Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to adjust the proposed quarantine regime for arrivals into the UK to reflect the difference in risk posed by persons in different countries according to the respective infection rates in those countries.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is carefully considering the concept of ‘international travel corridors’ (also known as air bridges), which have the potential to remove the need for quarantine measures for incoming passengers from low risk countries. It is currently not agreed Government policy.
Ultimately, we will be guided by the science, and the health of the public will always come first.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to adjust the proposed quarantine regime for arrivals into the UK so that people with proof that they have had the disease can be subject to fewer restrictions.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government and SAGE do not currently advise virus testing for asymptomatic people, either domestically or at the border, apart from in certain settings, such as hospitals, care homes, and prisons.
The?border health measures will be subject to?review, currently every three weeks, to ensure they are in line with the latest scientific evidence and remain effective and necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to adjust the proposed quarantine regime for arrivals into the UK to introduce COVID-19 tests at certain airports and ports, for a fee, so that quarantine is not applied to those who have already had the disease.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government and SAGE do not currently advise virus testing for asymptomatic people, either domestically or at the border, apart from in certain settings, such as hospitals, care homes, and prisons.
The?border health measures will be subject to?review, currently every three weeks, to ensure they are in line with the latest scientific evidence and remain effective and necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how much firms in construction supply chains have lost in unpaid retentions since they announced the review of the retention system in October 2015, subsequently published in October 2017.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The 2017 retentions consultation impact assessment estimated the total amount of retention monies unpaid to construction contractors across the whole construction contracting sector in England due to upstream insolvency at £229m per year in 2015 prices.
We continue to work with the construction industry and its clients to achieve a consensus on how to resolve the problems associated with cash retentions.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the relationship between life-long exercise and long-term health; what steps they are taking to promote life-long exercise; and what support they give to voluntary initiatives such as the Daily Mile and Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The importance of physical activity across the life-course is highlighted in the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines published in September 2019, including: good physical and mental development in childhood, prevention and management of health conditions in adulthood and maintaining functionality in later years. A copy of the Guidelines is attached.
Public Health England (PHE) promotes physical activity across the life course, including: resources for healthcare professionals through the Moving Healthcare Professionals Programme; public campaigns such as ‘Change4Life’ and ‘One You’, including digital behaviour change tools such as Couch to 5K; resources for schools, such as the ‘What works in schools and colleges’ guide; and resources for local areas such as the physical activity data tool.
PHE partners with many voluntary sector partners to promote the benefits of exercise, including supporting the new ‘We are undefeatable’ campaign by 16 health charities which aims to support people living with long-term conditions to get more active.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in relation to Whirlpool’s washing machine recall, whether the recall was enforced by the Office for Product Safety and Standards or whether it was undertaken voluntarily by Whirlpool.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
Whirlpool is responsible for the safety of the products it places on the market and for effective action when unsafe products are discovered. OPSS, as the national regulator, has assessed and agreed the company’s proposal for a recall is proportionate to the risk identified, including ensuring timely notification of consumers as to the action they need to take. OPSS is monitoring the recall closely and will hold the company to account if the recall is not effective.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in relation to Whirlpool’s washing machine recall, how the Office for Product Safety and Standards will contact affected Whirlpool customers to ensure that the company is handling its recall effectively.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
It is Whirlpool’s responsibility to contact consumers and undertake an effective recall. The Office for Product Safety and Standards is closely monitoring the progress of the Whirlpool washing machine recall and the actions of the company. We have required Whirlpool to keep us fully updated on the progress of the recall, by providing a range of metrics including consumer engagement. OPSS regularly checks Whirlpool’s customer contact on this issue. OPSS will publish regular updates of data on the recall, including on the time taken for customers to receive a remedy.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the benefits to date of bringing health and social care together in one political portfolio, and (2) the benefits that will arise in future years of bringing the two areas together.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department was renamed the Department of Health and Social Care in January 2018 and took on responsibility for the Social Care Green Paper.
Whilst we have made no specific assessment, the Department has been working on bringing health and social care together to achieve whole-person, integrated care with the National Health Service and social care systems operating in a joined-up way. The Better Care Fund continues to drive forward the integration of health and social care in England.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much (1) the apprenticeship levy has raised in total in each of the four jurisdictions of the UK, (2) levy-paying employers have reclaimed, (3) has been used to fund new non-levy payer apprenticeships, (4) has been spent on old-style apprenticeships, and (5) has been spent on the administration of apprenticeships, in each year since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The apprenticeship levy is collected from all UK employers through the PAYE system by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). HMRC publish information on levy receipts in the monthly Tax and National Insurance contribution receipts publication, and in their annual reports and accounts, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018.
In 2017-18, the first year following the introduction of the levy, £2.6 billion was collected from UK employers and HM Treasury (HMT) allocated £425m of the levy collected to the devolved administrations. Annual data on levy collected in 2018-19 will be published by HMRC, and data on 2018-19 spending will be available from Department for Education in due course.
Skills spending is a devolved matter and HMT committed in advance to the share of the levy that would be passed to the devolved administrations in the three-year period from 2017-18 to 2019-20. HMT published these plans at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-agrees-apprenticeship-levy-funding-deal-with-devolved-administrations.
In England, levy-paying employers can use online apprenticeship service accounts to access their funds. In 2017-18, the total spend on apprentices employed with levy payers, and who started training after the levy was introduced, was £268 million. This figure represents more than the £170 million in training and assessment costs charged to levy payers’ accounts.
This is because these employers also benefit from additional payments to support certain types of learners, and extremely generous co-investment contributions for those employers that have exhausted their levy account funds. Such costs are not currently deducted from levy accounts. In 2018-19, levy-payers drew down a further £639 million representing the costs charged to levy-payers on the learners who started since the levy was introduced (and whose training is ongoing in 2018-19) as well as the costs of learners who started in the 2018-19 financial year.
Employers’ levy funds are distinct from the department’s ring-fenced annual apprenticeship budget, which is set in advance by HM Treasury to fund apprenticeships in England. This budget has risen year-on-year, from £2.01 billion in 2017-18 and £2.23 billion in 2018-19 to over £2.5 billion in 2019-20, double what was spent in 2010.
In 2017-18, we spent £189 million on training and assessment (including additional payments) for apprentices with employers who do not pay the levy and who started their apprenticeship since the levy was introduced. This includes apprenticeships started on both frameworks and new standards.
The ongoing cost of training and assessment for apprentices who started their apprenticeship before the levy was introduced in May 2017 was £1,065 million in 2017-18 (including additional payments as detailed above).
In 2017-18, £40 million (equating to less than 2%) of the £2.01 billion ring-fenced apprenticeships programme budget was spent on the cost of delivering and running the programme. This includes spending by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. The department is provided a separate budget for other administrative spending, and in 2017-18 total administrative spend was £44 million. These two budgets cover the cost of running the online apprenticeship service, employer engagement work, and the promotion of apprenticeships, in addition to staffing and other costs.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the annual total cost of apprenticeships compared to the amount raised from the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The apprenticeship levy is collected from all UK employers through the PAYE system by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). HMRC publish information on levy receipts in the monthly Tax and National Insurance contribution receipts publication, and in their annual reports and accounts, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018.
In 2017-18, the first year following the introduction of the levy, £2.6 billion was collected from UK employers and HM Treasury (HMT) allocated £425m of the levy collected to the devolved administrations. Annual data on levy collected in 2018-19 will be published by HMRC, and data on 2018-19 spending will be available from Department for Education in due course.
Skills spending is a devolved matter and HMT committed in advance to the share of the levy that would be passed to the devolved administrations in the three-year period from 2017-18 to 2019-20. HMT published these plans at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-agrees-apprenticeship-levy-funding-deal-with-devolved-administrations.
In England, levy-paying employers can use online apprenticeship service accounts to access their funds. In 2017-18, the total spend on apprentices employed with levy payers, and who started training after the levy was introduced, was £268 million. This figure represents more than the £170 million in training and assessment costs charged to levy payers’ accounts.
This is because these employers also benefit from additional payments to support certain types of learners, and extremely generous co-investment contributions for those employers that have exhausted their levy account funds. Such costs are not currently deducted from levy accounts. In 2018-19, levy-payers drew down a further £639 million representing the costs charged to levy-payers on the learners who started since the levy was introduced (and whose training is ongoing in 2018-19) as well as the costs of learners who started in the 2018-19 financial year.
Employers’ levy funds are distinct from the department’s ring-fenced annual apprenticeship budget, which is set in advance by HM Treasury to fund apprenticeships in England. This budget has risen year-on-year, from £2.01 billion in 2017-18 and £2.23 billion in 2018-19 to over £2.5 billion in 2019-20, double what was spent in 2010.
In 2017-18, we spent £189 million on training and assessment (including additional payments) for apprentices with employers who do not pay the levy and who started their apprenticeship since the levy was introduced. This includes apprenticeships started on both frameworks and new standards.
The ongoing cost of training and assessment for apprentices who started their apprenticeship before the levy was introduced in May 2017 was £1,065 million in 2017-18 (including additional payments as detailed above).
In 2017-18, £40 million (equating to less than 2%) of the £2.01 billion ring-fenced apprenticeships programme budget was spent on the cost of delivering and running the programme. This includes spending by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. The department is provided a separate budget for other administrative spending, and in 2017-18 total administrative spend was £44 million. These two budgets cover the cost of running the online apprenticeship service, employer engagement work, and the promotion of apprenticeships, in addition to staffing and other costs.