Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Lord Rose of Monewden, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
Lord Rose of Monewden has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Lord Rose of Monewden has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is an arm’s length body (ALB) of the Department for Education, responsible for administering and distributing funding of over £61 billion to deliver education and skills, from early years through to adulthood. It is accountable to ministers who make key decisions on the ESFA’s business, and it has played a key role in supporting the department’s response to COVID-19.
The COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the importance of all government departments and ALBs being set up in the most efficient and effective way, ensuring the delivery of high-quality outcomes for all. In line with this, the department, including the ESFA, keep under constant review how the best possible outcomes for all learners can be ensured.
The skills for jobs white paper sets out how the department would place employers at the heart of local skills systems by leading the development of new Local Skills Improvement Plans. Through this, employers will be able to articulate their skills needs, and colleges and other providers will be able to reshape their provision in response.
We have recently launched an extensive government consultation on reforms to the further education funding and accountability system, including how funding is calculated. This consultation is a first step for a funding and accountability system that will maximise the potential of further education and help us build back better. We want to use the consultation to open a dialogue with the sector, employers, and other interested parties on how government funding can be administered more simply and effectively, so that colleges and other providers can focus on supporting students to develop the skills needed by employers and local labour markets. The consultation will run up to 7 October 2021.
Funding for providers of 16-19 education, including further education institutions, already follows the principle of funding per student. Funding is based on the characteristics of the student and the courses they study, alongside student numbers from the previous academic year. The system of lagged funding is well established and understood because it provides institutions with clear allocations each year based on student data, allowing them to make plans with confidence. Where institutions see a particularly large increase in student numbers in a year, they typically qualify for exceptional in-year growth funding, in addition to the lagged funding, to help them with the extra costs of these students, though this is subject to affordability. We do not have any plans to remove the system of lagged funding at this time.
The lagged funding system does not currently apply to funding for adult provision. On 15 July, we published a government consultation on reforms to the further education funding and accountability system, to gather views on how colleges and other providers can focus on supporting learners to develop the skills needed by employers and local labour markets. As part of this, we are seeking views on how government funding can be administered more simply and effectively which includes asking for views on whether we should move to a lagged system for core adult funding.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) has convened a panel of academic experts in trade to advise on how we develop and use cutting-edge economic models and analytical techniques in our trade modelling. The purpose of the review is to examine DIT’s current approach to trade modelling and to consider how best to incorporate wider global economic developments and the latest academic thinking on measuring trade impacts in its modelling framework. The panel will advise on analytical methods and tools to capture the impact of changes in trade policy in general, it will not assess specific policy questions. Once the panel has made recommendations to improve DIT’s modelling capability, DIT will explore how best to incorporate these in our analysis in support of trade policy questions.
On 21st December 2018, the United Kingdom opened a process under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to negotiate tariff rate quotas, as we work to certify our World Trade Organisation goods schedule. The quotas cover a range of agricultural and non-agricultural goods as listed in our draft goods schedule. Changes to the quotas are possible as a result of those negotiations, but no agreements have yet been finalised. Independent of the negotiations, the United Kingdom may from time to time make technical amendments to her goods schedule.
Membership of the Trade and Agriculture Commission was announced by my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade on 10 July.
Beyond the membership of the Commission itself, there are ways for relevant representatives to engage with and contribute to the work of the Commission, most notably as part of three technical working groups that have now been established around the themes of competitiveness, consumers and standards.
Further details on the terms of reference and membership of the Commission can be found on gov.uk: (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-and-agriculture-commission-tac).
The Government is committed to ensuring that the number of medical school places is in line with England’s workforce requirements.
NHS England has been commissioned to produce a long-term workforce plan, which will include projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals needed in five, 10 and 15 years’ time, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity. The workforce plan is for the whole of the National Health Service workforce, and will be published this year.
The Government has funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places per year for domestic students in England, a 25% increase, taking the total number of medical school training places in England to 7,500 each year. This expansion was completed in September 2020 and has delivered five new medical schools in England.
To support the overall workforce, we have commissioned NHS England to develop a Long-Term Workforce Plan for the National Health Service workforce to help recruit and retain more staff and will include independently verified projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in five, 10 and 15 years’ time. This plan is in development and we have committed to publishing it shortly.
There has been no reduction of the number of funded university places from 10,000 to 7,500 per annum in England. In 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to adjust school A-Level exams, the Government temporarily lifted the cap on medical school places for students obtaining the required A-Level grades and holding an offer from a Medical School in England resulting in intakes of 8,405 and 8,460 respectively.
Brunel University is the only university which exclusively offers medical places to overseas students. The information requested on enrolment is not collected centrally. The medical school at Brunel University is not required to report the intake data as it is a private and independent provider of undergraduate medical education and does not receive any funding from the Office for Students or Health Education England.
To support households with the rising cost of living, the Government is providing over £15 billion of additional support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package builds on the over £22 billion announced previously, with Government support for the cost of living now totaling over £37 billion this year.
The Government intends VAT to remain a broad-based tax on consumption where the standard rate of 20 per cent applies to most goods and services, including road fuel. While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
Reducing VAT would impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which VAT makes a significant contribution. VAT raised around £130 billion in 2019-20 and, according to OBR forecasts, will have raised approximately £135 billion in 2021-22, helping to fund key spending priorities. Any reduction in tax paid is a reduction in the money available to support important public services, including the NHS and policing.
Ahead of the end of the transition period, the Government has announced the VAT and excise duty treatment of goods purchased by individuals for personal use and carried in their luggage arriving from or going overseas (passengers). The following rules will apply from 1 January 2021:
- Passengers travelling from Great Britain to any destination outside the United Kingdom (UK) will be able to purchase duty-free excise goods once they have passed security controls at ports, airports, and international rail stations.
- Personal allowances will apply to passengers entering Great Britain from a destination outside of the UK, with alcohol allowances significantly increased.
- The VAT Retail Export Scheme (RES) in Great Britain will not be extended to EU residents and will be withdrawn for all passengers.
- The concessionary treatment on tax-free sales for non-excise goods will be removed across the UK.
The Government published a consultation which ran from 11 March to 20 May. During this time the Government held a number of virtual meetings with stakeholders to hear their views and received 73 responses to the consultation. The Government is also continuing to meet and discuss with stakeholders following the announcement of these policies.
The detailed rationale for these changes are included in the written ministerial statement and summary of responses to the recent consultation. A technical note has also been issued to stakeholders to expand on this document and to respond to issues raised by stakeholders.
HMRC estimate that VAT RES refunds cost around £0.5 billion in VAT in 2019 for around 1.2 million non-EU visitors. In 2019 the ONS estimate there were substantially more EU visitors (24.8 million) than non-EU passengers (16.0 million) to the UK. This implies an extension to EU residents would significantly increase the cost by up to an estimated £0.9 billion. This would result in a large amount of deadweight loss by subsidising spending from EU visitors which already happens without a refund mechanism in place, potentially taking the total cost up to around £1.4 billion per annum.
The final costings will be subject to scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and will be set out at the next forecast.
The Government agreed the MAC should pause the SOL review while we consider the position on the topic of legal migration following the Office for National Statistics’ November publication of net migration estimates and in line with its manifesto commitments to bring overall numbers down. We will be setting out information on the Shortage Occupation List review shortly.
The Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). We therefore expect the MAC to launch its call for evidence shortly for all sectors- including retail and hospitality – to engage with and respond to.
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the Seasonal Worker route under close and ongoing review. There are no current plans to make substantive revisions to this route.
The Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). We therefore expect the MAC to launch its call for evidence shortly for all sectors- including retail and hospitality – to engage with and respond to.
The £1 billion Future High Streets Fund forms a central pillar of our £3.6 billion Towns Fund Programme. A competitive round of the High Streets Fund is underway currently. The parameters of this competition have been agreed and set out in the published Future High Streets Fund Prospectus, and subsequent local authority guidance. A further competitive round of funding for towns and high streets is planned to follow. Details of that further competition will be published in due course.