issue the consent.

The Government recognises the importance of sustaining a strong research community across the UK. In allocating Science and Research funding, the Government asks the Research Councils, Higher Education Funding Council for England, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering and Royal Society to ensure that they are “maintaining a substantial flow of new researchers and high level skills”. Research Councils support 14,000 research staff and fellows, including 10,000 university researchers, many of whom are in early research careers. The National Academies provide over 690 early career research fellowships.

The Department encourages more responsible supply chain management by businesses, including retailers, by requiring companies to be more transparent about their business operations. UK listed companies are required to report on social and environmental matters where necessary for an understanding of their business.

More widely, the Government supports the Ethical Trading Initiative which helps member companies realise their commitment to continuous improvement in ethical sourcing.

We are also providing £18 million over six years to help Fairtrade International have a greater impact in their work and strengthen the global Fairtrade system.

The Government also supports work by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) on voluntary agreements such as the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan which encourages sustainability of clothing across the product life cycle including, for example, use of lower impact fibres. In addition, Government co-ordinates work on the UK statement on the sustainable production of palm oil, working with retailers and others towards achieving 100% sourcing of credibly certified sustainable palm oil in the UK.

In October the transparency in supply chains provision (section 54) of the Modern Slavery Act came into force.

The Government is of the view that there is a national need to explore and test our shale resources in a safe, sustainable and timely way.

It is too early to make an assessment of the future extent of shale gas and oil production. We do not yet know the full scale of the UK’s shale resources nor how much can be extracted technically or economically.

In August, DECC published projections for UK solar electricity capacity by 2020/21:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/457313/Estimated_capacity_of_selected_renewable_technologies_in_2020-21.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/458662/IA_for_FITs_consultation_August_2015_-_FINAL_docx__e-signature_included__v2.pdf.

This projected that, as of August 2015, UK solar electricity capacity would be 9.55GW by 2020/21, which would be 9.1TWh of generation, or 2.8% of UK electricity generation. The projections as of August 2015 for each of the next five years as follows:

These estimates include assumptions about policy changes which have been proposed but not yet finalised and which could therefore change subject to the responses received – in particular, the consultation on a review of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme and the consultation on changes to financial support for solar PV under the Renewables Obligation.

In relation to SSI’s closure in Redcar, I expect the majority of the fund announced on 2 October to go towards supporting training of former SSI workers and those in the supply chain, helping businesses to grow and create jobs, and the future of the Tees Valley economy more broadly. We are working with the local Task Force, chaired by Amanda Skelton, to shape these proposals and in total, we have agreed over £40 million of support aimed at skills and jobs creation:

• £3 million has been made available to four Further Education colleges in the region to support re-training activity, as well as a further £2.65m skills funding to plug any gaps in skills provision not available via the Further Education Offer;
• £1.7 million to ensure that the fifty apprentices who were with SSI can continue their apprenticeships with alternative employers;
• A £16.5 million Jobs and Skills Fund to help local firms employ former SSI workers or their spouses in full-time or part-time jobs for a minimum of three years;
• £16 million support for firms in the SSI supply chain and wider Tees Valley impacted by the Redcar steelworks closure, to safeguard jobs, provide the stimulus to create new posts and provide expert assistance to help them expand their business
• £750,000 to fund advice and grants to start up a new business.

In addition, we have announced a package, worth up to £9 million, jointly with Tata, to support Scunthorpe steelworkers, the local economy and supply chain. We are working closely with a local Task Force, chaired by my noble Friend Baroness Liz Redfern, to deliver this support.

As set out in the November 2013 Renewable Energy Roadmap Update, analysis indicated a potential deployment range of 7-20 GW (equivalent to 6-18 TWh) of solar PV at all scales, with 20GW being our estimate of the technical maximum level of solar PV deployment by 2020 on the basis of grid and other constraints. Solar PV in the UK was 8.007GW as of August 2015¹.

In the absence of cost effective storage, solar PV can make a contribution to meeting electricity demand but this will be limited by the nature of its diurnal cycle.

REF:

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solar-pv-deployment-august-2015

Licensing and consent of onshore oil and gas activities in England is now a matter for the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA). Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences are not specific to shale gas. They grant exclusive rights to extract hydrocarbons, including shale gas but also other hydrocarbons, within a particular onshore area. A separate consent from the OGA is required before any drilling or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can take place, as well as planning permission, environmental permits and review of the well design by the Health and Safety Executive.

The OGA does not have any undetermined consent applications.

The Written Ministerial Statement by my rt. hon. Friends, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 16 September 2015 (Official Report, Column 34-38WS), sets out the Government’s view that there is a national need to explore and develop our shale gas and oil resources in a safe, sustainable and timely way, to help meet our objectives for secure energy supplies, economic growth and lower carbon emissions.

A successful shale industry could help create jobs and grow local economies. Investment in shale could reach £33billion and support up to 64,000 jobs in oil, gas, construction, engineering and chemical sectors. The opportunity to extract this energy, as well as to secure jobs and investment, cannot be ignored.

The latest statistics available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that in the academic year 2013/14 there were 1.1 million UK domiciled enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions, of which 138,670 declared a disability.

Further information is published on the HESA website and can be located from this web-link https://www.hesa.ac.uk/content/view/1973/239/

Disabled Students’ Allowances are available to help meet the additional costs that a disabled student is obliged to incur, in relation to their study, by virtue of their disability.

Disabled Students’ Allowances, along with all other types of student support, are reviewed before laying the annual student support regulations.

Information on students awarded and paid Disabled Students’ Allowance is published annually by Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education England’. The latest statistics are available at the following link: http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx

Payments to full-time undergraduate students are presented in table 3b on page 21 and payments to part-time undergraduates and postgraduates in tables 5a and 5b on page 31.

Information on students awarded and paid Disabled Students’ Allowance is published annually by Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education England’. The latest statistics are available at the following link: http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx

Payments to full-time undergraduate students are presented in table 3b on page 21 and payments to part-time undergraduates and postgraduates in tables 5a and 5b on page 31.

Please refer to gov.uk for the latest quality assured data published for Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The Department has no plans to identify pyramid selling schemes.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) regulate how traders market and promote goods and services to consumers by prohibiting unfair commercial practices, such as the use of misleading actions or aggressive commercial practices. Establishing, operating or promoting a Pyramid scheme, where the intention is that a consumer receives compensation primarily from the introduction of other consumers into the scheme, rather than from the sale or consumption of products, is a banned practice under the CPRs. Enforcement of the CPRs is by local authority trading standards services.

Alleged breaches of the CPRs should be reported, in the first instance, to the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 08454 04 05 06 (https://www.adviceguide.org.uk/). The helpline offers a free service advising consumers on their rights and passes on details of complaints to Trading Standards services where appropriate.

The Government publishes comprehensive information about export licences granted and refused on gov.uk.

The Government has granted 167 licences for export of military goods and technology to Israel in the last year.

Of these 163 were for Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) with a value of £18,596,344 and 4 Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs).

OIELs are generally not limited by quantity or value and therefore we are unable to give a figure for the value of the goods that might be exported under OIELs.

The Government publishes (on a quarterly and annual basis) comprehensive information about export licences granted and refused on gov.uk.

A summary of the licences granted for export of military goods and technology to Saudi Arabia and Yemen for each of the last five full calendar years detailed below. Please note Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) are generally not limited by quantity or value and therefore we are unable to give a figure for the value of the goods that might be exported.

In 2013 the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) commissioned the International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base Report to understand how the UK compares with other nations in research terms. The report highlighted that the UK’s field-weighted citation impact was the highest of those countries included in the report, rising to 1.66 in 2012^[1], compared to the world average of 1.0.

All science capital spend is agreed as part of a wider allocations process, informed by information from Research Councils and other partner organisations, as well as by evidence provided in business cases for specific capital projects. In addition, the 2014 science capital consultation allowed stakeholders to provide feedback on the adequacy of capital research spending.

All capital projects undertake regular assurance reviews.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/performance-of-the-uk-research-base-international-comparison-2013

The Student Income and Expenditure Survey which took place earlier this year will report on the finances of HE students in England and Wales. The report is expected to be published in early 2016.

Maintenance support is a contribution to student living costs. However we are increasing the overall cash-in-hand we provide to students to support their cost of living.

The latest information published by UCAS showing the percentage of 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas in England who obtain a place at university, is shown in the table. The figures show that in 2014 the entry rate reached its highest ever level.

Entry rates of English 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas¹.

Source: UCAS end of cycle report 2014

1. Quintile 1 of the POLAR2 measure of disadvantage. This measure was developed by HEFCE and classifies small areas across the UK into five groups according to their level of young participation in HE. Each of these groups represents around 20 per cent of young people and is ranked from quintile 1 (areas with the lowest young participation rates, considered as the most disadvantaged) to quintile 5 (highest young participation rates, considered most advantaged).

We issued a public consultation on the FIT Review on 27^th August. The consultation will close on 23 October and we expect many responses from across the renewable energy industry, finance, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the general public.

Since then the Secretary of State has held meetings with the British Photovoltaic Association and the Solar Trade Association, and officials are planning a series of stakeholder events to be run across Great Britain, before the consultation ends.

Government incentives to deploy solar, in the form of the renewables obligation, the feed-in tariff scheme and contracts for different, have driven a very rapid increase in deployment – from approximately 43MW in May 2010, to 7872MW in July 2015^[1], totalling nearly 740,000 installations. DECC has recently consulted on measures under the FIT and the RO to bring the costs of support under these schemes under greater control and ensure that they provide value for money for electricity bill payers whilst still supporting deployment.

[1] Solar PV Deployment: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solar-photovoltaics-deployment

DECC published an independent review of evidence on the performance and impact of the Feed-in Tariff scheme, undertaken by Dr Colin Nolden, an academic at Sussex University, on 27 August 2015. This evidence review can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-a-review-of-the-feed-in-tariff-scheme.

Solar and wind have received support over the past five years from the Renewables Obligation (RO) and the Feed-in Tariff (FITs) schemes. The cost of the schemes is reclaimed from electricity consumers, not from general taxation.

The cost of supporting solar and wind through the RO in 2010/11 to 2014/15 was as follows (figures not adjusted for inflation):

Solar and some small-scale onshore wind are also supported by the FIT, but FIT costs are not available disaggregated by technology. Total support under FiT in 2013/14 (the latest year for which data are available) was £691m.

The previous government supported the Energy Crop Scheme which provided a five year subsidy support for farmers and landowners producing biomass for electricity and heat production. This scheme, which provided support for planting and developing new energy crops, closed on 31^st August 2013 to new applicants but continues to support those still in the scheme. The payments in the last five years were estimated by Natural England to be:

• 2010 – £425,942
• 2011 – £594,698
• 2012 – £1,320,813
• 2013 – £427,198
• 2014 – £330,438

Natural England, who run the scheme, estimate that 80% of the energy crops planted under the scheme will eventually be harvested for power generation, the remainder being for heat generation.

DECC holds data, obtained from HMRC, on the imports of fuel wood products, including: wood, wood pellets, wood chips, sawdust and wood waste. The vast majority of wood pellets are used for the purpose of electricity generation in large biomass plants. However, this may not be the case for other fuel wood products. This is summarised in the table below:

The 2013/14 Renewables Obligation sustainability data [1] indicate that, for data available, the average greenhouse gas saving from energy crops on the European Union fossil fuel electricity average, by consignment, was approximately 90% (within a range of 85-94%). Feedstock data will begin being collected for Renewable Heat Incentive from the beginning of October, but energy crops are expected to make up a small proportion of heat biomass feedstock.

As recommended in the Bioenergy Strategy, this year the UK government is introducing mandatory sustainability criteria for biomass supported under the Renewables Obligation and the Renewable Heat Incentive. This will ensure that bioenergy feedstock is from sustainable land types, and that feedstock must meet a minimum 60% greenhouse gas saving on the EU fossil fuel electricity average. These requirements apply to energy crops.

[1] https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/biomass-sustainability-dataset-2013-14

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich on 6 June 2015 to Question 4832:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-06-30/4832/.

The Government expects to lay amendments to the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 later this year and publish an Equality Analysis when the Regulations are laid. The Equality Analysis will include an assessment of the potential impacts of the changes.

More young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are applying to higher education than ever before. 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas were 72% more likely to apply to higher education in 2015 than in 2006.

Since 2012, institutions have been required to take more responsibility for widening participation. Institutions wishing to charge fees above the basic rate must have Access Agreements agreed by independent Director of Fair Access. The amounts institutions expect to spend on widening access through these agreements are as follows:

In addition, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates funding to institutions to help with the additional costs of recruiting and supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds through the Student Opportunity Allocation. In 2015/16, HEFCE is allocating £364.2m to institutions through the Allocation. In recent grant letters, Ministers have asked HEFCE to prioritise widening participation in their decisions about allocating funding from their block grant.

Through the Student Opportunity Allocation, the Government has provided £22 million seed-corn funding for the establishment of national networks of collaborative outreach, across 2014-15 and 2015-16. The networks bring together universities to provide a single point of contact for schools and colleges to find out about outreach opportunities for their students and to access information about higher education. There are 35 local and three national networks involving 200 universities and further education colleges. They are reaching 4,300 secondary schools and colleges. From 2016 onwards, funding will be provided by universities themselves.

More young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are applying to higher education than ever before. 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas were 72% more likely to apply to higher education in 2015 than in 2006.

Since 2012, institutions have been required to take more responsibility for widening participation. Institutions wishing to charge fees above the basic rate must have Access Agreements agreed by independent Director of Fair Access. The amounts institutions expect to spend on widening access through these agreements are as follows:

In addition, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates funding to institutions to help with the additional costs of recruiting and supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds through the Student Opportunity Allocation. In 2015/16, HEFCE is allocating £364.2m to institutions through the Allocation. In recent grant letters, Ministers have asked HEFCE to prioritise widening participation in their decisions about allocating funding from their block grant.

Through the Student Opportunity Allocation, the Government has provided £22 million seed-corn funding for the establishment of national networks of collaborative outreach, across 2014-15 and 2015-16. The networks bring together universities to provide a single point of contact for schools and colleges to find out about outreach opportunities for their students and to access information about higher education. There are 35 local and three national networks involving 200 universities and further education colleges. They are reaching 4,300 secondary schools and colleges. From 2016 onwards, funding will be provided by universities themselves.

The Government protected the science ring-fence in cash terms for financial year 2015/16 at £4.6bn. In addition the Chancellor announced in December 2014 a long-term commitment to investment in science infrastructure at £1.1bn per annum in real terms to 2021.

Decisions on the amount and allocation of funding beyond 2015/16 will be made as part of the Spending Review. We cannot pre-judge the Spending Review outcome.

The Government protected the science ring-fence in cash terms for financial year 2015/16 at £4.6bn. In addition the Chancellor announced in December 2014 a long-term commitment to investment in science infrastructure at £1.1bn per annum in real terms to 2021.

Decisions on the amount and allocation of funding beyond 2015/16 will be made as part of the Spending Review. We cannot pre-judge the Spending Review outcome.

The CE marking indicates that a product complies with one or more pieces of EU Single Market legislation. The cost of compliance for small businesses therefore varies significantly depending on which legislation applies, and reflects factors such as the complexity of the product and the risks associated with it. Whilst I have not made a specific assessment of these costs at an aggregate level, I will continue to press the European Commission to identify opportunities to reduce the burden of complying with Single Market legislation, particularly for SMEs, wherever possible.

The CE marking indicates that a product complies with one or more pieces of EU Single Market legislation. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills works with businesses, including small businesses, to support them in meeting the requirements of the legislation, for example by producing guidance, working with trade associations to raise awareness, and engaging directly with businesses to solve specific issues. In addition, I will continue to press the European Commission to identify opportunities to reduce the burden of complying with Single Market legislation, particularly for SMEs, wherever possible.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and UK Trade and Investment regularly offer export support to automotive companies. As part of our review of exports we are seeking views from industry, including the automotive sector, on what more can be done to drive UK exports. I met the Automotive Council on 17 June.

Apprentices must be employed during their apprenticeship, which must last at least a year. After investing in an apprentice and seeing them develop, most employers keep employing the individual when their apprenticeship is complete. We know that around 90% of apprentices are employed on completion of their apprenticeship with 71% being retained by the same employer.

(Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeships-evaluation-learner-survey-2014)

Our reforms are driving up the quality of apprenticeships to ensure that they fully meet employers’ needs; that apprentices are fully competent in their occupation at the end of their training and have the transferable skills needed to progress their career. This will make apprentices in future an even more attractive prospect for further employment.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is an independent body that advises the Government about the National Minimum Wage, including the rate for 16-17 year olds. The LPC recommended that from October 2015 the 16-17 year old rate would be £3.87 an (increase of 2.2%). The LPC’s recommendations follow consultation with businesses and workers and their representatives, together with extensive research and analysis. The LPC’s report can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-minimum-wage-low-pay-commission-report-2015. Having considered the LPC’s report, the Government accepted its recommendation and laid draft uprating regulations in Parliament on 23 June 2015.

Apprenticeships are paid jobs with high quality training. We are committed to 3 million apprenticeship starts during the next 5 years and are working with a range of organisations, including employers and training providers, to secure more apprenticeship opportunities across all sectors and for all ages.

The Government’s 2014 survey of apprentices showed that around 90% of apprentices are employed on completion of training (including 2% who were self-employed). 71% are with the same employer.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeships-evaluation-learner-survey-2014

Through the long-term economic plan the Government is creating the right business environment for automotive manufacturers to prosper by removing barriers to productivity and growth. We will do this through de-regulation, by promoting fair competition and by simplifying the business support landscape. We will work closely with the automotive sector, in particular through the Automotive Council, to understand its needs and what more the Government can do to help retain its competitive position within the global market.

Our Trade Advisers work with companies across the UK to provide step by step advice and guidance on automotive exports. Last year we supported £421m worth of automotive exports.

The steps we are taking for skills training in the West Midlands are the same as those throughout the country.

Apprenticeships are our priority for skills and after delivering 2.3m apprenticeships last parliament, we are committed to 3m starts this parliament. Employers are designing apprenticeships that are more responsive to the needs of business. Trailblazers are leading the way in new apprenticeship standards. Led by employers both large and small and professional bodies, they are developing new apprenticeship standards and assessment approaches to equip people with the skills they need

We are also committed to delivering traineeships which are an education and training programme with work experience, focused on giving 16-24 year olds the skills and experience they need to be able to compete for apprenticeships or other sustainable employment.

We are also prioritising skills funding for all adults without a level 2 qualification in English or maths and for the unemployed to enter and progress into work.

We are also making Advanced Learning Loans available to thousands of adults wishing to advance their current skills or retrain. Learners aged 24 and above studying at Level 3 and Level 4 can access loan support to help meet up-front fees, removing one of the main barriers to learning.

We are also establishing National Colleges, such as the National College for Advanced Manufacturing with facilities in Coventry, to deliver high level skills training in sectors that are critical to economic growth, where there are recognised gaps.

We are committed to 3 million apprenticeship starts during the next 5 years and we will work with employers to provide more apprenticeship opportunities for all ages but particularly for our young people.

Measures will include introducing a new duty on public bodies to ensure the employment of more apprentices in the public sector and encouraging employers to develop new apprenticeship standards including for job roles not previously covered by apprenticeships.

In addition, the funding of apprenticeships training undertaken by 16-18 year olds is more generous than for older age groups irrespective of whether they are following a framework or a new apprenticeship standard.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has employer facing teams and dedicated small business advisers that work with businesses across England to increase the availability of apprenticeship opportunities and Government funded training providers support over 3000 apprenticeships a year in Coventry.

The SFA also advised on the implementation of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Apprenticeship Strategy Action Plan for 2014/15 that included direct contact with a number of employers such as JLR, GE Power Conversion, National Grid, Caterpillar, IBM, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin and Alstom UK.

The Coventry Growth deal is providing £18 million in 2015/16 for an Apprenticeship Centre at Warwickshire College. This will provide state of the art equipment and will support additional apprenticeships starts and provision in advanced engineering and manufacturing.

All future spending decisions will be taken as part of the Spending Review.

In the last 5 years, we have increased funding for apprenticeships whilst cutting the overall level of the adult skills budget as a contribution to deficit reduction.

The Department of Business Innovation and Skills regularly receives representations from a wide variety of hon Members, employers, education and training providers and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery of apprenticeships matters.

Table 1 below shows the proportion of Apprenticeship starts in Coventry that were undertaken by those aged 19 and over from 2009/10 to 2013/14.

Adult skills funding is made available to further education providers, not local areas or regions. The funding system is demand led and money follows the learners.

Allocations for 2015-16 will be published for all colleges as a matter of course. These will be made available on the Skills Funding Agency website. Historic allocations are also available on the Skills Funding Agency website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2005-to-2013

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015

A budget of £3.91 billion was set for the 2015-16 financial year to fund adult Further Education and Skills. This was published in the Skills Funding Letter in February 2015 although the figure will be subject to revision in the budget.

All spending decisions for 2016-17 and beyond will be taken as part of the Spending Review, the timetable for which is yet to be finalised.

Post Office Limited’s Complaint Review and Mediation Scheme was set up in 2013 to consider cases from current and former subpostmasters relating to the Post Office Horizon IT system. This is an operational matter for Post Office Limited and the Scheme has been set up to be independent of Government.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has received a number of written representations from current and former sub-postmasters, both in direct correspondence and through correspondence received via hon Members, regarding Post Office Limited’s Complaint Review and Mediation Scheme. This is an operational matter for Post Office Limited and the Scheme has been set up to be independent of Government.

Table 1 shows apprenticeship starts in Coventry Local Education Authority by gender and academic year.

Table 1: Apprenticeship starts in Coventry Local Education Authority by Gender, 2009/10 to 2013/14

Notes:

1) Volumes are rounded to the nearest ten.

2) Local Education Authority is based upon the home postcode of the learner.

3) These figures are based on the geographic boundaries of regions as of May 2010.

Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by geography and age is published in the FE Data Library (first link) as a supplementary table (second link) to a Statistical First Release (SFR):

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/422358/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-level-and-age.xls

We have no plans to change the Skills Funding Agency’s budget allocation for 2015-16. It represents a fair funding settlement for skills in this country, as a partnership between Government, businesses and individuals. We continue to give top priority to apprenticeship as the gold standard for vocational education, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ annual funding for apprenticeships has now doubled over the lifetime of this Parliament.

Ministers frequently meet further education colleges to discuss matters of policy and implementation. Indicative funding for the 2015-16 financial year was set out in our skills funding statement for 2014-15 published in February 2014, and the Government has consistently emphasised the priority it is gives to apprenticeships in allocating funding. The 2015-16 allocations are consistent with a strategy that we have pursued since 2010, and colleges have had opportunity to respond to this by growing their apprenticeship provision, and opening up new income streams.

The overriding principle is that funding should follow the learner, and be allocated to the most valuable programmes. But the approach to funding also takes into account the impact on individual providers from year to year.

The Skills Funding Agency considers the impact on colleges and providers when agreeing allocations.

The Government does not plan skills funding and provision at local or regional level. The freedoms and flexibilities offered by the adult skills budget gives colleges the ability to offer apprenticeships and other provision to respond best to those priorities and meet the needs of learners and employers in the local area. The Skills Funding Agency will where appropriate seek the views of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on funding allocations.

In the region recent investments have included:

· £18 million for a new training facility at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. This will form part of the National College in Advanced Manufacturing opening in September 2015.

· £1.3m of Local Growth Fund to take forward the development of a new Apprenticeship Centre at Warwickshire College as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Deal.

· £1.2m in skills capital projects which will include FE establishments from 2016/17 to meet the skills needs of local employers.

· £783,000 of Regional Growth Fund to support the implementation of the Skills for Growth programme as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP City Deal.

Beyond apprenticeships, our funding priorities include traineeships to enable young people who are not yet work ready to develop the skills and experience they need to get into employment. We also prioritise English and maths for those who have yet to achieve GCSE Grade A* to C standard.

We have no plans to change the Skills Funding Agency’s budget allocation for 2015-16. It represents a fair funding settlement for skills in this country, as a partnership between Government, businesses and individuals. We continue to give top priority to apprenticeship as the gold standard for vocational education, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ annual funding for apprenticeships has now doubled over the lifetime of this Parliament.

Ministers frequently meet further education colleges to discuss matters of policy and implementation. Indicative funding for the 2015-16 financial year was set out in our skills funding statement for 2014-15 published in February 2014, and the Government has consistently emphasised the priority it is gives to apprenticeships in allocating funding. The 2015-16 allocations are consistent with a strategy that we have pursued since 2010, and colleges have had opportunity to respond to this by growing their apprenticeship provision, and opening up new income streams.

The overriding principle is that funding should follow the learner, and be allocated to the most valuable programmes. But the approach to funding also takes into account the impact on individual providers from year to year.

The Skills Funding Agency considers the impact on colleges and providers when agreeing allocations.

The Government does not plan skills funding and provision at local or regional level. The freedoms and flexibilities offered by the adult skills budget gives colleges the ability to offer apprenticeships and other provision to respond best to those priorities and meet the needs of learners and employers in the local area. The Skills Funding Agency will where appropriate seek the views of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on funding allocations.

In the region recent investments have included:

· £18 million for a new training facility at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. This will form part of the National College in Advanced Manufacturing opening in September 2015.

· £1.3m of Local Growth Fund to take forward the development of a new Apprenticeship Centre at Warwickshire College as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Deal.

· £1.2m in skills capital projects which will include FE establishments from 2016/17 to meet the skills needs of local employers.

· £783,000 of Regional Growth Fund to support the implementation of the Skills for Growth programme as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP City Deal.

Beyond apprenticeships, our funding priorities include traineeships to enable young people who are not yet work ready to develop the skills and experience they need to get into employment. We also prioritise English and maths for those who have yet to achieve GCSE Grade A* to C standard.

We have no plans to change the Skills Funding Agency’s budget allocation for 2015-16. It represents a fair funding settlement for skills in this country, as a partnership between Government, businesses and individuals. We continue to give top priority to apprenticeship as the gold standard for vocational education, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ annual funding for apprenticeships has now doubled over the lifetime of this Parliament.

Ministers frequently meet further education colleges to discuss matters of policy and implementation. Indicative funding for the 2015-16 financial year was set out in our skills funding statement for 2014-15 published in February 2014, and the Government has consistently emphasised the priority it is gives to apprenticeships in allocating funding. The 2015-16 allocations are consistent with a strategy that we have pursued since 2010, and colleges have had opportunity to respond to this by growing their apprenticeship provision, and opening up new income streams.

The overriding principle is that funding should follow the learner, and be allocated to the most valuable programmes. But the approach to funding also takes into account the impact on individual providers from year to year.

The Skills Funding Agency considers the impact on colleges and providers when agreeing allocations.

The Government does not plan skills funding and provision at local or regional level. The freedoms and flexibilities offered by the adult skills budget gives colleges the ability to offer apprenticeships and other provision to respond best to those priorities and meet the needs of learners and employers in the local area. The Skills Funding Agency will where appropriate seek the views of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on funding allocations.

In the region recent investments have included:

· £18 million for a new training facility at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. This will form part of the National College in Advanced Manufacturing opening in September 2015.

· £1.3m of Local Growth Fund to take forward the development of a new Apprenticeship Centre at Warwickshire College as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Deal.

· £1.2m in skills capital projects which will include FE establishments from 2016/17 to meet the skills needs of local employers.

· £783,000 of Regional Growth Fund to support the implementation of the Skills for Growth programme as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP City Deal.

Beyond apprenticeships, our funding priorities include traineeships to enable young people who are not yet work ready to develop the skills and experience they need to get into employment. We also prioritise English and maths for those who have yet to achieve GCSE Grade A* to C standard.

We have no plans to change the Skills Funding Agency’s budget allocation for 2015-16. It represents a fair funding settlement for skills in this country, as a partnership between Government, businesses and individuals. We continue to give top priority to apprenticeship as the gold standard for vocational education, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ annual funding for apprenticeships has now doubled over the lifetime of this Parliament.

Ministers frequently meet further education colleges to discuss matters of policy and implementation. Indicative funding for the 2015-16 financial year was set out in our skills funding statement for 2014-15 published in February 2014, and the Government has consistently emphasised the priority it is gives to apprenticeships in allocating funding. The 2015-16 allocations are consistent with a strategy that we have pursued since 2010, and colleges have had opportunity to respond to this by growing their apprenticeship provision, and opening up new income streams.

The overriding principle is that funding should follow the learner, and be allocated to the most valuable programmes. But the approach to funding also takes into account the impact on individual providers from year to year.

The Skills Funding Agency considers the impact on colleges and providers when agreeing allocations.

The Government does not plan skills funding and provision at local or regional level. The freedoms and flexibilities offered by the adult skills budget gives colleges the ability to offer apprenticeships and other provision to respond best to those priorities and meet the needs of learners and employers in the local area. The Skills Funding Agency will where appropriate seek the views of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on funding allocations.

In the region recent investments have included:

· £18 million for a new training facility at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. This will form part of the National College in Advanced Manufacturing opening in September 2015.

· £1.3m of Local Growth Fund to take forward the development of a new Apprenticeship Centre at Warwickshire College as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Deal.

· £1.2m in skills capital projects which will include FE establishments from 2016/17 to meet the skills needs of local employers.

· £783,000 of Regional Growth Fund to support the implementation of the Skills for Growth programme as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP City Deal.

Beyond apprenticeships, our funding priorities include traineeships to enable young people who are not yet work ready to develop the skills and experience they need to get into employment. We also prioritise English and maths for those who have yet to achieve GCSE Grade A* to C standard.

We have no plans to change the Skills Funding Agency’s budget allocation for 2015-16. It represents a fair funding settlement for skills in this country, as a partnership between Government, businesses and individuals. We continue to give top priority to apprenticeship as the gold standard for vocational education, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ annual funding for apprenticeships has now doubled over the lifetime of this Parliament.

Ministers frequently meet further education colleges to discuss matters of policy and implementation. Indicative funding for the 2015-16 financial year was set out in our skills funding statement for 2014-15 published in February 2014, and the Government has consistently emphasised the priority it is gives to apprenticeships in allocating funding. The 2015-16 allocations are consistent with a strategy that we have pursued since 2010, and colleges have had opportunity to respond to this by growing their apprenticeship provision, and opening up new income streams.

The overriding principle is that funding should follow the learner, and be allocated to the most valuable programmes. But the approach to funding also takes into account the impact on individual providers from year to year.

The Skills Funding Agency considers the impact on colleges and providers when agreeing allocations.

The Government does not plan skills funding and provision at local or regional level. The freedoms and flexibilities offered by the adult skills budget gives colleges the ability to offer apprenticeships and other provision to respond best to those priorities and meet the needs of learners and employers in the local area. The Skills Funding Agency will where appropriate seek the views of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on funding allocations.

In the region recent investments have included:

· £18 million for a new training facility at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. This will form part of the National College in Advanced Manufacturing opening in September 2015.

· £1.3m of Local Growth Fund to take forward the development of a new Apprenticeship Centre at Warwickshire College as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Deal.

· £1.2m in skills capital projects which will include FE establishments from 2016/17 to meet the skills needs of local employers.

· £783,000 of Regional Growth Fund to support the implementation of the Skills for Growth programme as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP City Deal.

Beyond apprenticeships, our funding priorities include traineeships to enable young people who are not yet work ready to develop the skills and experience they need to get into employment. We also prioritise English and maths for those who have yet to achieve GCSE Grade A* to C standard.

The Student Forum was established by the Government to help share best practice between local councils, Electoral Registration Officers and universities. It does not require funding itself; instead, the Government has funded national organisations and Electoral Registration Officers to carry out activities to increase the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register.

This funding amounts to £14 million over the past two financial years, and includes a specific allocation of £530,000 for student organisations.

In 2014/15 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have received £27 million resource funding to support them in the transition to Individual Electoral Registration.

EROs have also received a share of £6.8 million funding to support activities such as targeted canvassing, mail-outs and communications campaigns aimed at increasing the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register, with allocations based on levels of under registration. This funding is paid to EROs via grants under Section 31 of the Local Government Act (2003).

Where EROs can justify the need for further support, bids for additional funding can be made. These are assessed on a case by case basis.

In 2014/15 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have received £27 million resource funding to support them in the transition to Individual Electoral Registration.

EROs have also received a share of £6.8 million funding to support activities such as targeted canvassing, mail-outs and communications campaigns aimed at increasing the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register, with allocations based on levels of under registration. This funding is paid to EROs via grants under Section 31 of the Local Government Act (2003).

Where EROs can justify the need for further support, bids for additional funding can be made. These are assessed on a case by case basis.

I refer the hon Member to the reply I gave to the hon Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith) to question UIN 223662.

The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills marketing budgets for the financial year 2015/16 have not yet been decided.

In 2013/14 there were more non-EU international students studying in the UK than ever before (310,200). More recent data from UCAS show a continuing growth trend for undergraduates: in 2014/15 there was an increase on the previous year of 5.7% in the number of overseas accepted applicants; and for 2015/16, February figures show the number of overseas applicants higher than at the same stage last year.

In 2013 Government published its International Education Strategy which includes a range of measures to strengthen the UK’s attractiveness as a study destination. For example, promotion activity through the Education UK brand, which is managed by the British Council, the ‘Britain is GREAT’ marketing campaign, which has an education pillar and ministerial engagement with overseas Governments through international visits. This promotes the breadth of the UK’s higher education offer and long-term education relationships through partnerships between UK and overseas institutions.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has not funded advertising specifically aimed at non-EU nationals in the last five years. Government promotion of UK higher education to students overseas principally takes place through the British Council, the Britain is GREAT marketing campaign which has an education pillar, and via ministerial bilateral engagement.

In the last five years ministers have promoted UK education opportunities through a wide range of overseas visits.

UK Universities are autonomous bodies and determine their own recruitment policies.

Cabinet Office has provided over £30m of funding to all Electoral Reform Officers (EROs) to support the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER). This funding has been paid via grants under Section 31 of the Local Government Act (2003) in England and Wales and via invoices in Scotland and was given to EROs to meet their statutory obligations around the introduction of IER. They are non-ring-fenced to allow EROs to make their own decisions about how best to allocate funding to successfully deliver IER. We also sought and received signed declarations from Section 151 officers in England and Wales and EROs in Scotland to ensure that there would be no reduction in current levels of funding and that the allocations were intended to be supplementary funding to cover the net additional cost of IER only.

The £4.2m funding was paid via grants under Section 31 of the Local Government Act (2003). These are non-ring-fenced to allow Electoral Registration Officers to make their own decisions about how best to allocate funding to increase voter registration.

Over £10.5 million of funding has been shared across every Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in Great Britain between financial years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to support the costs of activities to increase the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register. Allocations were based on levels of under registration and are therefore weighted to areas with higher concentrations of unregistered electors, including students. Throughout the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, EROs have been able to bid for additional funding where they can justify the need for further support.

The Electoral Commission has lead responsibility for public awareness activity to promote Individual Electoral Registration. In addition, the Government uses its own social media channels to promote voter registration.

The Cabinet Office established and manages a Student Forum which enables and encourages all council and Electoral Registration Officers to directly communicate their issues, queries and good practices relating to student electoral registration. The Forum exists to support closer working relationships between universities and authorities and in addition to its work with electoral services receives representation direct from the higher education sector.

We are only mid-way through the transition to Individual Electoral Registration and so the current electoral registers offer only a partial snapshot of the registration landscape.

Electoral statistics based on the last electoral registers published under the previous system are available on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pop-estimate/electoral-statistics-for-uk/2013/stb---2013-electoral-statistics.html

ONS plans to publish statistics for England and Wales on 26 February based on the registers as at 1 December 2014 and on 16 April for the Scottish registers as at 2 March 2015.

The Government is investing over £14 million between financial years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to support the costs of activities aimed at increasing the completeness and accuracy of the register.

Over £10.5 million of this funding is being shared across every Electoral Registration Officer in Great Britain with Coventry City Council receiving a total of £70,000. Coventry City Council has also been allocated over £140,000 resource funding to support the transition to Individual Electoral Registration.

In addition, on-line registration makes registering to vote more accessible than ever before.

The Cabinet Office has been running a student forum since early 2013 which brings together organisations that represent universities and students to agree and evaluate best practice to register students.

In addition the Government has recently announced £9.8 million to be used to maximise registration rates. Part of this allocation will go to organisations that can support activities to register currently under registered groups including students. £6.8 million will go to Electoral Registration Officers to support their activities to register their key groups such as students. This is in addition to the previous allocation of £4.2 million which has, in part, been spent on increasing the rate of student registrations.

The Government does not support any corporate welfare schemes.

Better Capital notified the department of City Link’s imminent administration by telephone on 23 December 2014. Otherwise, no Ministers or officials have had meetings with individuals or groups representing City Link in the last 12 months.

As my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has stated, he was in frequent contact with the Unions over the Christmas and New Year period to discuss developments and BIS officials have been in regular contact with City Link’s administrator.

The Department for Work and Pension’s rapid response teams will support individuals to find alternative employment. The service is delivered with local skills and employment partners and tailored to an individual’s needs. It includes some or all of the following elements:

o Information, advice and guidance

o Help with job searches including CV writing, interview skills, where to find jobs and how to apply for them

o Help to identify transferable skills and skills gaps (linked to the local labour market)

o Training to update skills, learn new ones and gain industry recognised certification that will improve employability

o Help to overcome barriers to attending training or securing a job or self-employment such as child care costs, necessary tools, work clothes, travel costs etc.

Under the Flexible Working Regulations, brought in on 30 June, all employees with 26 continuous weeks of service have the right to request flexible working from their employer. Individuals on zero hours contracts, who are employees, can request a change in their contracts, which could also include a request to move to a fixed hours contract.

Work is the best route out of poverty. Universal Credit allows people who work to keep more of the money that they earn by introducing work allowances, which, in most cases, are more generous than the current system. The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that 2.4 million working families will be better off, potentially by £167 per month, as a result of Universal Credit. Furthermore, additional support for childcare costs for families on Universal Credit will see 500,000 working families getting more out of the money they earn.

The Government is backing the three-year Your Life campaign, which aims to increase the number of people participating in a wide range of careers that need skills in science, technology, engineering and maths, particularly women. To date more than 200 organisations have pledged action to the campaign to boost the role of women in STEM fields. A publicity drive to encourage young people, especially girls, aged 14 to 16 to take STEM subjects, will launch in November 2014.

We fund the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering to run a joint STEM Diversity Programme to understand and address issues of diversity, including gender, in the STEM workforce. Actions include a 10 point plan to ensure that women in science, technology, engineering and manufacturing have the same opportunities to progress in their career as their male counterparts

Business is being encouraged to invest by a strong stable economy; competitive corporate tax rates; a good regulatory environment; strong legal frameworks; a dynamic labour market and a long-term sustainable industrial strategy. This provides stability for UK businesses and gives them the confidence to invest.

A £3.2 billion Regional Growth Fund (RGF) is providing investment, across England, for projects and programmes such as capital investment, training and research & development. Additionally, the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) has made £345 million available, over 5 national rounds and a regional scheme, to support the repatriation, anchoring and growth of supply chains in England.

The Government continues to support inward investment in the UK and, in Coventry & Warwickshire, the local LEP successfully achieved 43 Foreign Direct Investment projects in 2013/14 (30 involving UKTI) - an increase on 2012/13 - creating 2,427 new jobs and safeguarding 719. The majority of these projects are spread across advanced engineering & manufacturing and business, professional & financial services.

Through Reshore UK, which brings together the expertise of UKTI and MAS, we are backing business every step of the way to bring back jobs and strengthen our manufacturing base. The Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) has made £345 million available to support the repatriation, anchoring and growth of manufacturing supply chains in the UK.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) has a specific requirement to support manufacturing supply chain activity. £59.3 million has been allocated over 3 years and more than 17,250 manufacturing firms have already received specialist support from MAS, helping them improve and grow.

To support commercialisation of technology and innovation, Government has launched the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and 16 new university-based EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing. Budget 2014 included a further £74 million investment in the Catapult network.

Government has also created a Skills package that supports businesses in taking on apprentices and provides support for investment in higher level skills: providing an additional £85 million to extend Apprenticeship Grants for Employers Scheme; and £20 million for apprenticeships up to postgraduate level.

The Government's economic policy objective is to achieve 'strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries.' The economy is growing and unemployment falling in all regions.

To date significant progress has been made to achieve this. This includes:

· Industrial strategy, through which the whole of government is working in partnership with industry to set the long term direction needed to give business the confidence to invest. Industrial strategy has already helped to create jobs and encourage significant investment by industry. Notable examples include the announcements by Siemens and the UK’s Associated British Ports to invest a total of £310m in wind turbine factories in Hull and across the UK creating over 1,000 jobs and Balfour Beatty to spend a record £1bn in 2014 on contracts with SMEs across the country.

· Growth Deals. These are a crucial part of the Government’s long term economic plan to secure a better future and stronger economy for our country. The first £6bn of local projects agreed under the first wave of Growth Deals were announced in July 2014. This includes £74.1million invested in the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership area, which will help to create at least 1,000 jobs and allow up to 1,000 homes to be built. It will also generate up to £30million in public and private investment

· Finally, the Regional Growth Fund which is a competitive £3.2 billion government fund operating across England to provide grants to private sector projects and programmes with significant potential for economic growth and support particular areas and communities that are currently dependent on the public sector for employment. To date £2.9 billion has been allocated across England with over £1 billion going to projects and programmes in the north and £670 million to nationwide programmes. These investments have in turn generated £2.4 billion of private investment with a further £13.6 billion to follow over the next ten years.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) staff are providing expert trade advice and practical support to UK-based manufacturing companies growing their business overseas and helping them trade successfully in foreign markets.

Exports of manufactured goods from the West Midlands region increased by over £4 million between 2012 and 2013.

UKTI involvement has directly assisted a number of West Midland companies increase exports and overseas sales; leading to bigger workforces, investment in new machinery and expansion of premises. Additionally, UKTI has helped West Midland companies attend international trade shows, raising companies’ profiles and significantly increasing the total business turnover. UKTI also provides overseas sales support enabling West Midlands companies to successfully acquire multi million pound contracts.

I have received no recent representations about ensuring the presence of workforce representatives on Board of Directors of companies. Giving employees both a meaningful stake and a ‘voice’ in the business can lead to growth and productivity benefits. While what is right will vary from business to business, I therefore encourage employee ownership. Guidance, model documents and links to further expert advice for businesses and employees considering a move to employee ownership, are at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employee-ownership-company-model-documentation

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employee-ownership-guide-for-employees

Research also suggests a link between employee engagement and enhanced employee wellbeing. Initiatives such as Engage for Success (http://www.engageforsuccess.org/) support employers to bring these practices into their workplaces.

In 2011, the Government published the Carbon Plan describing how the UK will make the transition to a low carbon economy in the most cost effective way. The Plan sets out a unified strategy for reducing emissions across all sectors of the economy, including: buildings, transport, industry, power, agriculture and waste.

The Government will set a new unified strategy in an updated Carbon Plan, which will be published after the Fifth Carbon Budget has been set in law, in 2016. The Government sets out on an annual basis its assessment of the progress made in each sector of the economy in response to the Committee on Climate Change’s annual progress report. The Government’s latest response was published on 15 October 2014.

In addition, Government Departments, industry and academia are working collaboratively on the development of long-term decarbonisation and energy efficiency roadmaps for the eight most heat intensive sectors in the UK. These roadmaps will enable Government and industry to identify and set out opportunities for reducing emissions in industry while remaining competitive.

The Department’s finance systems do not hold data on total government support to business since 2010.

The Government announced an increase of 3.34% to maximum maintenance loans for the 2015/16 academic year earlier this year. This increase will apply to all rates of maintenance loan, including the higher rate loan for students living away from home and studying in London, where living costs (including those for accommodation) are generally higher.

Decisions on student support arrangements for higher education courses are taken on an annual basis. The Government will review student support arrangements for the 2016/17 academic year in 2015.

Grading is being introduced into new Apprenticeships through the Trailblazer process. Groups of employers are coming together to design Apprenticeship standards and assessments. All new Apprenticeships must be graded, and we have made grading of the end-point assessment a minimum requirement of the new Apprenticeship programme.

Having had their standards approved and published in March, the first phase of Trailblazer projects are now working on their assessment plans, including implementation of the grading requirement.

Grading is important to ensure qualifications are aspirational for all – including those on track to pass who could benefit from being challenged to aim higher.

Information will be collected via the Individualised Learner Record for the 2013/14 academic year onwards on the length of time a learner has been with their employer prior to starting their apprenticeship.

The Government has announced a number of policies that have been informed by the review's findings, including two pilots for 18-21 year olds claiming Jobseeker's Allowance aimed at improving basic skills in Maths and English for those without level 2 from the beginning of their claim and ensuring people receive work or skills base activity best suited to their needs after six months. We will also be piloting, for the first time, extending Job Centre Plus advisor support to 16 and 17 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and not in receipt of an out of work benefit. The Government has also introduced new statutory guidance for schools on careers guidance, and announced the creation of an online portal for post-16 education and training opportunities.

The Prime Minister and I commissioned work last summer to look at provision for 16-24 year olds to see if more could be done to help young people into work. This has informed internal policy advice that has been provided to myself and the Prime Minister on an ongoing basis. A number of initial findings led to announcements by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement, and by myself in February 2014. Further findings will be announced over time.

There were 89,370 recorded visits to the Find an Apprenticeship Training Organisation[1] web page between April 2013 and May 2014. This counts the number of visits to the page not the number of individuals who visit.

Please note that the figure provided is used to indicate the use of a specific web page and is not a recognised measure of interest in Apprenticeships.

[1]http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/employers/find-an-apprenticeship-training-organisation.aspx

Information collected centrally through the Individualised Learner Record does not identify whether an individual who started an Apprenticeship in the 2012/13 academic year was an existing employee or a new employee.

Funding has been awarded to one project focusing on the unified communications sector. A project led by Freedom Communications was awarded funding of £786,503 over four years. This project seeks to address a skills need within the Unified Communications Technology (UCT) sector - a business enabling technology that benefits the economy through improved productivity. Freedom Communications (a UCT employer) has developed the project to address skills gaps through the creation of a UCT Higher Apprentice programme to develop a skilled workforce, delivering end to end skills by working with schools, delivering pre employability qualifications to enhance the skills of the future workforce.

There is no requirement for someone using the employee shareholder employment status to register with any government department or agency. Therefore, Government does not hold numbers.

The employee shareholder employment status is a voluntary option that people may wish to consider using.

There is no requirement for companies considering using the employee shareholder employment status to register with any government department or agency. Therefore, Government does not hold numbers.

The employee shareholder employment status is a voluntary option that people may wish to consider using.

The Government does not hold information on independent advisers used by individuals in relation to the employee shareholder employment status.

It is for the individual to make their own decision about who to approach for independent advice, and a matter for the individual and company to agree the payment for independent advice.

The employee shareholder status is a new employment status that is optional for companies and offer and for individuals to take up. There is no requirement for individuals to apply to Government to become an employee shareholder or for companies to register or apply to Government to use it.

The Government has therefore made no assessment of levels of current or future take-up.

The employee shareholder status is a new employment status that is optional for companies and offer and for individuals to take up. There is no requirement for individuals to apply to Government to become an employee shareholder or for companies to register or apply to Government to use it.

The Government has therefore made no assessment of levels of current or future take-up.

The Government's International Education Strategy, published in July 2013, included an analysis of the value of international education to the UK. This analysis showed that international students across all parts of the education sector (higher education, further education, English language training, and independent schools) were estimated to contribute £13.6bn to the UK economy in 2011. More recent data indicates that this figure rose to £13.9bn in 2012.

International students also bring indirect economic benefits to the UK, including: strengthening the quality, diversity and reputation of the UK education sector; providing a pipeline of prospective students who may study at higher levels in the UK; and improving overseas business, research, social and cultural links.

The International Education Strategy and the accompanying analytical narrative can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-education-strategy-global-growth-and-prosperity.

The Home Office published an impact assessment on its website on the 11 October 2013 entitled ‘Regulating migrant access to health services in the UK', in which it estimates the impact of implementing a health surcharge as outlined in the Immigration Bill. The Home Office predicts that implementing a health surcharge could cause Tier 4 visa grants to fall by approximately 830, which will have an impact on higher education providers of approximately £11 million per year. The surcharge is £200 per annum for most migrants however, to reflect their contribution to UK growth, a concession was factored into the Immigration Bill for students - they will pay £150 per annum rather than the full cost.

BIS will continue to work closely with the Home Office and the higher education sector to monitor the effects of the surcharge on student numbers and to ensure that the impact is manageable.

The Government welcomes the benefits that international students bring to the UK as highlighted in theOxford Economics report entitled Economic Costs and Benefits of International Students, January 2013.

In July the same year, we published our International Education Strategy which estimated that in 2011/12 international higher education students contributed £10.2bn to the UK economy through tuition fees and living expenses. The Strategy also recognised the wider benefits that students bring in boosting the local economy where they study, as well as enhancing our cultural life, and broadening the educational experience of the UK students they study alongside. It is because we value this contribution that there is no cap on the number of genuine overseas students who can come to the UK, nor do we have plans to introduce one.

After completion of study, all students who can secure a skilled job from a licensed sponsor and are paid at least £20,300 are welcome to stay and work in the UK. Those who complete a PhD have up to a year to find a graduate level job and move on to Tier 2 or move on to the graduate entrepreneur or exceptional talent schemes in Tier 1.

In order for an individual to become an employee shareholder, the individual must obtain advice from a relevant independent adviser on the terms and effect of the proposed agreement. An employee shareholder employment contract is of no effect if an individual does not get independent advice before the agreement is made. It is in the interest of the individual to understand the employee shareholder contract and its implications before they accept a job.

Advice must be given by a qualified lawyer, certified trade union member, certified worker at an advice centre or a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives who is employed in a solicitor's practice. The law does not permit advice from a person employed by the employer to count towards fulfilling the legal advice requirement.

The law is already clear in this area. Government has drawn on the same legal mechanism detailing the provision of advice which is set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Detailed guidance on the employee shareholder status was published on the www.gov.uk website before the status came into law on 1 September 2013, and this guidance includes a section on who qualifies as a relevant independent advisor.

Theft from a shop is one way in which the offence of Theft contrary to Section 1(1) & 7 of the Theft Act 1968 is committed. There is no specific offence of that title. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of prosecutions for the specific offence of shoplifting. Identifying the number of prosecutions in which there was one or more charges relating to theft from a shop would require a manual exercise to review individual files which would incur a disproportionate cost.

The CPS does maintain a central record of the number of offences of shoplifting charged under section 1 of the Theft Act 1968 in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in magistrates’ courts. It is not possible to identify the number of defendants or cases prosecuted from this data. The table below shows the number of shoplifting offences that reached a first hearing for the last five years:

The CPS’s offences data provides no indication of the final prosecution outcome, or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at the time of finalisation. It is also often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same victim.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

We are not aware that any department has plans to open a foodbank.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

No staff in Cabinet Office are paid at a rate below the London Living Wage of £10.55 per hour.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Government is committed to respecting, protecting and promoting our democracy. We want to build upon recent record levels of individuals registering to vote and participating in elections. Our Register to Vote website is widely used by young people: over 7.83 million online applications have been submitted by 16-24 year olds since the service was introduced in 2014. Ahead of the General Election in June 2017 young people aged under 25 were particularly engaged, submitting over 1 million applications - more than 35% of all applications received in the pre-election period.

Since then we have taken further steps to promote democratic engagement amongst young people. Making use of the Suffrage Fund, we have delivered three projects to promote youth engagement: a scheme to recruit and train 1000 youth Democracy Ambassadors; the development and publication of a toolkit for parliamentarians to engage young people; and a new history and citizenship resource for secondary schools (www.suffrageresources.org.uk).

The Government’s recent report, Democratic Engagement: Respecting, Protecting and Promoting Our Democracy, sets out how we work with partners to encourage democratic participation. This includes National Democracy Week, which convenes youth focused organisations such as the British Youth Council, UK Youth, Elevation Networks and Patchwork Foundation to deliver targeted democratic engagement activity. The report also highlights steps to help Higher Education providers work with local authorities to promote electoral registration amongst their student populations.

DCMS provides funding for the UK Youth Parliament, Youth Select Committee and Make Your Mark ballot which support young people to raise issues on local and national levels.

Make Your Mark is a ballot of youth views which gives the UK Youth Parliament its mandate and gets young people, aged 11-18, involved in democracy, with over 1 million young people voting in 2018. (http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/makeyourmark/)

Data on the registration and voting rates of EU citizens in the 2019 European elections is not collected centrally. In line with their statutory duty, the Electoral Commission will be publishing a report into the administration of the polls later this year.

The Government is committed to building upon recent record levels of electors registering to vote and participating in elections. One year on from the Democratic Engagement Plan the Government published its follow up report, Democratic Engagement: Respecting, Protecting and Promoting Our Democracy, setting out progress in 2018 and priorities for 2019 and beyond.

The UK Government will help equip councils and civil society groups to improve engagement in democratic events such as at the upcoming local elections in May. This will be achieved by: sharing our knowledge and products, including our Suffrage Centenary 'Educate' projects for young people; insight and solutions to tackle barriers to electoral registration for ethnic minorities and those who are homeless or move frequently; by evaluating progress on student registration; and we have an ‘Easy Read’ guide on the Register to Vote website homepage, produced in partnership with the Royal Mencap Society, to make it easier for people with learning difficulties to apply online.

Since its introduction in 2014, the Individual Electoral Registration digital service has been a huge success, facilitating over 38 million applications; with over 75% of these being made online.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The government is committed to paying people a decent living wage, which is being addressed through the national living wage, with a commitment to increase this to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020. As of 31 March 2018, 0.9% of civil servants employed by the Government inside of London were paid below the London Living Wage rate of £10.20 per hour and 1.9% of civil servants outside of Londno, including where their location is not specified in this dataset, were paid below the Living Wage rate of £8.75 per hour. Data is not held centrally on indirectly employed agency staff and contractors working in government departments.

It remains the priority of the Government to leave the European Union with a deal.

Government is not contingency planning to hold European Parliamentary Elections.

We are committed to the health and wellbeing of all our staff, including helping them to manage stress in the workplace.

We have committed to delivering the Thriving at Work standards to refine our approach to mental health support in the workplace. The Civil Service health and wellbeing strategy features specific actions including:

• A Health and Wellbeing Dashboard which tracks progress against six health and wellbeing indicators.
• Wellbeing Confident Leaders interventions to equip all Senior Civil Servants with the knowledge and tools to understand their impact on staff stress and embed wellbeing into planning, decision-making, communications and change management.
• A Resilience and Wellbeing toolkit that includes learning, resources, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and practical tips to manage resilience and wellbeing individually or in team supplemented by departmental resources.
• Promoting softer adjustments for mental ill health such as adjustable start and finish times and working from home

Building a network of an estimated 4000 Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA’s) or equivalent who are equipped with the knowledge to recognise early symptoms and provide initial help to colleagues experiencing mental health concerns.

Whilst we have no seen evidence of successful interference, we are not complacent: this Government takes the security and integrity of our electoral processes extremely seriously. The Government is committed to working together with a full range of partners: academia, businesses, charities, regulators and civil society to respect, protect, and promote our democracy.

Protecting the UK’s electoral mechanics from foreign cyber interference is one of the National Cyber Security Centre’s key priorities. The NCSC offers political parties access to the best cyber security guidance and support, and will provide cyber security guidance to the range of bodies – notably local authorities – involved in an election.

It is also the responsibility of organisations and individuals to do what they can to reduce the vulnerability of data, which is the most effective method to deny states and others the opportunity to do harm or interfere. This is why we have spent £1.9 billion on cyber security, including establishing the NCSC since 2016.

There is also ongoing work with local authorities and electoral administrators to ensure our elections remain secure. Within these broad programmes of work to secure our democratic processes, costs specifically to secure elections from outside interference are not recorded separately.

No such estimate has been made. The Government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership. The Government remains committed to delivering on the result of the 2016 EU referendum by leaving the EU.

As has been the policy of successive governments, the government does not comment on matters relating to the intelligence agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament scrutinises the policies, expenditure, administration and operations of the intelligence agencies on behalf of Parliament.

As at 31 March 2018, the GCHQ headcount is made up of 35% Women and 65% Men. These figures have remained constant since 2010. Further detail can be found in the recently published document “GCHQ Gender Pay Gap Report 2018”.

We have not seen evidence of successful interference in UK democratic processes. However, we are not complacent, as the Prime Minister said: we will do what is necessary to protect ourselves, and work with our allies to do likewise. Cabinet Office coordinates cross-Government work to protect our democracy.

The numbers of Civil Servants for each year from 2010-2018 earning below £30,000; and above £30,000 are:

Year Below 30K Above 30K

2010 403,700 117,850
2011 367,620 125,250
2012 339,370 118,090
2013 322,560 120,810
2014 304,280 129,210
2015 297,600 135,400
2016 277,710 139,910
2017 276,300 142,570
2018 273,380 154,890

Data on salary is missing for a small number of Civil Servants, who are not counted in these figures.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Government is confident that the Transparency of Lobbying Act, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 is working well in requiring consultant lobbyists to declare on whose behalf they are lobbying. The Act complements existing transparency mechanisms including the quarterly publication of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and industry-led regulation such as subscription to industry codes of conduct.

The Ministerial Code is clear that Ministers must not accept invitations to act as patrons or otherwise offer support to pressure groups and Ministers must ensure that they do not place themselves, or appear to place themselves under an obligation to such groups. The Code also requires Minister to ensure that no conflict arises or could reasonably be perceived to arise between their public duties and their private interest, financial or otherwise.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Cabinet Office holds data on socio-economic background (SEB) in the following ways: from applications to the Fast Stream graduate programme and the centrally run accelerated development schemes, including the Future Leaders’ Scheme (FLS), the High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) and the Senior Leaders’ Scheme (SLS) and is piloting other ways of gaining data, on a voluntary and anonymous basis, including from the annual People Survey, in future years.

The SEB measures are questions which the Civil Service developed over two years to assess socio-economic background.

The Civil Service Fast Stream has been recording socioeconomic background data of its applicants since 2011.

The Civil Service Future Leaders Scheme (FLS) and Senior Leaders Scheme (SLS) have been recording SEB data from its applicants since 2016. The Civil Service High Potential Development Scheme have been recording SEB data from its applicants since 2017.

Individual departments may have undertaken surveys of the socio-economic background of their employees, but this is not held by the Cabinet Office.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The rules about transparency of political donations are clearly set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Those rules are effective at root because they prevent non-UK nationals living abroad from making large donations to political parties here and provide for transparency by publishing donations and loans on the Electoral Commission website under Donations and Loans.

The Government will continue to work with the Electoral Commission to ensure there is sufficient guidance on donations to political parties and campaigners.

As part of the Suffrage Centenary programme, the Government has been leading on a number of projects designed to promote democratic engagement and electoral registration in secondary schools. This includes the Parliamentarian Toolkit and Secondary Schools Resource.

The Toolkit includes activities and worksheets that parliamentarians can use with pupils when visiting schools or engaging with young people at youth clubs or on social media. It has been designed to teach young people about their democratic rights today and the history of those who fought for these rights. Exercises will help generate discussion and encourage young people to think about the role of democracy in their lives.

The Government has also commissioned the Historical Association to develop a Schools Resource which will be launched later this year. The Resource will use a historical knowledge base to improve pupils’ understanding of UK democracy, democratic institutions and of how they can participate in our democratic processes today. While the funding is England-only, Devolved Administrations are welcome to utilise the materials.

The official residences available to government ministers are:

• Flats above 10 and 11 Downing Street, which are available for the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively;
• 1 Carlton Gardens, leased from the Crown Estate, which has been used as the official residence for the Foreign Secretary;
• Three flats in Admiralty House, to be allocated at the Prime Minister’s discretion; and
• Hillsborough Castle and Stormont, which are available for ministers in the Northern Ireland Office while on duty in Northern Ireland.

The Chequers, Dorneywood and Chevening estates are available to ministers for both official and private use. None of these properties are owned by the Government, and are run by trustees.

Chequers is used by the Prime Minister. The use of Chevening currently divided between the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and the Secretary of State for International Trade. By convention, Dorneywood is at the disposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Ministerial use of these official residences is managed by the relevant Government Department. Information on the time taken for Ministers to vacate those residences on leaving office is not held centrally.

The official residences available to government ministers are:

• Flats above 10 and 11 Downing Street, which are available for the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively;
• 1 Carlton Gardens, leased from the Crown Estate, which has been used as the official residence for the Foreign Secretary;
• Three flats in Admiralty House, to be allocated at the Prime Minister’s discretion; and
• Hillsborough Castle and Stormont, which are available for ministers in the Northern Ireland Office while on duty in Northern Ireland.

The Chequers, Dorneywood and Chevening estates are available to ministers for both official and private use. None of these properties are owned by the Government, and are run by trustees.

Chequers is used by the Prime Minister. The use of Chevening currently divided between the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and the Secretary of State for International Trade. By convention, Dorneywood is at the disposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Ministerial use of these official residences is managed by the relevant Government Department. Information on the time taken for Ministers to vacate those residences on leaving office is not held centrally.

The Government is committed to attracting and retaining the best talent for the Civil Service, across all regions of the UK.

The Places for Growth Programme will move Civil Service roles and public bodies outside of London and the South East of England to cities across the UK in line with the Industrial Strategy and Civil Service Estates Strategy. The Programme is bringing together central government units and other departments to work together to develop a comprehensive, evidence-based workforce and place-based strategy for locations around the UK including Birmingham and the West Midlands.

We are developing career pathways for professions across the Civil Service, which enable civil servants to build a common understanding of skills and experience needed at each level, exposing them to the right opportunities to build a successful career in the Civil Service.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Voter ID was successfully tested at the local elections on 3 May by five local authorities. Photographic and non photographic ID and free locally issued ID were all tested. Data so far and statements by the five Returning Officers indicate the pilots were overwhelmingly positive.

The Government is making our voting system more secure to protect it from possible fraud, including by requiring electors to present a form of identification before voting. We will evaluate the pilots before announcing the next steps in delivering voter ID nationally.

The Electoral Commission has welcomed the voter ID pilots as a positive first step towards implementing its 2014 recommendation that an accessible, proportionate voter identification scheme should be introduced in Great Britain. The Commission will publish its evaluation of the pilots in July.

The Cabinet Office does not hold information on the number of eligible electors in local authorities. A range of registration statistics is available from the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) website: www.ons.gov.uk

Estimates of the number of eligible people not included on electoral registers are published occasionally by the Electoral Commission, but not at sub-regional level. The latest report on register completeness and accuracy was produced by the Electoral Commission in 2016 and is available online: www.electoralcommission.org.uk. The report estimates register completeness in the West Midlands at 88 per cent in December 2015, compared to a national average of 84 per cent.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Statement made to the House on Monday, 15 January 2018 by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Official Record, vol 634, col 624).

Information on public sector suppliers within a specific constituency is not held centrally.

Information on public sector suppliers within a specific constituency is not held centrally.

The Cabinet Office does currently not plan to record centrally the number of cyber attacks against public services as each department manages incidents which affect the services they are responsible for. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), working with law enforcement partners, strongly encourages all organisations to report cyber attacks but this is currently voluntary for all such incidents. Those reports received by the NCSC are recorded.

On 11^th October 2017 we published the latest small and medium-sized enterprises’ spending performance figures:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2015-to-2016

These show that government spent £12.2 bn in 2015-16 with small and medium sized enterprises, more than we have ever before recorded.

The Government remain committed to a challenging target to ensure that a third of their procurement spending is with small businesses by 2022, and we are continuing to take action to achieve that.

The majority of electoral registration activity is funded by local authorities across England,
Scotland and Wales. Since 2014 the Cabinet Office has provided funding to LAs to cover
the additional costs generated by the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration,
including a second bidding round after the canvass if initial funding is insufficient to cover
costs incurred over the year.

The most recent formal assessment of register quality, based on the 1 December 2015 registers
and published in July 2016, found that individual electoral registration boosted the accuracy of the
register by 4 per cent

Alongside individual registration, the successful introduction of online registration has transformed
the way citizens can register. It now takes just a few minutes to apply to register and nearly 30
million citizens have taken the opportunity to do so in the last three years. In large part thanks to
online registration, the parliamentary register used for the 2017 general election was the largest
ever at nearly 47 million

2.9 million applications were submitted between the calling of the election and the registration
deadline date, with 622,000 applications coming on deadline day itself

The government has continued to modernise the registration process and to make it more
accessible, as underscored, for example by recent policy commitments on making it easier for
survivors of domestic abuse to register anonymously.

The UK Government is among the most transparent in the world and each Department is responsible for publishing a range of data on its activities. We will be working with departments over the coming months to improve the publication process to ensure we continue to meet our obligations in this important area.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Following laws passed by Parliament, the independent and impartial Boundary Commissions are currently consulting on their proposals to deliver the Boundary Review, and their final proposals will be shared with Parliament in autumn 2018. These reforms will ensure fair and equal representation for the voting public across the United Kingdom by the next general election, and also delivers on the Government’s manifesto pledge to reduce the size of the Commons which will save an estimated £66 million over the course of a Parliament.

Equalising the size of constituencies in the Boundary Review will ensure everyone’s vote will carry equal weight. Without such boundary reforms, MPs could end up representing constituencies based on data that is over 20 years’ old, disregarding significant changes in demographics, house building and migration. As it stands, some constituencies have twice as many electors than other constituencies and this cannot be right.

The four Boundary Commissions are between them currently employing a total of 32 staff (full-time equivalent) on the conduct of the Boundary Review. The four Boundary Commissions have, to date, spent approximately £2.3 million on the conduct of the current Boundary Review. This is money which would be wasted under the Labour Party’s proposals to try to block and delay this independent Review (as per the divisions of 18 November 2016, Official Report, Columns 563-666).

Following laws passed by Parliament, the independent and impartial Boundary Commissions are currently consulting on their proposals to deliver the Boundary Review, and they will submit their final proposals to Parliament in autumn 2018. These reforms will ensure fair and equal representation for the voting public across the United Kingdom by the next general election, and also delivers on the Government’s manifesto pledge to reduce the size of the Commons which will save an estimated £66 million over the course of a Parliament.

Equalising the size of constituencies in the Boundary Review will ensure everyone’s vote will carry equal weight. Without such boundary reforms, MPs could end up representing constituencies based on data that is over 20 years’ old, disregarding significant changes in demographics, house building and migration. As it stands, some constituencies have twice as many electors than other constituencies and this cannot be right.

The four Boundary Commissions have, to date, spent approximately £2.3 million on the conduct of the current Boundary Review. This is money which would be wasted under the Labour Party’s proposals to try to block and delay this independent Review (as per the divisions of 18 November 2016, Official Report, Columns 563-666).

All Departmental records are kept in line with Departmental policies and National Archives and Cabinet Office Guidance. The Government publishes details of Ministers’ overseas travel on a quarterly basis.

Details of Ministerial overseas travel, and senior officials' business expenses are published on a quarterly basis. The remaining information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested is not held centrally, departments have responsibility for their own Internet service provision.

This information is publicly available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North Durham on 2 February 2015 and 4 February 2015 to UIN: 222564 and 222567.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Expenditure incurred by other Government departments is not held by the Cabinet Office.

Spend incurred by my department on the items requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, my department has not spent money on World Cup Tickets.

This Government reduced the percentage of the Cabinet Office annual pay bill spent on in year rewards from 0.55%, prior to May 2010, to 0.25% now.

Expenditure incurred by other Government departments is not held by the Cabinet Office.

Spend incurred by my department on the items requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, my department has not spent money on World Cup Tickets.

This Government reduced the percentage of the Cabinet Office annual pay bill spent on in year rewards from 0.55%, prior to May 2010, to 0.25% now.

Expenditure incurred by other Government departments is not held by the Cabinet Office.

Spend incurred by my department on the items requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, my department has not spent money on World Cup Tickets.

This Government reduced the percentage of the Cabinet Office annual pay bill spent on in year rewards from 0.55%, prior to May 2010, to 0.25% now.

Expenditure incurred by other Government departments is not held by the Cabinet Office.

Spend incurred by my department on the items requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, my department has not spent money on World Cup Tickets.

This Government reduced the percentage of the Cabinet Office annual pay bill spent on in year rewards from 0.55%, prior to May 2010, to 0.25% now.

Expenditure incurred by other Government departments is not held by the Cabinet Office.

Spend incurred by my department on the items requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, my department has not spent money on World Cup Tickets.

This Government reduced the percentage of the Cabinet Office annual pay bill spent on in year rewards from 0.55%, prior to May 2010, to 0.25% now.

This is information is not held centrally.

Civil Service Resourcing do not use Pearson VUE and Pearson Professional Centres.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Any form of sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace is clearly unacceptable. The Government does not accept any behaviour that causes people to feel intimidated or humiliated in the workplace.

The Government has consulted on proposals to prevent the misuse of confidentiality clauses in cases of sexual harassment and discrimination. It will be publishing a response with its final proposals, in due course.

We have launched a consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace led by the Government Equalities Office. This consultation welcomes suggestions of alternative interventions to prevent and better monitor cases of sexual harassment and discrimination.

The Government commissioned an assessment on the potential for low carbon hydrogen production with carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS). The assessment was conducted by the consultancies Element Energy and Jacobs.

Their report identified that for steam methane reformation, the current dominant UK hydrogen production technology, carbon capture rates of up to 90% could be achieved. It also states that next generation methane reformation technologies and further innovation could deliver increased capture rates and lower costs. To prove this, we launched a £20 million Hydrogen Supply Programme which aims to accelerate the development of low carbon bulk hydrogen supply solutions; the programme will provide real world evidence on the potential for increased capture rates.

In December 2018, we published the report ‘Clean growth: transforming heating’ which included a review of the evidence base on the potential carbon reductions if hydrogen produced from low carbon methods, including from natural gas combined with carbon capture utilisation and storage, is used to providing heating, including to homes, businesses and industry.