theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Richard Tice:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to review the calculation of child maintenance payments, in the context of the use of gross salaries for assessments; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adjusting those calculations to reflect (a) the disposable income of paying parents after deductions and (b) any unusual expenses. \p Andrew Western: Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Any income subject to income tax, including bonuses and overtime received by an employed paying parent, is included within their gross weekly income when calculating a child maintenance liability.

Generally, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) caseload is governed by broad administrative rules and does not provide bespoke solutions for individual cases. However, there is some scope to take account of specific situations. Variations allow the Child Maintenance Service to look at some circumstances which are not covered by the basic maintenance calculation. Either parent may apply for a variation at any time during the life of their case, provided enough information for an appropriate ground can be identified. If a variation application is successful, the maintenance calculation will be adjusted accordingly.

The department is reviewing the calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This has included updating the underlying research and considering how we ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.
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Richard Burgon:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will open a public consultation on the measures not being consulted on in Annex A of her Department's Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We urgently need reform to stop people from falling into inactivity, restore trust and fairness in the system and protect disabled people. There are some measures announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper on the 18 March 2025 that we will not be consulting on.

Key reforms to improve the system, such as our ‘Pathways to Work’ support offer, reducing assessments for those with severe conditions and recording assessments, are needed urgently and not consulted on in this Green Paper.

This also includes changes to PIP. It is right that we bring this forward via Primary Legislation so that Parliament can fully debate and vote on these changes. In the Green Paper, we are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by this change, and we intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment. We will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Kate Osborne:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposals within the Pathways to Work Green Paper on the level of regional disparities in access to (a) out-of-work and (b) in-work disability benefits. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The are no regional disparities in access to disability benefits.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help improve workplace support for young people with SEND that do not meet the criteria for specialist provision. \p Alison McGovern: As a government, we want to support young SEND adults in the workplace by encouraging employers to adopt inclusive working practices so that everyone can thrive at work. A range of measures are currently available.

The Disability Confident scheme was developed in collaboration with disabled people, employers and organisations representing disabled people. The scheme aims to challenge perceptions of what it means to employ disabled people and provides employers with the knowledge skills and free resources they need to attract, recruit, retain and progress disabled people of all ages in the workplace.

To support young people with the transition from education into work, Access to Work has developed a series of Adjustment Passports and Planners. They were developed with stakeholders and disability groups to ensure the format adhered to the social model of disability and met disability needs. They are completely voluntary, and can support the transitions into employment by providing:

In November the Government launched its plan to Get Britain Working. We are working closely with employers, and through insights from the Keep Britain Working Review, to understand the barriers they face to employing disabled people.

In addition to this, on 29 January this year, the Government launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. Recommendations are expected to include employer actions that can support the inclusion of neurodivergent people, including in recruitment and day to day workplace practices.

The Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to get Britain Working’ Green Paper, published on 18 March, set out a £1 billion investment a year by the end of the decade in new employment, health and skills support.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to respond to the letter of 17 February 2025 from the hon. Member for Henley and Thame on the ongoing closure of the Thames Path National Trail at Marsh Lock near Henley on Thames. \p Chris Bryant: This is not the responsibility of this Department and I gather the Member has already received a response from DEFRA.
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on levels of economic growth. \p Chris Bryant: DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impacts of various options to scale the scheme.

We believe that the changes announced will continue the widest distribution of the scheme’s benefits within the available means. Based on previous scheme data, we expect 94% of claims to be unaffected by this change.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an estimate of the economic contribution of live theatre to the creative industry. \p Chris Bryant: This Government recognises the importance of theatre in providing high-quality culture and stimulating growth.

DCMS economic estimates of GVA provide a measure of the contribution made by the DCMS sectors to the UK economy. The Arts subsector, of which theatres are part, contributed £9 billion GVA and supported around 230,000 filled jobs in 2023. DCMS economic estimates do not separately measure the contribution of live theatre to GVA.

According to a 2023 study by SOLT & UK Theatre, the theatre sector as a whole generated £2.39bn in GVA and generated a total turnover of £4.44 billion.

Data collection plays an integral role in how the Department for Culture, Media and Sport assesses the economic contribution of its sectors to the UK economy. DCMS publishes official statistics (DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates) including data on Gross Value Added, employment and business demographics, which are available at national and regional levels. These data can be found on the DCMS website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department produced an impact assessment prior to the announcement of changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. \p Chris Bryant: DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme including careful consideration of the impacts of the changes.
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to enable the completion of projects (a) partly and (b) fully funded through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme that are (i) soon-to-start and (ii) part of phased work commenced prior to the changes to that scheme. \p Chris Bryant: The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme gives grants covering VAT costs only on repairs of over £1,000 to listed buildings used as places of worship.

Guidance has now been published on changes to the Scheme from 1 April 2025.

Listed places of worship with ongoing projects should ensure that all claims for work already carried out are submitted before or at 23:59 on 31 March 2025. They can submit invoices after this, but the £25,000 cap applies to all claims submitted from 00:00 on 1 April 2025 regardless of when the work was carried out.
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Sorcha Eastwood:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will (a) digitise and (b) publish historic Northern Ireland command papers from 1921 onwards. \p Chris Bryant: Northern Ireland Command Papers are a matter for the Parliamentary Archives.
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Dr Simon Opher:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with stakeholders from the comedy industry on Government support for that industry. \p Chris Bryant: Following on from my meeting with my Hon Friend and Louisa Jackson on 13 March 2025 to discuss support for the comedy industry, I am pleased to see one of my officials attended the Comedy-on-Prescription roundtable organised by Ms Jackson at Westminster Hall.

I will continue to work with my Hon Friend on the role of the comedy sector and hope to organise a round table discussion on the sector shortly and hope to organise a round table discussion on the sector shortly.
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Jess Asato:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what his planned timetable is for responding to the recommendations of the report entitled Creating a safer world: the challenge of regulating online pornography, published on 27 February 2025. \p Feryal Clark: Services in scope of the Online Safety Act are already required to take action to tackle horrific illegal pornographic content and will be required prevent children accessing all pornographic content.

The Secretary of State has met Baroness Bertin to discuss her review. The review’s findings continue to be assessed by the Government and an update will be provided in due course.
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Graeme Downie:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support innovation in the manufacturing of optics equipment. \p Feryal Clark: Growing innovative manufacturing companies will be key to unlocking growth across the economy.

Optics has many applications across different sectors and we provide a range of support for firms specialising in it. For example, UKRI is funding over £116,000 to the University of Edinburgh and Optos PLC based in Dunfermline to develop technology for optical medical devices.

The National Physical Laboratory provides a comprehensive range of optical calibration and measurement services, supporting industry in the design and production of optical components.
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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to increase online safety for children and young people. \p Feryal Clark: The government is implementing the Online Safety Act as quickly and effectively as possible, so children can be protected from criminal behaviour and harmful content online.

The illegal content duties are now in force, so platforms already need to act to protect their users.

The child safety duties will be in force from the Summer, at which point companies will need to further protect children from harmful content such as pornography, suicide and self-harm material.
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Peter Lamb:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to encourage social media companies to tackle animal abuse content online. \p Feryal Clark: Animal abuse content is horrific, and social media companies must do more to tackle it.

Social media platforms and search services have duties to tackle animal abuse content and implement safety-by-design features under the Online Safety Act.

Ofcom – the independent regulator - has published recommendations for how providers should tackle such content under their ‘illegal content duties’.

These duties took effect on 17 March and Ofcom have strong enforcement powers to hold companies accountable for failing to meet their obligations.
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Jeremy Hunt:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help improve mobile phone coverage in rural areas. \p Chris Bryant: Through the Shared Rural Network, we are continuing to deliver 4G connectivity where there is limited or no coverage.

Beyond this, our ambition is for all populated areas, including rural communities, to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030.

We are working with Ofcom and the industry to ensure we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition in the market, including more accurate coverage reporting.
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Harriet Cross:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support the development of the space industry in the UK. \p Chris Bryant: Space is a strategic priority for this government and is essential to achieving our mission to deliver growth as a priority. The National Space Strategy and our identified priority capability goals continue to drive government policy.

We will publish an ambitious programme for space when the Spending Review has completed.
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Torcuil Crichton:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help improve broadband connectivity in rural communities. \p Chris Bryant: According to the independent website ThinkBroadband.com, over 86% of UK premises can access a gigabit-capable broadband connection.

More than £2 billion of contracts have now been signed to provide gigabit connectivity to over a million more premises. The vast majority of the premises to be covered by these contracts will be in rural areas.

This includes the first Project Gigabit contract in Scotland which was announced last month, and we aim to announce further contracts in the coming months.
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Sadik Al-Hassan:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help improve mobile network signal in North Somerset constituency. \p Chris Bryant: I have asked Ofcom to check their figures, but according to them, 94% of the constituency has 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile operators, while 5G is available outside 96% of premises from at least one operator. The government’s ambition is for all populated areas, including rural communities, to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030.

We are working with industry and Ofcom to ensure we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment in this crucial infrastructure.
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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve digital skills for young people not in education, employment or training in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency and (b) Staffordshire. \p Chris Bryant: The Government published the Digital Inclusion Action Plan in February 2025, identifying five target groups to benefit most from digital inclusion initiatives, including older and young people. The Government understands there are many other impacted groups, and is committed to delivering digital inclusion for everyone across the UK, whatever their circumstances.

The Action Plan outlines five immediate Government actions, including enhancing support for the Essential Digital Skills framework that helps people and businesses get essential skills they need to get online safely and confidently, and the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund to support local digital inclusion initiatives across the UK.
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Fabian Hamilton:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Online Safety Act 2023 on (a) small websites, (b) online services, (c) personal blogs and (d) community-run platforms; and whether he is taking steps to prevent (i) the closure of safe online spaces and (ii) blocking of UK users by overseas services, in the context of the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023. \p Feryal Clark: Under the Online Safety Act, in-scope user-to-user and search services must assess for risks of illegal content and harm to children. Ofcom is the independent regulator for this regime. It sets out what steps small low-risk providers need to take to fulfil their duties following their risk assessment. When implementing these duties, Ofcom is legally required to ensure burdens on providers are proportionate to their risk factors, size, and capacity. Ofcom recently launched an online digital toolkit, aimed at helping smaller services with compliance (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/ofcom-launches-digital-safety-toolkit-for-online-services/).
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help close the education attainment gap. \p Catherine McKinnell: All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are from. However, this government knows that too many children and young people face barriers to learning. This is not acceptable, which is why the Opportunity Mission will break the unfair link between background and success, helping all children achieve and thrive.

High and rising standards across education are at the heart of this mission and the key to unlocking stronger outcomes and a better future for children and young people. The department aims to deliver these improvements through excellent teaching and leadership, a high quality curriculum and a system that removes barriers to learning, all of which will be underpinned by strong and clear accountability.

The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is why the department is committed to recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers.

The department has also launched an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which is closely examining the key challenges to attainment for young people and the barriers that hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve.

To strengthen school improvement, the new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools.

Recognising the importance of supporting children’s attendance and attainment, the government is committed to delivering on its pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state funded school with primary-aged children.

The pupil premium grant also provides funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England. Pupil premium funding will rise to over £3 billion in 2025/26, an increase of almost 5% from 2024/25.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of teachers employed in state schools in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26. \p Catherine McKinnell: Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers employed in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication. This publication is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

As of November 2023, the latest date for which data are available, there were 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers employed in state-funded schools in England.

Figures for the 2024/25 academic year will be published in June 2025 at the link above.

Each year, the department calculates the number of trainees needed via postgraduate initial teacher training to meet future teacher demand. As part of these calculations, the department’s model makes a short-term estimate of future teacher numbers required. The most recently published version, that makes such estimates for 2023/24 and 2024/25 respectively, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/postgraduate-initial-teacher-training-targets-2024-to-2025.

An updated version, for 2025/26 recruitment targets will be published later this year.
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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve learning support for pupils with ADHD in (a) primary and (b) secondary state education. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other neurodiverse conditions.

The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.

The SEND code of practice is clear that schools should apply a “graduated approach” to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.

In November 2024, the department established a Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, chaired by Professor Karen Guldberg from the University of Birmingham, to provide an expert view and make recommendations on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings. Professor Anita Thapar, the chair of the independent ADHD Taskforce convened by NHS England, is a member of this group.

The department also runs a Universal SEND Services contract to provide SEND-specific professional development and support for the school and further education workforce. The programme helps professionals to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, including ADHD, earlier and more effectively. Since the programme commenced, school and college staff have completed over 20,000 online training modules.

Additionally, the department has introduced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, a cross-government collaboration between the department, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England, backed by £13 million of investment.

PINS brings together integrated care boards, local authorities and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodivergent children and their families.

PINS deploys specialists from health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children in around 1,650 (10%) mainstream primary schools.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle nursery staff recruitment and retention shortages. \p Stephen Morgan: The government is committed to giving children the best start in life and has set the ambition through the government’s Plan for Change for a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. The department will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage by 2028. A high quality and sufficient workforce is fundamental to this.

The department is supporting early years providers to attract talented staff by creating conditions for improved recruitment. Our national recruitment campaign is encouraging the public to ‘Do something Big’ and start a career working with small children. A dedicated campaign website is also helping people find out more about gaining qualifications and search existing job vacancies. We are also piloting whether £1,000 financial incentives may boost recruitment and running Skills Bootcamps for early years which can lead to accelerated apprenticeships.

The department recently announced the experience-based route, which enables early years providers to maximise the potential of staff who have the right skills and experience but do not hold an approved qualification. We have also taken steps to increase the graduate workforce via the early years teacher degree apprenticeship, providing a new undergraduate route to gaining early years teacher status.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2025 to Question 27313 on Private Education: Special Educational Needs, if she will make a separate assessment for SEN pupils. \p Stephen Morgan: HM Treasury has published a tax information and impact note on applying VAT to independent school fees, which includes pupils with special educational needs.
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Jo Platt:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools will be able to refer demand for breakfast clubs to existing out-of-school clubs. \p Stephen Morgan: The department is committed to delivering free breakfast clubs across England. Schools can work with private, voluntary and independent providers such as existing out-of-school club providers to deliver this commitment.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to increase funding rates for early years provision of three and four year olds. \p Stephen Morgan: As usual, the hourly funding rates will vary between local authorities reflecting the different communities that local authorities serve. However, for the 2025/26 financial year, the national average three and four year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%. On top of this, eligible children can also attract additional funding through the early years pupil premium.

Early education gives all children, especially disadvantaged children, the best start in life. That is why the department is delivering the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% from 68p per hour in 2024/25 to £1 per hour in 2025/26, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.

Future spending decisions beyond 2025/26 will be announced following the next spending review.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of children who transferred from private to state schools in the first three months of (a) 2024 and (b) 2025. \p Stephen Morgan: Data on pupil numbers in the state-funded and private school sectors is collected in January and published in June each year. This shows how pupil numbers at different types of school have changed over time.

In January 2023 there were 591,954 pupils in independent schools. In January 2024, this number had increased by 1,532 to 593,486.

This data is published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f3ef2b69-9a02-4040-1972-08dd660c60ce. Pupil numbers for January 2025 will be published in June 2025.
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Laura Trott:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of universally expanding the 30 hours of government funded childcare scheme. \p Stephen Morgan: Accessible and high quality early education and childcare is a crucial part of giving every child the best start in life, boosting children’s life chances and giving parents work choices.

The government is committed to delivering the expansion of the 30 hours free childcare offer, so that from September 2025 eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week, over 38 weeks of the year, from the term after their child turns nine months old to when they start school. However, this government has been clear that this will be tough to deliver as we inherited a pledge with no plan behind it. That is why the department is doing everything it can, working closely with childcare providers, to deliver the additional places the sector will need from September 2025.

All three and four year-old children are eligible for the universal 15 hours free early education entitlement from the term starting on or after 1 September, 1 January or 1 April following their third birthday.
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Laura Trott:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the increase to (a) employer National Insurance contributions and (b) the national living wage on trends in the level of fees paid by parents with children in early education and childcare. \p Stephen Morgan: It is the department’s ambition that parents have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and childcare. ​​This government has had to take some tough decisions to get our public finances back on track, but this government has increased investment in the early years to drive forward progress towards our plan for change target of a record number of children starting school ready to learn.

In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements, so eligible working parents of children aged from nine months can access 30 hours of funded childcare. This is an increase of more than 30% compared to the 2024/25 financial year.

This increase ensures funding for the entitlements, reflects forecasts of average earnings and inflation next year, and also reflects the National Living Wage announced at the Autumn Budget 2024.

The department also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. On top of this, we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.

We are additionally providing £25 million through the forthcoming National Insurance contributions grant for public sector employers in the early years.

From the start of September 2024, eligible working parents have been entitled to 15 hours a week of early education and care from the term after their child turns nine months. So far, over 320,000 additional parents are now accessing a place. Going further, from September 2025, eligible working parents will be able to access 30 hours of early education and childcare a week.

Parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit childcare.

The department also wants to ensure that parents are aware of and accessing all government funded childcare support they are eligible for. The department is raising awareness of the government-funded childcare support available via the Childcare Choices campaign to boost children’s life chances and parents’ work choices.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Munira Wilson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) nurseries, (b) primary schools, (c) secondary schools and (d) 16-18 colleges identified as containing asbestos and listed on the Schools Rebuilding Programme (i) were scheduled to be and (ii) were (A) complete and (B) in progress by 1 March 2025. \p Stephen Morgan: The government has committed £1.4 billion to continue the current School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in 2025/26, reconfirming our commitment to rebuild or refurbish 518 schools and sixth-form colleges across England, prioritising delivery based on need.

Asbestos management in schools and other buildings is regulated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Responsible bodies are duty holders for asbestos management within school buildings and must follow requirements and standards set by the HSE. The department expects all local authorities, governing bodies, academy trusts and colleges to have robust plans in place to manage asbestos in school buildings effectively and in line with their legal duties, drawing on appropriate professional advice. The department follows the advice of the HSE that, provided asbestos-containing materials are in good condition and unlikely to be disturbed, it is generally safest to manage them in place, otherwise they should be removed.

Just under half of schools in the SRP have started various stages of project delivery. Of those that have not yet commenced, the department plans to increase the number of school rebuilding projects starting delivery activity in the next financial year to 100.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Helen Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons her Department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist disabled students' allowance software. \p Janet Daby: The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA. Full details of the policy change are available at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/2070/ssin-spelling-and-grammar-software.pdf.

The department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision, which is attached to this response.

39485_39486_DSA_Equalities_Impact_Assessment (pdf, 164.3KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department made an assessment of the potential impact of changes made to (a) National Insurance and (b) the National Living Wage at the Autumn Budget 2024 on the number of apprenticeships offered by high street businesses. \p Janet Daby: To repair public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance.

The government recognises the need to protect the smallest employers, which is why the Employment Allowance has been more than doubled to £10,500. This means more than half of businesses with National Insurance contributions (NICs) liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Employers will continue to be able to claim employer NICs reliefs, including the relief for employing apprentices under 25, where eligible.

From April 2025, the National Living Wage will increase by 6.7% from £11.44 to £12.21 and the Apprentice Minimum Wage will increase by 18% from £6.40 to £7.55. The government has accepted the findings of the independent Low Pay Commission in full and this increase to the Apprentice Minimum Wage will boost the hourly wage for thousands of young apprentices across a range of sectors and those in their first year of an apprenticeship.

The government remains committed to ensuring that apprentice wages support the attraction of talented individuals into apprenticeships and remain fair for employers. High quality apprenticeships are key to unlocking a more skilled and productive economy.

The department also continues to pay employers and training providers £1,000 when they take on apprentices under 19, or 19 to 24-year-olds who have an education, health and care plan, or have been in care.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that independent schools are subject to the same inspection standards as state-funded schools. \p Stephen Morgan: The regulatory regime for private schools, as set out in the 2008 Education and Skills Act, is based on compliance with the independent school standards, and failure can lead to a notice to improve, restrictions being placed on school operations or, following long-term or very serious failures, deregistration which requires closure. Private schools do not receive public funding, so are regulated to ensure that they provide a safe and suitable education as required by the independent school standards, whilst being able to operate as independent private businesses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Mr Joshua Reynolds:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making it a statutory requirement for schools to have libraries; and whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that all schools have access to well-resourced libraries. \p Catherine McKinnell: I refer the hon. Member for Maidenhead to the answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25150.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of SEN children fined for school absences in the last academic year. \p Catherine McKinnell: The information requested is not held by the department.

The department collects aggregate data on penalty notices from local authorities in England through the annual ‘parental responsibility measures’ attendance census. Information is not collected on the characteristics of the children concerned.

The available data are published in the following statistical release: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/parental-responsibility-measures.

The most recent data was published in January 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Mark Pritchard:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) in person and (b) online meetings she had with organisations representing children with special educational needs between 14 July 2024 and 14 October 2024. \p Catherine McKinnell: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets with a wide range of external stakeholders who represent children’s interests as part of her ministerial work. Details of ministers’ external meetings are published in quarterly ministerial transparency returns.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of unresolved Teacher Regulation Agency teacher misconduct cases. \p Catherine McKinnell: The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is an executive agency of the department which acts on behalf of my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education as regulator of the teaching profession.

Supported by the department, the TRA has taken extensive steps over the last two years to increase its capacity and help ensure that misconduct cases are concluded in a more timely manner. As reported in its latest Annual Report and Accounts, these steps enabled the Agency to deliver a record number of misconduct hearings in the 2023/24 reporting year.

The TRA aims to manage all teacher misconduct investigations and hearings in a fair and timely manner. However, factors such as case complexity and delays when seeking disclosure from third parties may impact on the timeliness of their resolution.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14099 on Permanent Secretaries: Recruitment, what his planned timetable is for the implementation of those recommendations. \p Georgia Gould: I refer the honourable gentleman to my previous response for PQ 14099.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 14 January and 20 February 2025 to Questions 22185 and 30473 on Prime Minister: Furniture and Prime Minister: Press Conferences, for what reason a Labour Party lectern was used at the Plan for Change event; and whether the Labour Party was involved with the organisation of that event. \p Georgia Gould: This was an official government event organised by officials and special advisors, as has been the case under successive administrations and in line with the relevant guidance. The lectern was loaned by the Labour Party.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18401 on Government People Group: Civil Service, what is the (a) remit and (b) function of the 836 staff in the Government People Group; and what the annual staffing cost of the non fast streamers in that group was in the 2024-25 was in that financial year. \p Georgia Gould: The remit and function of Government People Group (GPG) is set out on gov.uk.

The annual staffing cost of all Civil Servants employed by GPG is estimated to be £49.5m for 2023/24, the last full financial year for which data is available. This excludes the payroll costs for all Fast Streamers currently employed on centrally managed Fast Stream programmes.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the document entitled Cabinet Office: The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP Gifts - 5 July to 31 October 2024, published on 19 February 2025, on what date the Prime Minister purchased the Taylor Swift merchandise he was given by Universal Music Operations Ltd. \p Georgia Gould: Gifts and hospitality declarations are made in line with guidance in the Ministerial Code.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-26)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the population is of each local authority that has issued a Section 114 notice in the last three years. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 18th March is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 161.0KB)