theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Mrs Sureena Brackenridge:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to encourage banks to use community development finance institutions. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government recognises that credit, when provided responsibly, can be crucial for people facing unexpected expenses or managing their cash flow. That is why it is committed to expanding access to affordable credit, so that everyone has the opportunity to access products and services which support their financial wellbeing and goals.

Community development finance institutions (CDFIs) play an important role in that landscape. I was pleased to chair a roundtable earlier in July attended by banks and CDFIs, where we had a productive discussion about the barriers to achieving greater growth for CDFIs providing personal lending products. The ambition I saw gives me confidence this sector will continue to grow, helping more people achieve their financial goals.

CDFIs also play an important role in helping businesses access finance. In November 2024 the British Business Bank launched the Community ENABLE Funding (CEF) Programme which aims to deploy £150m of funding to ‘not for profit’ lenders, including CDFIs, over the next two years. This means they can better support small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those in underserved communities, by increasing the availability of finance.
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to consult family-owned businesses with annual turnover above £100 million on potential fiscal policies. \p Emma Reynolds: Government Ministers and Senior Officials regularly meet with businesses of all sizes, from large corporations to SMEs, including family-owned businesses with an annual turnover of above £100 million. These meetings afford an opportunity for the Government to hear the views of the business community to aid in the formation of policy, including fiscal policy. These engagements are ongoing and will continue to be so.

Further information on previous meetings held by HM Treasury Ministers and can be found on the gov.uk website via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
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Dame Chi Onwurah:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how her Department plans to quantify the (a) costs and (b) savings associated with the adoption of artificial intelligence in (i) health, (ii) defence, (iii) education and (iv) other public services; and whether she considered including such an assessment in the recent Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report. \p Darren Jones: The government has committed to invest in upgrading essential digital infrastructure, modernise public services and drive a major overhaul in government productivity and efficiency by harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Spending Review 2025 sets out plans for a step change in investment in digital and AI across public services, including an uplift of £1.2 billion for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to drive forward cross-cutting digital and AI priorities.

HM Treasury has not made a central assessment of AI adoption costs and savings in each public service area. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) provides independent analysis of the UK's public finances and publishes the Fiscal Risk and Sustainability Report and, as such, determine the scope and details within the report. The OBR has full discretion over the judgements underpinning their forecasts.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the (a) cost to the NHS of prescribing weight loss medications and (b) the projected cost savings from reduced obesity-related illness. \p Darren Jones: The Chancellor regularly discusses a wide range of policy issues with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

For medicines to be provided by the NHS they must meet strict cost-effectiveness thresholds set by NICE. For tirzepatide, a weightloss jab, evidence submitted by NHS England to NICE last year suggested a potential cost of £19.4bn for the drug, the patient management and the associated care over the first five years from launch if made available to all eligible patients. The NHS is working with partners, including supplies of medicines for weight management, to develop and evaluate innovative delivery models which may support more efficient implementation

NICE recommended the NHS begin rolling out trizepatide, for people with a BMI of more than 35 and at least one weight-related illness. In total around 220,000 people are expected to benefit in the initial three year roll out period.

The obesity crisis currently costs the NHS an estimated £11.4 billion per year and has significant wider economic and social costs, so tackling this will help to drive long term economic growth.

That is why the 10 year health plan, published on 3rd July 2025, set out Government’s plans for decisive action on the obesity crisis, easing the strain on our NHS and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.

The Plan sets out a commitment to support people living with obesity, doubling the number of patients able to access the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme and brokering pioneering relationships with the biggest pharmaceutical companies to expand access to weight loss services and treatments across the NHS.

The Plan also committed to fulfilling manifesto commitments to restrict junk food advertising and ban sale of high-caffeine drinks. Additionally it announced new proposals to reduce obesity including for large food businesses to report against standardised metrics on healthier food sales along with new targets to increase the healthiness of sales, and updating the Nutrient Profile Model to bring the current advertising and promotion restrictions up to date and make them more impactful.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) across England are equipped with adequate (i) cooling and (ii) ventilation systems to protect (A) pupils and (B) staff during heatwaves. \p Stephen Morgan: The responsible body (which may be a local authority, academy trust, or voluntary-aided body) must ensure the health, safety and welfare of pupils and staff, including during hot weather. The department supports this through guidance and resources, including the Education Hub, which published hot weather advice on 16 June 2025.

The department also provides emergency planning guidance for education and childcare settings, covering extreme heat. The UK Health Security Agency offers additional advice for schools and early years settings on managing heat-related health risks.

To improve indoor air quality, the department distributed CO₂ monitors to all teaching spaces in England in 2021/2023. Settings with high readings could apply for air cleaning units. Over 9,000 were provided to more than 1,300 settings.

Annual capital funding is also allocated to improve school buildings, including ventilation and sustainability measures.

All guidance applies across England.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications for the disposal of school playing fields her Department has (a) approved and (b) rejected by (i) school and (ii) local authority since 4 July 2024. \p Stephen Morgan: The department has interpreted disposal in this context to mean the freehold sale, grant of a long-term lease of 30 years or more or appropriation of playing field land to another local authority use.

A register of decisions to dispose of school playing field land is published on GOV.UK: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of early years settings in (i) Buckinghamshire and (ii) Milton Keynes currently employing at least one early years teacher. \p Stephen Morgan: The early years census workforce data provides responses from private, voluntary and independent early years providers delivering funded entitlements to children aged 2 to 4 years of age. Staff holding Early Years Teacher Status, Early Years Professional Status and Qualified Teacher Status are amalgamated as accredited graduate staff members in this dataset. The department does not hold data on the proportion of early years teachers in these areas in other types of early years settings such as school-based nurseries and childminders.

In 2024, 109 providers in Buckinghamshire (29%) and 7 providers in Milton Keynes (4%), delivering 15-hour entitlement, employed at least one accredited graduate staff member.

In 2024, 97 providers in Buckinghamshire (28%) and 6 providers in Milton Keynes (4%), delivering 30-hour entitlement, employed at least one accredited graduate staff member.

EY Workforce Grad. Quals. Bucks. Milton Keynes (xlsx, 10.1KB)
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to help ensure early years providers are included in the Stronger Practice Hubs expansion programme in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes. \p Stephen Morgan: As part of the ‘Giving every child the best start in life’ strategy, the department is doubling the number of Stronger Practice Hubs from 18 to 36, securing their future for a further three years, and funding partnerships between nurseries and schools to share evidence-based practice and strengthen links across settings, helping more children have a smooth transition into reception. Nearly 10,000 settings are part of Hub networks as of March 2025, including 72 settings in Buckinghamshire and 13 in Milton Keynes. Support for this region is provided by the Thames Valley and South Central Early Years Stronger Practice Hub based at Blagdon Nursery School, Reading. Contextual information based on geography, provider type and deprivation ranking were considered to ensure an even spread of Stronger Practice Hubs across the country of different provider types and location. We anticipate similar factors to be considered in the expansion of the Stronger Practice Hub programme across all regions, including the South East region, which Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes sit within.
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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, published August 2024, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of specifying the (a) role and (b) responsibility of local authorities for providing education to children who are absent from mainstream education due to long term illness. \p Stephen Morgan: Local authorities do have a statutory duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to arrange suitable and (normally) full-time education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not receive suitable education without such provision. This means that where a child cannot attend school because of a physical or mental health need, and cannot access suitable full-time education, the local authority is responsible for arranging suitable alternative provision.

The department sets out guidance to support local authorities to fulfil their section 19 duty available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/657995f0254aaa000d050bff/Arranging_education_for_children_who_cannot_attend_school_because_of_health_needs.pdf.

The department has also issued statutory guidance for local authorities that makes clear their role and responsibilities for ’Children missing education’ which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education.

This statutory guidance sets key principles to enable local authorities in England to implement their legal duty to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education and get them back into education.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the air quality of classrooms. \p Stephen Morgan: The department has not assessed the air quality of classrooms in Surrey.

The department regularly reviews its guidance to ensure that it aligns with best practice and industry standards in order to deliver high-quality school environments.

Between January 2022 and April 2023, the department provided over 9,000 air cleaning units to over 1,300 settings that had been identified with poor ventilation. The department has published guidance on how to use CO2 monitors and air cleaning units, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-co-monitors-and-air-cleaning-units-in-education-and-care-settings.
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Kevin Bonavia:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the merits of introducing mandatory education on the voting system for students in secondary school. \p Catherine McKinnell: I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Stevenage to the answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 68042.
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Chris Coghlan:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the letter from Fiona Davidson, dated 4 July 2025. \p Catherine McKinnell: I can confirm that a response to the correspondence dated 4 July 2025 from Fiona Davidson was sent on 21 July 2025.
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Mary Kelly Foy:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that PSHE education is consistently embedded as part of the curriculum in all year groups in secondary education. \p Catherine McKinnell: All schools should teach personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, drawing on good practice, and this expectation is outlined in the national curriculum framework document.

The department published revised relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance on 15 July, which sets out a comprehensive and age-appropriate curriculum for all pupils in England. The revised guidance will become statutory on 1 September 2026, replacing the existing guidance which has been in force since 2020. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education. We know that many schools choose to teach some of the content from the curriculum in their PSHE or similarly described programme for their pupils.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which wants to ensure a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. Their final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn, followed by the government’s response.
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Antonia Bance:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which state schools are taking part in the Music Opportunities Pilot by (a) local authority and (b) constituency. \p Catherine McKinnell: The state schools in the attached spreadsheet are taking part in the Music Opportunities Pilot.

Music Opportunities Pilot Schools (xlsx, 29.1KB)
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 43513 on Financial Services: Curriculum, what assessment she has made of the impact of financial education in the national curriculum. \p Catherine McKinnell: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

Financial education is an important way of equipping children and young people with the skills and knowledge to achieve good financial wellbeing. This is why it forms part of the national curriculum in England.

The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s interim report, published in March, sets out that the Review has heard consistently that children, young people and their parents want more focus on the applied knowledge and skills that will equip them for later life and work, such as financial education.

The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn, at which point the government will respond.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing additional support to autistic children with no other learning disabilities in mainstream schools. \p Catherine McKinnell: This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed and thrive in their education and as they move into adult life.

The Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, chaired by Professor Karen Guldberg, brings together experts to make recommendations on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings, including those who are autistic.

Additionally, the department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings and have commissioned evidence reviews from Newcastle University and University College London. The 'What Works in SEND' research programme is researching tools that schools can use to identify the needs of neurodivergent children.

The department has also invested in the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, which is a national programme backed by £22 million of investment. PINS deploys specialists from both health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children, including pupils with autism. The programme is being evaluated, and the learning is informing future policy development around how schools support neurodivergent children.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent civil servants are working on appointing the new contractor for St Michaels School in Paignton. \p Stephen Morgan: St Michael’s School is part of the school rebuilding programme. The project team is made up of a project director, who is a civil servant, and a project manager. A number of technical specialists also support the project at different stages.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of school food guidelines. \p Stephen Morgan: This government is committed to raising the healthiest generation ever. It is important that children eat nutritious food at school and the department encourages schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating. The school food standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, which are restricted, and those which must not be provided.

To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, we are acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will centralise the payment of national non-domestic rates for (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) independent early years settings. \p Stephen Morgan: It is the government’s 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.

The small business rate relief scheme provides up to 100% relief for eligible businesses occupying one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or below, and reduced bills up to £15,000. Further, if a nursery is a charity, charitable rate relief provides 80% off rates bills, which can be topped up to 100% by the local authority.

The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula for the 3 and 4-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the 2-year-old and below entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. In 2025/26 alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, an additional £2 billion (over 30% increase) compared to 2024/25, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements.

There are no current plans to extend the centralised payment system to private, voluntary or independent early years settings or to make these settings exempt. However, all processes are kept under review.
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Ian Sollom:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role her Department has in facilitating agreements between financially distressed universities and their commercial lenders. \p Janet Daby: The Office for Students (OfS) has not facilitated debt restructuring packages of any university since 2018.

Universities are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances. This includes negotiations with commercial lenders.

While the OfS has statutory duties in relation to the financial sustainability of the higher education (HE) sector, the government has a clear interest in understanding the sector’s level of risk. As such, the department continues to work closely with the OfS in order to better understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.

This government is committed to supporting the sector in moving towards a more stable financial footing. That is why we have made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by 3.1%, in line with inflation, from the 2025/26 academic year.

Moreover, we have appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening the OfS’s commitment to financial sustainability while also expanding opportunities in HE.

We aim to publish our plans for HE reform soon as part of the Post-16 Skills White Paper, and work with the sector and the OfS to deliver the change that the country needs.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make a statement on how the decision to cut funding for Assistive Technologies within the Disabled Students’ Allowance was made. \p Janet Daby: The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar (SPAG) software from the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.

The department conducted a detailed review of the SPAG functionality available in computer operating systems, free software products and paid-for software products. This review concluded that the SPAG functionality available in products that students can access for free was like that available in paid-for products. While some of the paid-for products had additional features such as plagiarism checkers, these are not in scope for DSA funding, given they are of potential benefit to all students.

The department engaged with disability experts to gather their feedback. An Equality Impact Assessment was also conducted, which identified that there is a risk that this decision may have a negative impact on some disabled students who might prefer paid-for SPAG software. However, this impact will be mitigated by the availability of free versions that provide equivalent functionality for the types of support that are in scope of DSA. DSA will still fund SPAG software in exceptional circumstances where a robust disability-related justification is provided. Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic SPAG software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded.

While the SPAG software change took effect from March 2025 for new students, including those starting courses in September 2025, the department does not generally expect that these students will be negatively impacted by the changes as they will be able to access free versions with the required functionality to meet their disability-related needs.
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Afzal Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) reduce workload and (b) enhance professional development support for teachers in schools serving low income communities. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department knows that the quality of teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving pupil outcomes, and that it is particularly important for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our scholarship funding for national professional qualifications, high-quality professional development for teachers and leaders, is targeted towards supporting participation from those working in schools with the highest levels of disadvantage.

The department is committed to tackling the major drivers of high workload and poor wellbeing for teachers in all schools, including those serving low-income communities, through wide-ranging reforms to the education system and supporting schools to harness technology to enhance time efficiency and reduce workload.

Our ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service shares resources that have worked in schools to reduce workload and improve staff wellbeing, developed by school leaders for school leaders. Further details on the service are available here: https://improve-workload-and-wellbeing-for-school-staff.education.gov.uk/workload-reduction-toolkit/address-workload-issues/governance/prepare-a-governing-board-report/.

The department is also working closely with unions, employer representative organisations, school leaders and other key partners to identify where we can go further to address unnecessary workload, including through the Improving Education Together agreement.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the Kinship Allowance Pilot Scheme; and when that scheme will begin. \p Janet Daby: The department is ensuring that a fair and transparent process is used to identify which local authorities are best placed to deliver the Kinship Allowance Pilot, through a published expression of interest process. The application window for the expression of interest has now closed.

The department has communicated clear guidance on this process to local authorities through webinars, published expression of interest guidance and a two-week clarification window, following the launch of the expression of interest application window.

The Pilot will launch this autumn, following the announcement of successful pilot local authorities in September.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) Buckinghamshire Council and (b) Milton Keynes City Council on the use of data sharing improvements set out in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. \p Janet Daby: The department has not held formal bilateral discussions with Buckinghamshire Council or Milton Keynes City Council specifically on the data sharing provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. However, all local authorities as well as multi-agency practitioners, were invited to national webinars held in June and July this year which engaged over 400 practitioners. The department will continue to engage with the sector throughout the implementation of these measures to ensure local perspectives are reflected.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data the Department holds on the number of children placed in out-of-area care in unregistered settings in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes since 2020. \p Janet Daby: The department does not centrally hold information on the number of children looked after in unregistered settings.

The department collects data on children looked after by placement type, such as foster care, children’s home, supported accommodation and those in unregistered accommodation. However, unregistered accommodation placements are reported by local authorities within the category ‘Other’ so cannot be identified separately.

The latest information on children looked after placements, relating to the year ending 31 March 2024 was published on 14 November 2024 in the annual statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’. This can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2024.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms are in place to share safeguarding intelligence between local authorities and law enforcement in cases involving suspected exploitative children’s homes. \p Janet Daby: Although current legislation permits information sharing to safeguard and protect the wellbeing of children, practitioners have told the department that they often only feel confident sharing where there are serious child protection concerns.

As outlined in ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, the department is taking two important legislative steps to improve how services share information to support children and families more effectively.

Firstly, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces provision in law, paving the way for a consistent identifier to be specified and the organisations required to use it, at a later date, via regulations.

Secondly, the Bill also seeks to put an end to misconceptions about the legal barriers to sharing information, introducing a clear legal basis for sharing information for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Ofsted inspect children’s homes once a year and take immediate action where there are safeguarding concerns, working with local authorities to protect children. The department is strengthening Ofsted’s powers via the Bill, introducing provider oversight to complement the existing regulatory regime, enabling Ofsted to act at scale and pace by requiring provider groups to improve quality where Ofsted identify concerns, and take action for non-compliance. The relevant local authorities will be informed.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of reducing the individual limit for the Adoption Support Fund for therapy on (a) adoptees and (b) their families. \p Janet Daby: The new criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children and their families. This includes reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which will be made available in the House Libraries shortly.
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Daisy Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of revising the thresholds for determining the interest rate on student loan repayments for people living abroad in the context of local taxation levels. \p Janet Daby: The repayment of student loans, including the setting of interest rates applied to student loan plan types for borrowers in the UK or overseas, is determined by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended).

Overseas repayment thresholds are calculated using World Bank price level index (PLI) (which is used to compare differences between the cost of living in the UK and other countries), not the tax rates of countries of residence. This means that if a borrower is resident in a country calculated as having a lower cost of living than the UK, the repayment threshold applied to their loan will be lower than if they are residing in the UK. The country bandings and thresholds are reviewed annually.

Using a recognised measure of the relative cost of living in different countries ensures that borrowers residing in different countries are assessed in a fair, transparent and consistent way.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the Education and Skills Funding Agency spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Janet Daby: The department and its executive agencies, including the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), only provide equipment for home working in the case of a workplace adjustment related to a disability and which the Equality Act requires us to support.

Departmental spend over the last three years, which includes ESFA spend, on equipment which exceeded £500:

Financial Year

Total spend on equipment exceeding £500

2022/23

£28,103.73

2023/24

£53,675.59

2024/25

£46,576

To obtain comprehensive data which includes spending on equipment below £500 for each of the last three years, it would be necessary to contact individual teams across the department and agencies, which would not be possible within the timeframe for responding to a PQ, and would incur a disproportionate cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_256

Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of departmental procurement contracts were awarded to British companies in the last financial year. \p Janet Daby: The department’s procurement and contract management system only collects information related to company head office addresses rather than the ‘nationality’ of a company.

Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder, which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.

Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023 above £12,000 including VAT are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service. This includes a note of the winning supplier. The service can be found here: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_257

Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the Standards and Testing Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Janet Daby: The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is an executive agency of the department and follows our policies on hybrid working and the purchase of equipment for use at home.

The department has set an expectation that colleagues spend at least 60% of their working time in the office or another work setting. Employees who work from home as part of a flexible arrangement, and not as part of a contractual arrangement, are expected to have access to a suitable workspace and equipment at their own cost. The exception to this would be equipment recommended as a part of a reasonable adjustment following an occupational health assessment, but such equipment would be charged to a central departmental budget rather than to STA.

STA has no recorded expenditure on equipment to enable staff to work from home in any of the last three financial years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_258

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking through the Growth and Skills levy to introduce greater flexibility for blended and modular learning. \p Janet Daby: The growth and skills offer will introduce greater flexibility to employers and learners in England, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, aligned with the government’s industrial strategy.

Initially, the department will introduce new short courses in areas such as digital, artificial intelligence and engineering, funded through the growth and skills levy, to support Industrial Strategy sectors from April 2026, with more courses added as they are developed. The skills needs to be addressed by short courses will be informed by Skills England’s engagement with employers and key stakeholders.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_259

John McDonnell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the Strategic Priorities Grant was allocated to (a) journalism and (b) other related courses in each of the last five years. \p Janet Daby: The government provides funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). The department is prioritising support for high-cost subjects that are essential to the delivery of our industrial strategy and for access to HE for disadvantaged groups.

Funding for all subjects, including journalism, will benefit from the increase in tuition fee limits in line with inflation.

Journalism remains an important and valued subject, and the government acknowledges its importance, alongside numerous other subjects that do not attract SPG high-cost subject funding, such as history, languages, economics, mathematics and law.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_260

John McDonnell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data she used to inform her decision to remove high-cost subject funding from (a) journalism, (b) media studies, (c) publishing and (d) information services. \p Janet Daby: I refer the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington to the answer of 16 July 2025 to Question 63373.
wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_261
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_261

Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children’s home providers in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire meet national staff training requirements on trauma-informed care. \p Janet Daby: The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and associated statutory guidance ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, make it a requirement for children’s homes providers and managers of children’s homes to ensure staff have the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the children and provide high-quality care. This includes ensuring staff have or are working towards mandatory qualifications and have access to on-going professional development and training, including training on understanding and addressing trauma in children.

Ofsted inspects children’s homes on a regular basis, at least once a year, and reports on the effectiveness of leaders and managers in ensuring staff are qualified, have access to regular training and support, and are competent in their roles.

The government has committed to reviewing qualifications, standards and access to training for the children’s homes workforce, to ensure they are able to meet the needs of children in care.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_262

Mr Angus MacDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with her Scottish counterparts on the sustainability of high-quality Practical Electronics teaching. \p Catherine McKinnell: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has not had any discussions with her Scottish counterpart specifically regarding supporting teaching in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. However, Ministers have had valuable discussions at four nations meetings and officials maintain contact around issues of mutual interest, including STEM education.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_263

Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve water quality in (a) rivers and (b) coastal areas. \p Emma Hardy: The levels of water pollution are unacceptable. That is why cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas is a priority for the Government. We are taking action to address agricultural pollution and support farm businesses. We are, as a priority, working with farmers and environmental groups to improve farm pollution regulations to ensure they are simple and effective. We are also doubling funding for Environment Agency farm inspections to work with farmers to raise standards and have issued amended Statutory Guidance on the Farming Rules for Water to set clearer expectations on enforcing the rules. We continue to invest in our farmers through Environmental Land Management schemes.

Additionally, water companies are investing over £11 billion in PR24 (2025-2030), to improve nearly 3000 storm overflows across England and Wales.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_264

Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle agricultural pollution in protected areas. \p Emma Hardy: This Government is firmly committed to safeguarding every aspect of our natural environment, including through reducing agricultural pollution. This approach aims to protect all areas, including our most protected areas.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_265

Cameron Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with stakeholders on preventing microplastics from infiltrating agricultural land. \p Emma Hardy: There are several potential ways in which microplastics which can infiltrate agricultural land and the wider environment. These include fallout from the atmosphere, land connections with surface waters and industrial premises, leaks from septic tanks and landfill sites, and possible leaching from the application of treated sewage sludge to agricultural soils. Once microplastics have entered the soil, many factors will influence their movement, such as soil type, the type of crop and the presence of livestock.

To better understand the transmission of microplastics through the application to the land of sewage sludge containing biosolids, Defra officials are collaborating with industry and independent researchers under the water industry-funded Chemicals Investigation Programme. This work will help inform possible and future measures to mitigate microplastics in the environment. We discuss the progress of this work on a frequent basis.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-22 conversation_266

Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Designate a bathing water: guidance on how to apply, updated on 15 May 2025, for what reason applications cannot include organised swim events. \p Emma Hardy: As per the criteria set out on GOV.UK, for a site to be eligible for designation as a bathing water, it must be used by an average of at least 100 bathers a day during the bathing season (15 May to 30 September). User surveys must be taken at a site to evidence this.

An organised swim event is likely to result in an unusually high number of bathers for that day and therefore would not provide a fair reflection of the number of bathers per day during the bathing season.

The application guidance will continue to be reviewed for suitability.