Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider the potential merits of using the apprenticeship levy to fund training in skill shortages identified by the Migration Advisory Committee.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government is supporting employers of all sizes and in all sectors, to use high-quality apprenticeships to build the skilled workforces they need, now and in the future.
Employers can access over 680 employer-designed apprenticeship standards, including in occupations which feature in the shortage occupation list, such as Level 2 Bricklayer, Level 3 Laboratory Technician, and Level 3 Lead Adult Care Worker.
The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year and has removed the limit on the number of apprentices that small and medium-sized enterprises can recruit, supporting more employers of all sizes to grow their businesses with the skilled apprentices they need.
Employers can also continue to benefit from a range of other high-quality government funded skills programmes to recruit new talent or train current staff, including to help address skills shortages identified by the Migration Advisory Committee, such as through Skills Bootcamps in retrofitting.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the 100 per cent funding for small businesses taking on an apprentice younger than 19 to include medium-sized businesses.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department recognises the important role that small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play in creating apprenticeship opportunities, particularly for younger people and those in disadvantaged areas.
The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25. This funding will support apprenticeships in all employers, including SMEs where we continue to pay at least 95% of their training costs.
The department currently funds 100% of the training and assessment cost for apprentices aged 16-18 who are employed by businesses with fewer than 50 employees. We think it is right that we target this additional financial support at the smallest employers with limited capacity to support young apprentices.
The department recognises that employers of all sizes may need additional support to take on younger apprentices and we continue to provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19. Employers are also not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to 25.
In addition, the department is supporting SMEs to take on as many skilled apprentices as they need. We have removed the limit of funding 10 apprentices a year in SMEs, and we have made it easier for SMEs to register to take on an apprentice.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider the potential merits of increasing the apprenticeship levy transfer ceiling to 35%.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is supporting employers to make greater use of their levy and has improved the transfer system to make it easier to find other employers who wish to take on apprentices with transferred funds. Levy transfers are a great way for employers to transfer their funds to other employers in their supply chains, including small employers, flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities to help meet local or sector-specific needs.
Levy-paying employers have been able to transfer 25% of their annual funds since April 2019, when this was increased from 10%, and have been able to use an online service since 2021 to make the process easier.
Since the new service launched in September 2021, we have seen 418 employers, including ASDA, HomeServe and BT Group, pledge to transfer over £28 million to support apprenticeships in businesses of all sizes as of 9 June 2023.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can also access funding directly from the apprenticeships budget. The department is working to remove unnecessary barriers, making it simpler and quicker for them to set up an apprenticeship service account, to access funding and to support them to take on their first apprentice. The department has also removed the limit of 10 apprentices a year that SMEs can take on, enabling them to take on as many skilled apprentices as they need.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people accessed talking therapies each year from 2010 and 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The following table shows the number of patient referrals who accessed talking therapies each year in England from 2012/13 to 2012/22:
Year | Accessed Services |
2012/13 | 434,247 |
2013/14 | 709,117 |
2014/15 | 815,665 |
2015/16 | 953,522 |
2016/17 | 965,379 |
2017/18 | 1,009,035 |
2018/19 | 1,092,296 |
2019/20 | 1,165,653 |
2020/21 | 1,024,014 |
2021/22 | 1,244,386 |
Source: IAPT dataset, NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies in each financial year from 2010 to 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The following table shows the total amount spent by integrated care boards and NHS England on delivery of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), now known as NHS Talking Therapies, for each financial year from 2016/17 to 2021/22:
Financial year | Total cost of delivering IAPT services (£’000) |
2016/17 | 419,430 |
2017/18 | 441,342 |
2018/19 | 518,590 |
2019/20 | 593,148 |
2020/21 | 691,264 |
2021/22 | 776,159 |
Source: NHS England
Note: Data prior to 2016/17 is not available.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people received NHS talking therapies in each integrated care system area in the most recent period for which data is available; and how many and what proportion of those therapies were conducted (a) online, (b) face-to-face and (c) by phone.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The information requested is shown in the attached table.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his oral contribution on 18 October 2023 on Gaza: Al-Ahli Arab Hospital Explosion, column 341, whether he has had recent discussions with his EU counterparts on video footage of Hamas digging up EU-funded water pipes to help produce rockets.
Answered by David Rutley
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds a record of the number of people in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools that have been trained to administer CPR.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state funded schools in England are required to teach first aid as part of statutory health education which includes basic first aid. Pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, such as how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the purpose of defibrillators. Schools may also incorporate further CPR and defibrillator awareness and training materials as part of the wider curriculum.
As part of the Ofsted assessment of a school’s support for pupils’ personal development, inspectors make a professional judgement on whether the school is providing appropriate and effective teaching in the range of curriculum subjects, including Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE). Schools are accountable for what they teach and should ensure that all RSHE content is factual, age appropriate and suitable for their pupils. As part of their personal development judgement, inspectors would discuss with schools whether they teach RSHE content in line with the RSHE statutory guidance.
To complement teaching on CPR, in July 2022, the Government committed to ensuring that all state funded schools in England have access to a defibrillator. This programme is now completed. Through this programme the Department provided over 20,000 defibrillators to almost 18,000 schools across England.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding first aid training in schools in on public safety.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state funded schools in England are required to teach first aid as part of statutory health education, which is taught as part of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). It includes basic first aid and dealing with common injuries. Pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, including how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators.
The Department has brought forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance. Stakeholders and interested parties will have the opportunity to contribute to the review through a public consultation. Following the consultation, the Department will make a decision regarding any new content to be included in the RSHE curriculum. The Department expects to publish the revised guidance in 2024.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a pilot programme for screening cardiac conditions associated with sudden cardiac death.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made as the UK National Screening Committee has not examined the evidence base for this.