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18 Dec 2007 : Column 1476W—continued
Small Businesses: Young People
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps the Government are taking to promote small business start-up schemes among young people. [168326]
Mr. Timms: The Government's aim is to get a generation of young people to start thinking about the benefits of running their own business, and to recognise the positive impact that enterprising attitudes can have in every area of their lives.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor UK Report 2006, 10.1 per cent. of 18 to 24-year-olds said they expected to start a business in the next three years, the highest level of any age group reported.
We want to empower young people and change the attitudes of those who influence them, such as parents,
teachers and employers. And we want to raise young people's awareness of the practical help that already exists—such as training programmes, mentoring, information and guidance, and the various support networks around the country.
Funding Enterprise Insight's ‘Make Your Mark: Change Lives’ campaign—which promotes enterprise to young people aged 14 to 30;
Supporting the UK's annual Enterprise Week;
Promoting enterprise education within schools;
Supporting the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship to promote business start-up as a viable alternative to working for somebody else.
In Wales, this is being done by:
Delivering the Youth Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Strategy (YES) launched in 2004;
Offering support through a range of programmes including Business Eye, a comprehensive and popular source of impartial information and general support for business.
There were around 34,000 new start-ups by young people (under 25) in England and Wales in 2006. This is 8 per cent. of all start-ups, up from 7 per cent. in 2003.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey and Barclays Bank
Social Security Benefits: ICT
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the performance and reliability of the Horizon payments system in delivering benefits. [174869]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Telent
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will make a statement on the takeover of Telent by the Pensions Corporation. [167594]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 26 November 2007]: The proposed transaction is a commercial matter for the enterprises concerned and their shareholders.
I understand that the union Unite has asked the Pensions Regulator to consider the issues associated with this takeover.
Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what guidance (a) his Department and (b) the Certification Officer has produced on whether trade union employees not funded by a trade union political fund can utilise their time to engage in political campaigning. [174865]
Mr. McFadden: Neither the Department nor the Certification Officer has produced guidance on whether trade union employees not funded by a trade union political fund can utilise their time to engage in political campaigning.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what guidance (a) his Department and (b) the Certification Officer has produced on whether employees taking leave from their employment to undertake their trade union activities can engage in political campaigning as part of those trade union duties. [174866]
Mr. McFadden: Neither the Department not the Certification Officer has produced specific guidance on whether employees taking leave from their employment to undertake their trade union activities can engage in political campaigning as part of those trade union duties. The Department has produced general guidance on the law relating to time off for trade union duties and activities in a publication entitled “Union membership: rights of members and non-members”.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether he plans to introduce proposals for new (a) legislation, (b) regulation and (c) guidance on the administration and conduct of trades union ballots. [175166]
Mr. McFadden: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has no current plans to introduce new legislation, regulation and guidance on the administration and conduct of trade union ballots.
Trade Unions: Finance
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Horsham of 28 November 2007, Official Report, column 467W, on trade unions: finance, if he will introduce regulations to provide that trades union members who opt out of a union's political fund must be charged a proportionately lower subscription rate. [174704]
Mr. McFadden: The Department has no plans to introduce additional regulation regarding the level of subscriptions paid by trade union members.
Trade Unions: Regional Development Agencies
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2007, Official Report, column 1141W, on trades unions: regional development agencies (RDAs), which RDAs have no trade union member on their board. [175039]
Mr. Timms: All of the eight RDAs for which BERR makes appointments (appointments to the LDA are the responsibility of the Mayor) have a trade union representative on their board.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2007, Official Report, column 1141W, on trade unions: regional development agencies (RDAs), what (a) his policy and (b) the policy of the assessment panels is on whether a trade union representative should be appointed to each RDA board. [175040]
Mr. Timms: It is Government policy that there is a trade union representative on the board of each of the eight RDAs for which BERR makes appointments (appointments to the LDA are the responsibility of the Mayor).
The appointments process for trade union representatives is then run in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice, in the same way as other appointments: the specification for the trade union appointment is subject to external consultation; the selection panel is responsible for sifting and interviewing candidates for each of the vacancies in the different sectors, putting forward all candidates that satisfy the selection criteria and are therefore appointable, ready for my consideration.
UK Trade and Investment: Defence
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the new unit in UK Trade and Investment responsible for defence exports will be called. [173404]
Mr. Thomas [holding answer 11 December 2007]: As outlined in the written statement of 11 December, Official Report, column 16WS, by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, the new unit has provisionally been given the name UKTI Defence and Security Group.
Unfair Practices: Sales
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) whether the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive will apply to consumers purchasing goods or services from trade unions; [173713]
(2) what the timetable is for the full implementation of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive; and on what date the revised consumer protection rules will come into force. [173714]
Mr. Thomas [holding answer 13 December 2007]: I propose to lay before Parliament in early January draft Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, implementing the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. If approved in debate the regulations will come into force on 6 April 2008.
It is possible that the directive could apply to a trade union that has a trading arm providing goods and services to consumers within the meaning of the directive. In these circumstances a trade union's trading entity could be acting as a trader for the purposes of the directive.
Union Modernisation Fund
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether his Department commissioned any external assessment of applications for funding under the union modernisation fund programme. [173168]
Mr. McFadden: We have engaged an independent supervisory board to assess all applications against the union modernisation fund criteria. The bids were assessed to ensure that they fell within the scope of the fund; to ensure that they had been realistically costed, offered value for money; and had suitable project management arrangements in place for effective delivery of the project.
In addition BERR is working with Leeds University Business School to conduct a phased evaluation of the fund. Phase one evaluated the operational effectiveness of the first round of bidding. Phase two will evaluate the success of supported projects and the impact of monies via a series of case studies. An interim phase two evaluation report will be published shortly.
Treasury
Assets: Capital Gains Tax
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of rebasing the cost of assets subject to capital gains tax to April 1998 values. [173677]
Jane Kennedy: The revenue cost of rebasing assets subject to capital gains tax to April 1998 values would be of the order of £700 million a year by comparison with the current (2007-08) regime. This is a broad estimate and takes into account the likely taxpayer response to the change.
Central Heating: Yorkshire and Humber
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of households in each parliamentary constituency in Yorkshire and the Humber were without central heating in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [174300]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
My Department does not collect information on central heating for each parliamentary constituency. From the most recently available data from the Survey of English Housing 9 per cent. of households reported they did not have central heating in Yorkshire and Humber in 2005-06, compared to 19 per cent. in 1995-96. The following table provides the trend within the region for the last 10 years.
| Yorkshire and Humber: households without central heating, 1995-96 to 2005-06 | |
| Percentage of households without central heating | |
Child Benefit: Personal Records
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have access to a full copy of data held by (a) his Department and (b) HM Revenue and Customs on tax credit claimants. [168054]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 26 November 2007]: No individuals at the Treasury have access to data on tax credits claimants.
HMRC provides its staff with controlled access to customer information to facilitate the delivery and maintenance of service for customers.
On 20 November the Chancellor announced an independent review of HMRC's data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, the Chair of Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
The interim report was published yesterday and is available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the computer software being used to store the Child Benefit database in HM Revenue and Customs in March 2007 was capable of encrypting data. [168707]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 27 November 2007]: On 20 November the Chancellor announced an independent review of HMRC's data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, the chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The interim report was published yesterday and is available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what vetting process is applied to officials in HM Revenue and Customs who have access to the full database of child benefit records. [173358]
Jane Kennedy: Access to all HMRC systems is assigned according to user-roles. HMRC seeks to minimise access levels to its systems, restricting access to only those staff who can demonstrate a current defined business need.
All HMRC staff are security cleared to an appropriate level in line with departmental security procedures.
On 20 November the Chancellor announced an independent review of HMRC’s data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, the chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The interim report was published yesterday and is available in the Library of the House.
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