Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

John Cryer Excerpts
Thursday 6th March 2014

(10 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matthew Hancock
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Of course, apprenticeships increasingly cover the whole economy, including farming and agriculture. The number of apprenticeships in agriculture has increased by a quarter and I am pleased to say that we are working with farmers in our trailblazer reforms of apprenticeships to get them and the agriculture sector to write the rules on what training is needed to ensure that apprenticeships work better for them in future.

John Cryer Portrait John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)
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Bogus self-employment continues to spread through the construction industry, in part because the number of HMRC employer compliance inspections has halved in four years. Does the Secretary of State regret that?

Vince Cable Portrait Vince Cable
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Of course we want to see maximum compliance. We realise that there are abuses in the construction industry and I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we are committing to stepping up enforcement action.