Asked by: Shaun Bailey (Conservative - West Bromwich West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress her Department has made on securing free trade agreements with countries around the world.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
I refer my Hon. Friend for West Bromwich West to my previous answer to my Hon. Friend for Hendon on 30th November (UIN: 79331).
Asked by: Shaun Bailey (Conservative - West Bromwich West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimates she has made of the number of people who have found employment through Plan for Jobs skills and employment programmes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Plan for Jobs programmes throughout their implementation.
As of the 11th October, 86,000 young people have started a Kickstart job. Over 204,900 roles have been made available for young people to apply to through the scheme and over 307,500 jobs have been approved for funding.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.
The management information above has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
Employment outcomes are available for Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) in England and Wales and JETS Scotland, and provided in the table below. It should be noted that JETS provides support for up to six months and many people who have started on the scheme will not yet have had time to achieve an employment outcome.
JETS Starts and Employment Outcomes
| Programme Starts (To End August 2021) | Employment Outcomes (To End August 2021) |
JETS England and Wales (launched 5 October 2020) | 168,020 | 41,830 |
JETS Scotland (launched 25 January 2021) | 8,440 | 1,540 |
Note: JETS data are taken from the Provider Referrals and Payments (PRaP) system. An employment outcome is defined as when an individual achieves £1,000 cumulative earnings within eight months of starting on the programme as identified via HMRC earnings information.
The number of people who have started on Job Finding Support (JFS) and Sector Based Work Academies (SWAPs) provision is provided in the tables below. Employment outcomes for these programmes are not currently available.
SWAPs Starts
1 April 2020 - 31 March 2021 | 64,500 |
1 April 2021 - 10 October 2021 | 40,050 |
|
|
Total since April 2020 | 104,550 |
Notes: A SWAP start is defined as someone attending the first day of the placement, which is usually the first day of pre-employment training. A start is only recorded where a claimant attended their placement. SWAPs starts data are collected by Jobcentre staff and reflect the number of SWAP starts by claimants in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Income Support (IS).
JFS Starts
Month | Starts to JFS |
|
|
Jan-21 | 1,440 |
Feb-21 | 3,465 |
Mar-21 | 4,530 |
Apr-21 | 2,585 |
May-21 | 4,490 |
Jun-21 | 4,940 |
Jul-21 | 5,740 |
Aug-21 | 4,420 |
Sep-21 | 4,080 |
|
|
Total | 14,250 |
Notes: JFS Starts are taken from the Provider Referrals and Payments (PRaP) system. Starts occur where an initial meeting has taken place and participant has acknowledged receipt of appropriate documents such as the Job Finding Action Plan (JFAP). JFS Start volumes, particularly those in more recent months, are likely to increase as starts can be recorded retrospectively.
Through our Youth Offer we currently have over 135 Youth Hubs physically open to support young people across Great Britain get into work and the ambition is to have 150 open by the end of the year.
Asked by: Shaun Bailey (Conservative - West Bromwich West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of re-classifying sun cream from a cosmetic product to an essential product for the purposes of VAT.
Answered by Jesse Norman
VAT is a broad-based tax on supplies of goods and services, and exceptions are limited and set out in legislation. High-factor sunscreen is on the NHS prescription list for certain conditions and qualifies for a VAT zero rate when prescribed and dispensed by a pharmacist.
Making all sunscreen VAT-free would come at a considerable cost to the Exchequer. While all taxes are kept under review, there are currently no plans to reduce VAT on sunscreen products.
Asked by: Shaun Bailey (Conservative - West Bromwich West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support businesses with property with a rateable value of over £51,000 and who therefore do not qualify for grant funding.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
A range of measures to support all businesses has been made available. These include the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, allowing businesses to benefit from loans of up to £5m, with the first 12 months of that finance interest free, and the Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility. Businesses can also benefit from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to help keep people in employment. More detail on the business support package is available at: www.businesssupport.gov.uk. More detail on the CJRS for businesses is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.
Asked by: Shaun Bailey (Conservative - West Bromwich West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government Equalities Office is taking to help promote shared parental leave.
Answered by Paul Scully
In the past 2 years the Government has spent over £1.75 million on communications campaigns to promote Shared Parental Leave to parents and employers and has achieved and maintained high levels of awareness of the policy. The Government is also improving tools and guidance for parents and employers to make it easier for them to access the scheme.