Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many apprenticeship starts there were in 2022–23 on the level 7 Senior leader standard; what estimate they have made of the total cost of off-the-job training for level 7 Senior Leader apprentices in 2022–23; and what proportion of this expenditure was for apprentices employed by levy-paying employers, and so set against their levy.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Starts on the Level 7 Senior Leader apprenticeship standard account for 1.8% of all apprenticeship starts. Provisional figures for the 2022/23 full academic year show 6,110 apprenticeship starts on the standard.
Total spend on the Senior Leader standard in 2022/23 was £67 million. This covers the costs of apprenticeship training and assessment, as well as any additional payments to employers and training providers.
91% of this spend was for Senior Leader apprentices in levy-paying employers.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 16 October (HL10484), what was the basis for setting the number of intensive care bays catered for in their current strategic reserve of intensive care unit equipment at 1,000; and how that figure relates to (1) the current number of 383 adult critical care beds across NHS England trusts and (2) the peak of 4,500 COVID-19 patients receiving critical care.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
During winter 2022/23, the COVID Strategic Intensive Care Unit Reserve had a core holding equivalent to supporting 3,000 intensive care bays for up to six weeks, a level consistent with the demand peak of January 2021. Between October 2022 and March 2023, the number of COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation peaked at 232 and the National Health Service did not require additional equipment from the reserve to meet this demand. The current holding of 1,000 bays is sufficient to meet the demand seen across the last two winters and enables excess holdings to be disposed of ahead of the closure of the reserve in March 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 28 September (HL10391), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what criteria and data they plan to use in assessing the extent to which the High Potential Individual visa entry route has met its stated objective of supporting the UK’s growth as a leading international hub for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office are committed to evaluating visa routes to robustly identify which policies and aspects of our delivery are effective. Full details on the ways in which we evaluate visa routes can be found in the Home Office Evaluation Strategy. The findings from completed evaluations, including those evaluating the efficacy of visa routes, are routinely published on GOV.UK.
The process of commissioning an external evaluation of the High Potential Individual visa route is currently ongoing.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 28 September (HL10391), what is the “normal manner” for (1) reviewing the efficacy of visa routes, and (2) updating Parliament on them; and what is their timetable for reviewing the High Potential Individual visa entry route and updating Parliament on it.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office are committed to evaluating visa routes to robustly identify which policies and aspects of our delivery are effective. Full details on the ways in which we evaluate visa routes can be found in the Home Office Evaluation Strategy. The findings from completed evaluations, including those evaluating the efficacy of visa routes, are routinely published on GOV.UK.
The process of commissioning an external evaluation of the High Potential Individual visa route is currently ongoing.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government which institutions have received university title since 2018; what their titles are; when each received university title; what they were called before they received university title; and where each is located.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
According to the Office for Students (OfS) Register, nine providers have been granted the right to use ‘university’ in their title since 2018. The OfS Register is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/the-register/the-ofs-register/#/.
Information regarding these providers’ legal names, their trading names, their contact addresses, and the year the use of the word ‘university’ was granted, has been extracted from the OfS Register and is included in the table below.
Information on the names of providers prior to them receiving their university title is not available on the OfS register, but is included in the table.
Provider’s legal name | Provider’s trading name(s) | Previous name | Provider’s contact address | Date use of 'university' granted |
St. George's Hospital Medical School | St. George's, University of London | St. George's Hospital Medical School | St. George's Hospital | 2022 |
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College | Royal Holloway, University of London | Royal Holloway and Bedford New College | Egham Hill | 2022 |
Arts University Plymouth | Arts University Plymouth | Plymouth College of Art | Tavistock Place | 2022 |
The London School of Economics and Political Science | Not applicable | The London School of Economics and Political Science | Houghton Street | 2022 |
Ravensbourne University London | Not applicable | Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication | 6 Penrose Way | 2018 |
BIMM University Limited | BIMM University | BIMM Institute | 2 Bartholomew’s | 2022 |
Hartpury University | Not applicable | Hartpury College | Hartpury House | 2019 |
Northeastern University – London | Northeastern University London | New College of the Humanities | Devon House | 2022 |
Regent's University London Limited | Regent's University London | Regent's College | Inner Circle | 2020 |
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether intensive care unit capacity is secure in the event of a future respiratory pandemic, given current UK manufacturing capacity.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory (influenza and non-influenza), contact and vector-borne pathogens. The Department’s plans build on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department currently holds a strategic reserve of intensive care unit equipment, originally established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategic reserve holds both invasive and non-invasive ventilators, with supporting equipment which can be accessed by National Health Service trusts across the United Kingdom and provides capacity to provide support for up to 1,000 intensive care unit bays. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department additionally procured a range of medicines to support intensive care, based on critical need and supply resilience. This included, but was not limited to, analgesia, sedation, and antibiotics. Options to maintain access to these products, including stockpiling for a future pandemic and potential volumes required, are currently being considered.
NHS England has published Adult Critical Care surge planning guidance, which sets out escalation thresholds and the actions required by trusts, systems, regional and national teams to support a response to any sudden increase in demand on services. A copy of this guidance is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what intensive care unit stockpiles are in existence which are available and suitable for use for a future respiratory pandemic; and what plans they have to maintain these stockpiles and at what levels.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom currently stockpiles medicines, vaccines, respiratory equipment including ventilators, and clinical consumables for a future pandemic.
The Department holds a strategic reserve of Intensive Care Unit equipment, originally set up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is currently scaled to provide support for up to 1,000 intensive care unit bays and holds both invasive and non-invasive ventilators which can be accessed by National Health Service trusts across the UK.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department additionally procured a range of medicines to support intensive care, based on critical need and supply resilience. This included, but was not limited to, analgesia, sedation, and antibiotics. Options to maintain access to these products, including stockpiling for a future pandemic and potential volumes required, are currently being considered.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 19 September (HL9920), what plans they have to evaluate the success of the High Potential Individual (HPI) entry visa route to the UK; and what criteria and data they plan to use in assessing the extent to which the HPI route has met its stated objective of supporting the UK’s growth as a leading international hub for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We keep all visa routes, including the High Potential Individual route, under review and will update Parliament in the normal manner.