Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2018 to Question 137053 on parental leave, when the three-yearly review on the implementation of shared parental leave will be published.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The evaluation is ongoing and we are collecting data from a wide variety of sources, including the largest survey of parents to be undertaken in 10 years.
We expect to be in a position to publish the findings of the evaluation later this year, subject to the data collection process. This is slightly later than we originally expected but it is important to get this right.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Independent Commission for Aid report, Global Challenges Research Fund - a rapid review, published in September 2017, what progress his Department has made on delivering recommendation 3 of that report.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
BEIS accepted recommendation 3 of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s (ICAI) report and is taking action accordingly to enhance assessment of the performance of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
We have commissioned an evaluation of the GCRF by the independent contractor ITAD, the first stage of which established a clear Theory of Change. ITAD is now refining a further comprehensive evaluation methodology for the fund.
Work is also being undertaken to provide assurance on value for money and to develop Key Performance Indicators to enable monitoring of project and portfolio outcomes.
BEIS is actively engaged with ICAI in their follow up to the review.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of his Department's ODA-funded projects are listed on the Department for International Development's Development Tracker website.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
BEIS is committed to meeting the Government’s target for transparency and to score ‘good’ or ‘very good’ on the Publish What You Fund aid transparency index.
29 of the Department’s 30 International Climate Finance programmes are listed on the Development Tracker website. This represents 96% of the Department’s International Climate Finance programmes, covering 99% of BEIS International Climate Finance expenditure from 2010/11 to the end of 2017/18.
At present BEIS does not publish detail of its research and innovation (R&I) spend on the Development Tracker website. However, much of the detail is published on the Gateway to Research website, which is run by UK Research and Innovation. BEIS is currently implementing a technical solution to be able to fully publish details of its R&I expenditure to the International Aid Transparency Index, which can be automatically accessed by the Development Tracker.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to further promote better employee engagement and workforce relations in response to the Taylor review of modern working practices.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In February 2018, the Government consulted on workforce and employee engagement as part of preparing its response to the Taylor review of modern working practices. We are grateful to the stakeholders who have taken time to comment. We are considering those comments and will be publishing our response in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government response entitled Good work: a response to the Taylor Review of modern working practices, published on 7 February 2018, what steps he is taking to promote quality work through sector deals.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Developing better jobs for everyone in the British economy is at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy. We are proud to be the first Government to have taken responsibility for both quality and quantity of work, and are working to promote good work across the UK. We will be setting out our next steps for measuring and improving the quality of work in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government response entitled Good work: a response to the Taylor Review of modern working practices, published on 7 February 2018, when the first assessment of the quality of work in the UK is planned to be published.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Developing better jobs for everyone in the British economy is at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy. We are proud to be the first Government to have taken responsibility for both quality and quantity of work, and are working to promote good work across the UK. We will be setting out our next steps for measuring and improving the quality of work in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Low Pay Commission will publish the response to its consultation on (a) the effect of a higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours in a contract and (b) alternative means for tackling one sided flexibility.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Low Pay Commission’s consultation, on the effect of a higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours in a contract and alternative means for tackling one-sided flexibility, launched in March.
The Low Pay Commission will publish their report, containing the findings from this consultation, in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on consolidating guidance on legislation to protect people who are pregnant or on maternity leave as recommended by the Taylor review of modern working practices.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Last year, Acas published new comprehensive guidance on pregnancy and maternity discrimination and workplace rights and obligations.
This summer we have reviewed the GOV.UK guidance material on the protections for people who are pregnant or on maternity leave and we are now updating and improving signposting.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on identifying a set of metrics to measure the quality of work as recommended by the Matthew Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has received over 400 detailed responses to the four consultations launched in February. We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond. Their insights have been invaluable in informing our policy development. We will be publishing our response to these consultations in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to respond to its consultations on (a) employment status, (b) increasing transparency in the labour market, (c) agency workers recommendations and (d) enforcement of employment rights.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has received over 400 detailed responses to the four consultations launched in February. We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond. Their insights have been invaluable in informing our policy development. We will be publishing our response to these consultations in due course.