Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of students likely to make use of the Turing scheme each year from its launch until 2030.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Turing Scheme will be backed by £110 million to support international projects and activities during the 2021/22 academic year. This will provide funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges, and schools to go on placements and exchanges overseas, a similar number as under Erasmus+.
This was set out in a one year Spending Review, but the government has a clear aim to use this scheme as part of our long-term ambitions for a Global Britain. The benefits of the exchanges will be assessed and used to build on the scheme. Funding decisions for subsequent years will be subject to future spending reviews.
Grants available through the Turing Scheme are comparable with Erasmus+ for the most part, but there is also new support available for disadvantaged students and students with special educational needs and disabilities which was not available through Erasmus+. All participating students will receive grants dependent on their destination country to contribute towards their cost of living. The grant support available under the Turing Scheme is currently slightly higher than that under Erasmus+. Under the Turing Scheme, we will provide a grant of £335–£380 per month, plus a disadvantaged supplement of £110 per month. With Erasmus+, under current exchange rates, students received a grant equivalent to £315–£360, with a disadvantaged supplement of £100. Students can continue to apply for student finance.
For schools and colleges, all participants will receive travel funding, whereas Erasmus+ only provided travel support to higher education participants who travelled to Partner Countries, which was around only 3% of UK participants. With the Turing Scheme, we are introducing funding for travel costs for disadvantaged higher education students to all destinations. Additionally, we are providing funding for visas, passports, and related travel insurance for disadvantaged participants in all sectors.
For participants with special educational needs and disabilities, the scheme will fund up to 100% of actual costs for support directly related to their additional needs, as Erasmus+ did, with the new addition of preparatory visits for staff to carry out risk assessments and ensure their students will be able to access and take part in all elements of a placement equally. More information on funding available can be found at: www.turing-scheme.org.uk.
For all students participating in the Turing Scheme, we expect tuition fees to be waived by host institutions, as under Erasmus+. This is a matter for individual institutions to agree, and something that universities do as a matter of course when they form exchange partnerships with international providers.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to set out the relevant background of each of the current office-holders of the key decision-making roles within their COVID-19 testing programme.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The following table shows the NHS Test and Trace Executive Committee. The committee is comprised of existing civil servants and the public and private sector.
Dido Harding | Executive Chair |
Gareth Williams | Chief Operating Officer |
Mark Hewlett | Testing Chief Operating Officer |
Steve McManus | Trace Divisional Director |
Carolyn Wilkins | Contain Divisional Director |
Clare Gardiner | Joint Biosecurity Council Director General |
Simon Bolton | Chief Information Officer |
Faran Johnson | Chief People Officer |
Donald Shepherd | Chief Financial Officer |
Ben Dyson | Director of Policy |
Susan Hopkins | Chief Medical Adviser |
Jacqui Rock | Chief Commercial Officer |
Ben Stimson | Chief Customer Officer |
Raghuv Bhasin | Chief of Staff |
Michael Brodie | Chief Executive, Public Health England |
Jonathan Marron | Director General Public Health, Department of Health and Social Care and NHS Test and Trace Senior Sponsor |
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell (HL5829) on 21 October, what is the cost of sending 150,000 tests under the Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) to German laboratories; what impact did the additional time taken to process these tests in Germany have on NHS test and trace services; which company or companies process the tests in Germany; whether the contract procurement process for the company or companies in Germany was completed in accordance with Cabinet Office rules and guidance; and what assessment they have made of the impact of any future trade deal with the EU on their ability to procure laboratory services in Germany.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The cost of sending tests to German laboratories as part of the REACT-1 study is variable subject to the volume of tests being completed per round. The testing process for this study has been expedient with it playing a vital role in supporting NHS Test and Trace with important surveillance information.
The tests for REACT-1 are processed in Germany by Eurofins Biomnis whose services have been procured in accordance with relevant legislation and guidance. The impact of using laboratory services within the European Union has been and continues to be considered. No undue impact has been identified of any future trade deal on the future of the REACT-1 study.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of (1) syringes, (2) vials, and (3) other medical equipment required for a national COVID-19 vaccination programme they have (a) purchased, and (b) ordered.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Purchase orders have been raised for all required medical equipment to support a vaccination programme and further orders have been made to support the ongoing deployment. NHS England have published the Supply Service Inventory List online.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on supplies of COVID-19 vaccines to the UK in the event of the UK's departure from the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK has put in place a number of measures to facilitate trade with the EU beyond the end of the transition period and to avoid any adverse impact to vaccine supply beyond 1 January 2021.
The Government has worked with COVID-19 vaccine suppliers to support them with robust contingency plans.
If necessary, we will use alternative supply routes and Government procured freight capacity, in line with current Government advice.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many staff from (1) Deloitte, (2) the Boston Consulting Group, and (3) McKinsey, are currently employed within their COVID-19 testing system; and what experience in laboratory-based testing is required in order to be eligible for those roles.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information requested is as follows:
Deloitte - 1,127
Boston Consulting Group - 27
McKinsey - 24
Consultants are not working in roles which require medical expertise such as laboratories or hospitals.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications for licences for military exports (1) to Saudi Arabia, (2) to UAE, (3) to Bahrain, (4) to Kuwait, and (5) to Egypt, they have approved since 7 July.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
Information on licences granted from 7th July will be published in due course as Official Statistics. For licences granted between July and September 2020, information will be published on 19th January 2021; and for licences granted between October and December 2020, information will be published in April 2021.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capability of UK regulators (1) to maintain existing statutory protections relating to harmful online content, and (2) to ensure effective enforcement of these protections, between the end of the transition period for the UK’s departure from the EU and the enactment of their proposed online harms legislation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to be online and the end of the transition period will not affect this. Regulations transposing the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive) came into force on the 1st of November 2020 and require UK-established video sharing platforms (VSPs) to have systems and processes in place to protect the public, including minors, from illegal and harmful material. Ofcom has the power to take enforcement action against UK-established VSPs which do not take adequate appropriate measures, or which do not implement the measures adequately, in order to protect UK users.
VSPs established in the European Economic Area will not be regulated by Ofcom and will be regulated by the Member State that they are established in. As the regulation under this VSP regime is systems regulation and not content regulation, we expect platforms based outside of the UK to set up and invest in systems in order to comply with the AVMS Directive. It is anticipated that these same systems will also be introduced for their UK subsidiaries particularly in anticipation of the incoming online harms regime. Regulation provided by other EU Member States will therefore be effective and robust enough to provide protection to UK users until such time as the online harms regime is in place.
As the AVMS Directive aligns well with the Government’s plans to tackle online harms, the VSP regime will be repealed and superseded by the online harms regulatory framework, once it comes into force. We will publish the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation later this year, which will contain more detailed proposals on online harms regulation.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) any governance and regulatory gaps in online harms protections that will emerge at the end of the transition period for the UK’s departure from the EU, and (2) the risks to young people from any further delay to the publication of proposed online harms legislation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As the Government has transposed all relevant legislation, there will not be any gaps in online harms protection at the end of the transition period. The government is also working at pace to deliver online harms legislation next year, which will introduce comprehensive protections for young people.
The Government transposed the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive into domestic law on the 30th September and the Regulations came into force on the 1st of November 2020. UK-established video sharing platforms are required to take appropriate measures to protect minors from content which may impair their physical, mental or moral development, and all users from illegal content.
The AVMS Directive aligns well with the Government’s plans to tackle online harms, in particular in its requirements on UK-established video sharing platforms to have systems in place to protect users, especially minors. It should be noted that the video sharing platform regime will be repealed and will be superseded by the online harms regulatory framework, once it comes into force.
The Government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place to be online and is working at pace to introduce this legislation. We will publish the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation later this year, which will contain more detailed proposals on online harms regulation and will be released alongside interim voluntary codes on tackling online terrorist and child sexual exploitation and abuse content and activity. This will be followed by legislation, which will be ready next year.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken in the last three months to progress their proposed online harms legislation; and whether such legislation will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place to be online, and DCMS and the Home Office are working at pace to introduce this legislation. We will publish a Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper later this year. This will be followed by legislation in 2021, when parliamentary time allows.
It is vital that we get this legislation right and we will make a final decision on pre-legislative scrutiny nearer the time of introduction. We are mindful of the need to balance speed and scrutiny when introducing these measures, and we will continue to engage with parliamentarians as we prepare legislation.