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12 Oct 2009 : Column 671W—continued
Reliable information is not available at constituency or district level.
Mike Penning: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much has been deducted from the salaries of individuals in each income group resident in (a) Hemel Hempstead constituency, (b) Dacorum and (c) Hertfordshire for student loan repayments in the last 12 months. [289416]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested is as follows:
| Student loans PAYE deductions, Hertfordshire, tax year 2007-08 (provisional)( 1) | |||
| Earnings in tax year 2007-08 | Numbers who have had a deduction from earnings under PAYE | Amount deducted from earnings under PAYE | Average amount deducted |
| (1) Tables cover deductions by PAYE from income-contingent loans. Excludes Self Assessment deductions. Tables cover deductions which HMRC has notified to SLC by 31 March 2009. There will be further deductions notified for tax year 2007-08. The table shows the local authority where the borrower was resident at the time of application for student finance; this does not indicate current residence. Source: Student Loans Company | |||
Deductions from salaries are made when the borrowers' income is above £15,000 per year, £1,250 per month or £288 per week.
Reliable information is not available at constituency or district level.
Temporary Employment: EC Law
Mr. Djanogly:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which (a) businesses and (b) other organisations his Department has consulted
in relation to the implementation of EU Directive 2008/104/EC on Temporary Agency Work. [290425]
Mr. McFadden: The Department's forthcoming response to the consultation, which closed on 31 July, will include a list of the businesses and other organisations who responded publicly.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what timetable has been set for the implementation in the UK of EU Directive 2008/104/EC on Temporary Agency Work. [290426]
Mr. McFadden: We are committed to ensuring that the implementing regulations are on the statute book in the current Parliament.
The Government's forthcoming response to the Consultation, which closed on 31 July, will be published shortly.
Tesco: Meetings
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether the Minister for Trade, Investment and Business has met any representative of Tesco plc since relinquishing a non-executive directorship with that organisation; and if he will make a statement. [290263]
Ian Lucas: The Minister met Sir Terry Leahy on 18 June and has communicated with him through the Business Council for Britain.
Textiles: Government Assistance
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to assist the development of levels of skills in relation to the fashion and textile sector. [290148]
Kevin Brennan: The Government are committed to supporting skills development in the fashion and textile sector. Skillfast-UK, which is the Sector Skills Council for the sector, sets the overall strategy for skills and engages directly with employers about their skill needs. Skillfast-UK provides labour market information for employers, and is engaged in the development of qualifications. Skillfast-UK is also running a Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative project to develop the skills of 600 women in 2009-10 in relation to the fashion and textile sector. The Fashion Retail Academy promotes fashion retail as a career, and delivers a flow of young people to the industry with the fundamental skills required to work in the sector. Government are also providing funding through Sector Compacts to tackle skills shortages in key sectors, including fashion and textiles.
Trade Unions
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had on possible revision of the Warwick agreement arrangement with the trades unions. [250237]
Mr. McFadden: The Labour Party's policy making structures are a matter for the Labour Party.
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to negotiate a revised Warwick agreement arrangement with the trades unions. [250293]
Mr. McFadden: The Labour party's policy making structures are a matter for the Labour party.
Train to Gain Programme
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what methodology was used to set the initial targets for the Train to Gain programme. [290269]
Kevin Brennan: Initial Train to Gain targets were set out in the Learning and Skills Council's 2006 Annual Statement of Priorities. They were based on contributing to the PSA-public service agreement-target to reduce by at least 40 per cent. the number of adults in the workplace without a Level 2 or equivalent qualification by 2010, and an assessment of the Employer Training Pilots that preceded the start of the programme in April 2006. The assessment included the expected annual cost of the programme and the planned number of employers taking part per annum.
These targets have subsequently been updated in the LSC's 2007 Annual Statement of Priorities, and reflect the broader skills aim set out in the 2006 Leitch Review: to increase the proportion of adults holding Level 2 qualifications to 90 per cent. by 2020.
As Train to Gain is a demand-led programme, learner volumes and annual spend may differ from initial projections, depending on levels of employer demand. Regular reports are received from the LSC-Learning and Skills Council-in order to enable the Department to monitor ongoing levels of performance.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations his Department has received from (a) the Learning and Skills Council and (b) others on the adequacy of the Train to Gain programme; and when such representations were received. [291463]
Kevin Brennan: The Department has regular and ongoing contact with the Learning and Skills Council regarding all aspects of Train to Gain delivery, and receive monthly performance reports and updated financial information.
The Department also receives frequent correspondence and other representations from colleges, employers, members of the public and other interested parties on a variety of skills policies including Train to Gain.
Train to Gain Programme: Finance
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the average cost to the public purse of a job created under the Train to Gain programme was in the latest period for which figures are available. [290232]
Kevin Brennan: Train to Gain is a service to help employers improve the skills of their existing employees. It is not a programme that is designed to create jobs.
Training: Construction
Mr. Newmark: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much capital funding was originally allocated to each National Construction College by the Learning and Skills Council for 2009-10; and how much of that funding has since been withdrawn from each college. [288699]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 21 July 2009]: No capital funding has been allocated to either of the National Construction Colleges for 2009-10, and as such, no funding has since been withdrawn.
Initial approval for funding from the FE capital funding stream had been granted to the Birchen Newton proposal in autumn last year. However, following the Learning and Skills Council's recent FE capital prioritisation process, the proposal was unsuccessful, and has not been granted final approval.
As with every college, the LSC will discuss with the college on how the project can move forward.
UK Innovation Investment Fund
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the liability his Department would incur in the event of a confirmed downturn in the performance of the UK high technology investment fund; what criteria would be used in determining whether such a liability had to be paid; and if he will make a statement. [289939]
Mr. McFadden: The UK Innovation Investment Fund is a 10-year Fund of Funds. The Government are committing £150 million of tax payers' investment to the UK Innovation Investment Fund and we expect to leverage significant investment from the private sector.
We aim to appoint an experienced Fund of Funds manager in December to manage the fund and make investments in underlying technology funds with the expertise and track record to invest directly in technology businesses. The Government and Capital for Enterprise Limited issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from prospective Fund of Funds manager(s) on 3 August. The RFP sets out the Government's expectation that private and public funding should be invested on a pari-passu basis and that private investors should not receive advantageous terms. Bidders are asked to set out their investment strategies and demonstrate how they will raise money from private sector investors.
It will not possible to say any more about the nature or terms of investments into underlying funds until an investment mandate is awarded.
Adam Afriyie:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what criteria will apply to the provision of funding to businesses from the UK Innovation Investment Fund; when funding will begin from the Fund; what steps he has taken to inform small and medium-sized
enterprises about the fund; and whether he has set a target for the time between applying for funding and receiving funding. [291631]
Mr. Lammy: The fund will operate on a Fund of Funds structure which means it will not invest directly in companies, but rather invest in a small number of specialist technology funds that have the expertise and track record to invest directly in companies. The fund will only invest in those companies that have strong survival and growth prospects.
We hope to announce the appointment of a Fund of Funds Manager by Christmas 2009 and anticipate that the Fund will start investing soon after that.
There have been a number of events to promote the fund to all interested parties and there will be further events during autumn 2009 and beyond.
The Department wishes to see the fund supporting firms as soon as possible.
However, it will be down to the Fund of Funds Manager(s) to allocate funding in the most appropriate manner.
Unemployment: Young People
Andrew Stunell:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of people aged 16 to 24 were not in education, employment or training in (a)
each local authority area and (b) each region in each of the last 12 quarters for which figures are available. [289275]
Kevin Brennan Table 1 and table 2 as follows show the number and percentage of people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training by Government Office Region. These estimates are from quarterly Labour Force survey (LFS) data and are rounded to the nearest 1000.
Table 3 shows the number and percentage of people aged(1) 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training by local education authority (LEA). These estimates are from the Annual Population survey (APS) which covers the period January to December. Due to the small populations of local authority areas, we have used the APS (which has a larger sample) to breakdown the estimates by LEA (larger geographical area). This enables us to provide more robust estimates.
Please note that even for regions, sample sizes can be small and these estimates are subject to sampling variability. Confidence intervals, which indicate how accurate estimates are, are between 2 and 3 percentage points for these regional estimates, and between 3 and 10 percentage points for these local education authority estimates. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand and estimates denoted with a '*' means less than 1000 young people are estimated to be NEET in that area.
(1)Age used is the respondents academic age, which is their age at the preceding 31 August.
| Table 1: People aged¹ 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training by region | ||||||||||||
| Q3 2006 | Q4 2006 | Q1 2007 | Q2 2007 | Q3 2007 | Q4 2007 | Q1 2008 | Q2 2008 | Q3 2008 | Q4 2008 | Q1 2009 | Q2 2009 | |
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