Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people in (a) Burnley and (b) Lancashire are qualified to National Qualifications Framework level 2 or above.
Answered by Nick Boles
In 2015, it is estimated that 32,900 people aged 16-64 living in Burnley held qualifications at level 2 or above.
In 2015, it is estimated that 523,300 people aged 16-64 living in Lancashire held qualifications at level 2 or above.
These estimates use the Annual Population Survey (APS) which could potentially underestimate overall levels of attainment at level 2 or above. The Department produces national estimates of attainment (link below) using a methodology that enhances the use of the Labour Force Survey data, which forms part of the APS estimates provided, as well as matching to administrative data. This methodology was introduced because research demonstrated some people do not report some of their smaller qualifications.
More detailed information on the level of qualification held by residents of individual Local Authorities is available from the Annual Population Survey at the link below.
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/profiles.asp
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many times he has attended public meetings of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee since his appointment.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Attendance at Committee meetings is a matter of public record. Transcripts of such appearances can be found in Hansard and on the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee web page here: www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/inquiries/.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his Department's timetable is for the implementation of the provision of postgraduate student loans of up to £10,000.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to PQ UIN 18668.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times she has attended public meetings of the Energy and Climate Change Committee since her appointment.
Answered by Amber Rudd
Since my appointment as Secretary of State, I have attended public meetings of the Energy and Climate Change Committee on three occasions.
Attendance at Committee meetings is a matter of public record, and transcripts of such appearances can be found in Hansard and on Committee web pages.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of the University of Leeds, Bristol and Oxford's studies of the possible effects of geo-engineering on future populations.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department monitors research into geoengineering and is familiar with the outputs of various programmes including IAGP (Integrated Assessment of Geoengineering Proposals; www.iagp.ac.uk) (conducted by several Universities including Leeds, Bristol and Oxford) and the GGR (Geoengineering Governance Research, conducted by several universities including University of Oxford): http://geoengineering-governance-research.org.
Based on these studies and other research we conclude that whilst geoengineering could cool the climate, it may also have unintended effects which could be detrimental to some regions eg in terms of rainfall.
For this reason and other identified risks associated with proposed geoengineering, it is premature to consider geo-engineering as a viable option for addressing climate change. For most geoengineering techniques, current understanding of the costs, feasibility, environmental and societal impacts is limited. The government’s position on geoengineering research is given here:
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to ensure that the sale of the pre-2012 income contingent repayment student loan book will not affect the amount of debt current graduates owe.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Sale of Student Loans Act 2008 prevents Government from treating less favourably borrowers whose loans are sold, compared to the treatment of borrowers whose loans remain on the Government’s books.
After a sale, the Government continues to finance student loans and collect repayments through HM Revenue and Customs and the Student Loans Company. Purchasers will have no direct relationship with borrowers, and no power to amend the terms of repayment.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of removing student number controls for alternative providers of degree-level courses on national levels of student debt.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The majority of Alternative Providers remain subject to student number controls, with the exception of nine (as at 12th April 2016) alternative providers that have their own degree awarding powers. It is not possible to determine the impact on national levels of student debt – as any students recruited by these 9 providers may instead have been recruited by providers in the publicly funded sector, none of which are subject to student number controls.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many students currently attend further education colleges in (a) East Lancashire and (b) Burnley.
Answered by Nick Boles
Information on the number of government funded further education learners at each further education provider is published online at the FE Data Library.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables
The table provides a list of all further education providers, the local authority and local education authority of the provider head office, and information about the number of learners that attended in the 2014/15 academic year.
Funding allocated to training providers and colleges from both the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency is also published online for academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. Links to the funding numbers are provided below.
Skills Funding Agency:
Education Funding Agency:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2013-to-2014-academic-year
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2014-to-2015-academic-year
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2015-to-2016-academic-year
Some further education colleges also receive government funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for their higher education provision. Information on HEFCE’s recurrent grant allocations in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years are published on their website:
2014-15 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1415/institutions/
2015-16 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1516/institutions/
Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Student Loans are available to assist higher education students with the payment of their tuition fees. Information on tuition fee loans paid to individual higher education providers is published by the Student Loans Company at the following link for the Academic Years 2011/12 to 2014/15.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much Government funding further education colleges in (a) East Lancashire and (b) Burnley received in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.
Answered by Nick Boles
Information on the number of government funded further education learners at each further education provider is published online at the FE Data Library.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables
The table provides a list of all further education providers, the local authority and local education authority of the provider head office, and information about the number of learners that attended in the 2014/15 academic year.
Funding allocated to training providers and colleges from both the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency is also published online for academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. Links to the funding numbers are provided below.
Skills Funding Agency:
Education Funding Agency:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2013-to-2014-academic-year
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2014-to-2015-academic-year
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2015-to-2016-academic-year
Some further education colleges also receive government funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for their higher education provision. Information on HEFCE’s recurrent grant allocations in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years are published on their website:
2014-15 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1415/institutions/
2015-16 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1516/institutions/
Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Student Loans are available to assist higher education students with the payment of their tuition fees. Information on tuition fee loans paid to individual higher education providers is published by the Student Loans Company at the following link for the Academic Years 2011/12 to 2014/15.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funds the Government is providing for businesses affected by flooding which did not have insurance.
Answered by Anna Soubry
I have made it clear to local councils and Local Enterprise Partnerships who are administering the Business Recovery Grant that they should look to provide funding to un-insured businesses so long as it is clear that this is not rewarding deliberate bad business practice. So where a flooded business has made a reasonable effort to secure insurance and not been successful they can be funded. We have provided £11m in total to provide support to businesses, allocated to local areas based on the number of flooded businesses.