Melanie Onn

As requested by PAC, the Cabinet Office has undertaken a full review of all Atos contracts with central Government with an annual spend over £10 million in the fiscal year 2015-16, and of their relationships as a supplier to the Crown.

The Cabinet Office will write to the Public Accounts Committee with the findings of the review in the summer 2016.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 5 February 2016 to UIN: 25347.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 5 February 2016 to UIN: 25347.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 5 February 2016 to UIN: 25347.

This information is not held centrally.

Departments publish, on their pages on GOV.UK, quarterly reports on the percentage of undisputed invoices they pay within 5 and 30 days. From the start of the next financial year they will also report quarterly on their liability to pay interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

If the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement, supplies of crude oil, fuel, and important chemicals for refineries are expected to remain available through the UK’s diverse supply chains from Europe and the rest of the world. Crude oil and petroleum products are traded through liquid international markets.

The Government has been working closely with the fuel industry to minimise the risks from leaving the EU on fuel supplies. The Government also has a long-standing fuel supply contingency programme that includes measures that can be deployed in support of industry to maintain supplies.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department of International Trade are closely monitoring the situation. We are working with the company, the local authority and Local Enterprise Partnerships to support their efforts in helping to preserve highly skilled jobs in the area and to help find a buyer for the site.

The ground-breaking Greater Grimsby Town Deal was launched on 5 July 2018 beginning a stronger relationship between central government and local partners. The Town Deal meets a commitment to pilot a new approach to driving growth in our towns and was included in the Industrial Strategy, our long-term plan to boost productivity by backing businesses to create high-quality, well paid jobs throughout the United Kingdom, with investment in skills, industries, and infrastructure, as well as ensuring our places realise their full potential.

The Town Deal is focused on four inter-related themes, namely:

• driving economic growth
• accelerating housing delivery
• transforming Grimsby’s waterfront
• improving skills and educational attainment.

The Government has been working intensively with North East Lincolnshire Council, the Project Board, and the private sector on implementation since the launch of the Town Deal and there has been considerable progress.

We have continued to support delivery of the Grimsby Heritage Action Zone and, in January 2019, announced a further £3.2m investment in heritage, culture and creative industries as a catalyst for economic growth in Grimsby through DCMS’s Cultural Development Fund. We are delivering in skills too. The Department for Education announced that the University of Lincoln-led Institute of Technology (IoT) proposal was one of 12 successful IoT proposals that will be established across the country. The IoT will operate across Lincolnshire, including Grimsby, and will be a key plank of the Town Deal.

Progress continues to be made on implementation of the South Humber Industrial Investment Programme including starting important infrastructure works to get these strategic economic sites ready for market, including the Humber Link Road and highways improvements to Moody Lane.

We have also been working closely with the Council and other partners to support regeneration of Grimsby’s town centre and reconnecting it with its waterfront and we hope to be saying more about this in the near future.

This Government remains committed to supporting industry through EU exit and to leaving the European Union with a deal that works for citizens and businesses. Nevertheless we need to plan for all scenarios. The oil and gas industry is important for the UK’s economy, energy security and jobs, and BEIS engages with the sector regularly to ensure that their concerns and any evidence is fed into the Government’s no deal planning/arrangements.

BEIS engagement with the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector in regard to EU-exit has included:

• Publishing a technical notice on 13 September 2018 that offers guidance on “Running an oil or gas business if there’s no Brexit deal.
• Organising an ongoing series of BEIS Oil & Gas EU Exit Sector Panels facilitating interaction among and between representatives from upstream and downstream trade associations, companies, BEIS and OGDs.
• Providing regular email guidance updates on GOV.UK content relevant to the sector and requests for feedback from BEIS Oil and Gas Sector contacts.
• Participating in bilateral interactions with trade associations and companies.

Offshore wind is already bringing high value jobs to coastal communities like Grimsby, for example, from the Triton Knoll project.

Hull has seen 1,000 direct jobs created from the £310 million investment in Siemens’ blade factory.

We are moving to advance discussions with the offshore wind sector around a Sector Deal that ensures higher levels of local content, UK jobs and investment in supply chains, like those in the hon Member’s constituency.

We are working with Games Partners to establish an Organising Committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Once established, the committee will be primarily responsible for procuring goods and services and we will work with it and other Games Partners to agree appropriate policies including contractor pay.

Yes, all UK businesses together with all organisations that process personal data will be required to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after 25th May 2018 and the UK's full data protection regime as set out in the Data Protection Bill. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) provides guidance and support to UK organisations and have already published a number of resources on the Commissioner's website (ico.org.uk) to help organisations prepare. The ICO has: launched a dedicated helpline service for smaller organisations; updated its 'SME toolkit' to reflect the requirements of the GDPR; simplified its "12-step" GDPR preparation guidance; and published tailored guidance for charities.

We are currently developing the scope and membership of the Digital Skills Partnership.

Individuals and companies in Great Grimsby will be able to benefit from many of digital skills measures set out in the Government’s Digital Strategy. In addition the new Digital Skills Partnership will enable better coordination of opportunities and play a crucial role in ensuring that digital skills initiatives are targeted more effectively so that people in local areas such as Great Grimsby have the right skills and are able to better access digitally focused jobs. We are currently developing the scope and membership of the Digital Skills Partnership.

Individuals and companies in Great Grimsby will be able to benefit from many of digital skills measures set out in the Government’s Digital Strategy. In addition the new Digital Skills Partnership will enable better coordination of opportunities and play a crucial role in ensuring that digital skills initiatives are targeted more effectively so that people in local areas such as Great Grimsby have the right skills and are able to better access digitally focused jobs. We are currently developing the scope and membership of the Digital Skills Partnership.

As a department, we are considering adult skills, which includes community learning, as part of the adult education budget and are looking carefully at further education funding. We recognise that some of the key areas of funding have not kept up with costs and we will continue to look carefully at these issues in preparation for the next Spending Review and in light of the recommendations of the Post-18 Review.

Our Early Years National Funding Formula for three and four year olds contains an Area Cost Adjustment that includes a premises element based on rateable values. We have recently commissioned new research to provide us with further robust and detailed data of the costs of delivering childcare for under five year olds using a representative sample of early years providers.

The government set out in the 2015 Spending Review that nationally we expect 390,000 children to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare. This figure is derived from national survey data taken in January and is an average across the year. Estimates at a regional and local authority level are not available due to the relatively small population that we are estimating within sub national geographies.

We publish termly experimental statistics showing the number of children in a place. The most recent publication showed that 943 codes were issued in North East Lincolnshire and 974 children were in a 30 hours place in the summer term. The full publication – including a local authority level breakdown – is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-summer-term-2018.

As we move in to the second year of delivery, we will continue to publish management information on the number of codes issued for 30 hours. This will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated – the most recent publication on 12 July shows that 573 codes have already been issued in North East Lincolnshire for the start of the next academic year.

By 2019-20 we will be spending around £6 billion on childcare support – a record amount. This includes around £1 billion extra a year to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and fund the increase in hourly rates that we introduced in April 2017.

Our average funding rates are based on the department’s ‘Review of Childcare Costs’ which was described as “thorough and wide ranging” by the National Audit Office. The review looked at both current and future cost pressures.

The latest Ofsted data from March 2018 showed that the number of non-domestic providers has remained stable. More than 340,000 children have benefitted from our 30 hours offer over its first year, and the vast majority of providers have increased the number of free hours available to parents.

We continue to monitor both the implementation of 30 hours and delivery costs. We have recently commissioned new research to provide us with further robust and detailed data of the costs of delivering childcare for under five-year-olds using a representative sample of early years providers.

By 2019-20 we will be spending around £6 billion on childcare support – a record amount. This includes around £1 billion extra a year to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and fund the increase in hourly rates that we introduced in April 2017.

Our average funding rates are based on the department’s ‘Review of Childcare Costs’ which was described as “thorough and wide ranging” by the National Audit Office. The review looked at both current and future cost pressures.

The latest Ofsted data from March 2018 showed that the number of non-domestic providers has remained stable. More than 340,000 children have benefitted from our 30 hours offer over its first year, and the vast majority of providers have increased the number of free hours available to parents.

We continue to monitor both the implementation of 30 hours and delivery costs. We have recently commissioned new research to provide us with further robust and detailed data of the costs of delivering childcare for under five-year-olds using a representative sample of early years providers.