Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of lessons from (a) the JobsPlus and (b) other pilot programmes in informing the development of Local Get Britain Working plans.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Jobs Plus pilot which began in summer 2024 is an exciting test of how housing and community-led employment support can help engage social housing communities. The first report, due this summer, will help us understand how Jobs Plus or similar models might help us achieve our objectives to Get Britain Working. Evaluation will be shared with a range of commissioners and stakeholders, including local authorities.
Local Get Britain Working plans will support areas in identifying and addressing labour market challenges, tackling inactivity, and increasing employment rates. They are a key element in tackling challenges in labour market participation across England and in achieving the long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate.
Local government have been asked to lead a partnership of local labour market stakeholders and seek insights from a broader range of stakeholders. The guidance we published earlier this year included housing associations in the list of key partners to consider.
Drawing on the range of experiences and expertise of partners within the area, the partnership will ensure a comprehensive analysis of key labour market issues and priorities as well as setting short- and longer-term objectives specific to the needs of the labour market locally.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to support the national rollout of (a) JobsPlus and (b) other community-led employment programmes following the conclusion of the pilot phase.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Jobs Plus pilot which began in summer 2024 is an exciting test of how housing and community-led employment support can help engage social housing communities. The first report, due this summer, will help us understand how Jobs Plus or similar models might help us achieve our objectives to Get Britain Working. Evaluation will be shared with a range of commissioners and stakeholders, including local authorities.
Local Get Britain Working plans will support areas in identifying and addressing labour market challenges, tackling inactivity, and increasing employment rates. They are a key element in tackling challenges in labour market participation across England and in achieving the long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate.
Local government have been asked to lead a partnership of local labour market stakeholders and seek insights from a broader range of stakeholders. The guidance we published earlier this year included housing associations in the list of key partners to consider.
Drawing on the range of experiences and expertise of partners within the area, the partnership will ensure a comprehensive analysis of key labour market issues and priorities as well as setting short- and longer-term objectives specific to the needs of the labour market locally.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that Local Get Britain Working plans (a) are designed in partnership with community-led housing organisations and (b) reflect local labour market needs.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Jobs Plus pilot which began in summer 2024 is an exciting test of how housing and community-led employment support can help engage social housing communities. The first report, due this summer, will help us understand how Jobs Plus or similar models might help us achieve our objectives to Get Britain Working. Evaluation will be shared with a range of commissioners and stakeholders, including local authorities.
Local Get Britain Working plans will support areas in identifying and addressing labour market challenges, tackling inactivity, and increasing employment rates. They are a key element in tackling challenges in labour market participation across England and in achieving the long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate.
Local government have been asked to lead a partnership of local labour market stakeholders and seek insights from a broader range of stakeholders. The guidance we published earlier this year included housing associations in the list of key partners to consider.
Drawing on the range of experiences and expertise of partners within the area, the partnership will ensure a comprehensive analysis of key labour market issues and priorities as well as setting short- and longer-term objectives specific to the needs of the labour market locally.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to increase levels of transparency in litigation funding.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the critical role third-party litigation funding plays in ensuring access to justice.
Following the PACCAR judgment, concerns have been raised about the need for greater regulation of the litigation funding market, including the potential need for greater transparency in relation to Litigation Funding Agreements.
The Civil Justice Council is considering these matters as part of its review of litigation funding, which will conclude in summer 2025. The Government will take a decision on further steps regarding litigation funding once the report and its recommendations have been received.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) tackle, (b) prevent and (c) monitor poor quality care in council-commissioned care homes.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and social care in England. The CQC monitors, inspects, and regulates adult social care services, including council-commissioned care homes, to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. Inspection reports on individual providers are made publicly available.
Where concerns on quality or safety are identified, the CQC uses a range of regulatory and enforcement powers to take action to ensure the safety of the people drawing on care and support.
This could include using requirement notices to highlight areas that need improvement, or placing adult social care providers into special measures to closely supervise the quality of their care. In cases of significant concern, the CQC can take action that could lead to the removal of a provider’s registration or, in the most serious cases, take criminal action.
The CQC also assesses local authorities’ delivery of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. This includes the local authority’s duty to work closely with local providers to ensure high quality services that put the wellbeing of the people who draw on care at the centre of decisions. Local authorities should also keep contracts under review to confirm that care requirements are being met, and to seek to continuously improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of services.
I recently met with Sir Julian Hartley on 14 March 2025, where we discussed the CQC’s recent challenges and how we will continue working closely together on key priorities.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to tackle disguised employment practices in the hair and beauty sector.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to ensuring that the tax system operates fairly and efficiently and creates a level playing field for compliant businesses. Most businesses pay what they owe but a minority fail to register with HMRC or only declare a portion of their earnings. This minority deprive our vital public services of funding, affect fair competition between businesses, and place unfair burdens on everyone else.
We are committed to tackling false self-employment and will investigate evidence suggesting businesses have misclassified individuals for tax purposes. In these cases, we will take steps to ensure they pay the right Income Tax and National Insurance contributions.
HMRC is making it increasingly difficult for businesses to hide their earnings and have an extensive range of powers, including information gathering powers, that help build a picture of risk and identify those who are trying to abuse the system. Our approach to tax compliance includes a range of activities that aim to both detect and tackle current non-compliance and change future behaviours. Their activities include national campaigns and specialist task forces that incorporate intensive bursts of activity in targeted sectors and locations across the UK. This includes providing customer education highlighting the importance of keeping accurate records. However, we will not hesitate to use stronger sanctions against customers who deliberately choose not to comply, including potential criminal prosecutions for the most serious cases involving tax evasion.
We recognise that some customers can find it hard to understand their tax obligations, so we are developing and testing new educational material to better explain the rent a chair model to make it easy for them to get things right and intervening early to reduce mistakes. We are planning for this to be ready for publication on GOV.UK in the spring. We are continuing to work on updates to the Taxable Persons manual and these will be published in due course.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions on hair and beauty sector.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
The Office for Budget Responsibility also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department has taken to support the hair and beauty sector.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government recognises the significant economic and social value of the hair and beauty industry.
That is why we have committed to reforming business rates from 2026-27 with a permanently lower multiplier for retail, leisure and hospitality properties, including hair and beauty salons.
The Government will also protect the smallest businesses by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning that 865,000 employers will pay no National Insurance contributions (NICs) at all and employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
We will also transform the existing Apprenticeship Levy into a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy to support business and boost opportunity.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and HMRC of the number of people currently practicing in the hair and beauty sector using disguised employment practices.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold this information. However, we are clear that disguised employment practices such as false self-employment are unacceptable. Employers should never seek to deny people their employment rights and avoid their own legal obligations by claiming someone is self-employed when in reality they are not.
The Government is committed to tackling false self-employment and HMRC will investigate evidence suggesting businesses have misclassified individuals for tax purposes. The Government has also set up a forum with the hair and beauty industry to support compliance in the sector.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the British Hair Consortium commissioned CBI Economics report entitled Securing the future of UK hairdressing and beauty: the economic, fiscal and societal case for VAT reform, published on 19 February 2025.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s second largest tax, forecast to raise £171 billion in 2024/25. Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.
Changes to the VAT threshold have to be carefully balanced considering the potential benefits to small businesses, the economy as a whole and tax revenues.