Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the (a) potential limitations of GDP growth as a measurement of the development of the UK economy and (b) potential merits of using alternative measurements such as the (i) Genuine Progress Indicator, (ii) Green Gross Domestic Product and (iii) Human Development Index.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
GDP measures the total value of all of the goods made, and services provided, during a specific period of time. GDP is important because the higher a country’s GDP is, the more resources are available to people in the country – goods and services, wages and profits. Growing GDP sustainably means the government is better equipped to invest in public services such as the police, NHS and schools.
Whilst it remains one of our most important economic indicators, the Government recognises that GDP has its limitations and should not be seen as an all-encompassing measure of welfare. The ONS produce separate measures of subjective well-being, introduced as part of the 2010 National Well-being Programme, to start measuring our progress as a country, not just by how our economy is growing, but by how our lives are improving. This programme encompasses a broad range of measures including, happiness, health, the environment and personal finance.
The Government has provided the Office for National Statistics (ONS) with an additional £25 million to help implement the recommendations of Sir Charles Bean’s 2016 Review of Economics Statistics, including through an initiative called ‘Beyond GDP’ that aims to address the limitations in GDP by developing broader measures of welfare and activity.
As a result of this work, the UK became one of the first countries to publish natural capital accounts as part of its National Accounts (The Blue Book). The ONS is continuing to develop these accounts and also published human capital estimates for 2004-2018 as part of their wellbeing measures. The Dasgupta Review considers that a broader measure of ‘inclusive wealth’, comprising Natural, human and produced capital, can provide insights into a nation’s sustainable economic progress over time. In response to the recommendations of the Dasgupta review, HM Treasury provided further funding to the ONS to continue improving its natural capital estimates. This will improve their relevance for policy making, and ensure continued consideration of a broader measure of economic activity than just GDP.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the British Computer Society report The experiences of black women in the information technology industry, published in October 2022, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage black women to pursue careers in the tech industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
We recognise that the Tech Sector, including the Information Technology industry, can only reach its true potential if it is fully representative of society. This Government is committed to this mission, which is why we have supported the Tech Talent Charter since 2016. They are leading the movement by gathering data and reporting on diversity statistics from 741 organisations across all sectors, fostering collaboration and innovation to create a more inclusive and diverse tech workforce. TTC’s annual diversity in tech report is a key resource that encourages businesses to hire diverse talent, as well as sharing the best D&I practices across the sector.
We recognise that digital skills are fundamental to ensuring everyone can make the most of a digital future. As the department that leads on digital skills, we are focusing on broadening and deepening the pool of talent. The Digital Skills Council convenes stakeholders from across the sector to deliver industry led action on driving the growth of the digital workforce, including widening the skills pipelines, and ensuring Tech roles are accessible for all. One of the council’s objectives is to promote mechanisms to provide increasingly diverse access to digital roles and digitally enabled roles.
The Office for AI has also set up the AI and Data Science Conversion Course programmes to provide a Masters degree in AI and Data Science. The first scholarships were announced in 2019, and earlier this year, the government announced a further 2,000 scholarships. These will support underrepresented groups from non-STEM backgrounds to develop new digital and AI skills, and secure employment in the UK’s cutting-edge sectors. To date, 57% of these scholarships have been awarded to those from an ethnic minority background, and 38% of these scholarships have been awarded to Black students. Emerging findings also indicate that the scholarships are driving increased diversity in the cohort on these conversion courses compared to traditional Masters’ provision in the sector. 76% of the scholarships were awarded to women, leading to a 32% increase of women on the courses, against comparable benchmarks.
DCMS also launched Cyber Explorers, which supports 11-14 year-olds, and looks to boost their understanding and interest in a cyber career. The programme has prioritised representation on the platform, including characters from a range of diverse backgrounds and careers. This has focused on amplifying reach in population areas with high ethnic minority densities and areas with multiple indices of deprivation. This is alongside our work to support the CyberFirst Girls Competition, which opened its latest intake last month.
With DCMS funding, Tech Nation developed its Libra growth programme in 2021.The programme offers targeted support to minority ethnic tech founders in their scaling journey. Tech Nation has also developed a publicly available Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit, which supports scaling companies in implementing diversity and inclusion strategies in order to make the tech sector as a whole more accessible for those from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the British Computer Society report The experiences of black women in the information technology industry, published in October 2022, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds to pursue careers in the tech industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
We recognise that the Tech Sector, including the Information Technology industry, can only reach its true potential if it is fully representative of society. This Government is committed to this mission, which is why we have supported the Tech Talent Charter since 2016. They are leading the movement by gathering data and reporting on diversity statistics from 741 organisations across all sectors, fostering collaboration and innovation to create a more inclusive and diverse tech workforce. TTC’s annual diversity in tech report is a key resource that encourages businesses to hire diverse talent, as well as sharing the best D&I practices across the sector.
We recognise that digital skills are fundamental to ensuring everyone can make the most of a digital future. As the department that leads on digital skills, we are focusing on broadening and deepening the pool of talent. The Digital Skills Council convenes stakeholders from across the sector to deliver industry led action on driving the growth of the digital workforce, including widening the skills pipelines, and ensuring Tech roles are accessible for all. One of the council’s objectives is to promote mechanisms to provide increasingly diverse access to digital roles and digitally enabled roles.
The Office for AI has also set up the AI and Data Science Conversion Course programmes to provide a Masters degree in AI and Data Science. The first scholarships were announced in 2019, and earlier this year, the government announced a further 2,000 scholarships. These will support underrepresented groups from non-STEM backgrounds to develop new digital and AI skills, and secure employment in the UK’s cutting-edge sectors. To date, 57% of these scholarships have been awarded to those from an ethnic minority background, and 38% of these scholarships have been awarded to Black students. Emerging findings also indicate that the scholarships are driving increased diversity in the cohort on these conversion courses compared to traditional Masters’ provision in the sector. 76% of the scholarships were awarded to women, leading to a 32% increase of women on the courses, against comparable benchmarks.
DCMS also launched Cyber Explorers, which supports 11-14 year-olds, and looks to boost their understanding and interest in a cyber career. The programme has prioritised representation on the platform, including characters from a range of diverse backgrounds and careers. This has focused on amplifying reach in population areas with high ethnic minority densities and areas with multiple indices of deprivation. This is alongside our work to support the CyberFirst Girls Competition, which opened its latest intake last month.
With DCMS funding, Tech Nation developed its Libra growth programme in 2021.The programme offers targeted support to minority ethnic tech founders in their scaling journey. Tech Nation has also developed a publicly available Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit, which supports scaling companies in implementing diversity and inclusion strategies in order to make the tech sector as a whole more accessible for those from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to support Israel and Palestine relations during free trade negotiations.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK greatly values our bilateral trade relationships with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Although the focus of the UK-Israel Free Trade agreement is trade with Israel, we will continue to build upon our commercial links with the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including through the Trade Facilitation and Customs Support programme (Tasdeer). This is a 3-year, £15 million programme funded by UK ODA, seeking to improve trade performance In the Occupied Palestinian Territories with an integrated focus on gender and social inclusion, supporting inclusive growth.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) pay discrepancies and (b) disadvantage in the labour market for women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
It is crucial that we ensure everyone is treated fairly in the workplace, so that they can thrive and reach their full potential.
This Government is committed to the empowerment of women in the workplace. Over the last decade our work has seen the gender pay gap fall considerably, and a strong growth in the number of women in full-time work. To drive forward this progress we have recently announced a groundbreaking pay transparency pilot, a new STEM returners programme and a Taskforce on Women-Led High-Growth Enterprises.
On ethnicity pay gaps; in “Inclusive Britain”, the response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ report, we accepted the recommendation to publish guidance for employers to support a voluntary approach to ethnicity pay reporting. Work on this is already underway.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help encourage private investment in coastal communities not covered by its policy on freeports.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
My department is committed to supporting coastal communities flourish, strengthening their appeal as places to live, work and visit.
From 2012 – 2022, my department delivered over £187 million throughout the UK through the Coastal Communities Fund. The Evaluation has recently been published, which showed the positive effects on the economy including stimulating job growth and prosperity. Since then, we have been busy to ensure coastal communities remain at the heart of our levelling up funds.
Of 101 towns, there are 22 coastal towns that are recipients of Towns Deals worth up to £25 million and coastal areas will benefit from over £673 million of investment (inclusive of successful Future High Streets Fund bids). In addition to this, the Levelling Up Fund offers investment opportunities for coastal communities to promote regeneration and build vital infrastructure. Both of these place-based interventions should boost private sector investment through the regeneration of high streets and town centres.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase apprenticeships opportunities in the cyber technology sector.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Apprenticeships provide people with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start, progress or re-train in the technology sector, helping employers to address their current and emerging skills needs and build a diverse pipeline of talent.
The department continues to work in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and supports their newly launched strategy to make the digital economy more inclusive, competitive, and innovative by supporting the growth of Digital, Cyber, and Artificial Intelligence strategies.
We have put employers at the heart of our apprenticeship system, empowering them to design the standards they need. Employers in the digital sector have so far developed 26 high-quality digital apprenticeship standards across all levels in occupations such as Data Science, Cyber Security, Digital and Technology solutions, AI, Software Developer and Creative Digital Design.
In the 2020/21 academic year there were 18,400 apprenticeship starts in the Information and Communication Technology sector subject area, with 17,000 starts reported so far for the first eight months of the 2021/22 academic year.
The department is also encouraging all employers to offer more flexible training models. There are two flexi-job apprenticeship agencies supporting the digital sector, ensuring apprentices are ready to work on-site and can benefit from the high-quality long-term training that an apprenticeship provides.
We are working closely with stakeholders in the digital skills sector to identify opportunities for improvements that support digital growth and deliver sector growth campaigns via trusted sector voices including TechUK and BCS, to inspire and inform SMEs to recruit apprentices in the digital sector.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has undertaken consultation with trade unions in the creative sector on her upcoming creative industries sector vision statement.
Answered by Matt Warman
The creative industries are a vital part of the UK’s economy, worth approximately £116 billion in Gross Value Added and employing over 2 million people across the country. They were identified as one of four key sectors in the Plan for Growth to encourage recovery following the pandemic, and as a result we are developing a Creative Industries Sector Vision. The Sector Vision will set out our 2030 vision to promote inclusive growth, support the development of the creative workforce, maximise the wider impacts of the sector, and deliver on the government’s levelling up, Global Britain and net zero objectives.
We recognise the need for a network of flexible and accessible routes into the creative industries, from early years education to adult reskilling, for people of all backgrounds, and the Sector Vision will look closely at these issues. We also recognise the importance of job quality to ensure broad pathways into the creative industries, which is why we are working with the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre to deliver a Review into Job Quality and Working Practice in the Creative Industries. This will be published in the Autumn and has involved consultation with creative trade unions.
The Sector Vision is being developed in partnership with the Creative Industries Council (CIC). As our primary partner, the CIC membership includes representatives of the creative workforce and the CIC engages wider stakeholders through its working groups.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the upcoming creative industries sector vision statement will include a workforce plan on career pathways for creative freelancers from low-income backgrounds and marginalised groups.
Answered by Matt Warman
The creative industries are a vital part of the UK’s economy, worth approximately £116 billion in Gross Value Added and employing over 2 million people across the country. They were identified as one of four key sectors in the Plan for Growth to encourage recovery following the pandemic, and as a result we are developing a Creative Industries Sector Vision. The Sector Vision will set out our 2030 vision to promote inclusive growth, support the development of the creative workforce, maximise the wider impacts of the sector, and deliver on the government’s levelling up, Global Britain and net zero objectives.
We recognise the need for a network of flexible and accessible routes into the creative industries, from early years education to adult reskilling, for people of all backgrounds, and the Sector Vision will look closely at these issues. We also recognise the importance of job quality to ensure broad pathways into the creative industries, which is why we are working with the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre to deliver a Review into Job Quality and Working Practice in the Creative Industries. This will be published in the Autumn and has involved consultation with creative trade unions.
The Sector Vision is being developed in partnership with the Creative Industries Council (CIC). As our primary partner, the CIC membership includes representatives of the creative workforce and the CIC engages wider stakeholders through its working groups.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her policy is on the Government's vision for the creative industries; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Matt Warman
The creative industries are a vital part of the UK’s economy, worth approximately £116 billion in Gross Value Added and employing over 2 million people across the country. They were identified as one of four key sectors in the Plan for Growth to encourage recovery following the pandemic, and as a result we are developing a Creative Industries Sector Vision. The Sector Vision will set out our 2030 vision to promote inclusive growth, support the development of the creative workforce, maximise the wider impacts of the sector, and deliver on the government’s levelling up, Global Britain and net zero objectives.
We recognise the need for a network of flexible and accessible routes into the creative industries, from early years education to adult reskilling, for people of all backgrounds, and the Sector Vision will look closely at these issues. We also recognise the importance of job quality to ensure broad pathways into the creative industries, which is why we are working with the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre to deliver a Review into Job Quality and Working Practice in the Creative Industries. This will be published in the Autumn and has involved consultation with creative trade unions.
The Sector Vision is being developed in partnership with the Creative Industries Council (CIC). As our primary partner, the CIC membership includes representatives of the creative workforce and the CIC engages wider stakeholders through its working groups.