theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support faith-selective educational institutions. \p Catherine McKinnell: Faith schools, both state-funded and independent, have played a long-standing role in the provision of education in England and remain an important element of our education system. The department engages with the full range of faith school providers and is committed to working in partnership with all types of schools to remove barriers to opportunity and raise standards.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support grammar schools. \p Catherine McKinnell: I refer the hon. member for Romford to the answer of 22 May 2025 to Question 52218.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Giving every child the best start in life, published on 7 July 2025, how many best start family hubs are planned to be operational by April 2026. \p Janet Daby: On 7 July 2025, the government published ‘Giving every child the Best Start in Life’. This outlines the government’s commitment to deliver a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services.

The department will provide over half a billion pounds of investment in the Best Start Family Service over the 2026/29 spending review period. Up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs will be rolled out following additional investment. Local authorities not currently funded through family hubs will receive development grants in 2025/26 to ensure national rollout from April 2026.

We are working within the department and with the Department of Health and Social Care to share further information about what the spending review settlement means for the continuation and expansion of the programme.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Simon Hoare:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students are required to pay for transport to attend (a) sixth form and (b) college; and what the average cost is per student. \p Janet Daby: This government’s ambition is that all children and young people receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The responsibility for post-16 transport lies with local authorities, who have a duty to publish a transport policy statement each year that sets out the travel arrangements they will make to support young people to access further education.

Arrangements do not have to be free, but the department expects local authorities to make reasonable decisions based on the needs of their population, local transport infrastructure and the resources they have available.

The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund is also used to help students with travel costs, including those on low incomes. It enables schools, colleges and training providers to support students with transport costs where these have been identified as a barrier to participation.​

In addition to their statutory responsibilities, many local authorities do offer some form of subsidised transport which, combined with the 16 to 19 bursary, has been intended to provide financial support to students from low-income households. These decisions are best made locally, in consideration of local needs, the resources available and other local circumstances.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Simon Hoare:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department can provide to establish a technical college in north Dorset. \p Janet Daby: The area of north Dorset is well served by four neighbouring further education (FE) colleges and a range of independent training providers, who provide a broad range of technical and vocation provision.

The department invited applications from general FE colleges to become one of ten construction technical excellence colleges (CTECs). The window for applications closed on 4 July. With one CTEC to be appointed in each region, these colleges will be the first to achieve TEC status, playing a pivotal role in shaping the wider programme and supporting regional providers to meet critical skills needs through a ‘hub and spoke’ model.

The UK's modern Industrial Strategy confirmed that we will be expanding the TECs programme to address shortages in engineering, which is critical to developing the skills needed in priority sectors including Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries and Digital and Technologies. The government will also establish defence technical excellence colleges, provide funding for courses for defence-related skills and invest in cutting-edge university facilities to increase the pipeline of talent into the defence sector.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing specific (a) Sikh and (b) Jewish options for a person’s ethnic group in data collection conducted by her Department. \p Janet Daby: The department collects ethnicity data in line with the ethnicity harmonised standard, which is developed by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The current harmonised standard is based on the 2011 Census questions used across the UK. Those questions were updated for the 2021 and 2022 Censuses. The current standard does not include specific “Sikh” and “Jewish” categories for a person’s ethnic group.

The ONS is reviewing the harmonised standard to ensure this remains appropriate and meets the needs of both data users and respondents. This will include a public consultation later this year. We await the outcome of this review.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to hold discussions with Vice Chancellors on the effectiveness of disciplinary procedures in tackling antisemitism at universities. \p Janet Daby: Last month, my right hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, brought together Vice Chancellors and community leaders to hear testimonials from Jewish students and to discuss next steps to ensure safer, more inclusive campuses for all. This included productive discussion of how students’ confidence in the disciplinary processes could be improved, while ensuring that confidentiality requirements continue to be met.

The department remains deeply committed to working with universities, sector partners and stakeholder groups to effectively tackle the unacceptably high level of antisemitism on our campuses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of Ofsted inspections of early years settings have been unannounced in each of the last five years. \p Stephen Morgan: Ofsted paused routine inspections in mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Full Early Years Register inspections restarted in May 2021, including a number of unannounced inspections detailed below.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Twickenham during the Oral Statement of 7 July 2025 on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, Official Report, column 687, how much funding Ofsted allocated for early years inspections for (a) each of the last three financial years and (b) the current financial year and each of the next three financial years (i) prior to and (ii) after her Oral Statement on 7 July 2025. \p Stephen Morgan: In the 2022/23 financial year, Ofsted allocated £24 million to early years inspections. In 2023/24, they allocated £21.8 million, and in 2024/25 they allocated £21.3 million. In the current 2025/26 financial year, Ofsted allocated £20.9 million and has allocated £20.9 million for each of the next three financial years (2026/29). These costs include inspection, registration visits and associated quality assurance of these visits. These costs are for inspection of providers on the Early Years Register (EYR) only, and so the Childcare Register is excluded. Cost of regulation is also not included. The department’s budgets for next three financial years have not yet been finalised but funding will be provided by the department to Ofsted to increase the frequency of EYR inspections and to improve the quality of EYR inspections. This is to be agreed between the department and Ofsted.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Twickenham during the Oral Statement of 7 July 2025 on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, Official Report, column 687, whether she plans to publish updated statutory guidance on (a) child safety and (b) risk management in early years settings for inspectors. \p Stephen Morgan: The government is committed to reforming the current inspection system which includes Ofsted implementing the early years report card from November 2025 following the publication of their consultation response in September 2025. The response will include the updated education inspection frameworks, new operating guidance for inspectors, and inspection information documents where there will be a focus on safeguarding in the early years.

Last year, we consulted on changes to the safeguarding requirements within the early years foundation stage statutory framework and will be implementing all proposed changes. These changes will formalise existing best practices and ensure that all early years educators have the knowledge and support they need to deliver safe, high-quality early education and childcare. These changes will be introduced in September 2025, subject to Parliamentary procedure, after which the new requirements will be included within the requirements Ofsted uses to inspect early years providers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's policy paper Giving every child the best start in life strategy, published on 7 July 2025, whether each local authority is required to publish a Best Start Local Plan; how those plans will be monitored centrally; and what the enforcement mechanisms will be if a local authority fails to meet its commitments. \p Stephen Morgan: On 7 July, the government’s landmark strategy ’Giving every child the best start in life’ set out that we will spend close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education.

Local authorities will be tasked with developing ambitious Best Start local plans to achieve the Plan for Change milestone of 75% of 5 year-olds achieving a good level of development by 2028, working in partnership with government. These plans should build on local authorities’ existing strategic planning materials, such as children and young people plans. They can also build on local innovation already in place as part of the government's test, learn and grow agenda, with projects to improve the uptake of family services in Manchester and Sheffield already showing the value of this approach.

We are discussing with local authority representatives how best to implement the commitments set out in ‘Giving every child the best start in life’. Further information will be communicated to local authorities soon.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is planning to take to monitor training uptake among early years staff for delivery of the revised phonics-based framework. \p Stephen Morgan: The writing framework builds on the success of the government’s reading framework and its focus on phonics teaching, which has seen 100,000 more children every year build strong foundations in reading.

The writing framework is the department’s first step in a longer-term strategy to support schools to improve writing teaching and attainment. Given the department’s commitment to a record 75% of children reaching a good level of development at the end of reception by 2028, we encourage schools to prioritise reception year, particularly early literacy skills such as writing.

The writing framework emphasises the important role that reception year plays in building the foundations for writing which supports children throughout primary school and underpins their success at the end of key stage 2. The department has advised that during the 2025/26 academic year, schools should read the writing framework and use the audits to evaluate their current provision and plan improvements.

English Hubs will conduct webinars throughout the 2025/26 academic year, aimed at teachers and subject leads, focusing on the key messages and section summaries of the framework.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

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Jess Asato:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s statutory guidance entitled Children missing education - Statutory guidance for local authorities, updated August 2024, when she plans to update the guidance; and if she will make it her policy to regularly update the guidance to adapt to emerging trends and needs as indicated by new data collected. \p Stephen Morgan: The department conducted a call for evidence from 18 May to 20 July 2023 on ‘Improving support for children missing education’ to understand the sector’s current approach to identifying and supporting children missing education (CME), and to inform any changes which will help us to improve this support.

To address current challenges in identifying and supporting CME, the department has already:

Following the call for evidence, the department is reviewing its CME guidance with a view to publishing an updated version in due course.
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Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times their Department has accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years. \p Janet Daby: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) tracks compliance with its recommendations, but its records only go back to 2020/21. The department’s complaints team’s records only go back to June 2021. It is not therefore possible to provide comprehensive data about the government’s compliance with the PHSO’s recommendations on (a) issuing an apology and (b) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.

Our complaints team have had one recommendation, “closed complied with” since June 2021.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of drop-outs from vocational courses in Fylde constituency; and what steps she is taking to help improve course completion rates. \p Janet Daby: The department's guidance on qualification achievement rates (QARs) includes official statistics on levels of achievement for a range of qualifications, including vocational learning. QARs are not published by parliamentary constituency, but full-year data for adult (19+) further education and skills in Fylde shows that there were 2,100 learner achievements in 2023/24, up from 1,810 in 2022/23. This does not split down by vocational courses. The data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/introduction-to-qualification-achievement-rates-qars.

Nationally, we have seen that retention rates are improving. QARs within the 19+ education and training cohort have increased from 86.8% in 2022/23 to 87.4% in 2023/24.

​At ages 16 to 18, the retained and assessed rate for students who finished their T Level across 16 subjects in summer 2024 was up 5 percentage points from the previous year, over 10 subjects. The rate for large Vocational Technical Qualifications (VTQs) was up 3 percentage points.The statistics can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/provisional-t-level-results/2023-24.

​The department continues to develop and improve qualifications to ensure that they meet the needs of learners. Newly reformed qualifications will become available for delivery at levels 2 and 3 at the start of the next academic year. These are high-quality, aligned to occupational standards in technical routes, and offer clear routes to higher education or skilled employment.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the Teaching Regulation Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Janet Daby: The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) adheres to the departmental policy of providing workplace adjustments where appropriate. The cost of providing equipment for use at home to facilitate workplace adjustments for TRA staff is shown below:

Financial Year

Cost

2022/23

£0

2023/24

£0

2024/25

£316.99

Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of the current funding model for higher education on (a) students and (b) University staff. \p Janet Daby: The government is committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading higher education (HE) sector and has already taken a number of actions to help move the sector towards a more stable financial footing, including the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.

We have published an Equality Impact Assessment of the impact of changes to fee limits and student support for the 2025/26 academic year on undergraduate students with protected characteristics and disadvantaged students.

The department recognises that some HE providers are making difficult decisions around staffing in order to safeguard their financial sustainability. Ultimately the sector is independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.

However, we expect providers to work with staff, to help identify how best to operate efficiently. All efficiency measures taken by the sector should provide a better long-term future for students, staff and the country.
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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with businesses on levels of need for apprentices. \p Janet Daby: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the Industrial Strategy.

The development of the growth and skills offer is informed by Skills England’s analysis and engagement. Skills England is working closely with employers, training providers and other stakeholders to identify priority skills gaps, helping to ensure that the levy-funded growth and skills offer meets the needs of businesses and helps to kick start economic growth.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much Ofqual has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Janet Daby: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were. \p Janet Daby: The total cost incurred by the department in providing translation services from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, other than English and languages native to the UK, is £16,594.18 and these are broken down as follows:

Language

Total

Arabic

10,904.45

Bangla (Bangladesh)

536.45

Gujarati (India)

536.45

Lithuanian

447.74

Pashto (Afghanistan)

536.45

Polish

447.74

Punjabi

536.45

Romanian

447.74

Somali

680.07

Ukrainian

447.74

Urdu

536.45

Yiddish

536.45

16,594.18

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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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much Ofsted has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Janet Daby: This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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Dan Carden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 66249 on Pupil Exclusions, whether parents will retain their ability to hold local authorities and schools to account through the EHCP procedure and its safeguards. \p Catherine McKinnell: There will always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to ensure they are supported throughout their education and into adult life.

As we have set out, the department intends to retain the SEND tribunal. Any changes we make will improve support for children and parents, stop parents from having to fight for support, and protect provision currently in place.

As part of our Plan for Change, we will restore the confidence of families up and down the country and deliver the improvement they are crying out for so every child can achieve and thrive.
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Laura Trott:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with early years providers to help tackle early years staffing shortages in areas identified as childcare deserts. \p Stephen Morgan: The early years workforce is at the heart of our mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver the Plan for Change.

We are supporting recruitment through our national ‘Do something BIG’ campaign, with a dedicated website setting out information on qualifications and linking to job vacancies, alongside financial incentives to attract and retain educators in areas of most need.

In addition, we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to promote and raise awareness of early years careers through the Jobcentre Plus network. We are creating new routes into the workforce through Skills Bootcamps and funding early years initial teacher training, while our delivery support contractor, Childcare Works, is supporting local authorities and providers with one-to-one targeted support.

These efforts are starting have an impact, with staff numbers increasing by over 18,000 between 2024 and 2025.
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Laura Trott:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the schools that started the breakfast club pilot scheme on 22 April 2025 have withdrawn; and for what reason each withdrew. \p Stephen Morgan: The first term of free breakfast clubs has already served two million breakfasts and parents, pupils and teachers are seeing the positive benefits this has to the school day.

This is part of a test and learn phase in advance of national rollout. This is a voluntary scheme.

The department is providing a package of support to all schools partaking in the early adopter scheme, including peer-to-peer learning and expert advisers, to ensure that they are confident to deliver their free breakfast clubs. We are working with schools to understand the sufficiency of this offer to inform the national rollout of the new free breakfast clubs.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to nurseries pricing structures on families who usually use fewer than 30 funded hours of nursery provision and are being asked to increase these hours to ensure nurseries can keep operating. \p Stephen Morgan: The department is committed to rolling out the expanded childcare entitlements, working hand in hand with the early years sector.

In 2026/27, the government is expecting to spend over £9 billion on early years entitlements, supporting more parents to balance family life and work.

The department updated existing statutory guidance for local authorities, which emphasises transparency at the heart of how the entitlement should be passed on to parents.

Providers should set out how many government-funded hours parents are receiving, to ensure parents understand their usage of the entitlements.

Providers remain able to charge parents for any additional, private paid hours according to their usual terms and conditions, provided taking up private paid hours is not a condition of accessing the entitlements place.
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Dan Carden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 66249 on Pupil Exclusions, what her planned timetable is for her Department's changes to data collection to be made. \p Stephen Morgan: The proposed changes to the data collection, aimed at strengthening the oversight and monitoring of all exclusion through the school census, will require legislative amendments. As such they are subject to parliamentary procedure and are expected to come into effect for the 2026/27 academic year.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has conducted a review of the consistency of early years funding implementation across local authorities in England. \p Stephen Morgan: The department will review early years funding, including the early years national funding formulae, consulting on a set of changes by summer 2026. We will review how funding is distributed both nationally and locally to ensure the funding system is fair and effective at reflecting the costs of delivery and appropriately targeting additional need.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to reduce space requirements for children under two years of age in early years education settings. \p Stephen Morgan: We are currently considering the feedback to the department’s consultation on the use of ‘free flow’ outdoor space for children aged two years and above in early years settings.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) transparency and (b) accountability in early years provision. \p Stephen Morgan: As announced in the recent ‘Best Start in Life’ publication, the department wants to drive higher standards through a strengthened improvement and accountability system. From next April, Ofsted will inspect all new providers on the early years register (EYR) within 18 months of opening and move towards inspecting all providers on the EYR at least once every four years.

The government is committed to improving the current inspection system. This includes a new approach to reporting and removing overall effectiveness grades from all early years provision, as well as launching an early years report card system.

Ofsted has delivered important changes to the way it works in response to the ‘Big Listen’ consultation, improving its culture and being more open and transparent. This important work is ongoing.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ofsted plans to update its guidance to inspectors on (a) identifying and (b) responding to (i) serious and (ii) repeated safeguarding breaches in early years settings. \p Stephen Morgan: The department works closely with Ofsted in our work monitoring and reviewing the safeguarding requirements within the early years foundation stage statutory framework to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.

As announced in the recent Best Start in Life publication, Ofsted will receive additional investment from the department to inspect all new early years providers within 18 months of opening and move from a six to a four-year inspection cycle. It will also receive further investment for inspector training and quality assurance. All these measures will improve safeguarding across the sector.

In November 2025, Ofsted will be implementing their new inspection reporting method, the Ofsted early years report card, and will publish details in a consultation response publication in September 2025. The response will include the updated education inspection frameworks, based on consultation feedback. Ofsted will also provide new operating guidance for inspectors, and inspection information documents. Within these, there will be a focus on safeguarding in the early years.
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Dame Chi Onwurah:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Government’s free breakfast club early adopter programme on children’s (a) welfare and (b) educational outcomes. \p Stephen Morgan: The government is committed to delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children.

Breakfast clubs offer much more than just food, serving as a welcoming space for children, providing valuable opportunities for them to play, learn, and socialise at the beginning of the school day. This will set them up to be ready to learn and supports working parents, boosting household incomes.

Schools running breakfast clubs report improvements in behaviour, attendance, concentration and attainment, and a universal breakfast club offer has been found to be a less stigmatising way to reach those who need it the most.

We are working closely with our early adopter schools during the test and learn phase to understand how schools are delivering the new free clubs, pupil take-up and impact. We will publish findings from the test and learn phase in due course.
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UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_168

Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to review lessons learned from child deaths and serious incidents in early years settings. \p Stephen Morgan: The safety of children is our utmost priority and we continually monitor and review the early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding requirements. The full statutory framework is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/670f8c0f366f494ab2e7b93d/EYFS_statutory__framework_for_childminders.pdf.

This ongoing work includes continuous engagement with providers, health professionals, sector stakeholders and safeguarding experts. We also look closely at all serious incidents that have occurred in early years settings, taking into account advice from the aforementioned experts to assess if any changes need to be made to the EYFS safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.

From September 2025, the department is strengthening the safeguarding requirements in the EYFS, including:
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_169
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_169

Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to ensure that the majority of Ofsted inspections of early years settings are unannounced. \p Stephen Morgan: While Ofsted typically provides notice before an inspection, they can and do conduct inspections without prior notification, particularly when concerns have been raised about a setting or if a previous inspection resulted in a grade of ‘Inadequate’. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, there were 1400 unannounced inspections (16%) in early years settings. We recognise the importance unannounced inspections and they will continue. However, routine announced inspections are also an important part of the system. We are committed to reforming and improving the current inspection system, including making inspection more supportive.

We are increasing inspection frequency to ensure better oversight of the setting landscape, and more regular inspections will be most effective when accompanied by improvements to inspection quality.
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_170
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_170

Rupert Lowe:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the funds raised through the apprenticeship levy was allocated directly to apprenticeships; and how much was redirected to general government revenue in each of the last ten financial years. \p Darren Jones: The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in 2017, and is paid by large employers with a total annual pay bill of over £3 million. Their contribution is 0.5% of their total annual pay bill.

HMT sets the Department for Education’s budget at each Spending Review. The apprenticeship budget funds all apprenticeship training in England – both existing and new apprenticeships – across all employers.

Underspends are returned to HMT as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.

While the Apprenticeship Levy is raised UK wide, apprenticeship policy and spending is devolved. This means that the devolved governments receive funding through the Barnett formula in relation to apprenticeship spending in England, with the formula applying in the normal way, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, when the Department for Education’s budgets change. As set out in the Policy, the Barnett formula applies to overall changes in DfE’s settlement at Spending Reviews. This means it is not possible to identify the Barnett consequentials for individual programmes. It is the devolved governments’ responsibility to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit, including investing in their skills programmes, and they are accountable to the devolved legislatures for those decisions.

The table below sets out the apprenticeship budget in relation to Levy receipts once Barnett consequentials are accounted for. This is an indicative profile based on a population-based share, rounded to the nearest £5 million.

(£ million)

FY 17-18

FY 18-19

FY 19-20

FY 20-21

FY 21-22

FY 22-23

FY 23-24

FY 24-25

Levy Receipts

2,271

2,713

2,798

2,910

3,213

3,580

3,841

4,100

England Apprenticeship Budget

2,010

2,231

2,469

2,467

2,466

2,554

2,525

2,771

Devolved Governments Funding (notional Barnett allocation beyond 2019-20)

425

440

460

460

460

480

500

550

Difference

-164

42

-131

-17

287

546

816

779
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_171
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_171

Sir John Hayes:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the UK Debt Management Office has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p James Murray: The Debt Management Office (DMO) is an office-based organisation with a solely UK presence. In line with Cabinet Office policy, the DMO expects a 60% minimum office attendance for most staff which continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.

The table below shows the DMO’s spending on home working equipment for each of the three previous financial years. The higher spend in 2022-23 and 2024-25 was for updated equipment to enable essential software upgrades (87% and 97% respectively of the total spend).

Year

Spend

2022-23

£25,000

2023-24

£4,000

2024-25

£49,000
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_172
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_172

Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64049 on Alcoholic Drinks, what the evidential basis is that the exclusion of the direct manufacture of alcohol beverages is in line with international conventions for green bond frameworks. \p Emma Reynolds: The twenty largest sovereign green bond issuers to date are: Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Japan, Ireland, Spain, Canada, India, Hungary, Chile, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Poland and Denmark. This is according to the International Capital Markets Association sustainable bond issuers database.

The following issuers explicitly exclude the financing of alcohol-related spending in their green bond frameworks: Germany, the UK, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Canada, India, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Poland and Denmark.

France’s green bond framework excludes “Production or trading of alcoholic beverages (excluding beer and wine)”. Indonesia does not refer explicitly to excluding alcohol but issues green Sukuk (Sharia-compliant bonds). The other countries’ frameworks do not include alcohol-related spending in their eligible or ineligible criteria.
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_173
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_173

Callum Anderson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the regulatory impact of integrating nature-related financial risks into mandatory financial disclosure requirements. \p Emma Reynolds: The government welcomes the continued progress on developing sustainability standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), and welcomes the ISSB’s ongoing research on biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services. On 25th June 2025, the government published its consultation on the draft UK-endorsed standards, which will be known as UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS) and are based on the ISSB standards.

The UK government is supportive of companies building their capacity on nature through the UK Consultation Group of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_174
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_174

Callum Anderson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans she has to evaluate the impact of sustainable finance policies on the distribution of capital flows across UK regions. \p Emma Reynolds: As outlined in the Financial Services Growth & Competitiveness Strategy, the government is taking steps to maintain the UK’s international leadership in sustainable finance.

While the government has not made a specific evaluation on the impact of sustainable finance policies on the distribution of capital flows across UK regions, we expect our approach to sustainable finance to increase capital flows in the UK and maintain our position as the leading sustainable finance hub. As set out in the Clean Energies Sector Plan, the government is committed to spreading investment in clean energy in clusters across the UK's nations and regions.

In October 2024, the Chancellor also launched the National Wealth Fund (NWF) with £27.8 billion of capital to catalyse and mobilise additional private investment across the UK. The NWF is uniquely positioned to support regional and local strategies with commercial and financial advisory and lending support throughout the investment cycle to deliver on local priorities, supporting them with early-stage project development.
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_175
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_175

Callum Anderson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with (a) the Financial Policy Committee and (b) Prudential Regulation Committee on their roles in ensuring macro-financial stability during the transition to a nature-positive economy. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government is committed to integrating nature into economic and financial decision-making. The Financial Policy Committee’s latest remit, as set out by the Chancellor in November 2024, sets out that the Committee should continue to consider the materiality of nature-related financial risks in relation to its primary objective of protecting and enhancing financial stability.

The remits for the Financial Policy Committee and Prudential Regulation Committee also make clear that they should support the Government’s approach to accelerate the transition to a climate resilient, nature positive, and net zero economy.

The Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England meet regularly to discuss the outlook for UK financial stability.
wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_176
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-23 conversation_176

Edward Morello:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she is taking steps to review the oversight mechanisms of the Financial Conduct Authority. \p Emma Reynolds: The government and Parliament exercise oversight over the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a number of ways, including through the government’s remit letters, which set out elements of the government’s economic policy to which the FCA must have regard, and parliamentary scrutiny of the FCA’s Annual Reports. Senior representatives of the FCA also regularly give evidence to parliamentary committees, where the FCA’s performance and operational effectiveness is scrutinised.

The government is currently consulting on a number of proposed targeted changes to the regulatory environment for financial services, designed to support the government’s overall ambition to ensure that regulation supports growth, is targeted and proportionate, is transparent and predictable, and adapts to keep pace with innovation.

The consultation includes a proposal to require the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority to set out long-term strategies for how they will advance their objectives, including their secondary objectives to facilitate growth and international competitiveness. This will ensure that stakeholders, including regulated firms in the sector, are able to fully understand the UK’s strategy towards the sector. This will also ensure that government and parliament are able to effectively hold the regulators to account for how they translate their objectives into different priorities.

As part of the consultation, the government also confirmed it will review the regulators’ overall reporting structure to focus it on the regulators’ core functions and objectives, minimising the number of documents stakeholders and Parliament must engage with for effective scrutiny.