Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the apprenticeship levy on the training requirements of small and medium-sized firms unable to access the levy.
Answered by Nick Boles
When the apprenticeships levy is introduced in April 2017, small and medium sized employers will continue to have access to government funding to support apprenticeships. We will provide further details on the support available later this year.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the estimated (a) cost of establishing and (b) annual running cost of the Institute of Apprenticeships is; whether his Department has made an assessment of the effects of funding that institute on his Department's annual programme budget; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
The final size and structure of the Institute for Apprenticeships will be determined by the shadow chair and CEO later in the spring and this will then determine its final running cost. The body will be funded by Government using public funds, as the rest of the governance system is, and it is expected that some funding will be freed up from savings across the Department.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the apprenticeship levy on training and skills funding for people aged over 21.
Answered by Nick Boles
The combination of the apprenticeship levy, the protection of the Adult Education Budget and the extension of loans mean that by 2019-20 the total spending power of the FE sector to support participation will be £3.41bn, an increase in cash terms of 40% compared with 2015-16.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will publish his Department's impact assessment of the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Nick Boles
HM Treasury published a Tax Information and Impact Note on 4 February 2016 at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-levy/apprenticeship-levy.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department intends to cease any existing or planned business support mechanisms in order to implement the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Nick Boles
We are not cutting business support mechanisms to implement the levy. We are improving our business services by developing the Digital Apprenticeship Service.
Through this online mechanism employers will have access to a number of services to help them choose and pay for apprenticeship training in a simple way.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve recruitment and retention of embryologists in the NHS in (a) England and (b) the North East.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Individual healthcare providers are responsible for ensuring that they have the right level of staffing to provide high quality care to their patients, including embryology services.
Health Education England (HEE) was established in 2012 to ensure the National Health Service has access to the right numbers of staff, at the right time and with the right skills. In doing so, HEE works with key external stakeholders to develop its National Workforce Plan for England which sets out the number of training places it will commission in the year ahead to meet future local need.
HEE will continue to work with its 13 Local Education and Training Boards and others to ensure that there are sufficient healthcare scientists, including embryologists, being trained to meet the future needs of patients.
Currently HEE has 28 reproductive scientists in training (which includes embryology) and are planning a further 11 to start in 2016/17. It takes three years to train a reproductive scientist.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have advised that it is not aware of any issues concerning the availability of embryologists in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of difficulties in recruiting embryologists in (a) England and (b) the North East.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Individual healthcare providers are responsible for ensuring that they have the right level of staffing to provide high quality care to their patients, including embryology services.
Health Education England (HEE) was established in 2012 to ensure the National Health Service has access to the right numbers of staff, at the right time and with the right skills. In doing so, HEE works with key external stakeholders to develop its National Workforce Plan for England which sets out the number of training places it will commission in the year ahead to meet future local need.
HEE will continue to work with its 13 Local Education and Training Boards and others to ensure that there are sufficient healthcare scientists, including embryologists, being trained to meet the future needs of patients.
Currently HEE has 28 reproductive scientists in training (which includes embryology) and are planning a further 11 to start in 2016/17. It takes three years to train a reproductive scientist.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have advised that it is not aware of any issues concerning the availability of embryologists in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidelines are provided to broadcasters on the advertising of e-cigarettes on television; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Advertising Standards Authority has published guidance on the advertising of e-cigarettes, which took effect in November 2014. Guidance on advertising e-cigarettes on television can be found in the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (the BCAP code).
E-cigarettes that are licenced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will continue to be able to be advertised from 20 May 2016, when the Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU is implemented in the United Kingdom, and advertising of all other e-cigarettes is no longer permitted on television.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make it its policy to collect data on the cause of death of individuals who have flowed off incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance and employment and support allowance whose date of death was at the same time; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Department has no plans to collect this data.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the budget for the Trade Show Access Programme will be in financial year (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anna Soubry
For 2016/17 and beyond, UKTI will be reviewing how the Tradeshow Access Programme is aligned with other Export Services as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement. It is therefore not possible to confirm the budget at this stage