The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress her Department has made towards its renewable energy target for 2020; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Leadsom
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave the Hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich on 6 July 2015 to Question 4832:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Better Care Fund in reducing delayed discharges from hospitals.
Alistair Burt
The Better Care Fund (BCF) aims to incentivise the National Health Service and local government to work more closely together at a local level to provide a joined up health and care service for their local population. Integrating health and social care will take time. Delayed transfers of care per 100,000 (DTOC) is included as a metric for the BCF as it is one of a number of ways to measure the effectiveness of joint working among local partners.
The results for Q4 2014-15 and Q1 2015-16 data collections can be found on the NHS England website at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/part-rel/transformation-fund/bcf-plan/
The latest data was published on 26 November 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the long-term viability of the care home sector; and if he will reassess the contribution that could be made to that viability of the care practitioner role.
Alistair Burt
Through November’s comprehensive Spending Review, the Government announced that it was giving local authorities access to £3.5 billion of new support for social care by 2019/20.
Councils will be able to introduce a new Social Care Precept, allowing them to increase council tax by 2% above the existing threshold. This could raise nearly £2 billion a year for social care by 2019/20.
From April 2017, the Spending Review makes available social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund.
Taken together, the new precept and additional Better Care Fund contribution mean local government has access to the funding it needs to increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament.
Under the Care Act (2014), local authorities have legal duties to shape a sustainable and diverse market of care providers capable of delivering a choice of quality services to their local population. These duties apply in respect of all care services, including care home services. The Government published statutory guidance to support local authorities discharge their market shaping duties effectively, which includes guidance around adult social care commissioning.
The care practitioner scheme was withdrawn by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, a non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Department of Health was not involved in the assessment of the contribution that the care practitioner role could make to the care home sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how it is planned that the Apprenticeship Delivery Board will interact with the Institute for Apprenticeships.
Nick Boles
It will be for the Chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships, when appointed, to determine through discussions with Government and the Apprenticeship Delivery Board, how they should interact. The permanent Chair will be appointed through a public appointments process in 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hours were logged as lost by officials in her Department due to delayed rail transportation in 2015.
Karen Bradley
We do not hold records centrally on the number of hours logged as lost due to delayed rail transportation across the Home Office.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2015 to Question 16350, whether (a) professional and vocational training and (b) other alternative forms of digital skills development will be supported by the apprenticeship levy.
Nick Boles
Employers will be free to spend their money on apprenticeship training which they judge best meets their needs. This could be on approved in-house apprenticeship training, or apprenticeship training offered by another registered provider of their choice.
We want to give employers in England flexibility on how they use levy funds without introducing additional and unintended complexity into the system.
Apprenticeships are available in a wide range of sectors and at all levels including degree level. There are new apprenticeship standards in digital industries occupations such as Network Engineer, Software Developer, and Digital & Technology Solutions Professional (degree apprenticeship).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will set a target for apprenticeship completion rates by the end of this Parliament.
Nick Boles
Apprenticeship completions are monitored closely by the Skills Funding Agency. There are minimum levels of performance for individual providers.
We have already taken action to increase the quality of apprenticeships; including introducing a minimum duration and ensuring that all apprenticeships are real jobs. We are continuing to go further by giving employers the opportunity to design rigorous new apprenticeships with end point assessments and by establishing the Institute for Apprenticeships.
We will continue to focus on quality as much as on quantity, but do not intend to set a separate target for apprenticeship completion rates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many flights (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have taken as part of their official duties since his Department was set up on 14 July 2016.
Mark Garnier
As part of their official duties, since 14 July 2016, Ministers have taken 22 flights overseas and accompanying officials have taken 25 flights overseas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of urgent care in Brighton and Hove.
Jane Ellison
The provision of urgent care is the responsibility of NHS England, which is currently reviewing nationally urgent and emergency care and proposes a fundamental shift in the way urgent and emergency care services are provided, delivering more care closer to home where clinically appropriate.
The review is now within its implementation phase. A key aspect of this implementation is the establishment of Urgent and Emergency Care Networks (UECNs).
NHS England has developed a suite of tools and guidance to support implementation of the review, including advice on the role and establishment of UECNs.
In the hon. Member’s constituency, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) undertook a two-day unannounced inspection of urgent and emergency services at the Royal Sussex County Hospital during June 2015. The CQC published the report of this inspection on 23 October 2015 and rated urgent and emergency services inadequate at this hospital.
The CQC expect the Trust to regularly report, in a single and standard approach, the improvements in quality to all stakeholders through the risk summit process.
Following the CQC report publication, the Trust will take the following actions:
– Changes to the Emergency Department floor;
– Improving ward processes;
– Hospital Rapid Discharge Team will review support packages with patients and their family when they first arrive in the Emergency Department; and
– The opening of additional beds at the Princess Royal Hospital.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress her Department has made on plans to improve energy efficiency across schools through introducing solar hubs.
Andrea Leadsom
In April 2014 the Department published a leaflet encouraging schools to invest in Solar PV, which was followed up with a letter to local authorities in November 2014, and we have also continued to encourage deployment through the financial incentive of the Feed-in Tariff.
DECC officials are continuing to work with other Government Departments to explore what more can be done to make it easier for schools to invest in renewable energy.
Their ability to fund such projects through commercial and third party loans is restricted, to ensure value for money and protect public sector finances, but schools have found alternative ways of funding solar projects, for example through crowd funding and other mechanisms.