Tag: Peter Kyle

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what average annual tuition fee is charged by further education colleges for higher education courses.

Joseph Johnson

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) publishes an annual statistical report summarising the access agreements with Higher Education providers. This report includes estimates of the average fees charged by provider type. The latest statistics refer to the 2015/16 academic year and show that the average fee for the 51 English Further Education Colleges (FECs) with Access Agreements in the 2015/16 academic year was £6,941. Their estimate of the average fee across all 209 FECs was £6,561. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.offa.org.uk/publications/analysis-data-and-progress-reports/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department monitors the performance of Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group’s patient transport services.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not have responsibility for monitoring the performance of Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCGs) patient transport services.

We are advised by NHS England that the Sussex non-emergency Patient Transport Service (PTS) is managed by Coperforma who sub-contract to a variety of specialist ambulance and transport providers. Coperforma is therefore held accountable for the actions of all service providers it subcontracts to, as the organisation responsible for the entirety of the PTS.

Sussex CCGs are responsible for monitoring Coperforma’s performance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release by Natural England of 29 July 2016 to issue a licence for buzzard control, whether she plans to issue further such licences during the current Parliament.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

Responsibility for issuing licences for buzzard control is a matter for Natural England. All wild birds, including buzzards, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it illegal to take, injure, or kill a wild bird, or to disturb them while nesting and protects their nests and eggs except under the authority of a licence.

Section 16 of the Act gives provision for Natural England to grant a licence to manage wildlife for a number of reasons including preventing serious damage to livestock. Natural England considers each application on its merits but would not license any activity which would adversely affect the conservation status of a species.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the hospitality sector on future entry requirements for EU nationals after the UK has left the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of these meetings are published on the Cabinet Office website on a quarterly basis.

Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Cabinet Office website which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/cabinet-office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether any patients in Hove constituency were put at risk as a result of the South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust’s project relating to the prioritisation of NHS 111 calls in winter 2014-15.

Jane Ellison

Departmental officials were first notified of a project which was run between December 2014 and February 2015 in the south of England on 23 October 2015 by Monitor, the independent health sector regulator.

We are advised that Monitor is taking action with South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust regarding concerns about the project and the regulator is working with the Trust now to identify the negative impact this project could have had on patients. It is Monitor’s function to undertaken such investigations independently of the Department where there are no immediate patient safety issues. Monitor and Departmental officials regularly discuss such issues on a routine basis.

As part of regulatory action, Monitor advises it has asked the trust to carry out a detailed independent review of the impact the project had on patients. Monitor has asked the Trust to do this with the help of an external expert, who the regulator will select. The full details of what the review will look at and how long it will take are being worked on by the trust and Monitor, including consideration of publication of the review finding.

In March, NHS England convened a risk summit meeting involving all partners following the suspension by South East Coast Ambulance Service of their unofficial call-handling project. It was agreed that NHS England would undertake an external investigation. The report of the investigation was published by NHS England today and is attached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141, what steps he is taking to implement the commitment to double the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education by 2020.

Joseph Johnson

We have already taken significant steps. In particular, from 2015/16, we have removed the cap on student numbers. Publicly funded institutions can now recruit as many students as they wish if they deem them to be suitable. We have also established a stronger framework with increased responsibility placed on providers to widen access. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 set out steps the Government plan to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education. Further progress will come from the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Spending Review 2015, what savings and efficiencies he will make from the adult skills budget by 2019-20; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles

My Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer published the results of the Spending Review on 25th November. This is a good settlement for FE. Between 2010-11 and 2019-20 government will have doubled spending on apprenticeships in cash terms to £2.5 billion, including income from the new apprenticeship levy and protecting funding for the core adult skills participation budgets in cash terms, at £1.5 billion

The Government will make £362 million of savings and efficiencies from adult skills funding by 2019-20. We are prioritising funding for participation, with savings being made from supporting budgets. We are also restructuring the sector through locally-led Area Reviews to provide sustainable and high quality provision in the future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will set a target for apprenticeship achievements over this Parliament.

Nick Boles

We are committed to reaching 3 million apprenticeship starts in 2020. We are establishing a new Institute for Apprenticeships to safeguard quality but do not intend to set a target for achievements.

Further data on apprenticeships achievements can be found in table 6.2 of the main SFR: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 13946, whether his Department has received the findings of the London and South Coast Rail Corridor Study; and what the timeframe is for publication of that study’s findings and his Department’s response to it.

Claire Perry

The Government has received initial study findings, which are being more fully developed at present. The Study is expected to be completed early in 2016, and the Government will subsequently consider the timeframe for releasing the study findings, including our response.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will put mechanisms in place to ensure that the Institute for Apprentices responds to labour market information when setting funding cap levels for apprenticeships.

Nick Boles

The Institute for Apprenticeships (IFA) will have a role in advising Government on which funding cap each apprenticeship standard should be allocated to.

The IFA will take into account the cost of apprenticeship training and assessment as well as the demand for different skills across the economy.