Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to tackle Hajj and Umrah tour and travel operators who break UK law and exploit people seeking to undertake a religious pilgrimage.
Answered by Nick Boles
Exploitation of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims by rogue tour operators is addressed both by consumer protection law (notably the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992) and the laws on fraud and deceptive practices. The relevant enforcement agencies are already taking steps to improve their ability to tackle such exploitation.
National Trading Standards has made enforcement in this area one of its national priorities and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, operated by the City of London Police, is running a Hajj Fraud National Awareness campaign designed to inform consumers and to encourage reporting of crime in this sector. Birmingham’s Trading Standards Department which has taken the lead role in tackling non-compliance, on behalf of National Trading Standards, has seen significant success in its area in both prosecuting rogues and encouraging and ensuring compliance in the legitimate trade. They are working hard to ensure that their enforcement colleagues in other parts of the country benefit from their experience and are better informed of the problems in the sector.
Key to that success has been engagement with the Muslim community so that those who are planning a trip are aware of their rights and the legal responsibilities of organisers, and those that suffer at the hands of the rogues are willing to report their experiences to the relevant authorities.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to ensure that law enforcement and other agencies have the necessary expertise to deal with businesses who exploit people booking Hajj and Umrah tours.
Answered by Nick Boles
Exploitation of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims by rogue tour operators is addressed both by consumer protection law (notably the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992) and the laws on fraud and deceptive practices. The relevant enforcement agencies are already taking steps to improve their ability to tackle such exploitation.
National Trading Standards has made enforcement in this area one of its national priorities and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, operated by the City of London Police, is running a Hajj Fraud National Awareness campaign designed to inform consumers and to encourage reporting of crime in this sector. Birmingham’s Trading Standards Department which has taken the lead role in tackling non-compliance, on behalf of National Trading Standards, has seen significant success in its area in both prosecuting rogues and encouraging and ensuring compliance in the legitimate trade. They are working hard to ensure that their enforcement colleagues in other parts of the country benefit from their experience and are better informed of the problems in the sector.
Key to that success has been engagement with the Muslim community so that those who are planning a trip are aware of their rights and the legal responsibilities of organisers, and those that suffer at the hands of the rogues are willing to report their experiences to the relevant authorities.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprentices who started their apprenticeships since 2010 were already employed staff converted to apprenticeship status; and what the (a) age, (b) gender and (c) constituency was of each such person.
Answered by Nick Boles
Details on entry routes onto Apprenticeships can be found in the Apprenticeships Evaluation: Learners survey report online. The survey comprised a representative sample of 5,000 apprentices. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/387662/bis-14-1208-Apprenticeships-Evaluation-Learners-December-2014.pdf
In 2013/14, two thirds (64%) of apprentices worked for their employer before starting their apprenticeship. This has decreased since 2012/13 when it was 68%.
In 2013/14, nine out of ten (91%) apprentices aged 25+ worked for their employer before starting the apprenticeship, compared with 29% of apprentices aged 16-18 and 60% for those aged 19-24. Women are more likely to be internal recruits (72%) than men (54%).
Further breakdowns can be found on page 23 of the above report. This information is not included in our routine data collection and hence data is not available since 2010. Information is not available for entry routes by constituency.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the importance of hub connectivity for airports and businesses in the North of England; and what steps his Department is taking to encourage growth in (a) the UK domestic network and (b) from London airports to the North of England.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government recognised in its 2013 Aviation Policy Framework (APF) the very important role airports across the UK play in providing domestic and international connections and the vital contribution they can make to the growth of regional economies.
However, in the UK airports, and the airlines that use them, operate in a competitive, commercial environment. It is for individual airlines to make market-based decisions regarding the air services that they operate, and form which airports. It is not open to the Government to compel airlines to operate air services between specific airports.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on inclusion of education policy and oversight in the Northern Powerhouse Initiative.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The initiative announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer includes £10 million to boost academy sponsorship in the North of England. As the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Education confirmed in February 2015, Regional Schools Commissioners will use this investment to tackle educational disadvantage by: enabling the best local academies to share their excellence in sponsoring underperforming neighbouring schools; developing the capacity of existing sponsors to keep pace with new demands; and harnessing the expertise of some of the very best academy sponsors from across the country.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pupils-in-the-north-to-benefit-from-injection-of-expertise
In addition, the devolution deal with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), announced by the Chancellor on 3 November 2014, saw the Secretary of State make a commitment for the Department for Education and other government bodies to work with GMCA to re-commission further education in the city.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish his Department's assessment of the evidence received in favour of the expansion of either Heathrow or Gatwick airport and the effect on job creation in the North.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
To ensure our long term connectivity needs can be met, the previous Government established the independent Airports Commission to identify and recommend to Government options for maintaining this country’s status as an international hub for aviation.
Three options for expansion have been shortlisted by the Commission for further consideration and the relevant documents can be found on the Airport Commission website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/airports-commission
Following publication of the Commission’s final report with recommendations to Government, we will carefully consider the evidence and set out our plans for taking this forward.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what contribution the UK has made to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in each of the last three years; what contribution the UK plans to make to that Agency for such work in each of the next three years; what the reasons are for changes in the level of those contributions; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK is the third largest donor to UNRWA’s General Fund and we have provided additional funding to UNRWA’s emergency appeals. In 2012/13, our contributions totalled £43.8 million; in 2013/14, we provided £49.8 million, and in 2014/15 we contributed £53.4 million. Our average General Fund contribution was £33 million. In 2015/16, we are providing £30 million to the General Fund plus £8 million for the Syria emergency appeal and £2 million for UNRWA’s work in Gaza. We will continue to review our emergency funding and agree a new multi-year package of support for UNRWA in the months ahead. We will continue to support UNRWA pending a political solution for Palestinian refugees, but the Agency needs to take urgent steps to address its chronic deficit through reform.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to alleviate road congestion.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government’s Road Investment Strategy has committed £15bn to deliver 127 schemes on the strategic road network over the next five years. Some of these schemes will tackle longstanding congestion and safety problems as well as major capacity enhancements around Yorkshire. On local roads a programme of major local schemes with around £1 billion of Departmental funding has been announced.