theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

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Rachel Gilmour:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of pay for non-teaching staff in further education. \p Janet Daby: This government recognises the vital role non-teaching staff play within the further education (FE) sector, helping colleges to provide support to young people at a critical stage in their education.

FE colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating pay within colleges. FE colleges were incorporated under the terms of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, which gives them autonomy over the pay and contractual terms and conditions of their workforce, including support staff.

On 22 May, the department announced an investment of £160 million for colleges and other 16-19 providers in the 2025/2026 financial year. This funding will boost opportunities for learners across the country and drive forward delivery of the critical skills needed to grow our economy.

Additional funding of over £30 million will be provided specifically for 16-19 provision in schools. This funding forms part of the overall £615 million funding envelope for 2025/26, which was announced alongside the 2025/26 school teachers’ pay award. Together, this means that a total additional sum of over £190 million will be available for 16-19 funding in the 2025/26 financial year.
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Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the number of students enrolled in higher education in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 academic years, broken down by religion. \p Janet Daby: Statistics on higher education (HE) student enrolments by personal characteristics, including the number of HE student enrolments in the 2023/24 and 2023/24 academic years broken down by religious beliefs, are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb271/figure-5.
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Suella Braverman:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an estimate of the number of families that are unable to reclaim prepaid fees when an after-school club ceases trading. \p Stephen Morgan: The department does not hold this information.

The Childcare Act 2006 places a duty on local authorities to make sure that there are enough childcare places within its locality for working parents, or for parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0 to 14, or up to 18 for disabled children. In the unlikely event that a parent's childcare provider becomes insolvent or goes bankrupt, parents can contact their local authority who can provide guidance and resources to help them transition to a new provider.
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Richard Foord:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will extend the deadline for the national Childminder Start-Up Grant scheme. \p Stephen Morgan: Childminders are a key part of the early years workforce. They offer high quality and flexible early education and care that can be tailored to the needs of parents and children. Attracting childminders to join the workforce and retaining them is of vital importance.

The Childminder Start-up Grant scheme provides eligible new childminders, registered on or after 15 March 2023, with payments of up to £1,200 to help with the costs of setting up their business. The scheme was announced at the Spring Budget 2023 and was planned to run for two years.

To qualify for a grant, new childminders had to have completed their childminder registration with either Ofsted or a childminder agency by 31 March 2025, and they must apply to the grant scheme within two months of confirmation of their childminder registration.

Childminders provide more than 158,000 registered early years childcare places and the department is working with the sector to expand the number of childminders, and to make it easier for them to operate, including through increased funding rates. From 1 November 2024, there have also been new flexibilities for childminders to work with more people and spend more time working from non-domestic premises if they want to.
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Stuart Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure rural schools are able to access the Breakfast Clubs Early Adopters scheme. \p Stephen Morgan: In order to test and learn about how best to support schools in implementing new free universal breakfast clubs, the department has selected over 750 early adopter schools who began delivering from the start of the 2025 summer term, ahead of national roll out to all schools with primary-aged children.

Schools have been selected to ensure a representative sample of all primary schools across a range of locations, including rural schools.

By taking this approach, we will be able to gain insights into any challenges and barriers schools may face, in order to develop solutions ahead of national roll out.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on approval for the final cost information for the development of a new STEM building at Hinckley School. \p Stephen Morgan: The department has increased the budget for the project significantly since completion of the feasibility study and officials are working through the costs with the selected contractor. A meeting has been scheduled for 10 June 2025, including the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth, the trust, and the school, during which departmental officials will provide a further update on the project.
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Katie Lam:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of meat procured by schools is (a) Halal and (b) slaughtered at sites which predominantly employ non-stun slaughter. \p Stephen Morgan: The department spends over £1.5 billion supporting schools to deliver healthy and nutritious breakfasts and lunches in schools. Schools are best placed to make decisions about how provision is made. They have the autonomy to source food locally and sustainably, and to cater to religious dietary requirements based on the needs of their local communities. The department does not hold the requested information, owing to the freedoms that schools have. However, details about the UK’s overall sources of food are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2024-theme-2-uk-food-supply-sources#overall-sources-of-uk-food.
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Gareth Snell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to provide an Answer to Question 50886 on Apprentices: Taxation, tabled on 8 May 2025. \p Janet Daby: The response to Written Parliamentary Question 50886 was published on 21 May 2025.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that school funding increases are in line with (a) energy prices, (b) inflation and (c) staff salaries. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% school teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government support staff pay offer in 2025/26. This additional increase in funding means that the overall core schools budget (CSB) will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26 compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This is a year-on-year increase of £3.7 billion.

Schools will, on average, be expected to fund approximately the first 1 percentage point of the teacher and support staff pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending. That is equivalent to about 0.8% of a school’s overall budget, on average. The pay award will be funded above this level from new and existing funding increases from the government. The department believes that schools can make productivity gains. We know that this is challenging, but this is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services.

Schools are already making savings and bringing core operating costs down. For example, the 400 schools who participated in the department’s new energy for schools offer will save 36% on average compared to their previous contracts, which will free up vital funding to deliver for children and young people. The department is also making plans to secure better banking solutions for schools, getting them better returns on their cash balances. We will continue to provide schools with additional tools, guidance and support. Those best placed to identify ways for individual schools to operate more efficiently will be headteachers and school business managers.

Budgets for 2026/27 are still to be agreed and this includes the 2026/27 CSB. This will be subject to the multi-year spending review, which we expect to be concluded in June this year. The department will be taking account of the impact of the full year's costs of the teacher pay award.
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Stephen Gethins:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many UK-based apprenticeships were supported through the Erasmus programme in each year between 2008 and 2021. \p Janet Daby: The department does not hold or publish the requested data, as this data is owned by the European Commission.
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Wendy Chamberlain:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the White paper entitled Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published on 12 May 2025, whether the decision to implement the international student levy will fall under the devolved powers of the Scottish Government. \p Janet Daby: I refer the hon. Member for North East Fife to the answer of 30 May 2025 to Question HL7427.
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Liam Conlon:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve mental health support in schools in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) other areas. \p Stephen Morgan: This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people, including those in Beckenham and Penge. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.

The government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. On 16 May, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced that an additional 900,000 pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST over the next year, taking the total number of pupils covered by teams to around 60%. In Bromley local authority, 66% of pupils/learners and 55% of schools/colleges are supported by an MHST, as at end 2024/25, compared to 52% and 41% nationally, respectively.

The government will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support workers.

To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, such as a resource hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.
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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent early years statutory guidance changes on the financial sustainability of (a) private and (b) voluntary childcare providers. \p Stephen Morgan: 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.

As the early years entitlements are expanded, it is vitally important they remain accessible and affordable for families. The department updated the early years statutory guidance to ensure there is clarity for parents, providers and local authorities about additional charges associated with entitlement hours.

The statutory guidance also emphasises transparency at the heart of how the entitlement should be passed onto parents, including that any costs should be clearer on invoices and websites. However, for these new transparency expectations, the guidance allows a lead-in time until January 2026 to give providers time to adapt.

Government funding for the entitlements does not cover consumables like meals, nappies or sun cream or additional activities, such as trips, so providers are able to ask parents to pay for these. However, in line with a recent high court judgment, these charges must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing a funded place. The high court judgement is accessible here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/admin/2025/224. This guidance must reflect the law governing the delivery of the early education and childcare entitlements, which has not changed.
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Mary Glindon:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report by The Sutton Trust entitled The Opportunity Index, published in May 2025, what steps she is taking to increase the proportion of free school meal pupils who become 50th percentile earners by age 28 in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency. \p Stephen Morgan: Through our work to deliver the Opportunity Mission, the department will break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success by tackling the underlying barriers that disadvantaged children face across the country, including in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend.

Ensuring all children get the best start in life is how we make the biggest difference to their outcomes. That is why the first goal we have set out in our Plan for Change is for a record proportion of children to be starting school ready to learn. We will deliver this through boosting early family support and increasing access to high quality early years education and childcare for children and families.

The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. That is why, as one of our first steps for change, the department has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our secondary and special schools and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

Alongside this, the department is providing over £3 billion of pupil premium funding this year to help raise the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils, supporting them so they can achieve and thrive in education.
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Mary Glindon:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase GCSE attainment in (a) maths and (b) English for pupils with free school meals eligibility in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency. \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, the department knows that disadvantaged pupils are more likely to face unacceptable barriers that hold them back, which is why the Opportunity Mission will break the unfair link between background and success.

High and rising standards are the key to unlocking stronger outcomes for every child and young person, reducing gaps and ensuring they can achieve and thrive.

To drive standards in reading and writing, the government has committed £27.7 million in the 2025/26 financial year. This includes new training and resources for secondary school staff to support reading in key stage 3, with a specific focus on readers who are at risk of falling behind.

The department also funds a national network of Maths Hubs, supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. This includes the Great North Maths Hub, which covers the Newcastle Upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency. The network aims to raise the standard of mathematics teaching from reception to age 18, preventing and reducing attainment gaps.

On 6 May 2025, the department announced a further £8.2 million for the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme, which includes funding to support 400 schools with high-attaining disadvantaged students to progress to higher grades at GCSE and into level 3 mathematics.

Alongside this, we are providing pupil premium funding of over £3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.
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Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools received a lump sum payment in the last financial year; and for how many of those schools the lump sum represented (i) less than one, (ii) two to five, (iii) five to 10, (iv) 10 to 20, (v) 20 to 30, (vi) 30 to 40 and (vii) over 50 per cent of their total income. \p Catherine McKinnell: The schools national funding formula (NFF) introduced in 2018 is used to distribute core funding for mainstream schools, for pupils from reception to year 11. The NFF determines how much funding each local authority receives, and local authorities then determine individual schools’ final allocations through their own local formulae.

In both the schools NFF and local authority formulae, the majority of funding is distributed on the basis of pupil numbers and pupil characteristics. In line with the formula introduced under the previous government, every school receives a contribution to the costs that do not vary with pupil numbers, which is why both the national and local funding formulae provide a lump sum for every school, irrespective of their size.

The table below summarises the proportion of the funding generated by local authority formulae that the lump sum represents in 2024/25.

Lump sum proportion

Number of schools

<1%

9

1<2%

1,350

2<5%

2,744

5<10%

5,898

10<20%

7,128

20<30%

2,057

30<40%

696

40<50%

217

>=50%

51

Total

20,150

Further information can be found at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics/2024-25.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of capital spending since 2015 on the (a) condition and (b) safety of school buildings in Wiltshire. \p Stephen Morgan: Since 2015, the department has spent approximately £50 billion on capital investment across England.

£19 billion of that total has supported responsible bodies to invest in the condition of the estate. This is in addition to major rebuilding programmes, including the Priority School Building Programme (532 schools across England, including five in Wiltshire) and the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) (518 schools, including three in Wiltshire).

Since 2010, previous governments have taken capital decisions which have allowed the condition of the school estate to decline significantly. This government is tackling that inheritance, which is why for 2025/26, we have increased condition allocations to £2.1 billion, up from £1.8 billion in 2024/25. More information on these allocations can be found on GOV.UK. We have also committed £1.4 billion for 2025/26 to continue the current SRP. The number of schools in the SRP released for delivery will increase to 100 this financial year. This means work on these schools can begin sooner.

Local authorities in England have been allocated £10.3 billion of basic need funding between 2015/16 and 2027/28, of which Wiltshire Council has been allocated £62.2 million, to provide mainstream school places.

Of the £3.8 billion high needs capital investment since 2018, Wiltshire has been allocated £29 million to create or improve provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Since 2015, over 450 new free schools have opened (not including studio schools or University Technical Colleges (UTC)), and of those, four schools and one UTC have opened in Wiltshire. The UTC has subsequently closed.

From 2021 to 2026, the department’s Condition Data Collection 2 is providing updated data on the condition of schools in England. Findings from Condition Data Collection 1 can be accessed here: https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2285521/details.
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Sir Christopher Chope:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to (a) sell or (b) transfer the site of Parkfield school in Hurn when it closes in July; and whether the premises will be retained for educational use. \p Stephen Morgan: The freehold site is currently owned by the Reach South Academy Trust, and this will be transferred to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on behalf of my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, on termination of the funding agreement, when the school closes permanently.

The department will always aim to recover assets and identify alternative educational or other public sector uses for sites in such circumstances. It is only when this is not possible that we retain the option to sell the site for a commercial return. All options are currently being explored.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2025 to Question 47834 on Data, Science and Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, whether the Government plans to publish a formal response to each of the recommendations made by the review. \p Feryal Clark: As outlined in my previous Answer of 2 May 2025 to Question 47834, relevant departments and policy teams will consider the findings in light of their ongoing policy work.
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Chris Philp:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders are in (a) the community and (b) prison as of 31 March 2025, broken down by nationality. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) in prison and the number of Foreign National Offenders supervised by the Probation Service as part of its Offender Management Statistics Quarterly. For the purposes of these statistics offenders supervised in the community include those subject to a court order or post release supervision by the Probation Service.

The requested data can be found:

Prison population (based on the prison population as of 31 March 2025; latest available published data) can be found at Table 1_Q_12 in the attached link: prison-population-31-Mar-2025.ods.

Offenders supervised by the Probation Service (on 31 December 2024; latest available published data) can be found at Table 6_9_Caseload_Nationality in the attached link: probation-Oct-to-Dec-2024.ods. Probation data for the 31 March will not be available until 31 July when we publish data for 2025 Q1.

Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. Between 5 July 2024 and 18 May 2025 more FNOs have been returned than in the same period 12 months prior under the previous Government. We are also investing £5 million in 82 new FNO Specialist roles in prisons to speed up the removal of prisoners who have no right to be in this country.
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Rebecca Paul:How many biological males are held in women's prisons. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: No transgender women who retain their birth genitalia, or have any history of sexual or violent offences, can be held in the general women’s estate unless an exemption is granted by a Minister.

The number of transgender women prisoners in the general women's estate is in the low single figures.

This is as a result of decisions taken by past Justice Secretaries, and the current Government has not moved any transgender women into the general women’s estate since taking office.

We are reviewing transgender prisoner policy following the recent Supreme Court ruling. We will ensure that we are fully compliant with this ruling, which has brought long overdue and much needed clarity to this question.
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Louise Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help support victims through the criminal justice system. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The Victims’ Code is a practical and useful guide for victims of crime to understand what they can expect from the criminal justice system and minimum service they should receive.

We will consult on a new Victims’ Code.

We also provide funding for victim support services to help victims recover from the impact of crime.
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Sir Julian Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on the enforcement of third party litigation funding agreements following the PACCAR judgement. \p Sarah Sackman: The Government recognises the critical role litigation funding plays in ensuring access to justice.

I have engaged with relevant stakeholders on the enforcement of third party litigation funding agreements and the wider market following the PACCAR judgment via my officials.

The Government is due to receive the Civil Justice Council’s (CJC) report on litigation funding in summer 2025, which will inform further decisions on policy and legislation. As part of their review, the CJC conducted a consultation with key stakeholders in relation to third party litigation funding.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to promote English as a Foreign Language schools in global markets. \p Gareth Thomas: My Department works closely with English UK and has provided support for their English with Confidence campaign, including through the production of promotional material and hosting English language teaching agents during familiarisation visits. Most recently the Department took a delegation of UK providers from the sector to Mongolia, and to the Study World event in China.
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Andrew Griffith:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what representations his Department has made to the Office for National Statistics on the economic classification assessment of British Steel. \p Sarah Jones: My department is currently working closely with both ONS and HMT to determine the classification of BSL. My department's current expectation is for BSL to be classified as a public corporation and that the situation will remain under review by ONS.
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Noah Law:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in countries in the Minerals Security Partnership on aligning (a) environmental, (b) social and (c) governance guidelines on critical minerals. \p Sarah Jones: The forthcoming Critical Minerals Strategy will help secure supplies of critical minerals vital to the UK’s economic growth and clean energy transition, promoting responsible and transparent supply chains. A more responsible supply chain is a more resilient and sustainable one.

Government puts responsible practice at the heart of our international approach, and we support partners to consolidate existing environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. We promote best ESG practice through our bilateral agreements and multilateral engagements, including the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP). The MSP’s ESG Principles demonstrate members’ commitment to integrating ESG standards, guidance and support into MSP activity (MSP’s ESG Principles).
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of financial support available for sole traders. \p Gareth Thomas: Small businesses are the heart of our high streets and communities and are essential to our vision for growth and economic success.

The Government is committed to improving access to finance for small businesses, including sole traders, so they can grow and reach new domestic and international markets. Sole traders can benefit from the Start Up Loans programme, which helps entrepreneurs access the finance and mentoring advice they need to make their business ideas a reality.

Additionally, UK Export Finance offers financial support to boost export activities and helps exporters win contracts, fulfil orders, and make payment guarantees.
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Sir Julian Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with the Small Business Commissioner on the (a) awareness and (b) use of mediation in the small business sector. \p Gareth Thomas: The department is working closely with The Small Business Commissioner (SBC) as we develop our proposals for the upcoming late payments consultation.

The Small Business Commissioners office continues to engage closely with businesses and stakeholders across the UK to raise awareness of the SBC service, which includes the role that the SBC can play in mediation between small businesses and their larger partners. Alongside mediation the SBC also conducts investigations into formal complaints of non-payments by large businesses and can provide additional support to small business as they try to deal with late payments.
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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support high street retailers to help tackle cyber attacks. \p Gareth Thomas: The Government offers free guidance, tools and training to help businesses improve their cyber resilience. This includes a new Cyber Governance Code of Practice to help boards and directors manage digital risks, and the Cyber Essentials scheme which helps in protecting businesses against cyber-attacks.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is working in close coordination with law enforcement, the Department for Business and Trade and other relevant government departments to support each of the affected retailers. This includes providing technical expertise and strategic guidance which assist with incident response and recovery. The NCSC is maintaining active engagement with the wider retail sector to share threat information and offer mitigative guidance aimed at reducing the risk from further incidents.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the tribunal system in supporting small businesses facing late payments. \p Gareth Thomas: The Government understands the impact late payments has on small businesses and the important role the tribunal system plays in helping to recover late payments, alongside the Office of the Small Business Commissioner which was set up to help small businesses with late payment disputes and which runs a free dispute resolution service. The Government will soon be launching a public consultation seeking views on how we can go further to tackle late payments.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_128

Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what data his Department holds on lending approval rates for SMEs applying for finance to invest in (a) technology, (b) commercial premises and (c) workforce training since 2022. \p Gareth Thomas: Earlier this year, DBT launched a call for evidence on access to finance to better understand the barriers that SMEs experience when applying for loans. However, currently available results from the SME Finance Monitor provides the following data on SMEs needing funding for R&D and new premises:

Source: SME Finance Monitor 2024 and 2022
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_129

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2025 to Question 48551 on Trade Union Recognition, what criteria he will use to assess whether to lower the recognition threshold. \p Justin Madders: The Government will consider what criteria to assess whether to lower the recognition threshold in due course, including through the public consultation process.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_130

Satvir Kaur:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether (a) marine and maritime and (b) tourism and creative industries will be included in the Industrial Strategy. \p Sarah Jones: The Industrial Strategy Green Paper identified eight growth-driving sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Professional and Business Services.

Sector Plans for the eight growth-driving sectors will be published alongside the Industrial Strategy in Spring 2025, aligned with the multi-year Spending Review. The Sector Plans will set out the specific sub-sectors of focus, identify key barriers to growth, and describe how government and industry intend to achieve long-term growth for the sector.

All sectors will benefit from wider policy reform through the Industrial Strategy’s cross-cutting policies alongside the broader Growth Mission. This will create the pro-business environment for all businesses to invest and employ, and consumers to spend with confidence.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_131

John Lamont:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to support UK (a) brands and (b) manufacturers with a potential influx of fast fashion, in the context of the UK-India trade deal. \p Sarah Jones: Helping our world-class textiles industry extend its influence worldwide is important for our Plan for Change, with several businesses in the sector expressing support for our new trade deal with India.

This agreement will mean increased choice for consumers and cheaper imports for businesses and give UK businesses an edge over international competitors when entering India's rapidly growing market.

We have included a bilateral safeguard mechanism which allows us to temporarily increase tariffs if an industry is suffering or facing the threat of serious injury as a result of reduced duties in the FTA.

The Department continues to engage with stakeholders to monitor the impact of the deal and ensure that UK businesses can compete on a level playing field.

The Government is reviewing the customs treatment of low value imports, and intends to engage stakeholders through existing channels, which will inform a decision on whether to launch a consultation later in the year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_132

Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make it his policy to include the beer and pub sector in his Department's forthcoming industrial strategy. \p Sarah Jones: The Industrial Strategy Green Paper identified eight growth-driving sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Professional and Business Services.

Sector Plans for the eight growth-driving sectors will be published alongside the Industrial Strategy in Spring 2025, aligned with the multi-year Spending Review. The Sector Plans will set out the specific sub-sectors of focus, identify key barriers to growth, and describe how government and industry intend to achieve long-term growth for the sector.

All sectors will benefit from wider policy reform through the Industrial Strategy’s cross-cutting policies alongside the broader Growth Mission. This will create the pro-business environment for all businesses to invest and employ, and consumers to spend with confidence.
wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_133
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_133

Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support (a) manufacturing and (b) heavy industry with climate-transition policies. \p Sarah Jones: Advanced manufacturing is critical to UK prosperity. This Government will continue to support the sector through our forthcoming Industrial Strategy, where advanced manufacturing has been selected as one of eight growth-driving sectors.

To support heavy industry with climate-transition policies we have provided guidance to SMEs through our Business Energy Advice Service (BEAS) pilot and to local clusters through our Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans scheme. A renewed Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy will set the strategic direction for our approach to working with industry towards a competitive and low carbon industrial base in the UK, ensuring growth opportunities are captured in tandem with emissions reductions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_134

Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what data his Department holds on levels of mortality among Jewish people. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 22nd May is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 94.4KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_135

Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many permanent civil servants had contracts of employment terminated for poor performance in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25. \p Georgia Gould: Departments have delegated responsibility for managing poor performance.

Information on how many civil servants in departments have had their contracts of employment terminated for poor performance is therefore not available centrally.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_136

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Thousands of Civil Service roles moved out of London in latest reform to the state, published on 14 May 2025, whether civil servants relocated outside of London will have their pay reduced; and whether civil servants employed in new locations will receive lower salaries than London equivalents. \p Georgia Gould: Decisions on pay, including London weightings, are delegated to individual departments.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_137

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which central Government non-residential properties are unoccupied. \p Georgia Gould: I refer the honourable gentleman to the response given for PQ 53204.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_138

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to lay a new Official Statistics Order to designate the Passenger Standards Authority’s statistical outputs as official statistics. \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 22nd May is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 94.3KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_139

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has provided guidance to civil servants who are not members of the Government Communication Service on (a) speaking to the media and (b) publicly speaking at events where media may be present. \p Georgia Gould: The Civil Service Code sets out that civil servants must have ministerial authorisation for any contact with the media. The Civil Service Management Code provides further guidance for civil servants on their obligations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_140

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether business units in his Department are required to produce business cases to undertake expenditure on refurbishment. \p Georgia Gould: All Government Departments have an obligation to apply Treasury Guidance (notably the Green Book) in how they fund and seek approval for expenditure on refurbishment works.

How this is applied depends on the scale and cost of the individual project.

By way of example, the full refurbishment of a large building is likely to require the Department to develop Outline Business Cases and Final Business Cases at the right project gateway to secure the funding available to that Department from its SR settlement.

At the other end of the spectrum, a Department can spend against its SR settlement for Life Cycle Replacement (LCR) or maintenance works where the gateway process will be reflective of the reduced investment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_141

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2025 to Question 50575 on Cabinet Office: Women, if he will publish that intranet update. \p Georgia Gould: There are no plans to publicly publish intranet updates as they are targeted at the internal civil service audience.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_142

Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people who (a) answered no religion and (b) did not answer the optional religious question in the 2021 census who belong to (i) the Sikh ethnic group and (ii) the Jewish ethnic group. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 22nd May is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 96.6KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_143

Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any of the data sets published in ethnicity facts and figures have collected information on Jews as a legally recognised ethnic group since 1994. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 22nd May is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 106.8KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-03)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-03 conversation_144

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he approved a communications spending control exception for the spending on the Government-branded beer mats. \p Georgia Gould: I refer the Honorable Member to the answer to PQ 52686.