Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the policy paper entitled UK Science and Technology Framework, published on 6 March 2023, whether references in that paper to engineering biology include (a) gene therapy, (b) vaccine development and (c) other life sciences technologies.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT’s definition of engineering biology is set out in the National Vision for Engineering Biology, published in December 2023. Engineering biology includes products or services whose development draws on the tools of synthetic biology. This would capture all gene therapies, and vaccine and life science technologies which are developed using these tools. Engineering biology also delivers applications in other sectors of the economy including agriculture and chemicals.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the numbers of (a) Medical Physicists and (b) Clinical Engineers in the NHS Workforce as of 18 March 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on the numbers of National Health Service staff. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the NHS, and is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
The number of healthcare scientists working within the care settings of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering can be found in the NHS Workforce Statistics, November 2023 Staff Group, Care Setting and Level file, within the scientific, therapeutic, and technical staff, or ST&T, tab.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will introduce a statutory register for (a) clinical technologists and (b) other health professionals that use a voluntary register.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinical Technologists are not regulated by law and the Government has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to the profession. The statutory regulation of healthcare professionals should only be used where the risks to public and patient protection cannot be addressed in other ways, such as through employer oversight or accredited voluntary registration.
The Government keeps the professions subject to statutory regulation under review and published a consultation, Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate. The consultation ran from 6 January to 31 March 2022 and sought views on the criteria that should be used to determine when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate. The Government will publish its response in due course.
The Department has not held any recent discussions with the Health and Care Professions Council on the registration of Clinical Technologists. The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) for health and social care’s Accredited Registers Programme independently assesses organisations who register practitioners who are not regulated by law. Healthcare scientists concerned with the practical application of physics, engineering, and technology are able to apply to join the register of Clinical Technologists, which is accredited by the PSA.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with the Health and Care Professions Council on the registration of clinical technologists.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinical Technologists are not regulated by law and the Government has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to the profession. The statutory regulation of healthcare professionals should only be used where the risks to public and patient protection cannot be addressed in other ways, such as through employer oversight or accredited voluntary registration.
The Government keeps the professions subject to statutory regulation under review and published a consultation, Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate. The consultation ran from 6 January to 31 March 2022 and sought views on the criteria that should be used to determine when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate. The Government will publish its response in due course.
The Department has not held any recent discussions with the Health and Care Professions Council on the registration of Clinical Technologists. The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) for health and social care’s Accredited Registers Programme independently assesses organisations who register practitioners who are not regulated by law. Healthcare scientists concerned with the practical application of physics, engineering, and technology are able to apply to join the register of Clinical Technologists, which is accredited by the PSA.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her Department's policy is on the regulation of clinical technologists.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinical Technologists are not regulated by law and the Government has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to the profession. The statutory regulation of healthcare professionals should only be used where the risks to public and patient protection cannot be addressed in other ways, such as through employer oversight or accredited voluntary registration.
The Government keeps the professions subject to statutory regulation under review and published a consultation, Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate. The consultation ran from 6 January to 31 March 2022 and sought views on the criteria that should be used to determine when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate. The Government will publish its response in due course.
The Department has not held any recent discussions with the Health and Care Professions Council on the registration of Clinical Technologists. The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) for health and social care’s Accredited Registers Programme independently assesses organisations who register practitioners who are not regulated by law. Healthcare scientists concerned with the practical application of physics, engineering, and technology are able to apply to join the register of Clinical Technologists, which is accredited by the PSA.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on weapons engineering in each financial year since 2019-20.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information requested can be found below:
| 2019-20 £million | 2020-21 £million | 2021-22 £million | 2022-23 £million |
Complex Weapons Delivery Equipment Plan spend | 644.741 | 632.719 | 832.632 | 954.508 |
Complex Weapons Delivery Operating Costs | 18.521 | 27.495 | 27.826 | 25.478 |
Notes:
· The costs provided in this response represent Equipment Plan spend and Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Operating Costs. Expenditure on Raw Materials and Consumable is excluded. Financial Year 2023-24 spend is not included as costs have not yet been finalised.
· Complex Weapons is a delivery team within the Weapons Operating Centre in DE&S. It manages a portfolio of Complex Weapons delivering key capabilities across all three services. Costs provided are for Equipment Plan spend in development, procurement, and support of Complex Weapons.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the value engineering report for the design of the proposed Handsacre Junction of HS2 from 2018.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold and is not aware of a value engineering report of the proposed HS2 Handsacre Junction from 2018.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what projects have been undertaken by the 10 Downing Street Data Science Team since its establishment, and in each case what were the objectives and outcomes, and what is the current status, of these projects.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The No10 Data Science Team has a remit to improve the way in which key decisions are informed by data, analysis, and evidence using cutting-edge data science techniques. This enables the Government to use the best available evidence, throughout the policy and decision-making process, to drive long-term systems change and enable staff to collectively solve the most pressing policy challenges. They also use data to track delivery of government priority programs, working closely with Delivery Unit. The Government would not normally comment on the details of policy development and formation nor the process by which collective decisions are made across government.
The team also runs a transformation program including: (1) project rAPId, a free, open source, lightweight data sharing system; (2) the No10 Innovation Fellowships, bringing industry expertise in AI into central government on year-long secondments to improve public services; (3) Evidence House, a program to upskill civil servants in data science, AI and software engineering; and crowdsource technical solutions to complex problems; and (4) creating and managing the new Incubator for Artificial Intelligence, a 30-strong team of AI experts who are working on rapid delivery of AI projects in line with the Prime Minister’s priorities.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to invest in the development of technologies associated with the fourth industrial revolution.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Science and Technology Framework sets out our plan for investing in 5 critical technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI); engineering biology; future telecommunications semiconductors; and quantum technologies. These have been chosen because they draw on UK strengths and create opportunities for growth, while also supporting national security, and UK goals such as net zero. We have already committed significant investment to those technologies, including £2.5 billion for quantum technologies and £2 billion for semiconductors over the next decade; up to £1 billion through our Semiconductors Strategy; and £1.5 billion in compute infrastructure across the exascale and AI Research Resource (AIRR) programmes.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many soldiers have completed the Army’s apprenticeship programme in each year since 2019; and in which sectors those apprenticeships were completed.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The information requested is provided in the following table.
Army Apprenticeship Achievements since 2019.
Apprenticeship Type | Route/Subject Sector Area | Aug 2019 - Jul 2020 | Aug 2020 - Jul 2021 | Aug 2021 - Jul 2022 | Aug 2022 - Jul 2023 |
Standard | Agriculture, environmental and animal care | 0 | 0 | 2 | 127 |
Business and administration | 0 | 114 | 162 | 198 | |
Catering and hospitality | 2 | 31 | 68 | 50 | |
Construction and the built environment | 0 | 0 | 3 | 126 | |
Digital | 6 | 0 | 10 | 41 | |
Education and early years | 0 | 0 | 23 | 2 | |
Engineering and manufacturing | 6 | 4 | 16 | 15 | |
Health and science | 3 | 43 | 196 | 168 | |
Protective services | 82 | 1,092 | 1,051 | 1,987 | |
Transport and logistics | 3 | 13 | 337 | 707 | |
Framework | 01 - Health, Public Services and Care | 1,368 | 312 | 102 | 45 |
03 - Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care | 199 | 132 | 145 | 26 | |
04 - Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies | 1,173 | 1,016 | 712 | 770 | |
05 - Construction, Planning and the Built Environment | 147 | 79 | 105 | 61 | |
06 - Information and Communication Technology | 764 | 839 | 574 | 110 | |
07 - Retail and Commercial Enterprise | 1,324 | 1,092 | 386 | 39 | |
15 - Business, Administration and Law | 140 | 38 | 2 | 0 | |
Total | 5,217 | 4,805 | 3,894 | 4,472 |
Notes/caveats: