Speeches by Hinds.

“It is currently changing. All the main institutions are changing. Has that solved or will it solve any of your problems?”

“There will be more flexibility in how the apprentice levy will be used. It is changing to the growth and skills levy, although that question about covering salaries is a different one. How long would a typical apprenticeship in a craft skill be?”

“Do you have a formal road into Skills England—or did you go to IfATE before—for setting the occupational standards in these craft skills? Matthew?”

“That is of course already possible, to be clear. You can do an apprenticeship across more than one employer.”

“On a different tack, there has been a shift away from people wanting to own stuff to having experiences, particularly since covid. It is a big trend of the leisure area. Heritage skills, particularly some of these rarer skills, in theory offer quite a big opportunity. I wonder how or if you see the opportunity of uppin…”

“I want to pick up on what Geoff said earlier about the project funding being fine but there being limited preventative and maintenance funding. To what extent are you able, as English Heritage, to focus the money that you control on the former, on the preventative maintenance? To what extent do you do that?”

“It is currently changing. All the main institutions are changing. Has that solved or will it solve any of your problems?”

“There will be more flexibility in how the apprentice levy will be used. It is changing to the growth and skills levy, although that question about covering salaries is a different one. How long would a typical apprenticeship in a craft skill be?”

“Do you have a formal road into Skills England—or did you go to IfATE before—for setting the occupational standards in these craft skills? Matthew?”

“That is of course already possible, to be clear. You can do an apprenticeship across more than one employer.”

“Is it a question for the Church of England or is it a question for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport?”

“I want to pick up on what Geoff said earlier about the project funding being fine but there being limited preventative and maintenance funding. To what extent are you able, as English Heritage, to focus the money that you control on the former, on the preventative maintenance? To what extent do you do that?”

“Thank you very much. Can I follow up first on a question that Rupa asked about the historic churches? I have three in my constituency, two small ones and one grand one, but they are all subject to a restrictive rule that they can be used only six times a year for religious services. At the same time, all manner of diff…”

“Could the hon. Member explain how he would stop that practice by the holiday companies?”

“One of the worries about the new regime and Skills England is the loss of independence, and the loss of what we had in the former Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education: a guaranteed business voice, written into law. How will the Secretary of State ensure that business has a voice in setting standards, a…”

“Alton and Petersfield hospitals give excellent step-up, step-down and end-of-life care. The trust is introducing more home-based care, which is good, but it also proposes closing a ward in one of the community hospitals. Will the Minister ensure that there remain sufficient beds and sufficient capacity in our local com…”

“After the creative reimagining of the Government’s target for hiring more teachers, it would be helpful to have some precision on the record for the target of two thirds of young people in higher learning. We know that higher learning means level 4 or above, but what exactly is a gold-standard apprenticeship? Does it m…”

“It is good to see you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. Assessment in education is obviously one of the most important aspects of what we do in education. It gives children a chance to show what they have learned, what they can do, and we want that to be stretching, but also to be fair. Anything that measures our attainment is …”

“We have been talking about funding, but also about visibility and profile. I wonder what breakthrough or kick-start effect there might be from just having a much higher profile with one event. In the Tokyo Deaflympics, will there be live broadcasts of any events? Have you had discussions with Channel 4, for example, ab…”

“Obviously we are talking about elite athletes. Sometimes in the branding world, you talk about a halo effect. With investment in elite athletes, and with other Deaf people seeing role models—but also, crucially, everybody else in society seeing those elite sports performances—I wonder if a sales pitch could be made to …”