You can use this to say that many "somethings" (nouns) have existed in the past and continue to exist in the present or affect the present somehow. The noun you use has to be countable. Some examples: "There have been quite a few problems with this project. I think that we should stop and start again from the beginning." "There have been quite a few questions in this class. Does everyone understand what I'm talking about?" "We still don't have a solution for the problem even though there have been quite a few ideas suggested."