Apsco Political Monitor Week Commencing 25Th February 2013

APSCo Political Monitor Week commencing 25th February 2013

Weekly round-up of the political developments regarding topics most relevant to our industry

Information provided by Luther Pendragon.

Contents

Westminster ...... 2 Written Question: AWR Swedish Derogation ...... 2 Written Question: Regulation ...... 2 Written Questions: Recruitment ...... 3 Written Question: Conditions of Employment ...... 3 Written Questions: Regulation ...... 3 Written Question: Education Vetting Staff ...... 4

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Westminster

Written Question: AWR Swedish Derogation

Tom Blenkinsop, Labour, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the extent to which the Swedish Derogation in the Agency Workers Directive is utilised.

Jo Swinson Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs: The Swedish Derogation is the name sometimes used to describe a derogation permitted under the Agency Workers Directive.

For this derogation to apply the agency worker must be paid between assignments and be a permanent employee of the temporary work agency.

In addition to the benefits that agency workers under such contracts receive from being employees, they are also entitled to the rights set out in the Agency Workers Regulations. The one exception is the right to receive pay equal to a person recruited directly by the hirer to the same job.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not made an assessment about the extent to which the Swedish Derogation is utilised.

Written Question: Regulation

Gary Streeter, Conservative, South West Devon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps his Department has taken to lift the burden of red tape from small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK.

Michael Fallon, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) on 20 December 2012, Official Report, column 864W.

From 1 January 2013 we moved to the One-in, Two-Out rule under which any increase in the cost of regulation must be at least matched by finding double the savings elsewhere.

The number of businesses we have engaged in Primary Authority partnerships has risen from 611 to 674, and the number of local authorities involved has risen from 95 to 100. The consultation on the implementation of Primary Authority for several new areas of business has recently closed.

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Written Questions: Recruitment

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department has spent on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

Richard Benyon, Minister for Natural Environment, Water and Rural Affairs: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only by incurring disproportionate cost.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department has spent on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

James Brokenshire, Minister for Crime and Security: The Home Office and its agencies have spent £129,609.58 on advertising job vacancies at senior civil servant level since 1 May 2010. These posts included recruitment for the National Crime Agency and Disclosure and Barring Service (six posts) and key posts in the UK Border Agency and Border Force (nine posts). Information for posts below this level is available only at disproportionate cost.

Written Question: Conditions of Employment

Julie Elliott, Labour, Sunderland Central: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2013, Official Report, column 198W, on conditions of employment, what the average weekly hours of employment are for those employees on zero-hour contracts.

Helen Grant, Minister for Women and Equalities: Individuals on zero-hour contracts only get paid for the hours worked. The number of hours worked can vary according to workloads. The number of hours worked are recorded on weekly timesheets with local managers reviewing and approving claims made before payment is made.

The Ministry of Justice (Ministry of Justice HQ, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, National Offender Management Service and the Office of the Public Guardian) does not centrally collate the timesheets. To identify the average weekly hours worked, weekly timesheets for all 140 staff members would have to be collated over a 12-month period before the average could be manually calculated. This would be resource intensive and incur a disproportionate cost.

Written Questions: Regulation

Gordon Banks, Labour, Ochil and South Perthshire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many regulations his Department introduced between 1 June 2012 and 31 January 2013; and what the anticipated cost is of each.

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Sajid Javid, Economic Secretary to the Treasury: The Treasury made 21 new regulations between 1 June 2012 and 31 January 2013. These are shown in the following table, along with estimates of cost where these have been made.

Written Question: Education Vetting Staff

Tim Loughton, East Worthing and Shoreham, Conservative: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the full-time equivalent headcount was of officials in the Safeguarding department of his Department in (a) May 2010 and (b) January 2013; and what future such headcount is projected for the period up to the end of the redundancy programme in May 2015.

Edward Timpson, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education: The Safeguarding Group had 75.74 full-time equivalents in May 2010. In January 2013, the Safeguarding Group had 75.0. The Department's business planning process is on-going and figures for 2015 are still to be confirmed and will be kept under review.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the full-time equivalent headcount was of officials in the Children, Young People and Family division of his Department in (a) May 2010 and (b) January 2013; and what future such headcount is projected for the period up to the end of the redundancy programme in May 2015.

Edward Timpson: Children, Young People and Families Directorate had 460.96 full-time equivalents in May 2010. In December 2012, Children, Young People and Families Directorate became the Children's Services and Departmental Strategy Directorate. This directorate had 717.1 full-time equivalent staff in January 2013. The Department's business planning process is ongoing and figures for 2015 are still to be confirmed and will be kept under review.

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