Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what proportion of officials in her Department on temporary contracts are women.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In the upcoming Public Sector Employment Survey at 30 September 2023 for the Department for Business and Trade there are no staff on temporary contracts.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of civil servants on temporary contracts in the Cabinet Office are women.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
This data is available in the Public sector employment Dataset published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics. For the most recent data, June 2023, the details requested are found in Table 8.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: sponsor a seasonal worker, published in April 2023, which body is responsible for monitoring whether workers on the horticultural seasonal workers visa are paid for at least 32 hours of work a week at least the national living wage; what enforcement mechanisms are in place in the event that workers are not paid 32 hours a week; and what enforcement has taken place since that guidance was published.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UKVI have implemented a specific seasonal workers team as recommended by the 2022 ICIBI report. They have interviewed an extensive number of migrant workers this year and requested evidence of pay rates from the scheme operators. These visits, often undertaken with GLAA, seek evidence of salary paid to ensure requirements are met. Any breach of Sponsor guidance identified is dealt with as per published Sponsor Guidance.
As such, UKVI can take action against a Sponsor licence when it is identified workers are being incorrectly paid or there is a failure to comply with employment law.
UKVI have inspected and assured the complaints procedures put in place by the operators for workers to report treatment and conditions on farms.
Regular engagement with the licensed scheme operators is in place and UKVI assure that the operators monitor conditions on farms.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: sponsor a seasonal worker, published in April 2023, what (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement is in place to ensure that (i) piece rate targets set to workers on the horticultural seasonal worker visa scheme are reasonable and (ii) workers are (A) treated fairly by their employer and (B) not penalised for failing to work at the fair piece rate.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UKVI have implemented a specific seasonal workers team as recommended by the 2022 ICIBI report. They have interviewed an extensive number of migrant workers this year and requested evidence of pay rates from the scheme operators. These visits, often undertaken with GLAA, seek evidence of salary paid to ensure requirements are met. Any breach of Sponsor guidance identified is dealt with as per published Sponsor Guidance.
As such, UKVI can take action against a Sponsor licence when it is identified workers are being incorrectly paid or there is a failure to comply with employment law.
UKVI have inspected and assured the complaints procedures put in place by the operators for workers to report treatment and conditions on farms.
Regular engagement with the licensed scheme operators is in place and UKVI assure that the operators monitor conditions on farms.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan refugees who were not made offers of alternative housing were made homeless following the closure of hotel accommodation in each local authority in Wales.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
All 55 hotels being used to house around 8,000 Afghans at the end of March were no longer being used as bridging accommodation by 31 August.
The UK Government has granted all Afghans relocated through safe and legal routes with Indefinite Leave to Remain, including the immediate right to work, alongside access to the benefits system and vital health, education, and employment support.
On top of this the Government made available £35m of new funding to enable Local Authorities to provide increased support for Afghan households to move from hotels into settled accommodation.
The monitoring of Homelessness duties owed to this cohort is the responsibility of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
DLUHC has been gathering survey data from local authorities in England on homelessness duties owed to Afghans leaving bridging accommodation. This data has been published in the Homelessness management information – Afghan nationals: England.
In summary the total number of Afghan households in this cohort in temporary accommodation under a homelessness duty in England as of 31 August was 188.
This is based on a voluntary survey to local authorities in England with a 74% response rate, of which 35% of local authorities had reported owing homelessness duties to Afghan households leaving bridging accommodation.
DLUHC will continue to monitor homelessness duties to this cohort going forwards and the Home Office will continue to publish statistics on resettlement schemes in the usual way.
The information requested for each local authority in Wales is not currently available. The following operational data published by the Home Office may be of interest: Afghan bridging hotel exit operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to review the 65p Housing Benefit taper rate; and if will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing that rate in line with the Universal Credit taper rate in incentivising young people into work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no plans to bring the Housing Benefit taper in line with that of Universal Credit. The two benefits have different treatment of earnings rules, both include tapers that ensure that all claimants are better off working than wholly reliant on benefits.
At present, there is a broad spectrum of claimants receiving their rent support through Housing Benefit; those resident in supported housing or temporary accommodations as well as those claimants who have not yet migrated to Universal Credit. Any amendment to the Housing Benefit taper rate would apply to all of these groups and could result in Housing Benefit outstripping the provision provided by Universal Credit in some circumstances.
The Department acknowledges the challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those working and living in supported housing and temporary accommodation. This issue is a complex one, and eradicating the financial cliff edge some individuals face as they incrementally increase their earnings could not be achieved by simply aligning the taper rates within the two benefits. Officials are working to explore this issue further considering the impact including impact on different groups and consider policy options.
It remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to improve the (a) education and (b) literacy of adults in prison; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We are delivering a new Prisoner Education Service to improve the literacy, numeracy and vocational skills of prisoners. This will support positive employment outcomes and reduce reoffending.
This year we have appointed new Heads of Education Skills and Work and Neurodiversity Support Managers to more than 100 prisons, introducing senior educational expertise and knowledge to improve support for prisoners with additional learning needs; developed a new reading assessment tool and rolled out whole prison reading strategies in all prisons; and committed £1.8m to charities to pilot new reading initiatives. We have also enabled prisoners released on temporary licence to undertake apprenticeships.
This week, we have opened a major competition for new Core Education contracts. These will go live from 2025 and be focussed on improving outcomes and delivering value for money.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce reoffending rates.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The overall proven reoffending rate has decreased significantly.
We are taking action to drive this down further by ensuring prisoners leavers have access to employment and accommodation.
For instance, we have rolled out Prison Employment Leads to match candidates to jobs and appointed business leader chairs to our Employment Advisory Boards.
We have also begun delivering our temporary accommodation service, so prison-leavers have a stable base on release.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on temporary staff in the last three financial years in support of the FCDO Integration programme following the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The creation of the FCDO brought together our development and diplomatic expertise to deliver greater impact for the UK internationally. The merger has required all FCDO staff across the department to work in different ways. Spend on temporary staff within the FCDO is largely driven by the nature of the projects being undertaken and the expertise required. At a high level, temporary staff costs over the last three financial years are associated to IT and digital activity, priority programmes and merger activity where temporary and specialist expertise has been needed to ensure delivery. These costs are set out in the FCDO Annual Reports for the previous three financial years:
2022-23 | 2021-22 | 2020-21 | |
Temporary staff costs | 49,105,281 | £39,575,855 | £25,679,267 |
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department has spent on temporary staff in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Spend on temporary staff within the FCDO are set out in the FCDO Annual Reports for the previous three financial years:
2022-23 | 2021-22 | 2020-21 | |
Temporary staff costs | £49,105,281 | £39,575,855 | £25,679,267 |