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18 Jan 2010 : Column 187W—continued
Train to Gain Programme: Lincolnshire
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much has been paid out in Train to Gain funding in North East Lincolnshire since the inception of that scheme. [309767]
Kevin Brennan: Between its inception in April 2006 and the end of the academic year 2008/09, over 1.4 million qualifications were started under the Train to Gain programme. Investment in this programme will continue to increase; for 2010-11 financial year, we plan to invest a total of £983 million.
Funding for the Train to Gain programme is not allocated through Local authorities (LAs) but distributed directly from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to further education (FE) colleges and training providers on the basis of the volume of learning they deliver. It is therefore not possible to provide a total figure for money paid out to North East Lincolnshire as an LA.
However, up until the end of the academic year 2008/09, 4,600 people with the home postcodes lying within North East Lincolnshire have started Train to Gain courses. Funding will have been provided to support this number of learners as they develop their skills.
Vocational Training: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department expects to spend on adult skills other than through the Skills Funding Agency in 2010-11; and on what projects such expenditure will be incurred. [309506]
Kevin Brennan: In financial year 2010-11 the Department's planned DEL expenditure on adult skills, other than through the Skills Funding Agency, is £422 million.
Detailed plans for the use of the £422 million resource have not been confirmed yet. However it will support a range of activity to support learners and employers identify and access the skills they need and to support the Government's priorities and reforms set out in the Skills Investment Strategy. For example, through support for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills to strengthen the employer voice in the skills system, the development of National Skills Academies and supporting implementation of the new Adult Advancement and Careers Service.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what (a) departmental spending and (b) annually managed expenditure will be incurred on (i) the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and (ii) adults skills expenditure not routed through the SFA in (A) 2009-10 and 2010-11. [309508]
Kevin Brennan: The following table sets out the planned level of skills expenditure requested. As detailed in the Skills Investment Strategy in November 2009, the 2010-11 allocations will allow for a 3 per cent. increase in funding for training places compared to 2009-10.
| £ million | ||
| Financial year | ||
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | |
| (1) As noted in the Skills Investment Strategy, these figures include anticipated end year flexibility and allocations expected from the Department's Unallocated Provision. The figures for 2010-11 are reduced by an estimate of the administration cost currently within the Learning and Skills Council which will transfer to the Young People's Learning Agency when established at the beginning of the 2010-11 financial year. (2) This expenditure relates to the Construction Industry Training Board and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board. Expenditure is matched by levy receipts from employers in the relevant sector. | ||
Vocational Training: West Midlands
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to encourage innovation in the West Midlands. [307314]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 December 2009]: As part of its objective to build a strong economy Government are taking a range of measures to encourage innovation in the West Midlands and across the country as a whole.
We are doing this through, for example the UK Innovation Investment Fund (UKIIF) which will ensure that venture capital is available by early 2010 to invest in innovative British businesses across the United Kingdom in key sectors (life sciences, clean technology, digital and advanced manufacturing). In the PBR we announced that Government's investment of £150 million in the UKIIF has leveraged £175 million in additional money, creating a pool of funding initially worth £325 million.
Support for innovation is also provided through the R&D Tax Credit scheme, which allows companies to claim tax relief against R&D expenditure. Latest figures show that up until 31 March 2008, 425 SMEs and 115 large companies in the West Midlands had their claims for R&D Tax Credits approved.
The establishment of the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) in 2007 has given Britain a successful business-led body whose programmes channel public funds into driving business innovation in areas where there are major opportunities for future growth.
The Government funded Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are also supporting innovation. The West Midlands RDA, Advantage West Midlands (AWM), has aligned around £157 million of funding with TSB priorities over 2008-11. The Agency is the lead RDA on two of the national Innovation Platforms, Low Carbon Vehicles and Assisted Living and is working on initiatives related to other platforms:
Intelligent transport systems and services and low impact buildings as well as exploring opportunities in possible future platforms such as immersive education.
Key innovation-based projects supported by AWM include:
(i) The £77 million investment in the Birmingham-Warwick Research Alliance through Birmingham Science City creates a platform on which to build university-business collaboration and business access to research equipment and expertise, in the areas of energy, advanced materials, and translational medicine.
(ii) The Advanced Sensors Innovation Project has created an investment fund of over £6 million to exploit intellectual property within QinetiQ at Malvern in conjunction with industry. A further project to exploit Quantum Technologies is under development in a partnership between QinetiQ, AWM and industry.
(iii) AWM is investing £30 million over the next three years to support the Low Carbon Vehicles (LCV) plan from the National Automotive Innovation Growth Team. Part of this will go to a programme based at a regional hub and part will be co-invested with the TSB in support of its Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform.
(iv) AWM is investing £40 million, in partnership with emda, in the Manufacturing Technology Centre. Bringing together Tier 1 manufacturing companies, and their supply chains, key Midlands's universities and The Welding Institute (TWI), the MTC will
create a step change in the competitiveness of UK manufacturing performance focused around assembly, joining and fabrication technologies.
(v) AWM has committed around £20 million to support development of clinical trialling and experimental medicine facilities within the translational medicine part of the Science City programme, as well as investing in a Health Technologies Design Institute at Coventry University.
Working Hours: Preston
Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many residents of Preston have received a reduction in their working hours as a result of the reduction in the maximum length of the working week to 48 hours. [311134]
Mr. McFadden: The working time regulations provide workers with the right to refuse to work more than 48 hours on average, if they do not want to. It is not possible to estimate how many people have received a reduction in their working hours as a result of the reduction in the maximum length of the working week to 48 hours either at the national level or in Preston.
Treasury
Banks: Currencies
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effects of foreign currency liabilities of UK banks on (a) the public purse and (b) the UK economy. [309698]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: As a result of the financial crisis, HM Treasury has taken a stake in a number of banks.
RBS, in which our stake is managed at arm's length according to commercial principles, is part of the Asset Protection Scheme (APS). Details of assets covered in the scheme were published on 7 December ('Royal Bank of Scotland: details of Asset Protection Scheme and launch of the Asset Protection Agency', available on the HMT website at:
Any actual liability to HM Treasury occurs only in a stress scenario where the scheme is triggered. The expected loss from the APS is £0.
Lloyds Banking Group did not participate in the APS and therefore the Government have not offered protection for any assets they hold. It is a decision for Lloyds as to the nature of particular disclosures, which can be seen in their published accounts.
Bradford and Bingley and Northern Rock are also run at arm's length according to commercial principles and so it is their decision as to the nature of particular disclosures. Foreign currency liabilities can be seen in their published accounts.
Banks in which the Government have no stake are not required to submit information to HM Treasury on the nature of their liabilities. As such, it is impossible to isolate the impact of banks' foreign currency liabilities on the economy as a whole.
Boilers: Government Assistance
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether expenditure in England on the boiler scrappage scheme will be subject to the Barnett formula and consequential funding made available for Wales. [310506]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 12 January 2010]: The boiler scrappage scheme was announced in the pre Budget report. The devolved Administrations received Barnett consequentials on additional funding at that time.
Departmental Surveys
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the results from his Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the total cost of the survey was. [310767]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The results of HM Treasury's latest staff survey, undertaken in October 2009 are not yet available. HM Treasury will publish its staff survey results on the public website in early February, once they have been received and communicated to staff. Following publication we will place a copy of the results in the Library.
The supplier for HM Treasury's staff survey in October 2009 was ORC International who were procured by the Cabinet Office to deliver the first cross Civil Service People Survey. The People survey replaced all existing staff surveys in the civil service with a single questionnaire.
The cost of the 2009-10 People Survey for HM Treasury was £23,142. By procuring a single supplier for staff surveys in 2009-10, the civil service has saved 35 per cent. on the total cost of staff surveys in 2008-09.
The results from HM Treasury's previous staff surveys can already be found in the Library.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) destination, (b) cost, (c) class of ticket purchased and (d) type of fare was for each flight taken by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury at public expense in the last six months; and what the purpose was of each overseas trip. [310740]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Since 1999, the Government have published on an annual basis a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the "Ministerial Code".
Economic Situation
Mr. Soames: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which five sectors of the economy contributed the (a) most and (b) least to the UK economy in each of the last five years. [311395]
Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated January 2010:
As Director General of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question concerning which five sectors of the economy contributed the (a) most and (b) least to the UK economy in each of the last five years. (311395)
Economic activity as measured by the gross value added by industry is published in the "UK National Accounts-The Blue Book". Table 2.3 of the 2009 publication shows the contribution of the main industrial headings, and contain the information requested.
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