Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to close the skills gap to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of qualified mechanics capable of maintaining and repairing electric vehicles before the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars takes effect in 2030.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government recognises that training and re-skilling of the current automotive workforce will be vital as we end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030. According to the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), of the 182,000 vehicle technicians in the UK, only 21,000 are electrical vehicle (EV) qualified, and only 5% overall have a level 3 or 4 EV qualification. The government is taking a number of steps to support the sector and its workforce transition to net zero.
As part of my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, nearly £500 million of funding for the Automotive Transformation Fund will be made available in the next 4 years to build an internationally competitive EV supply chain. This will help to secure the transformation of the automotive sector at pace, by developing and embedding the next generation of cutting-edge automotive technologies in the UK.
We are also investing £16 million over 3 years to March 2022 in the industry led National Manufacturing Competitiveness Levels (NMCL) skills programme. NMCL is open to automotive suppliers across the UK, and is designed to improve their competitiveness, raise workforce capability, and improve productivity through the completion of a tailored business improvement plan.
On top of this, the government is committed to working with the IMI to ensure the UK’s workforce of mechanics are well trained and have the skills they need to repair EVs safely.
The IMI’s TechSafe scheme provides EV technicians with an easy and voluntary way to certify their competence. EV users will be able to access the register to check the EV competencies of technicians at their garage, supporting consumer confidence in this growing market.
More widely, the Green Jobs Taskforce was launched last November, working in partnership with business, skills providers and unions to help the UK build back greener and deliver the skilled workforce needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Through the taskforce, we are engaging with industry experts, including those from the automotive sector such as Nissan, and the Automotive Council Skills Working Group, to help identify future skills needs. With help from the taskforce, we will ensure that our existing skills programmes (such as those set out in the recent Skills for Jobs White Paper and the Prime Minister’s recent Lifetime Skills Guarantee) can be directed to support the net zero agenda and help to identify where the evidence tells us we might need to go further or faster.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has convened a Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel (GAAP) to guide the continued alignment of apprenticeships with net zero and wider sustainability objectives. The GAAP is employer-led and includes stakeholders with automotive experience, including in electric vehicles. It aims to help identify which apprenticeships directly support the green agenda and which may need to be refocused. The panel will also crucially identify where there are potential opportunities to create new green apprenticeships and identify employers to help take this work forward.
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether tech companies hosting advertisements for financial products from rogue or scam operators are responsible for those advertisements; and what plans they have to ensure that such companies are held accountable for any such advertisements.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government takes fraud very seriously. We continue to work closely with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit and ensure members of the public have the information they need to spot a scam and stand up to fraudsters.
My department continues to work closely with other government departments, including the Home Office as the government department responsible for tackling fraud, to develop a coherent approach to online advertising that supports competition and protects consumers. We are working with industry, regulators and consumer groups to understand the specific harms that are being linked to advertising, including online fraud and scams.
Following a call for evidence in 2020, the Online Advertising Programme will launch a public consultation later this year to examine how best to strengthen standards around the placement and content of online advertising to minimise these types of financial harm, and to ensure they can be effectively enforced.
More information about the Programme can be found here:
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that tech companies providing advertising space for financial products do not host advertisements from rogue or scam operators, in order to ensure that consumers are protected.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government takes fraud very seriously. We continue to work closely with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit and ensure members of the public have the information they need to spot a scam and stand up to fraudsters.
My department continues to work closely with other government departments, including the Home Office as the government department responsible for tackling fraud, to develop a coherent approach to online advertising that supports competition and protects consumers. We are working with industry, regulators and consumer groups to understand the specific harms that are being linked to advertising, including online fraud and scams.
Following a call for evidence in 2020, the Online Advertising Programme will launch a public consultation later this year to examine how best to strengthen standards around the placement and content of online advertising to minimise these types of financial harm, and to ensure they can be effectively enforced.
More information about the Programme can be found here:
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how long the immunity resulting from the COVID-19 vaccines lasts for in different (1) age, and (2) ethnic, groups.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It is currently too early to say how long the immunity resulting from COVID-19 vaccines will last. More data will be published as the programme progresses through to second doses.
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what information they had about the impact of the COVID-19 vaccines on people with pre-existing health conditions prior to authorising the use of those vaccines.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Prior to the recent authorisation, the efficacy of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 was evaluated in two clinical studies. The first study excluded co-morbidities or pre-existing health conditions. The second study allowed enrolment of subjects with pre-existing stable disease, defined as disease not requiring significant change in therapy or hospitalisation for worsening disease during the six weeks before enrolment. Also enrolled were subjects with known stable infection with HIV, hepatitis C or hepatitis B. There were no meaningful clinical differences in overall vaccine efficacy in participants who were at risk of severe COVID-19 disease including those with one or more comorbidities that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
Evaluation of data for other vaccines is ongoing but will include a robust review of all quality, safety and efficacy data, including in those with pre-existing health conditions if they were included in clinical trials.
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who sets the date for SATS examinations; why the date for such examinations has been set for the week beginning 10 May 2021; what assessment they have made of the impact of such examinations taking place in that week on those who will be celebrating Eid in that same period; what action they are taking to support any (1) schools, (2) families, and (3) children, affected; and what plans they have to change that date to avoid any such clash.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Standard and Testing Agency is responsible for the timetabling of National Curriculum assessments. The Key Stage 2 assessments are set for the week beginning 10 May 2021 to maximise teaching time in Year 6, whilst ensuring enough time for marking to take place and for results to be returned to schools before the end of the summer term.
In 2021, the Key Stage 2 tests will take place from Monday 10 May to Wednesday 12 May inclusive. The Department is aware that Eid al-Fitr will take place in the same week as these assessments and understands that, given the significance of Eid al-Fitr, Muslim pupils may be absent from school. Schools with pupils unable to sit their assessments on the dates specified in the statutory timetable can make an application for timetable variation (TTV) to enable these pupils, or the class as a whole, to take a test at a different time, or on a different day, from the rest of the cohort: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/key-stage-2-tests-varying-the-test-timetable. Where pupils are unable to sit a test on the statutory date because they are observing Eid, this would be a valid reason to utilise the TTV process.
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they have undertaken on the impact of the COVID-19 (1) virus, and (2) vaccines, on the development of embryos in the (a) first, (b) second, and (c) third, trimesters of pregnancy.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has funded various studies into the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy, through the urgent public health COVID-19 call and the Maternal and Neonatal Health & Care Policy Research Unit. UK Research and Innovation and the NIHR jointly launched the Rapid Response Rolling Call to fund research that aimed to understand, prevent, or manage COVID-19. Two studies were funded that aim to understand the impact of the COVID-19 virus on pregnancy. The NIHR is not currently funding research into the impact of COVID-19 vaccines on the development of embryos but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health.
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many operations were conducted by private healthcare providers on behalf of the NHS in (1) March, (2) April, and (3) May; whether any contracts with such providers to provide such operations included financial penalties relating to the number of operations to be undertaken and any subsequent lack of uptake; if so, (a) what were those penalties, and (b) whether they have had to pay any such penalties; whether they have received any representations about the lack of uptake for those operations by private sector operators; and what was the outcome of any such representations.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have undertaken an impact assessment on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
An equalities assessment was carried out on the Coronavirus Act and was published on 28 July. This can be found at - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-act-2020-equality-impact-assessment
Considering equality impacts is part of an ongoing process to support policy development. The responsibility for equalities impact assessments lies with departments, who take this responsibility very seriously. Impact assessments are kept under review and my colleagues are fully aware of their equality duties.
Asked by: Baroness Manzoor (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) individuals, and (2) businesses, there are with more than one fixed penalty notice for refusing to comply with the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
On 30 September, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published its latest report on the police use of Covid-19 enforcement notices issued under all emergency health protections. The data showed that between 27 March and 21 September, 18,912 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) were issued by police forces in England and Wales between 27 March and 21 September.
The data in the report provides an analysis of the rationale for issuing a FPN and a breakdown of issuance by police force. Data related to those individuals or businesses in receipt of more than one fixed penalty notice, for any reason, is not provided by the NPCC in its report and is not held by the Home Office.
Each force is operationally independent and will respond accordingly to local needs as part of a multi-agency approach with partners including PHE and local authorities. Any region-specific enforcement activity is a matter for individual police forces.