Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether tourism zones will include (a) seaside towns and (b) capital funds to allow local authorities to support projects to improve (i) the public realm and (ii) cultural and heritage assets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The detail of Tourism Zones is still under development and further details will be available in due course.
The Coastal Communities Fund already provides opportunities for developing cultural and heritage assets. Blackpool City Council have received under £2m from the fund to transform the iconic Blackpool illuminations, create new experiences for visitors and boost the local economy.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the adequacy of procedures to process tier 4 visa procedures.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office regularly engages with representatives from the education sector, including the Department for Education. This has included recent discussions on Tier 4 services during the AutumnOperationally we are currently deciding Tier 4 visa applications within published service standards.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from Cardiff University on delays in the processing of visa applications for international students who are enrolling in autumn 2019.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office regularly engages with representatives from the education sector, including the Department for Education. This has included recent discussions on Tier 4 services during the AutumnOperationally we are currently deciding Tier 4 visa applications within published service standards.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Education on the financial implications for universities of delays in the processing of free visa applications for international students who have been offered places by universities to study in the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office regularly engages with representatives from the education sector, including the Department for Education. This has included recent discussions on Tier 4 services during the AutumnOperationally we are currently deciding Tier 4 visa applications within published service standards.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of UK Visa and Citizenship Applications Services in providing free appointments for international students at (a) its Cardiff centre and (b) its other five centres.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We wrote to Tier 4 sponsors, including Cardiff University on 11 July 2019 to set out Sopra Steria’s offer for Tier 4 students applying in the Autumn, which includes the provision of dedicated Tier 4 Service Points.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Education on increasing the number of free appointments for international students who require visas to allow them to enrol at Cardiff university in autumn 2019.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We wrote to Tier 4 sponsors, including Cardiff University on 11 July 2019 to set out Sopra Steria’s offer for Tier 4 students applying in the Autumn, which includes the provision of dedicated Tier 4 Service Points.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the get help to retrain scheme, whether the digital service will include the assessment of adults' (a) qualifications and (b) skills.
Answered by Anne Milton
Get Help to Retrain is the first of a series of products that will make up the full National Retraining Scheme (NRS). We are expecting the NRS to evolve and grow as we learn better what best works.
With support from qualified National Careers Service advisers, the service will support adults to understand which skills they have from their current role and which further skills would be required for a potential new, better job.
In addition, the service helps people to find training opportunities that may help the user to bridge the skills gap to a new role, initially consisting of training currently available and later including more bespoke offerings. It will also direct users to local job opportunities that could be within their reach.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the office for students on registration fees for further education colleges.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
All providers are being treated equitably.
We consulted with all providers, including further education (FE) colleges, twice, on the introduction of registration fees (from December 2016 until March 2017, and from October 2017 until December 2017). The Office for Students (OfS) separately consulted on the model for deciding how student numbers should be determined to inform the fee levels. It published the outcomes of this consultation in October 2018. Following the consultation processes, a number of additional bands were added for smaller providers compared with the original proposal. The costs for a very small provider have decreased from the second phase of the consultation, where a provider with 0-50 full-time equivalent student numbers, the lowest band, was proposed to pay £18,200. Providers with full-time equivalent student numbers of no more than 25 will now pay £12,300, and providers with more than 25 but no more than 50 (full time equivalent) will pay £15,350.
We also considered the impact of fees more widely and published an impact assessment in March 2019. The impact assessment considered higher education providers – including FE colleges – taxpayers, the government and students. The impact assessment report stated:
‘We have … analysed Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) college accounts data for 120 FE colleges with Higher Education Funding Council for England funded learners, that have applied to register and found that FE colleges would be paying on average 0.2% of their total income in registration fees. This ranges from 0.05% to 1.3% of total income but with just one provider paying more than 1%. … these proportions are very small and highly unlikely to impede competition in the higher education market.’
We have committed to a full review of registration fees after 2 years, when the impact of the fees on all providers will be clearer.
I meet regularly with the Chair and officials from the OfS to discuss a wide range of issues, including the financial health of all parts of the higher education sector, which is kept under constant review by the OfS.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the roll-out of the Get Help to Retrain scheme (a) in the Liverpool City Region and (b) to all eligible adults in England by 2020.
Answered by Anne Milton
In October 2018, the government announced a £100 million initial commitment to continue to test, learn and develop the National Retraining Scheme. This has allowed us to start delivering the first parts of the scheme in the Liverpool City Region. Get Help to Retrain will be expanded to more people and more areas throughout the testing phase before being made available to all eligible adults in England in 2020. In addition to this, we are continuing to develop new products in parallel to the testing of Get Help to Retrain, which will collectively make up the complete service.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the office for students registration fees on the financial viability of further education colleges.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
All providers are being treated equitably.
We consulted with all providers, including further education (FE) colleges, twice, on the introduction of registration fees (from December 2016 until March 2017, and from October 2017 until December 2017). The Office for Students (OfS) separately consulted on the model for deciding how student numbers should be determined to inform the fee levels. It published the outcomes of this consultation in October 2018. Following the consultation processes, a number of additional bands were added for smaller providers compared with the original proposal. The costs for a very small provider have decreased from the second phase of the consultation, where a provider with 0-50 full-time equivalent student numbers, the lowest band, was proposed to pay £18,200. Providers with full-time equivalent student numbers of no more than 25 will now pay £12,300, and providers with more than 25 but no more than 50 (full time equivalent) will pay £15,350.
We also considered the impact of fees more widely and published an impact assessment in March 2019. The impact assessment considered higher education providers – including FE colleges – taxpayers, the government and students. The impact assessment report stated:
‘We have … analysed Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) college accounts data for 120 FE colleges with Higher Education Funding Council for England funded learners, that have applied to register and found that FE colleges would be paying on average 0.2% of their total income in registration fees. This ranges from 0.05% to 1.3% of total income but with just one provider paying more than 1%. … these proportions are very small and highly unlikely to impede competition in the higher education market.’
We have committed to a full review of registration fees after 2 years, when the impact of the fees on all providers will be clearer.
I meet regularly with the Chair and officials from the OfS to discuss a wide range of issues, including the financial health of all parts of the higher education sector, which is kept under constant review by the OfS.