Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the review of Bank of England forecasting led by Ben Bernanke.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Bank of England has operational independence from the government to carry out its statutory responsibilities for monetary policy and financial stability. The government’s commitment to this independence remains absolute.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase investment in skills training to meet the needs of more 150,000 additional students seeking higher education by 2030 in England.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is important that the department has a sustainable higher education (HE) funding system that responds to the needs of the economy and that is fair to students and to taxpayers. The government keeps the HE funding system under continuous review to ensure that this remains the case, and to provide many different opportunities for learners to acquire vital skills.

The government is committed to creating a world-leading skills system, backed with an additional investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this Parliament to strengthen HE and further education (FE). This includes increasing opportunities for people to develop higher technical skills through T Levels, Apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, or Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). From 2025, the Lifelong Learning Entitlement will transform access to FE and HE, offering all adults the equivalent of four years’ worth of student loans to use flexibly on quality education training over their lifetime.

Through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), the department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period to the 2024/25 financial year to support high-quality teaching and facilities, the majority of which goes to supporting the provision of courses in high-cost subjects including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade. The recurrent SPG budget is £1,456 million for the 2024/25 financial year. This includes an £18 million increase in support for strategically important high-cost subjects.

The department is also providing £40 million over two years through the SPG to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision. The department has seen year-on-year growth in degree level apprenticeships (Level 6 and 7) with almost 230,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. The government has increased investment in the apprenticeships system in England to over £2.7 billion this financial year, to support employers of all sizes access high-quality apprenticeships at all levels.

The department’s Higher Technical Education reforms are growing skills at Level 4 and 5. The department has introduced new HTQs, which will increase the prestige and uptake of level 4 and 5 qualifications. To date, 172 qualifications have been approved as HTQs across seven occupational routes and are being taught at FE Colleges, Institutes of Technology, Universities, and Independent Training Providers. The department has provided up to £115 million in funding to providers to help grow provision across the country, on top of up to £300 million to create a network of 21 Institutes of Technology.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to change the apprenticeship levy and to grant firms more flexibility to use funds from the levy to skill up their workforce.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The apprenticeship levy supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training, both for career starters as well as those looking to upskill or retrain.

The success of the levy is enabling the department to invest £2.7 billion in apprenticeships in England in the 2024/25 financial year, and means that 98% of the English apprenticeships budget was spent over the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years. It is important that this funding remains protected to support apprenticeships. The government has no current plans to allow employers to spend the funds available to them on non-apprenticeships training. Allowing employers to use 50% of funds for non-apprenticeship training could create an additional cost of up to £1.5 billion a year. Without additional investment this could reduce apprenticeship starts to 140,000 a year, which would represent an almost 60% decrease on the 2022/23 academic year.

This month the department increased the proportion of the funds that levy-paying employers can transfer from 25% to 50%. This gives levy-paying employers even greater flexibility in how they use the funds available to them while also supporting more apprenticeships in other businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises, flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities.

Employers can choose from almost 700 high-quality apprenticeships and have the option of using flexible training models, such as flexi-job apprenticeships and accelerated apprenticeships. Employers can also access other government-funded skills programmes, including T Levels and Skills Bootcamps.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect full compensation payments to have been made to the victims of the infected blood scandal and to family members of those victims who have already died.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Government has committed to update Parliament through an oral statement on next steps within 25 sitting days following 20 May. It is our intention to make this statement as soon as possible. Additionally, we have tabled a Government amendment ahead of Report Stage of the Victims and Prisoners Bill to fix technical deficiencies, whilst working in the spirit of Dame Diana Johnson’s amendment. The amendment has been tabled with the intention of speeding up the implementation of the Government’s response to the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the underlying cause of the fall in each of the past three years in applications to university nursing courses, as reported by the Financial Times on 15 February, and what action they are taking to reverse the trend.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The drop in nursing applicants follows unprecedented demand for healthcare courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of applicants continues to outstrip the places on offer. Nursing training places are competitive, and lead to an attractive and important career in the National Health Service.

We are working closely with NHS England, universities and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service to ensure everyone who wants to pursue a rewarding healthcare career in nursing has the support and opportunities to do so.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have of the underlying cause of the fall in gross domestic product per head in every quarter of 2023, as reported by the Office for National Statistics on 15 February, and what action they are taking to reverse this trend.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The economy has faced an unprecedented series of shocks, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. These have led to challenging economic circumstances.

Looking over a longer timeframe, since 2010 GDP per capita has increased by 12%. Real household disposable income per capita - a more comprehensive measure of household living standards - has grown more than France and Italy since 2010.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comments by the Royal College of Nursing that the fall in each of the past three years in applications to university nursing courses is a direct threat to patient safety, and what actions they are taking to improve patient safety in England.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The number of applicants continues to outstrip the places on offer. Nursing training places are competitive, and lead to an attractive and important career in the National Health Service.

Record numbers of nurses are now working in the NHS, and the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by over £2.4 billion of funding, will add 24,000 more nurse and midwifery training places by 2031.

Over the last decade, the Government and system partners have delivered major initiatives to advance patient safety in the NHS. This includes implementing the first NHS Patient Safety Strategy, establishing the independent Health Services Safety Investigations Body to address the most serious patient safety incidents, and appointing the first Patient Safety Commissioner to champion the patient voice in relation to the safety of medicines and medical devices.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the underlying cause of the fall in UK goods exports in 2023, as reported by the Office for National Statistics on 15 February, and what action they are taking to reverse the decline in UK goods exports.

Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The main causes of the £33 billion decrease (current prices) in goods exports were fuels (predominantly oil) down £24 billion, non-monetary gold and other precious metals down £15 billion, and non-ferrous metals (mainly silver and metals in the platinum group) down £7 billion.

Trade in these commodities is known to be very erratic and export values can fluctuate substantially year on year.

The Department for Business and Trade are committed to growing exports and will continue to provide businesses with a wealth of export support options on great.gov.uk, including trade advisers, Export Champions, the Export Academy, our International Markets network and UK Export Finance

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure there is a sufficient and reliable supply of medicines to help patients suffering from ADHD.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, which should largely resolve by April or May 2024. We have also added ADHD products to the list of medicines that cannot be exported from, or hoarded in, the United Kingdom to protect UK supplies for patients.

There is a team within the Department that deals specifically with medicine supply problems arising both in the community and in hospitals. It has well-established procedures to manage medicine supply issues, whatever the cause, and help to prevent shortages and minimise risks to patients by working closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England, and others operating in the supply chain.

We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine supply issues can be and we want to assure patients that we are working with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues with ADHD medicine supply in the UK as soon as possible and to help ensure patients are able to access these medicines in the short and long term.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the threshold for compulsory registration for VAT; and what plans they have to reinstate the policy of annually updating the threshold in line with inflation.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Views on the VAT registration threshold are divided and the case for change has been regularly reviewed over the years.

In 2018, the Government consulted on how the design of the VAT registration threshold could better incentivise growth. However, there was no clear option for reform.

While the Government keeps all taxes under review, it was announced at Autumn Budget 2022 that the VAT threshold will be maintained at its current level of £85,000 until 31 March 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the withdrawal of the VAT Retail Export Scheme; and if they have any plans to reintroduce the scheme.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government’s assessment of the anticipated impact of the withdrawal of the VAT Retail Export Scheme (VAT RES) was set out in the original policy costing note which can be found in the Policy costings document from November 2020 p42-43.

Government analysis conducted in 2022 found that introducing a worldwide scheme could come at a fiscal cost of around £2 billion each year. This figure consists of the cost from EU and non-EU visitors and is calculated based on methodology signed off and certified by the OBR in 2020.

Whilst there are no current plans to re-introduce VAT RES, this Government keeps all tax policy under review, and we are very grateful to industry for their contribution to our invitation to provide evidence on this matter.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to regularise the treatment of training expenses against profits subject to Schedule D income tax and profits subject to corporation tax.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

In calculating taxable business profits, expenditure on training to update existing skills would be a deductible business expense when the expenditure is incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business and is not capital in nature. The treatment of these training expenses is the same irrespective of whether the taxpayer pays income tax or corporation tax.

Any changes to tax policy are a matter for future Budgets and it would not be appropriate to comment on tax measures at this stage of the policy development cycle.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they will announce details of a full and comprehensive scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal; and when they expect the first payments to be made under the new scheme.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Inquiry is expected to publish their final report on 20th May and the Minister for the Cabinet Office has committed to updating Parliament within 25 sitting days of the publication of the final report. The Government is appointing clinical, legal and social care experts to advise the Cabinet Office on detailed technical considerations to make informed choices in responding to the Inquiry’s recommendations on compensation.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are coordinating and disseminating lessons learned from the various current and recent past public inquiries, in particular where there are recommendations regarding policy-making procedures and machinery of government; and whether they plan to publish the steps they intend to take as a result.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

Each inquiry chair will present their conclusions and recommendations to an inquiry’s sponsor minister. It is the responsibility of the lead department to determine how best to progress and implement the inquiry’s recommendations and the department will publish its response on Gov.uk.

The Cabinet Office takes the lead on the Covid, Grenfell and Infected Blood Inquiries and looks forward to acting on lessons learned.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to bring inflation back to the target of two per cent; and when they expect that to be achieved.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Inflation has halved and was lower in Q4 2023 than had been forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in the Autumn. Despite the progress there are four key things the government is doing to reduce it further.

• Remaining steadfast in our support for the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England as it takes action to return inflation sustainably to the 2% target.
• Keeping borrowing under control. Borrowing is lower this year and next than it was forecast to be in the Spring and the OBR has forecast that government policies in the Autumn Statement will reduce inflation next year.
• Boosting labour supply. Labour market conditions are a key problem affecting UK businesses’ growth, as well as a significant driver of domestic inflation. Together, the packages at Autumn Statement and Spring Budget 2023 were the two largest increases to labour supply and potential GDP resulting from policy the OBR has ever scored.
• Introducing ambitious supply-side measures to support non-inflationary growth, including delivering full expensing to boost investment.