Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much from the public purse the Government has provided to (a) the South Tees Development Corporation and (b) Teesworks Joint Venture as of 7 June 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
On 7 June, the Department published letters appointing three reviewers to the independent review into the South Tees Development Corporation and Teesworks Joint Venture, alongside a copy of the review's terms of reference. This followed my Written Ministerial Statement to the House on 25 May, announcing the review (HCWS813).
As set out in Parliament on 7 June, in line with existing practice, we have matched the skills, expertise, and experience of the panel, all of whom have held senior positions in local government, to the specific requirements of the review.
Details of the government funding provided to Tees Valley Combined Authority for the development of South Tees Development Corporation site are available on gov.uk. No funding has been provided by the Government to the Teesworks Joint Venture.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what set of criteria he plans to use to appoint panellists to the Independent review: Teesworks Joint Venture.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
On 7 June, the Department published letters appointing three reviewers to the independent review into the South Tees Development Corporation and Teesworks Joint Venture, alongside a copy of the review's terms of reference. This followed my Written Ministerial Statement to the House on 25 May, announcing the review (HCWS813).
As set out in Parliament on 7 June, in line with existing practice, we have matched the skills, expertise, and experience of the panel, all of whom have held senior positions in local government, to the specific requirements of the review.
Details of the government funding provided to Tees Valley Combined Authority for the development of South Tees Development Corporation site are available on gov.uk. No funding has been provided by the Government to the Teesworks Joint Venture.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June to Question 186376 on Government Departments: Apprentices, if he will provide a breakdown by Department of the percentage change in digital, data and technology apprenticeships between October 2021 and December 2022.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) apprenticeships are a way to gain industry standard qualifications whilst working full time in a salaried DDaT role in the Civil Service. During their programme, apprentices receive training from an apprenticeship provider in their chosen field, and apply their emerging knowledge and skills to their full time role as a DDaT professional.
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) is working with departments and commercial teams to address barriers to fully utilising the apprentice levy, including through increasing apprentice provider choice.
We have also grown our early talent offers. CDDO is now in the process of building a cross-government digital apprenticeship programme ‘Tech Track’ which aims to upskill existing Civil Servants into the DDaT profession through apprenticeships, targeting 350-500 roles in its first year from Q1 2024.
Apprentice numbers regularly fluctuate year to year as apprentices begin and finish their courses at different stages throughout the year. External factors play a significant role in decisions to invest in apprenticeships. These include the impact of Covid-19 on recruitment and operation of apprenticeships, and proposed reductions to overall Civil Service headcount, prompting departments to prioritise fully developed staff. Changes to the recruitment of apprentices will not be reflected in the number of apprentices in departments until the following year.
Data provided by the Civil Service Apprenticeship Unit (CSAU) shows that, between September 2021 and December 2022, the number of apprentices fluctuated as per the below table:
Department | On programme Apprentices September 2021 | On programme Apprentices December 2022 | Percentage Change |
Ministry of Justice | 2 | 22 | 1000% |
Ministry of Defence | 39 | 116 | 197% |
Department for International Trade | 1 | 2 | 100% |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 7 | 12 | 71% |
Department for Education | 20 | 23 | 15% |
United Kingdom Statistics Authority | 9 | 10 | 11% |
Attorney General's Departments | 1 | 1 | 0% |
Department for Work and Pensions | 169 | 163 | -4% |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | 15 | 12 | -20% |
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (and former partners) | 70 | 53 | -24% |
National Crime Agency | 4 | 3 | -25% |
Cabinet Office | 35 | 23 | -34% |
Competition and Markets Authority | 2 | 1 | -50% |
Department For Digital Culture Media And Sport | 4 | 2 | -50% |
HM Revenue and Customs | 248 | 117 | -52% |
Home Office | 89 | 41 | -54% |
Department for Transport | 53 | 22 | -58% |
Department of Health and Social Care | 34 | 13 | -62% |
Charity Commission | 3 | - |
|
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities | - | 1 |
|
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the report from the National Audit Office entitled Digital transformation in government: addressing the barriers to efficiency, published on 10 March 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for (a) his policies and (b) digital transformation in Government of that report's finding of a reduction of 20 per cent in the number of digital, data and technology apprenticeships between October 2021 and December 202.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Government is committed to strengthening digital and technology specialist skills and has increased the number of recorded specialists by 10% since the establishment of the Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data.
Individual departments are ultimately responsible for their own resourcing decisions and will have their own rationale for specific choices made. Additionally, apprenticeship headcounts will fluctuate over time linked to factors like the procurement of suppliers and the cohort based nature of apprenticeship recruitment.
Apprentices are a core part of our thriving digital community, as are graduates and interns, and we are committed to ensuring that the trend in reduction of apprentices is reversed. Indeed, since the report was published, the number of recorded apprentices has increased by 6.2%.
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) are currently working with departments and commercial teams to address some of the barriers to fully utilising apprentice levy’s in government, including through increasing supplier choice.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2023 to Question 156109 on SIMEC Group: Subsidies, whether (a) Aar Tee Group, (b) Pentech, (c) Simec UK Energy Holdings, (d) Atlantis Resources and (e) Simec Atlantis Energy received public funding following the SIMEC Group's acquisition of the Uskmouth B Powerplant in Newport, South Wales in 2015.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The companies listed have received no public funding from the Department for Business and Trade since 2015.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2023 to Question 184346 on Protective Clothing: Contracts and with reference to the National Audit Office report entitled Investigation into the management of PPE contracts published 30 Mar 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that report's findings that not all due diligence checks on companies not were completed before contracts were awarded for personal protective equipment procurement.
Answered by Will Quince
The 2022 National Audit Office (NAO) refers to an ‘eight stage due diligence process’, a term used by the NAO to describe a structured process of checks and due diligence on potential suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE) which formalised the checks quickly put in place by the cross-Government PPE procurement cell and which evolved in March and April 2020. The final step was the introduction of a central clearance board on 4 May 2020 to perform checks previously performed by the Department’s Accounting Officer to add an extra level of assurance that the deal met our requirements. From the start all suppliers were evaluated by officials on financial standing, technical compliance and ability to perform the contract.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many due diligence checks on companies not were completed before contracts were awarded for personal protective equipment procurement.
Answered by Will Quince
All offers of personal protective equipment submitted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic went through a structured, documented due diligence process before a contract was awarded by the Department.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department has put in place to help promote solar power in the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is incentivising large-scale solar through the Contracts for Difference scheme and rooftop solar through various financial and regulatory measures. These include the Smart Export Guarantee, removal of VAT on domestic panels, tax relief and business rate exemptions. The Government is exploring low-cost finance options to support upfront costs for households and businesses and reviewing permitted development rights to simplify planning for commercial projects.
The Government will publish a solar deployment roadmap in 2024 and is establishing a taskforce to drive forward further actions needed to achieve the Government's ambition of around a fivefold increase in solar capacity by 2035.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 120948 on Unispace Global: Contracts, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential tax implications of the novation of the contracts from a limited company to a limited liability partnership.
Answered by Will Quince
Legal advice was not sought by the Department on the change in legal structure of the counterparties to the contracts nor of the potential tax implications of the novation of the contracts as this did not affect the terms of the contracts, including the payments to be made by the Department or the supply of products to the Department.
Under the change of structure, Unispace Global Ltd was acquired by Unispace Health Products LLP, which changed its name to Sante Global LLP shortly afterwards. A novation agreement was entered into to change the counterparty to the contracts, where the new counterparty agreed to perform all of the present and future obligations of the contracts.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 120948 on Unispace Global: Contracts, whether his Department sought legal advice on the potential implications of novating a contract from a limited company to a limited liability partnership.
Answered by Will Quince
Legal advice was not sought by the Department on the change in legal structure of the counterparties to the contracts nor of the potential tax implications of the novation of the contracts as this did not affect the terms of the contracts, including the payments to be made by the Department or the supply of products to the Department.
Under the change of structure, Unispace Global Ltd was acquired by Unispace Health Products LLP, which changed its name to Sante Global LLP shortly afterwards. A novation agreement was entered into to change the counterparty to the contracts, where the new counterparty agreed to perform all of the present and future obligations of the contracts.