Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to improve trade links with the Republic of China (Taiwan).
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK and Taiwan already share a deep, £11bn trade and investment relationship.
Trade Talks with Taiwan are longstanding and held annually to boost trade and support economic growth. To build on this the UK and Taiwan are developing an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) to further increase trade and investment. This will promote co-operation and support British businesses to take advantage of opportunities, initially in investment, digital trade, and energy and net-zero.
Minister Huddleston hosted the 26th UK Taiwan Trade Talks in London on 8 November 2023, and I met with Taiwan’s Minister Deng in February at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with her counterpart in the Republic of China (Taiwan).
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK and Taiwan already share a deep, £11bn trade and investment relationship.
Trade Talks with Taiwan are longstanding and held annually to boost trade and support economic growth. To build on this the UK and Taiwan are developing an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) to further increase trade and investment. This will promote co-operation and support British businesses to take advantage of opportunities, initially in investment, digital trade, and energy and net-zero.
Minister Huddleston hosted the 26th UK Taiwan Trade Talks in London on 8 November 2023, and I met with Taiwan’s Minister Deng in February at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve access to artificial intelligence training.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to creating a world-leading skills system which is employer-focused, high-quality and fit for the future.
The department will continue its work to ensure that the education system is able to adapt to deliver upskilling and to provide the skills that learners need for the workplaces of the future, including jobs that will be impacted by, or require the use of, artificial intelligence (AI).
World class T Levels are boosting access to high-quality technical education for thousands of young people and creating a skilled workforce for the future. 18 T Levels are available in a range of in-demand subject areas, including T Levels in digital subjects, which have been designed by employers and will help to equip students with the skills and knowledge required for great careers in the digital industry.
Employers have designed over 30 high-quality apprenticeships in digital occupations, including Level 7 Artificial Intelligence Data Specialist, which will provide cutting edge skills in AI. Since it was introduced in May 2020, starts in this standard have grown from 100 in the 2020/21 academic year to 350 in the 2022/23 academic year.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) are revising the Level 7 Artificial Intelligence Data Specialist standard this year to ensure it meets employers’ needs. They have also developed Level 5 in Data Engineering and are currently developing Level 6 Machine Learning Engineer. These standards include high levels of content regarding the application and use of AI.
IfATE are also hosting workshops with a range of stakeholders to discuss the impact of AI on skills requirement across the economy and will be updating the Digital Skills and Characteristics Framework with AI-related content when it is revised next year. This will ensure all employers are thinking about the use and impact of AI when developing or revising occupational standards.
Skills Bootcamps are delivering skills training for the digital sector in 2024/25 in each English region. There are also online Skills Bootcamps in AI Marketing and Content Creation and AI and Machine Learning.
Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) provide the skills needed for a range of specialist digital occupations, such as cyber security technologist and software developer. There are 56 digital HTQs currently approved for teaching and a further ten approved for teaching from September 2024. HTQs provide a range of opportunities and pathways to build up the skills needed for AI-related roles.
In higher education, the department is working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to deliver new postgraduate AI and data science conversion courses to boost skills and diversity in AI jobs. The government is also investing £117 million in doctoral training for AI researchers.
In 2023, the department’s Unit for Future Skills (UFS) developed a Science and Technology Jobs and Skills Dashboard to understand the supply and demand of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills to develop critical technologies like AI and quantum. This data will support improved access to relevant training.
The UFS has also undertaken analysis which attempts to quantify the impact of AI on the UK job market. It shows the occupations, sectors and geographic areas expected to be most affected by AI and large language models, as well as the training routes that typically lead to these highly affected jobs.
Digital and computing skills will play an important role for individuals developing and using AI in the future workforce. The department is harnessing government and external expertise through the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce to increase the number of people taking digital and computing qualifications and attract a diverse range of individuals into digital jobs.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will encourage the use of traditional architectural styles in new developments.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 21850 on 23 April 2024. If he has any more representations on this issue, we would be happy to receive them.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, how many UK nationals have requested consular assistance in Zimbabwe in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Following initial triage of inquiries, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provided consular assistance to the following number of British nationals in Zimbabwe:
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, with reference to the policy paper entitled UK–St Helena development partnership summary, published in July 2023, whether he has taken recent steps to support tourism in St Helena.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government works closely with St Helena's leadership to support tourism development and funded the construction of St Helena Airport to improve access to the Island. The UK Government provides significant financial aid to St Helena (up to £34.06 million in 2024/25). This includes support for the delivery of public services, the airport and £500,000 of ringfenced funding for tourism development, with the same level of tourism support also provided in 2023/24. In addition, up to £30 million is being provided between 2019-28 for long-term capital infrastructure development.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he plans to expand the consular mission in Harare.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
There are no plans to increase the number of consular staff in Harare. Staffing levels are regularly reviewed and a regional resilience model is in place to support surges in demand.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the recent increase in cases of tuberculosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Comprehensive analyses of surveillance data in relation to tuberculosis (TB) in England are published in the UK Health Security Agency’s annual reports, which are available at the following link:
Provisional 2023 data indicates that notifications have increased by over 10%, from 4,380 in 2022 to 4,850 in 2023. Non-United Kingdom born individuals account for an increasing proportion of TB notifications in England, accounting for 79.1% of notifications in 2022. Approximately half of those notifications were within six years of entry to the UK.
People with TB continued to be concentrated in large urban areas, and in the most deprived postcodes. Social risk factors, including alcohol or drug misuse, homelessness, imprisonment, mental health needs, and asylum seeker status, were reported in 16% of individuals notified with TB in 2022.