Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential reasons for skills shortages.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The workforce is more highly qualified than 15 years ago, but adult participation in further education has declined significantly. This has left us with a gap in higher technical skills: only 4% of young people achieve a qualification at higher technical level by 25 compared to 33% who get a degree or above. We know through our work with investors and businesses that we do not have enough technicians, engineers or health and social care professionals to meet our challenges. Therefore, the Government are investing an additional £3.8 billion into skills and further education over this Parliament to help workers develop the skills businesses need.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of weeks for which a person can undertake training and remain eligible for universal credit.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Work Coaches recommend options to customers to address skills barriers and provide support for them to access a wide range of provision. Which can include essential Maths, English and Digital Skills, and other vocational opportunities such as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).
Whilst periods of training are generally expected to be directly linked to customer’s work search goals, we have increased the amount of time Universal Credit customers in the All Work Related Requirements conditionality group can take part in full time, work-related training for up to 16 weeks in Great Britain.
Where a longer period of training is required to equip someone with the skills for work whilst also maintaining employment, other options are available including apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are designed by employers and open to learners of all ages, with vocational courses ranging from level 2 up to post-graduate qualifications.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the use of different economic forecasts by (a) the Bank of England and (b) the OBR on (i) monetary and (ii) fiscal decisions.
Answered by Bim Afolami
Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England, so the government rightly does not comment on the conduct of monetary policy. The MPC publishes its forecasts on a quarterly basis to inform its monetary policy decisions.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the UK government’s independent official forecaster and publishes economic and fiscal forecasts at least twice per year alongside fiscal events. The OBR provides independence, transparency and credibility via its assessment of the economic and fiscal position and as the official forecaster it is right that it is the basis for government fiscal policy decisions.
The MPC and the OBR have different responsibilities, so it is right that they produce their own forecasts. The MPC’s forecasts reflect policy announced by the government and fiscal assumptions from the OBR and HM Treasury.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of reinstating tax-free shopping for international visitors on the high street economy.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The government published its next steps on tax-free shopping in the Spring Budget 2024 which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html.
The OBR published a review of the original 2020 costing of the withdrawal of tax-free shopping in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 6 March, with a follow up supplementary document published on 11 March, which is available here: https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/VAT-RES-costing-review.pdf
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of a regional system for issuing of Tier 2 Skilled Worker visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The UK has a single immigration system which works for the whole of the UK. Adding different rules for different locations would introduce further complexity into the system and create frictions where workers move from one location to another.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic impact on the tourism industry of delays in the processing of Tier 2 visa licences.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
There are currently no delays in the processing of sponsor licence applications.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the impact of ending tax-free shopping for international visitors on levels of spending by international visitors since 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The government published its next steps, in relation to tax-free shopping in the Spring Budget 2024 which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of ending tax-free shopping for international visitors on levels of tourism since 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The government published its next steps, in relation to tax-free shopping in the Spring Budget 2024 which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is taking steps to ensure there are no delays to implementation of the final Infected Blood inquiry compensation report.
Answered by John Glen
Ministerial colleagues and I, as well as officials in the Cabinet Office and relevant other Government Departments, are working closely to ensure effective design and implementation of the Government response to Inquiry, with regular meetings and engagement across Whitehall.
The Government is committed to responding to the recommendations made by Sir Brian Langstaff in full, after the publication of the final report. The Government has appointed an expert group to provide advice on recommendations regarding compensation, and we are bringing forward amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill at Report Stage in the Other Place to speed up the Government response to the Inquiry.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he had discussions with airports in Scotland on the potential merits of reinstating tax-free shopping for international visitors before the Spring Budget 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
The government published its next steps on tax-free shopping in the Spring Budget 2024 which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html.