Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with the NHS Pay Review Body on its potential recommendations on the 2024-25 pay round.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had no discussions with the NHS Pay Review Body on its potential recommendations for the 2024/25 pay round.
My officials have regular engagement with the Pay Review Bodies (PRB) secretariat, however as independent bodies the PRBs will not discuss their potential recommendations with stakeholders, these are received alongside their report.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will take steps to (a) expand the Government's support for the Horizon Europe pump priming collaboration and (b) end the rule that research applications to Horizon Europe must identify a call and topic in Pillar 2.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The British Academy has received considerable interest in the Pump Priming grants scheme, and the Government is pleased with the level of engagement, including from those new to the programme. There are no plans to expand the recently launched pump priming grants.
Applications for Horizon Europe grants are made directly to the European Commission. All calls within Horizon Europe work programme 2024 and beyond are funded by the UK’s association to Horizon Europe.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of ending funding for the UK Council for International Student Affairs on the adequacy of support available to international students.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government appreciates the significant economic and cultural contribution that international students make to UK higher education.
The government remains committed to the ambitions set out in its International Education Strategy, including the aim to host 600,000 international students in the UK per year by 2030. The government is proud to have met this ambition two years running.
Universities also offer a range of dedicated support to their international students before they arrive in the UK, on arrival and during their studies. Organisations such as the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) and the British Council continue to provide information to international students entering the UK.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill on the global biodiversity framework.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK is committed to implementing the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which aims to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss and contains a target to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
The UK has a comprehensive legal framework of environmental protection measures for offshore oil and gas activities. Section 12 of the Impact Assessment published alongside the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill sets out how the environmental principles of the Environment Act have been considered in the development of this Bill.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Government's target of protecting 30% of UK waters for nature by 2030 on her Department's criteria for oil and gas development permissions.
Answered by Graham Stuart
A comprehensive framework of environmental protection measures has been developed in the UK to minimise the impact of offshore oil and gas activities and this is embodied in the relevant legislation. Development proposals for oil and gas are a matter for the relevant regulators - the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED). As part of the regulatory process, OPRED considers the Environmental Impact Assessment for development proposals to ensure that the impact on the environment, including marine protected areas and relevant targets is taken into account.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional financial support to higher education institutions to help meet the cost of the teachers’ pension scheme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Higher education providers (HEPs) are autonomous bodies, and the government does not fund the cost of changes to the scheme for them in the same way as for schools and colleges. The department expects HEPs to continue to adapt to uncertainties and financial risks to protect their longer-term sustainability.
The government will continue to work with the higher education sector to explore how it can best support those providers affected, including planning effectively for implementation. The department is also keen to maintain an ongoing dialogue with HEPs.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding allocated to universities for teaching for 2024-25 sufficiently enables institutions to support their students.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) is funding which is supplied by the government on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). This funding also includes subjects that are expensive to deliver, such as science and engineering, students who are at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers.
The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This is to support high-quality teaching and facilities including funding for 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.
In the 2023/24 financial year, over half of the total £1,454 million SPG recurrent funding budget is being directed towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy (for example, medicine and dentistry), science, engineering, and technology subjects, and specific labour market needs.
There is also £276 million of Student Premium and mental health funding available this academic year, 2023/24, to support students who need additional help, including disadvantaged students. This funding complements the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department is now making a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. It will continue to liaise with the Office for Students on the impacts of cost-of-living pressures.
Over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25, the department is also providing £450 million in capital funding to invest in teaching and learning facilities which meet the government’s strategic priorities.
The next SPG allocations will be announced ahead of the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding allocated to universities for teaching for 2024-25 enables institutions to provide high quality education that meets national skills needs.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) is funding which is supplied by the government on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). This funding also includes subjects that are expensive to deliver, such as science and engineering, students who are at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers.
The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This is to support high-quality teaching and facilities including funding for 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.
In the 2023/24 financial year, over half of the total £1,454 million SPG recurrent funding budget is being directed towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy (for example, medicine and dentistry), science, engineering, and technology subjects, and specific labour market needs.
There is also £276 million of Student Premium and mental health funding available this academic year, 2023/24, to support students who need additional help, including disadvantaged students. This funding complements the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department is now making a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. It will continue to liaise with the Office for Students on the impacts of cost-of-living pressures.
Over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25, the department is also providing £450 million in capital funding to invest in teaching and learning facilities which meet the government’s strategic priorities.
The next SPG allocations will be announced ahead of the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report entitled Financial Sustainability of the UK Higher Education sector, published in January 2024.
Answered by Robert Halfon
This response assumes that the report referenced is PwC’s UK Higher Education (HE) Financial Sustainability Report, which was commissioned by Universities UK. Departmental officials have met with Universities UK to discuss the findings of this report.
The PwC report cites similar risks to those identified by the Office for Students (OfS), which is the independent regulator of HE in England responsible for monitoring the financial sustainability of registered HE providers. The latest report by the OfS on the financial health of the sector, which was published in May 2023, can be accessed at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/0b7d9daa-d6c7-477e-a0b2-b90985d0f935/financial-sustainability-report-2023-updated-june-2023.pdf
The department continues to work closely with the OfS, HE representative bodies and other government departments, as appropriate, to understand the financial sustainability of the sector.
In the aforementioned OfS report on the financial health of the HE sector, the OfS stated that the overall aggregate financial position of the sector is sound. However, there continues to be significant variation between individual providers, both across the sector and within peer groups.
The department consistently assesses the potential implications for any policies that could impact the HE sector, including financially, and particularly with respect to the interests of students.
It is important to note that HE providers are autonomous and, as such, it is for them to decide effective business models in order to adapt to financial risks. All HE providers should be stress testing their financial plans to ensure they are fit for purpose and that they do not rely on optimism around student recruitment.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce waiting times and (b) improve patient outcomes in NHS opthamology services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are taking action to recover elective services, including ophthalmology, by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the National Health Service with record levels of staffing and funding. We plan to transform the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity, including through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. These hubs will initially focus on driving improvement in six high volume specialties, one of these being ophthalmology.
Most recent published data from NHS England shows the average wait time for referral to treatment for ophthalmology was 11.7 weeks, below the national average of 14.4 weeks.
NHS England is currently considering how eye care services should be commissioned to ensure future sustainability. This includes looking at how more patients can be triaged and managed in the community, freeing up capacity for those that need face to face specialist care.