theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Property Agency plans to install air conditioning in government buildings. \p Anna Turley: In Government Property Agency (GPA) managed buildings we hold responsibility for the lifecycle maintenance and upgrade of office assets. This will include the replacement of heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems of buildings. When these assets reach the end of their serviceable life it is the GPA who will be responsible for replacing them in the most efficient manner. This will vary between buildings but will either be upgrading with the most efficient (HVAC) replacement available or the introduction of newer carbon friendly technologies such as air-source heat pumps. The final investment decision is based on longevity in the building, initial capital cost and the efficient maintenance and overall life running costs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-26)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 31 July 2025 to Question HL9824 on Government Departments: Public Lavatories, when that guidance was last updated. \p Anna Turley: The Government Workplace Design Guide was publicly updated in March 2022 and it is publicly available on gov.uk. The Government Property Agency's Inclusive Design Standards were published internally in March 2020 and is not currently available online.

Both the Government Workplace Design Guide and the Inclusive Design Standards are actively being updated and guidance relating to toilet provision in government hubs will be updated to align with the requirements of Toilet Accommodation: Approved Document T. The guidance will also be updated accordingly on receipt of further guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission expected in the Autumn.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-26)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 37432 on Prime Minister: Communication, and with reference to the Cabinet Office FOI Internal Review response IR2025/05101 of 29 May 2025, for what reason the Answer of 19 March 2025 2025 to Question 37432 on Prime Minister: Communication states that there are 43 FTE civil servants in the 10 Downing Street communications team and the Government Communications Service audit states that there are less than 5 FT communications staff in 10 Downing Street. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: The Government Communications Service audit provided in IR2025/05101 was a placeholder figure due to incomplete data. As caveated in the response to IR2025/05101, the GCS data collection is voluntary, and some organisations were not captured by this process.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-26)

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Neil Coyle:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to ensure (a) Rt hon. and hon. Members and (b) other elected representatives are held to account for (i) misleading the public and (ii) repeating inaccurate information. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: Honesty is one of the Seven Principles of Public Life, which form the ethical basis of officeholders' standards in public life. All officeholders, including MPs and other elected representatives, have a responsibility to provide accurate information to the public.

For MPs, the Seven Principles are enshrined in the Commons Code of Conduct. The House has mechanisms available to ensure MPs uphold these standards, and individual MPs are directly accountable to their constituents.

Regarding locally elected representatives, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on proposed measures to strengthen the standards framework for local authorities in England in December 2024. The Government's response will be issued in due course.

In addition, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, introduced on 16th September, contains an offence of misleading the public. This applies where a public authority or public official acts with the intention of misleading the public (or is reckless as to that possibility) and they know, or ought to know, that their act is seriously improper. The definition of ‘public official’ for this purpose includes ministers.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Animal and Plant Health Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Dame Angela Eagle: For desk-based Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) staff, APHA Directors have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service in line with departmental policies.
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Sarah Dyke:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria she considers when setting student maintenance loan thresholds. \p Josh MacAlister: The loan for living costs is a contribution towards a student’s living costs while attending university, with the highest levels of support for students who need it most.

The government recognises the impact that the cost-of-living crisis has had on students. All funding decisions must be carefully balanced to ensure the system targets students who need support the most, while also making it sustainable.

The government has increased maximum loans for living costs for full-time and part-time undergraduate students by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year. A 3.1% increase is in line with forecast inflation based on the RPIX inflation index.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-26)

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Anneliese Dodds:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the financial viability of nursery groups funded by (a) private equity firms and (b) venture capital funds. \p Olivia Bailey: It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

One of the signs of a healthy market is a range of providers offering choice and flexibility for parents.

As laid out in the Best Start in Life strategy, the department keeps the structure of the market, including the role of private equity, debt, profit levels, and the prices that parents pay, under close review.

As of the most recent data available, 7.5% of places are with providers that have private equity backing, up from 4% in 2018.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the top five reasons are for deportation flights being cancelled. \p Alex Norris: The information you have required is not available from published statistics.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost of private security contractors used in deportations has been in each of the last five years. \p Alex Norris: The Home Office uses its Escorting and Related Services Contract with Mitie Care and Custody to effect Returns of persons with no right to remain within the UK. The costs of this contract are routinely published as part of the Home Office Transparency data, and can be found at Home Office spending - GOV.UK.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many deportations have been delayed as a result of injunctions granted by domestic courts citing the European Convention on Human Rights in each of the last five years. \p Alex Norris: The information requested, regarding the number of delayed deportations of foreign national offenders (FNOs) as a result of challenges under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and injunctions granted by domestic courts citing the European Convention on Human Rights, is not held centrally and to obtain it would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing league tables of deportation compliance by countries. \p Alex Norris: We continue to use an array of tools, including through diplomatic engagement, to maintain and improve international returns co-operation.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the repurposing of hotels as asylum accommodation on the number of jobs in the accommodation sector in each of the last three years. \p Alex Norris: The Home Office has a legal obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered. The Home Office is committed to ensuring that destitute asylum seekers are housed in safe, secure and suitable accommodation, and that they are treated with dignity while their asylum claim is considered.

There is no obligation for hotels to contract with Home Office accommodation providers. This Government is delivering on its pledge to close asylum hotels; drastically reducing taxpayer costs and giving control back to local communities.

From over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost £9 million a day, there are now less than 210, and we want them all closed by the end of this Parliament.
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David Simmonds:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding was allocated for English for Speakers of Other Languages provision by her Department in 2024-25; what the budget is for 2025-26; and what proportion in each case was allocated as grants to local authorities. \p Mike Tapp: Please refer to the 4th of July response from the former Minister for Children and Families, Janet Daby MP, for more detail on how ESOL is funded [UIN 63247].
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will place in the Library a copy of the presentation materials for the Guilt of Being British seminar given by her Department's race network. \p Dan Tomlinson: HMRC is focused on its three priorities as set by the government: improving day-to-day performance and the customer experience, closing the tax gap, and reforming and modernising the tax and customs system.

The question refers to a planned departmental staff network event which we can confirm was cancelled. Therefore, no materials will be placed in the Library.

The Cabinet Office recently published its Staff Network guidance on 23 September and HMRC’s Staff Networks will adhere to this.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January to Question 25553 on Methylphenidate Shortages, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the current supply of methylphenidate for ADHD. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The Department has worked closely with industry stakeholders, and, following extensive collaborative efforts, previous issues have been resolved and all strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, atomoxetine oral solution, guanfacine prolonged-release tablets and methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets and prolonged-release capsules are now available.

We continue to support the NHS England Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) taskforce, which brings together expertise from the National Health Service, education, and justice sectors to coordinate a system-wide response to rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national ADHD data improvement plan, we are developing future growth forecasts to support improved demand planning. These forecasts will be shared with industry to help ensure a more responsive and sustainable supply of ADHD medicines.

In parallel, we are also engaging with new suppliers for ADHD medicines to increase supply capacity and resilience.

The Department also maintains and regularly updates a list of currently available and unavailable ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website. This resource supports prescribers and dispensers in making informed decisions with patients. The list is available at the following link:

www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-26)

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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the consistent availability of menopause medications. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: There are over 70 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products, and the vast majority are in good supply. We are aware of supply issues affecting Estradot (estradiol) patches until early October 2025. We have issued comprehensive management guidance to healthcare professionals and Serious Shortage Protocols to enable community pharmacists to supply specified alternative estradiol patches, with the patient’s consent and without needing to seek authorisation from the prescriber.

We work closely with suppliers and other stakeholders such as the National Health Service and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to maintain overall HRT supply to patients across the United Kingdom during any shortages, including working to expedite resupply dates of the disrupted HRT products to resolve issues as soon as possible and to help fill supply gaps and prevent future shortages. We have added estradiol to the list of products that cannot be exported from, or hoarded in, the UK to protect supply of this hormone replacement therapy for UK patients.
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Mims Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to The Hughes Report: Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different government departments. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

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Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to local government of implementing the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department has conducted initial new burdens impact assessments, in line with normal practice, for measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Once the new burdens assessments have been finalised, where it is assessed there is a new burden on local government, all additional net costs will be funded by central government in line with the New Burdens Doctrine.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

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Noah Law:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for the rollout of Young Futures Hubs. \p Janet Daby: This government is committed to breaking down barriers to success and opportunity. Too many children and young people today do not have access to the same enrichment opportunities as their peers, suffer from poor mental health and, in some cases, end up being drawn into crime rather than going on to achieve and thrive. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.

As part of the development process, we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery. The Autumn Budget 2024 committed to launching early adopter Hubs in 2025/26. The number of Hubs, their specific locations, and their reach are still being determined, and we will share further information on the timing of their rollout in due course.
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Jack Rankin:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of full-time undergraduate students with British nationality non-domiciled in the UK are paying international fees. \p Janet Daby: The department is not able to identify which non-UK domiciled students who hold British nationality are paying international fees.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education sector. These data are shared with the department and includes a wide range of information on students coming from overseas to study in UK higher education providers (HEPs), including their legal nationality. Information on the type of fees a student pays, however, is not collected across all UK HEPs.
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Olly Glover:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the University of Manchester's research entitled Social and Emotional Learning for Every Child: Why SEL Matters, published on 6 November 2024. \p Catherine McKinnell: Schools have a statutory duty, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development. The department published guidance in 2014 to support schools in delivering that requirement.

In health education, which is part of mandatory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing, including a recognition that mental wellbeing and physical health are linked.

The aim of teaching pupils about mental wellbeing and physical health is to give them the information they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing, recognise issues in themselves and others and, when issues arise, how to seek support. This includes learning how to recognise and talk about their emotions, the benefits of exercise and self-care techniques, as well as developing pupils’ resilience and their ability to self-regulate and recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns.

The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public the consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence.
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Gareth Snell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing tuition fees for foundation year in-classroom-based subjects on the finances of universities. \p Janet Daby: On 20 January 2025, the department published a regulatory impact assessment covering the reduction in tuition fee and loan limits for higher education foundation years in classroom-based subjects, which is available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2025/13/pdfs/ukia_20250013_en.pdf.
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Joe Morris:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary school children are eligible for free school meals in (a) the North East and (b) Hexham constituency. \p Stephen Morgan: The department publishes the number of pupils in primary schools who are eligible for free school meals (FSM). The most recent figures, including regional level data, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Parliamentary constituencies are based on their boundaries at the time of the January school census each year, therefore, the 2024 Parliamentary boundaries do not reflect the changes made in the summer of 2024.

​Where statistics were published prior to the changes in Parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication.

FSM data is published at school level. This can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS) to identify parliamentary constituency. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election Parliamentary constituency changes. Updates to geographical data are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics.
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Dr Simon Opher:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of 14-16 year old provision in further education colleges. \p Janet Daby: Further education (FE) and sixth form colleges are able to enrol students aged 14 to 16 on a full time study programme and receive funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). If they wish to do so, colleges need to meet specific criteria, including Ofsted rating, and have to put in place necessary requirements. It is up to localities to judge the need for this provision and colleges are expected to have discussed their intent to directly enrol 14 to 16 year-olds with relevant local authorities before making the necessary arrangements to be able to offer this provision. Currently there are 14 colleges across England which offer full time education for 14 to 16-year-olds. The department’s published guidance on the full time enrolment of 14 to 16 year-olds in FE and sixth form colleges in the 2024/25 academic year can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-time-enrolment-of-14-to-16-year-olds-in-further-education-and-sixth-form-colleges/full-time-enrolment-of-14-to-16-year-olds-in-further-education-and-sixth-form-colleges-2023-to-2024-academic-year.

Colleges are also funded where they make part time provision for children aged 14 years or older who are currently electively home educated. They can also receive funding for the education of those aged 14-16 who have achieved qualifications at least equivalent to a full level 2, and who want to enrol on a level 3 course.

Funding for 14 to 16 year-olds in FE colleges is based on the same approach as for 16 to 19 year-olds. A modified version of the 16 to 19 funding formula is used to calculate allocations for directly recruited, full time 14 to 16 year-olds to reflect their circumstances. This includes provision of pupil premium funding where these young people qualify. This year, 2024/25, there will be a significant increase of £750 per full time 14 to 16 student that has not yet achieved GCSE English and mathematics. This is as a result of extending to programmes at all levels the English and mathematics funding only previously available for those on level 3 programmes without grade 4 in the subjects.
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Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost of providing free breakfast clubs in every primary school will be. \p Stephen Morgan: The department will fund schools to provide the new breakfast clubs.

The department published its funding methodology alongside guidance for early adopters on 16 January, and it has worked closely with schools on these rates to ensure they were sufficient for the ask.

Funding for national rollout is subject to the next spending review.

Funding rates for schools as part of the national roll out will be informed by learning from early adopters.
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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children receive free school meals in South Cotswolds constituency. \p Stephen Morgan: As of January 2024, 12.5% (1,761) of pupils attending state-funded schools in the South Cotswolds constituency were eligible for and claiming free school meals. This compares with a rate of 24.6% of pupils in state-funded schools in England. These figures are calculated from the school level supporting file published as part of the 2023/24 statistical release ‘School, pupils and their characteristics’, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Schools have been matched to their post July 2024 constituency using the department’s Get Information about Schools service, which can be found here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled Investigation into student finance for study at franchised higher education providers, published by the National Audit Office on 18 January 2024, what discussions she has had with the Office for Students on the potential merits of requiring franchised providers to register with the Office for Students. \p Janet Daby: As set out in the government’s response to the Public Accounts Committee, the government is shortly due to publish a consultation on proposals to strengthen oversight of partnership delivery in higher education, having worked closely with the Office for Students on this.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what changes the Office for Students has made to the regulatory framework to (a) ensure value for money and (b) good outcomes for students since January 2024. \p Janet Daby: There has been one significant change to the Office for Students (OfS) regulatory framework, which was announced last year. This introduced the registration condition on harassment and sexual misconduct. The main condition will not come into force until 1 August 2025, however the provisions relating to the banning of non-disclosure agreements apply from 1 September 2024. This condition is important in ensuring higher education students are free from harassment and sexual misconduct that would otherwise adversely affect their ability to benefit from their studies.

The OfS has been actively regulating within the current framework, ensuring positive outcomes for students, including through undertaking targeted quality assessments for existing registered providers. Additionally, the OfS has conducted assessments against new initial quality conditions for providers joining the register.

The OfS is currently consulting on a five year strategy which sets out its plan to implement and focus on the recommendations of Sir David Behan’s independent review of the OfS, and the interrelated priorities which will support better quality, student interest, financial sustainability and protecting public money.

This consultation, which opened on 12 December 2024 and closes on 20 February 2025, is available on the OfS website here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/ofs-strategy-for-2025-to-2030/consultation-on-ofs-strategy-for-2025-to-2030/foreword/.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure there are sufficient school places to match trends in the level of housing growth. \p Stephen Morgan: Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for children in their area. We provide capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide mainstream school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data.

Nearly £1.5 billion of allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the 2026/27 academic year. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools.

Financial contributions from housing developers are also an important way of helping to meet demand for new school places when housing developments are driving pupil numbers. It is for the local planning authority (LPA) to secure developer contributions through section 106 agreements or the Community Infrastructure Levy, and to decide on the local infrastructure needs that this contribution should support. The department encourages LPAs to secure significant contributions for new school places and work closely with colleagues planning school places in their area, including county councils when the local authority responsible for education is not the LPA.

The department engages with local authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we offer support and advice.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of support for kinship carers raising disabled children. \p Janet Daby: The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children.

In October 2024, we published the kinship care statutory guidance for local authorities, which sets out the support and services local authorities should provide to kinship families, including reaffirming the requirement to publish their local offer of support in a clear, accessible way. The guidance can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/670d3ed5e84ae1fd8592f2fa/Kinship_Care_-_statutory_guidance_for_local_authorities__October_2024.pdf.

The guidance makes it clear that children and young people should receive the support that they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare. There is no limit on the level of support, including financial support, that local authorities can provide. All local authorities should have in place clear eligibility criteria in relation to the provision of support services.

The department’s ‘Working together to safeguard children’ guidance, which is aimed at all agencies working to safeguard children, sets out how the social care needs of disabled children, and their carers, should be assessed. The guidance is clear that, “if a local authority considers that a parent carer of a disabled child may have support needs, it must carry out an assessment under section 17ZD of the Children Act 1989”. The local authority must also carry out such an assessment if a parent or carer requests one. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65797f1e0467eb000d55f689/Working_together_to_safeguard_children_2023_-_statutory_framework.pdf.

Moreover, under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, it is the general duty of every local authority to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need, and to promote the upbringing of such children by their families by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs, such as the provision of short breaks.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment has she made of the adequacy of therapeutic support for children in kinship care. \p Janet Daby: This government recognises the importance of health and therapeutic support services for all children, including those in kinship care. Ensuring every child receives the support they need is a key priority.

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) helps adoptive and special guardianship order children, and their families, access therapeutic interventions related to trauma and attachment.

In December 2023, we began to require the use of outcomes measurement tools with ASGSF-funded therapies to help assess the impact and effectiveness of different types of therapy. We hope that this will improve local and national understanding of the effectiveness of therapies for different children and families.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to extend (a) family finding, (b) befriending and (c) mentoring support for children in the care system to build relationships. \p Janet Daby: The department is committed to helping children thrive, and we want the best for every child and family. We know that a stable support network and loving relationships are crucial to supporting children in care and care leavers to thrive.

To support this, we are currently funding 50 family finding, befriending and mentoring programmes being delivered by 45 local authorities. These programmes will help children in care and care leavers to identify and connect with the important people in their lives, improve their sense of identity and community and create and sustain consistent, stable and loving relationships.

We have commissioned an independent evaluation of the family finding, befriending and mentoring programmes, and this will inform decisions about their future.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_16

Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on improving financial support for kinship carers. \p Janet Daby: The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. Kinship carers often take on this role at a time when they were least expecting to raise a family and we recognise the challenges they face, including financial.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, we announced £40 million of funding to trial a kinship allowance in some local authorities in England. We will test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of caring for a child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. ​​We will share further details and the process for selecting local authorities in due course.​

This is the single biggest investment made by government in kinship care to date. This investment could transform the lives of vulnerable children who can no longer live at home by allowing children to grow up within their families and communities, reducing disruption to their early years, so they can focus on schooling and building friendships.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_17

Andrew Griffith:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department offers paternity leave to its staff from their first working day. \p Janet Daby: Employees must have at least 26 continuous weeks employment in the Civil Service up to any day in the ‘qualifying week’ to be eligible for paternity leave. The ‘qualifying week’ is the fifteenth week before the baby is due.

As with any changes to employment legislation, internal policies and processes will be updated as appropriate in preparation for when the Employment Rights Bill 2024 comes into effect.

Some employees may qualify for statutory paternity leave on their first day of service with the department because they have qualifying service with another Civil Service department.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_18

Alex McIntyre:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of young people out of work, education and training in (a) Gloucester and (b) Gloucestershire in the last five years. \p Janet Daby: The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey for young people aged 16-24. This is available at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds estimated as NEET in England for the last five years can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d9b4d0bf-3a58-4907-5a37-08dd3479441b.

However, these estimates are only published at national level due to limitations with sample sizes for lower-level geographies. Therefore, NEET rates for young people aged 16-24 in Gloucester and Gloucestershire cannot be provided.

However, local authorities are required to encourage, enable or assist young people’s participation in education or training and return management information for young people aged 16 and 17. This data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neet-and-participation-local-authority-figures. The data shows that of the young people aged 16 and 17-years-old who were known to Gloucestershire local authority in the link below for the last five years: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/fb35cd74-1667-4de1-ab38-08dd34489990.

These statistics are published as transparency data so some caution should be taken if using these figures.

In addition, 16-18 destination measures are published. These official statistics show the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16-18 study, that is 6 months of continual activity. This can be used as a proxy for the number of young people out of work, education and training at age 18. The latest publication includes destinations in 2022/23 by Parliamentary constituency boundaries at that time. Data can be found here for Gloucester parliamentary constituency for the last five years here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/365fe966-b823-4406-ab39-08dd34489990.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_19

Nadia Whittome:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support further education colleges to invest in low-carbon (a) technology and (b) infrastructure. \p Janet Daby: Ensuring that every young person has a pathway through further and higher education and into employment is a key pillar of the government’s opportunity and growth missions. The department wants to build a world class further education (FE) system which delivers for the whole nation and supports these missions. A key part of this is ensuring colleges are fit for the future, with better facilities and good quality, sustainable buildings.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the department announced £950 million of skills capital funding for 2025/26, including £300 million of new funding to support FE colleges to maintain, improve and ensure suitability of their estate. It will be for colleges to decide how to prioritise funding in line with guidance which the department will publish. However, spend could include investment in low-carbon infrastructure in line with the Further Education Generic Design Brief and Technical Annexes, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-requirements-for-college-projects-part-a-and-part-b.

As part of the FE Capital Transformation Programme, which is a six-year programme investing more than £1.5 billion to upgrade the FE college estate, the department is working in partnership with sixteen colleges to address some of the worst condition sites in the country. These schemes are being built to the above specifications. One of these projects is the Ashington Campus of Northumberland College, which is a Gen-Zero development, designed to be ultra-low carbon in both construction and operation.

FE colleges are also able to apply to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, administered by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. A number of FE colleges have benefitted from this scheme to invest in measures to achieve net zero in operation at some or all of their sites.

Future investment will depend on the outcomes of the spending review which will be announced later this year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_20

Alison Griffiths:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department offers protection to staff from unfair dismissal from their first working day. \p Janet Daby: The department has appropriate policies and processes in place to ensure employees are treated fairly from day one of their employment.

All dismissals are handled in line with current legislation and appropriate Codes of Practice. Where an employee feels they may have been unfairly dismissed, appropriate internal appeal routes may be instigated.

Where an employee is unable to solve a problem internally, they may be able to go to an employment tribunal to claim unfair dismissal, as set out in legislation.

This position will be reviewed when unfair dismissal rights are updated in line with proposals in the Employment Rights Bill.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_21

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle academic dishonesty arising from the use of generative AI in higher education. \p Janet Daby: Universities are independent and autonomous bodies responsible for decisions such as admissions, diversity of provision, course content, teaching and assessment. As such, they are responsible for designing their own policies regarding the use of artificial intelligence and for taking steps to prevent academic misconduct, as set out in the Office for Students’ regulatory framework.

Academic integrity is crucial to protecting the reputation of the UK’s world-class higher education sector.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_22

Charlotte Cane:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for further education. \p Janet Daby: This government is committed to driving economic growth and supporting opportunity for all. To help achieve these missions we announced £300 million in the 2025/26 financial year for further education (FE) at the Budget. We also announced £300 million of new capital funding for 2025/26 to support FE colleges to maintain, improve and ensure suitability of their estate.

FE funding, including its adequacy, will be considered as part of the multi-year spending review which will take place later this year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_23

Laura Trott:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with which unions she has had meetings since 5 July 2025; and when. \p Janet Daby: Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Data for the period of July to September 2024 will be published in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_24

Sir Christopher Chope:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to introduce an apprenticeship standard for tattoo artists. \p Janet Daby: This is a matter for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. I have asked its Chief Executive, Jennifer Coupland, to write to the hon. Member for Christchurch, and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_25

Alicia Kearns:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has given any funding to Confucius institutes since July 2024. \p Janet Daby: The department has not provided any funding to Confucius Institutes under this government.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-31 conversation_26

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Official Controls Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on trends in the level of trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. \p Daniel Zeichner: Northern Ireland goods move freely to Great Britain and are unaffected by regulation 2017/625. Regulation 2017/625 is explicitly disapplied for goods moved via the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme.