theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of incoming stamp duty thresholds on first-time buyers in (a) London and (b) other high cost areas. \p James Murray: Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is an important source of Government revenue, raising around £12 billion each year to help pay for the essential services the Government provides.

In September 2022, the previous Government announced a change to the level at which first time buyers start paying SDLT from £300,000 to £425,000, with the purchase price limit for accessing the relief set at£625,000. These changes were made temporary in November 2022. After the rates reverted on 1st April 2025, first time buyers can still benefit from paying no SDLT up to £300,000 and will be able to claim relief on purchases up to £500,000.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the higher rates of SDLT for additional dwellings were increased by two percentage points from three per cent to five per cent. This will ensure that those looking to purchase their first property or move home have a greater advantage over second home buyers, landlords, and companies purchasing residential property.
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Stuart Anderson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of recent trends in economic growth. \p Emma Reynolds: The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) are the Government’s official economic forecaster. They published their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) on 26th March. They forecast GDP growth to be 1.0% in 2025, 1.9% in 2026, 1.8% in 2027, 1.7% in 2028 and 1.8% in 2029.
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Emily Thornberry:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Annual Review of the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation 2023-24, published on 21 March 2025, how much and what proportion of frozen Russian assets are owned by (a) the Russian state central bank and (b) private individuals. \p Emma Reynolds: The Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury published in its annual review that £25.03 billion in assets relating to the Russia sanctions regime have been reported as frozen between February 2022 and December 2024. This is an aggregated total of all entities and individuals listed on the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets, known as Designated Persons.

Assets belonging to the Central Bank of Russia, the National Wealth Fund of Russia, or the Ministry of Finance of Russia, known as Prohibited Persons, are not subject to an asset freeze, but have been immobilised as a result of UK sanctions that prohibit the provision of financial services.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) the Autumn Budget 2024 and (b) Extended Producer Responsibility on inflation in 2025. \p Emma Reynolds: The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) publish their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) where they assess inflation, including the impact of policy. In their October 2024 EFO they assessed policies announced at Autumn Budget 2024. Since then, they have released an updated forecast on 26th March, this forecast takes Government policy, regulation, and external factors into account as well.

There is an impact assessment of the Extended Producer Responsibility system published, where the systems impact on inflation can be found. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/623efc968fa8f5276d1f9ec0/epr-final-impact-assessment.pdf
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Mrs Sharon Hodgson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to exempt training provided by the Music and Dance Scheme from VAT. \p James Murray: Performing arts schools that offer full-time education to children of compulsory school age and/or 16-19 year olds for a charge will remain in scope of the policy to apply VAT to their fees and this includes the Music and Dance Scheme. This is to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools that provide education services and vocational training for a charge. The Government has no plans to exempt further schools from this policy.

However, the Department for Education has decided to adjust its Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT that will be applied on fees, ensuring that the total parental fee contributions for families with below average relevant incomes remain unchanged for the rest of the 2024/25 academic year.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting (a) GP surgeries, (b) social care providers, (c) hospices, (d) NHS dentists, (e) charitable providers, and (f) pharmacies from the increase in employer's National Insurance contributions. \p James Murray: The Government has taken a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability after the situation we inherited from the previous administration.

The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance costs only. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by central or local government.

This is the usual approach Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional employer NICs costs, as was the case with the previous government’s Health and Social Care Levy.

As a result of this measure, along with others announced at Budget, the NHS will receive an extra £22.6 billion increase in resource spending which will benefit employers.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will ensure that the proposed higher business rates multiplier for properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or more is index-linked. \p James Murray: The Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties, with rateable values below £500,000, from 2026-27.

This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so the Government intends to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties - those with a rateable value (RV) of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but cover the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.

The Government will confirm the rates for the new multipliers at Budget 2025, taking account of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation as well as the broader economic and fiscal context.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the median age is of computers issued to officials in their Department. \p James Murray: HM Treasury does not record the age of computers.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to introduce exemptions or adjustments to National Insurance Contributions for social enterprise nurseries. \p James Murray: The Government has taken a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability after the situation we inherited from the previous administration.

The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year.

Early years providers play a crucial role in driving economic growth and that is why we have committed to delivering the expansion of government-funded childcare and opening 3,000 new school-based nurseries in this parliament. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced that total funding will rise to over £8 billion in 2025-26 to support providers. On top of this, the Department for Education confirmed an additional £75 million of funding in 2025-26 to support the sector deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, alongside a further £25 million to support childcare for disadvantaged children through the early years pupil premium.
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Ian Roome:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Digital Services Tax. \p James Murray: The UK remains committed to reaching a global solution on the taxation of the digital economy through Pillar 1 of the G20-OECD Inclusive Framework project. It is the UK’s intention to repeal our Digital Services Tax (DST) when this international solution is in place.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of shops with increased business rates under proposed reforms to that system. \p James Murray: As set out at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including those on the high street, from 2026-27. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. The Government intends to fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on all properties with a rateable value (RV) of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties.

The Government will confirm the rates for the new multipliers at Budget 2025, taking account of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation as well as the broader economic and fiscal context.

Tax policy and legislation is not subject to the Better Regulation Framework Guidance which requires an Impact Assessment to accompany policy decisions. Nevertheless, when the new multipliers are set at Budget 2025 – to take effect in the 2026-27 billing year – HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of pensioners will pay income tax in each of the next five years. \p James Murray: The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people. The Government is committed to the Triple Lock for the duration of this parliament, and in April 2025, the basic and new State Pension will increase by 4.1%. This means that pensioners on a full new State Pension will get a boost of £470 to their incomes from April this year. Over the course of this Parliament, as per the forecast at Autumn Budget 2024, the yearly amount of the full new State Pension is currently forecast to go up by around £1,900, based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast.  The previous Government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028. At our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds and, as a result, they will rise with inflation from April 2028, meaning people will keep more of their income.
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James Wild:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the tobacco duty escalator on tobacco excise revenues. \p James Murray: Alongside any changes to Tobacco Duty at Budget, the Government publishes a Tax Information and Impact Note, including an impact assessment, to detail the expected impacts. The summary of impacts from the latest changes to tobacco duty at Autumn Budget 2024 can be found here: Changes to tobacco duty rates from 30 October 2024 - GOV.UK

As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its yearly Budget process.
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Robin Swann:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there will be Barnett consequentials from the £3.25bn Transformation Fund announced in the Spring Statement. \p Darren Jones: The Transformation Fund will be allocated to UK Government departments through the Spending Review process. The Barnett formula will apply in the normal way, as per the Statement of Funding Policy.
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Mr Mark Francois:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the projected cost of establishing and operating the Defence Growth Board is; and how it will be funded within the constraints of the fiscal rules and his Department's existing budget. \p Darren Jones: The Defence Growth Board is an internal cross-departmental board. It has been created to maximise Defence’s contribution to the Government’s first priority, the Growth Mission, through providing a mechanism for Ministers to drive the integration of economic growth considerations into Defence. It will have no cost associated with its establishment or operation.
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Claire Hanna:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to increase the childcare tax free cap in line with inflation. \p Darren Jones: The £2,000 Tax-Free Childcare top-up, which can be claimed per year and per child up to age 11 (and £4,000 per disabled child, up to age 16), was set at this level because it strikes the right balance between helping parents with their childcare costs, and managing the public finances in a responsible way.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the median age is of computers issued to officials in their Department. \p Janet Daby: The median age of computers issued to officials is 3 years and 2 months.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment. \p Janet Daby: The department has diversity, equality and inclusion targets for Senior Civil Servants from ethnic minority backgrounds (13%) and staff with a disability (12%) only.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether complaints have been received in relation to the (a) conduct and (b) behaviour of special advisers to her Department since 4 July 2024. \p Janet Daby: The department holds no records of any complaints about the conduct or behaviour of any of its special advisors.
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Tom Gordon:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle adoption breakdown. \p Janet Daby: The department has provided funding of £9 million in this financial year to Adoption England to improve adoption services in Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs).

This includes £3 million of funding to develop more Centres of Excellence as multidisciplinary teams across the country to provide specialist and therapeutic support to families and the development of national standards for adoption support. It also includes a new framework for an early support core offer, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first twelve to eighteen months of placement and an Adoption Support Plan to guide assessments of a family’s support needs. All are designed to improve support and reduce the risk of an adoption breakdown.

Adoption England are also planning work to develop a national protocol on how children’s services, front door services and adoption support teams work together to better support families at risk of adoption disruption.

Adoption England and RAAs work closely with adopters on all of their projects to improve adoption support services. This includes considering the latest evidence of why adoption disruptions have occurred in their agencies and across the country.

Since its inception in 2015, the department has provided over £400 million through the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) to provide therapeutic interventions for around 52,700 children who have left care under an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order. The interventions are designed to help children and their families to deal with their trauma and attachment difficulties and have been independently assessed to have helped prevent adoption breakdowns. ASGSF funding for the next financial year is currently subject to business planning discussions and an announcement will be made shortly.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total cost was of providing translation services in her Department in the last year. \p Janet Daby: The total cost incurred by the department in providing translation services for the period 01/04/2024 to 25/03/2025 is £25,286.79. This is split between £24,820.60 for British sign language and braille support and £318.57 for other translation services.
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Mark Garnier:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has of the adequacy of the range of communication methods used by Teachers' Pensions to contact their customers. \p Catherine McKinnell: Teachers’ Pensions employs a wide range of communication methods to contact members of the scheme, including via member portal, website, telephone contact centre, webchat, text messaging, post, email and social media platforms.

The department regularly reviews contractual performance via an established management process to ensure the best possible service is provided to members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
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Mark Garnier:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) financial and (b) other support her Department provides to teachers who retire unexpectedly due to ill health. \p Catherine McKinnell: Teachers who are members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme who suffer ill-health such that they are assessed as being unable to continue working up until their Normal Pension Age, equal to State Pension Age, can access their accrued pension benefits without the usual actuarial adjustment being applied in view of early payment. In the most serious cases, an enhanced pension is payable, which is 50% of their projected accrual to their Normal Pension Age.

The department does not employ teachers, and it is the employer’s responsibility to offer any appropriate additional support to its employees.
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Mark Garnier:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an an assessment of the adequacy of the length of time taken by Teachers' Pensions to process applications for remedial service statements. \p Catherine McKinnell: The information held on the number of complaints is provided in the table below.

Year (January to December)

Complaints category: Delivery of Service

2020

2,436

2021

3,243

2022

1,730

2023

3,203

2024

6,386

2025 (covers January and February)

1,268

596,000 members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme require Remediable Service Statements (RSSs), setting out member choices as part of the Transitional Protection remedy, for the age discrimination that was identified as part of the public service pension scheme reforms implemented under the previous government in 2015. Approximately 532,000 have been issued by the end of March 2025.

Departmental officials continue to work closely with the scheme administrator on plans to issue the remaining RSSs, as soon as is practical.

Where RSSs are taking longer to issue, affected members can be assured that any difference to pension in payment as a result of their remedy period choice is backdated to when the pension began, with interest applied.
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Munira Wilson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of including misogyny and violence against women and girls in Relationships and Sex Education guidance. \p Catherine McKinnell: The government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. Education has a crucial role to play in tackling harmful behaviour and helping children and young people to develop empathy, boundaries and respect for difference.

Through compulsory relationships education, all pupils should already learn how to form positive and respectful relationships and develop an understanding of the concepts and laws around sexual harassment and sexual violence. The existing Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance emphasises that schools should be alive to issues such as everyday sexism, misogyny, homophobia and gender stereotypes, and take positive action to build a culture where these are not tolerated. It states that any occurrences should be identified and tackled. The guidance is clear that schools should provide pupils with the knowledge they need to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

​​The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum for primary and secondary pupils, and as part of this review we are looking at how to ensure that relationships education effectively equips pupils to form healthy and respectful relationships. We are analysing consultation responses, talking to stakeholders and considering relevant evidence to determine what curriculum changes might be needed to complement our wider actions to tackle misogyny and VAWG.
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Mrs Sharon Hodgson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to provide financial assistance mirroring arrangements for schools via the Music and Dance Scheme to cover the cost of changes to (a) employer National Insurance contributions and (b) the National Minimum Wage. \p Catherine McKinnell: The Music and Dance Scheme grant funding of both private schools and Centres for Advanced Training relates to financing places via means-tested bursaries only and is not intended as direct funding to meet wider employment costs.

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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allocating additional funding for (a) dyslexia screening and (b) dyslexia-specific teacher training in Surrey Heath constituency. \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 dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions. As part of this, the department is considering evidence on international best practice in its policymaking on special educational needs.

We are providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, 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 Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework, for trainee and Early Career Teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge, skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF). This sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.

Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework, and an updated list of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools. Surrey Heath’s nearest English Hub is Wandle English Hub. Further information is available here: https://englishhubs.net/english_hubs/wandle-english-hub/.

The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) financial and (b) other support her Department provides to local authorities to help maintain small rural schools. \p Catherine McKinnell: I refer the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East to the answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 40354.
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Damien Egan:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust among school-age students in England. \p Catherine McKinnell: The Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the current national curriculum for history at key stage 3. The government has made a commitment that the Holocaust will remain a compulsory topic in the reformed national curriculum, which will also be required teaching in academy schools when it is implemented.

The government supports the teaching of Holocaust education in schools and colleges by funding teachers’ professional development in this subject through University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education and the Holocaust Educational Trust’s ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project, which gives students aged 16 to 18 the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In addition, a further £2 million funding for Holocaust remembrance and education was committed at the Autumn Budget 2024. This will be used to support the ambition set by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister for all students to have the opportunity to hear a recorded survivor testimony. The department is currently exploring how it can support schools to fulfil this ambition.
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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will adjust the means testing methodology for the Music and Dance Scheme to reflect the cost of VAT on fees. \p Catherine McKinnell: For the 2024/25 academic year, the department adjusted the Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction from January 2025. This methodology will be reviewed for future years and details will be set out in due course.
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Jonathan Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has awarded to Hub Lead Organisations through the (a) revenue and (b) capital grant in the last three years; and whether she plans to provide additional funding for music hubs until the launch of the National Centre for Arts and Music Education. \p Catherine McKinnell: On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education. A key part of the National Centre’s role will be helping schools maximise the opportunities available with and through the cultural sector, through partnerships and relationships, which both schools and cultural providers tell us is needed.

The department’s intention is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details will be released in due course.

The creative industries grew by 35.4% between 2020 and 2023, which is approximately 1.5 times the 22.3% growth rate that the UK economy experienced during the equivalent period. In 2023, the creative industries contributed over £124 billion to the economy, accounting for approximately 5.2% of the UK’s total gross value added. By widening access to a high quality arts education, the National Centre will not only enrich our children’s lives, but also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up and encouraging career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.

In addition to the National Centre, the department announced the intention to develop an Enrichment Framework to support schools to offer pupils high quality creative and other extracurricular activities. We will work closely on this with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with a panel of experts. We have committed to publishing the new Enrichment Framework by the end of 2025. Further details will be released in due course.

The government has committed £79 million per year funding for the Music Hubs programme over the last three academic years, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, and a total of £25 million capital funding for musical instruments from academic year 2024/25. Future funding for the Music Hubs programme and National Centre is subject to the ongoing spending review.
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Munira Wilson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish updated Relationships and Sex Education guidance. \p Catherine McKinnell: I refer the hon. Member for Twickenham to the answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 28134.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department instructs schools to inform parents of whether meat served in school meals comes from non-stunned slaughter. \p Stephen Morgan: The government sets out required minimum standards for school food in the School Food Standards, to ensure that children are served healthy, nutritious meals at school. The standards do not specify food requirements in terms of cultural or religious needs.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to integrate social prescribing link workers into (a) schools and (b) Young Futures Hubs. \p Stephen Morgan: This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity, and helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education. That is why the department has committed to expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. As of April 2024, NHS-funded MHSTs covered 44% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England, and are expected to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.

NHS England has recognised that social prescribing is an early intervention approach that can work particularly well for people with low level mental health needs. It has set out a framework for social prescribing link workers operating within or alongside primary care networks. The University of Manchester’s article highlights findings of a pilot on how social prescribing link workers can work effectively to support young people in colleges.

It is for schools and colleges to choose the most appropriate support for their students based on their understanding of needs, making links to primary care services in their area and the support they provide to children and young people. We will look at the lessons of the pilot and evidence on social prescribing in exploring future practical resources for schools and colleges, helping them to provide effective early support.

Regarding Young Futures Hubs, the staffing of each hub will be co-designed with local stakeholders to meet the needs of their local community and the three overriding objectives of improving opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. Such designs may include a variety of different staffing arrangements including social prescribers and other related professionals.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_141

Jonathan Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) inter-pupil and (b) pupil on teacher violence. \p Stephen Morgan: All pupils and staff should feel safe and protected at school, and nobody should face violence or abuse. The department will always support our hard-working teachers to ensure they can work in safe and calm classrooms. All school employers, including trusts, have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

To prevent the most serious cases, we have invested in specialist support in both mainstream and alternative provision (AP) schools in the areas in England where serious violence most impacts the community. The taskforces work with schools and APs to improve attendance, behaviour and wellbeing, and to reduce serious violence.

In order to give teachers confidence in responding to the rare cases of violence, the department is now consulting on the revised update to the 2013 ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, which aims to help schools proactively minimise the need to use reasonable force and other restrictive interventions through early support, prevention and de-escalation strategies.

While the department expects schools to take immediate and robust action if incidents of violence occur, any decision on how to sanction the pupil involved is a matter for the school.

In the most serious cases, suspensions and permanent exclusion may be necessary to ensure that teachers and pupils are protected from disruption and to maintain safe, calm environments. Should the incident constitute a criminal offence, the school should report it to the police.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_142

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost was of providing legal aid to asylum seekers in the last year. \p Alex Davies-Jones: Expenditure data for asylum seekers across all legal aid schemes is not held centrally.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does, however, publish information regarding legal aid expenditure as part of its official statistics on a quarterly basis, including the cost of legal aid provided in respect of asylum matters funded as Controlled Work. That information can be found at column G of table 5.3. Controlled Work covers the provision of legal advice regarding asylum matters and representation before the First Tier (Immigration and Asylum) Tribunal. The LAA also publishes information about the cost of Legal Representation pertaining to immigration and asylum matters (see tables 6.5 and 6.7).
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_143

Gareth Snell:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Magistrate trials were (a) ineffective and (b) postponed between 1 May 2010 and 30 June 2024, broken down by region. \p Alex Davies-Jones: Magistrates’ courts trial effectiveness data including ineffective and vacated trials by region are published routinely as part of the Accredited Official Statistics series Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly.

This Government is determined to support the judiciary to drive down the ineffective trial rate and further work is needed to do this. The Lord Chancellor has appointed Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Phase 2 of the review will consider the efficiency and timeliness of processes of the criminal courts through charge to conviction/acquittal.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_144

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the median age is of computers issued to officials in their Department. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The median age of all Ministry of Justice computers is 2.6 years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_145

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The Department welcomes job applications from everyone, irrespective of background, identity, experience, or circumstance, and particularly those underrepresented in our workforce.

The Ministry of Justice as a whole does not have diversity staff recruitment targets.

HM Prison and Probation Service uses the proportion of people from ethnic minorities in the economically active population, according to the Labour Force Survey, as a comparator when examining the ethnic minority representation of its workforce and recruitment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_146

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost was of providing translation services in her Department in the last year. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The total cost of providing translation services for financial year 24/25 (April 2024 – Feb 2025) was £2,598,485.36.

This figure is representative of the spend by HM Prison and Probation Service under its translation and transcription contract with an external provider.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_147

Gareth Snell:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown Court trials were (a) ineffective and (b) postponed between 1 May 2010 and 30 June 2024, broken down by region. \p Alex Davies-Jones: Crown Court trial effectiveness data including ineffective and vacated trials by region are published routinely as part of the Accredited Official Statistics series Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly. The latest published series covers 2016 to 2024, and the data from 2010-2016 is available from a previous edition (Jan-Mar 2019).

This Government is determined to support the judiciary to drive down the ineffective trial rate. Since 2023, trends have been improving in relation to cases which have been prioritised by judges (for example, serious sexual offences) as well as more generally. Whilst the proportion of ineffective trials in the Crown Court has reduced slightly in recent years, in 2024 it was still at 25%.

We welcome this progress, but further work is needed to reduce ineffective trials. The Lord Chancellor has appointed Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Phase 2 of the review will consider the efficiency and timeliness of processes of the criminal courts through charge to conviction/acquittal.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_148

Kate Osamor:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the remit of legal aid to enable eligible individuals to receive advice on (a) social housing allocations and (b) disputes over the allocation of social housing. \p Alex Davies-Jones: Legal aid is available for possession, evictions, homelessness, and disrepair claims (when there is a serious risk of illness or injury) subject to a financial means test and a merits test. This includes when someone is homeless, or at risk of homelessness, in relation to the allocation of social housing.

Additionally, the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service provides free early legal advice on housing matters, council tax reduction schemes, debt, and welfare benefits problems from the moment someone receives notice of possession or eviction, regardless of their financial situation.

At present there are no plans to expand eligibility in this area.

The Ministry of Justice has undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and recently concluded a consultation on uplifts to housing & debt legal aid fees, which when implemented, would inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year. This would increase overall spend in housing & debt legal aid by 24% and improve access to legal advice for people facing unfair housing battles or who are at risk of losing their home. We are currently reviewing consultation responses and will publish the Government’s response in due course.

Applicants for social housing have the right to request information from the local authority about the decision that has been made in respect of their application and to ask for an internal review of any decision taken about the facts of their case. The local authority must notify them of the outcome of the review and the grounds for it.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_149

Chris Philp:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the rules laid in Parliament on 12 March 2025 on care workers, how many social care workers have (a) been removed from the UK and (b) had their visas cancelled as a result of their sponsor losing their licence since 4 July 2024. \p Dame Angela Eagle: The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_150

Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in her Department were working on the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme on 24 March 2025. \p Seema Malhotra: Specific resource has been allocated to process Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) Scheme applications, which will allow for fluctuations in application volumes. As of 24 March, we had 30.9 full time equivalent staff working on UPE.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_151

Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to deport people who enter the UK by small boat. \p Dame Angela Eagle: Since coming into office in July 2024, the Government has ensured the removal of 24,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other migration offenders with no right to be in the UK, the highest nine-month total since 2017.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-01 conversation_152

Michael Wheeler:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the average waiting time for asylum decisions; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce the average time. \p Dame Angela Eagle: The average time taken to process a substantive decision is not currently available from published data, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration. This data can be found at table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum and resettlement summary tables’.

Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within 6 months is published in table ASY_01 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.

We are restoring order to the asylum system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operate swiftly.

As a result, asylum decision making increased by 52% in the last three months of 2024.

The Home Office continues to take action to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system.