Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what childcare facilities his Department makes available for staff; how much his Department spent (a) overall and (b) per child on those childcare facilities in the last year; and how many staff members use those childcare facilities.
Answered by Margot James
The Department organises the Westminster Holiday Play Scheme. This is a childcare facility that takes place during school holidays. It is open to children from the age of 4 years and 9 months up to 15 years’ old. It is run on behalf of a consortium of departments through a contract led and administered by BEIS. It currently operates at 4 London locations. There is a cost of £35 per day per child. The Department meets £18 of this cost for its members of staff with parents/guardians paying the remaining £17.
Between September 2016 and August 2017 (inclusive) BEIS spent £10,244 on the play scheme. The Department does not have details on the number of individual staff members who made use of the scheme or on the amounts spent per child.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of 27 June 2017, Official Report, columns 457-8W, on workers' rights, what powers the Government has made available to HM Revenue and Customs to sanction companies withholding employees' paid holiday allowance; and on how many occasions such powers have been used.
Answered by Margot James
HM Revenue and Customs has no powers to sanction companies for withholding holiday pay.
However, HM Revenue and Customs plays a vital role in enforcing the National Minimum Wage and the Government has continued to strengthen enforcement action in this area.
More broadly, the Government has asked Matthew Taylor to consider new forms of work such as the ‘gig economy’ and self-employment, and their implications on employee rights and responsibilities, employer freedoms and obligations, and the existing regulatory framework surrounding employment.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff are seconded to his Department; and how many such staff are seconded from which companies and organisations.
Answered by Margot James
There are currently 40 staff seconded to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The table below shows the organisations that secondees are from and the number of secondees from each organisation:
Organisation | No. | Organisation | No. | Organisation | No. |
National Grid | 2 | Irish Government | 1 | New Economy Manchester | 1 |
Brighton & Hove City Council | 1 | NHS Trust Development Authority | 1 | Royal Society | 1 |
City & County of Swansea | 1 | Imperial College London | 1 | National Physical Laboratory | 1 |
University of Liverpool | 1 | Innovate UK | 1 | Oxford University | 1 |
BMWi - Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany | 1 | British Business Bank | 1 | West Yorkshire combined Authority | 1 |
QAA (Quality assurance agency for higher education) | 3 | UK Petroleum Industry Association Ltd | 1 | Southend on Sea Borough Council | 1 |
Research Councils UK | 2 | City of Bradford MDC | 1 | Science & Technology Facilities Council | 1 |
Chartered trading standards institute | 1 | Jisc | 2 | UK Atomic Energy Authority | 1 |
University of Sheffield | 1 | Financial Conduct Authority | 1 | Natural Environment Research Council | 1 |
Jacobs | 1 | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council | 1 | The Financial Reporting Council Ltd | 1 |
HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) | 1 | Environment Agency | 1 | British Standards Institute | 1 |
Shell | 1 | Deloittes | 1 |
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Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of applying equivalent maternity rights for women in permanent employment to women in casual, fixed-term or zero-hours employment contracts.
Answered by Margot James
Entitlement to statutory employment rights, including family related statutory leave and pay, is determined by the individual’s employment status and not the type of contract that they have. This means that many women on casual, fixed-term or zero-hours contracts will already enjoy the same maternity benefits as women in full-time, permanent employment.
The wide ranging independent review of Modern Employment Practices is looking at the impact of non-standard forms of employment on security, pay and rights
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of changes in the level of Government funding for the Citizens Advice Service in (a) England, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) Kirklees in the last three years.
Answered by Margot James
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy provides funding to Citizen Advice (CitA), the umbrella body for the Citizen Advice Service in England and Wales through an annual grant to support their core function and to deliver consumer advocacy and advice. Funding over the last three years is set out in the table below.
Year | BIS Core Funding | Consumer advice, information & advocacy | Total Funding |
2016-17 | £18,900,000 | £19,974,300 | £38,874,300 |
2015-16 | £18,900,000 | £19,313,300 | £38,213,300 |
2014-15 | £18,900,000 | £18,940,300 | £37,840,300 |
Central Government does not provide funding directly to local individual Citizen Advice offices, core funding for which is usually provided by the local authority in which they are located.