Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are committed to pursuing targets of a 33 per cent reduction in both the initial cost of construction and the whole life cost of built assets, and a 50 per cent reduction in the overall time from inception to completion for new build and refurbished assets, as proposed in the Construction 2025 report published on 2 July 2013; and if so, what progress has been made in pursuing these targets and when they expect them to be met.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The targets set in the Construction 2025 Strategy played an important role in guiding construction policy, including for the Transforming Construction Challenge innovation programme (2018-22), in which the construction sector and Government jointly invested £420m. The outputs of the Challenge demonstrated that it is possible to meet and exceed the targets set in Construction 2025. As set out in the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030 and the Construction Playbook, Government policy is now to use digital and offsite manufacturing technologies to accelerate the construction of buildings, improve quality and safety, and to support the transition to net zero carbon.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the final accounts for Carillion plc to be published by the Official Receiver following its liquidation in 2018.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Official Receiver has issued three reports to the creditors of the Carillion group liquidations. The final receipts and payments account for Carillion plc is expected to be issued on completion of the liquidation work, which is ongoing at this time, and upon the Official Receiver applying to the Secretary of State for his release as liquidator.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made to move to zero retentions by 2025, as outlined in the Build UK Roadmap to Zero Retentions, endorsed by the Construction Leadership Council in December 2019.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Government continues to work with the construction sector, through the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), to tackle the problems caused by the late or non-payment of retentions. The CLC is currently taking forward work on a project to reduce the need for retentions through reducing defects and has agreed to reduce the default rate of retentions to zero in NEC construction contracts. The Government has also consulted on whether reporting on retentions should be included within the payment performance Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations and will respond to this as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, in partnership with the construction sector, to reform the practice of retentions; and when they expect to announce results.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Government continues to work with the construction sector, through the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), to tackle the problems caused by the late or non-payment of retentions. The CLC is currently taking forward work on a project to reduce the need for retentions through reducing defects and has agreed to reduce the default rate of retentions to zero in NEC construction contracts. The Government has also consulted on whether reporting on retentions should be included within the payment performance Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations and will respond to this as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase awareness among (1) patients, and (2) medical professionals, of the use of focal therapies including focused ultrasound to treat cancer patients.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
While focal therapies offer promise, they are not yet recommended for wider adoption and spread across the National Health Service because more evidence is needed. As part of developing their guidance and recommendations, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence seeks input from professionals and patient associations and, through its clinical commissioning policy route, NHS England encourages clinicians working in the NHS in England to submit new policy topics to enable patients to quickly benefit from innovative, evidence-based treatments.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to reduce the regional variation across the UK in access to treatment for focal therapies including focused ultrasound.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
While focal therapies offer promise, they are not yet recommended for wider adoption and spread across the National Health Service because more evidence is needed. As part of developing their guidance and recommendations, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence seeks input from professionals and patient associations and, through its clinical commissioning policy route, NHS England encourages clinicians working in the NHS in England to submit new policy topics to enable patients to quickly benefit from innovative, evidence-based treatments.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential use of focal therapies in supporting the NHS to address the cancer treatment backlog.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
While focal therapies offer promise, they are not yet recommended for wider adoption and spread across the National Health Service because more evidence is needed. As part of developing their guidance and recommendations, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence seeks input from professionals and patient associations and, through its clinical commissioning policy route, NHS England encourages clinicians working in the NHS in England to submit new policy topics to enable patients to quickly benefit from innovative, evidence-based treatments.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that independent training providers have access to funding on an equal basis with other adult skills providers, including colleges.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government recognises the important role Independent Training Providers (ITPs) play in delivering adult training and skills. After changes in the law brought about by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, it was decided to procure an element of the Adult Education Budget (AEB) openly and competitively, for contracts for services provision. ITPs can submit bids for these contracts in Education and Skills Funding Agency non-devolved areas. In areas where the AEB has been devolved, mayoral combined authorities are now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for their residents and for deciding which providers to fund.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve communication at a (1) local, and (2) national, level about best practices in the delivery of adult skills.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The steps being taken to improve communication at a local and national level about best practices in the delivery of adult skills were outlined in the white paper, Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth, published in January 2021: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-for-jobs-lifelong-learning-for-opportunity-and-growth.
We are trailblazing new employer-led Local Skills Improvement Plans in a small number of areas in the 2021-22 financial year. They will be created by employer representative bodies working closely with further education colleges, other providers and key local stakeholders and will set out the key changes needed in a local area to make technical skills training more responsive to employers’ skills needs. Alongside the trailblazers, we are legislating to put Local Skills Improvement Plans on a statutory footing as part of the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill.
Local Skills Improvement Plans will provide a framework to help colleges and other providers reshape what they offer, to tackle skills mismatches and ensure that they are responding as effectively as possible to labour market skills needs. We will also make development funding available in the 2021-22 financial year in a number of pilot areas to support colleges to reshape their provision to address local priorities that have been agreed with local employers.
We will reform our funding and accountability systems to better support providers in their role. To this end, The Skills for Jobs: A New Further Education Funding and Accountability System Government Consultation was published on 15 July 2021: https://consult.education.gov.uk/fe-funding/reforms-to-funding-and-accountability/. This consultation proposes a range of steps to improve communication at local and national level about effective skills delivery:
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of independent training providers in delivering training to meet current and future skills shortages in (1) the North East, and (2) the wider UK economy.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In our Skills for Jobs White Paper, published in January 2021, we recognised the unique knowledge and capacity that independent training providers bring. They are the largest provider type delivering apprenticeships and they contribute substantially to adult education and training. In the academic year 2019 to 2020, enrolments at publicly funded private sector providers were:
- 21,700 apprentices and 15,900 adults in the North East
- 429,190 apprentices and 175,810 adults in England.
This prominence across the market is why we are legislating through the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill to place duties on independent training providers, alongside other post-16 providers, to co-operate with employer representative bodies in developing Local Skills Improvement Plans, so they can play their part in responding to the skills gaps that the plans identify.