Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether a sixth form college that has moved to academy status will be covered by the provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill will provide a core guarantee of quality education in every school. It will create a floor but no ceiling, enabling healthy competition and innovation beyond a core framework to bring all schools to the level of the very best.
16 to 19 academies are principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below the age of 19. They are defined separately to academy schools under the Academies Act 2010 and operate within a policy, financial and operational framework that reflects the type of education that they provide. In keeping with the existing regulatory approach, 16 to 19 academies, including those that were previously sixth-Form colleges, remain out of scope of most of the measures in the Bill that will apply to schools, including academy schools. Under clause 36 of the Bill, 16 to 19 academies remain outside of the scope of Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, which is the main regulatory framework for independent schools, including academy schools.
Clause 49, which introduces a power to secure the performance of an academy proprietor’s duties, will apply to 16 to 19 academies, as well as academy schools. Robust accountability mechanisms play a critical role in the school system by setting clear requirements and expectations, encouraging behaviours that put children first, help them to achieve and thrive, and keep them safe.
This measure will allow my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to direct any academy trust to comply with their legal duties and address unreasonable actions in a way that is more proportionate than the current intervention regime provided through academy funding agreements.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many employers were liable to pay the apprenticeship levy in (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In 2022-23, 34,200 employers paid the apprenticeship levy, and in 2023-24, 36,000 employers paid the apprenticeship levy.
In 2024-25, 36,900 employers paid the apprenticeship levy; this figure is based on outturn as the tax year has completed. No estimate has been made for the number of employers projected to pay the apprenticeship levy in 2025-26.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assumptions they use when calculating the budget for future apprenticeship training to estimate the number of employers that will pay the apprenticeship levy, and what estimate they have made of the number employers who will pay that levy in (1) 2024–25, and (2) 2025–26.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In 2022-23, 34,200 employers paid the apprenticeship levy, and in 2023-24, 36,000 employers paid the apprenticeship levy.
In 2024-25, 36,900 employers paid the apprenticeship levy; this figure is based on outturn as the tax year has completed. No estimate has been made for the number of employers projected to pay the apprenticeship levy in 2025-26.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their definition of (1) a teacher, (2) a school, and (3) a qualified teacher.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The definition of a teacher, school and qualified teacher is outlined in the relevant statistics that the department publishes. The methodology section of ‘School workforce in England’ publication outlines the following definitions in the context of the school workforce census. The full methodology section can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/school-workforce-in-england.
A teacher in school is defined as anyone who is employed by a school as a:
A school includes:
Qualified teachers are defined as those holding any of the following:
The methodology section of ‘Further education workforce’ publication outlines the following definitions in the context of the further education workforce census. The full methodology section can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/further-education-workforce.
A teacher in further education is defined as member of staff with teaching responsibilities. Main Roles which would determine whether a staff member is a “Teacher”:
Schools are not defined within the scope of the further education workforce.
Qualified teachers are defined as those holding any of the following:
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many apprenticeship starts in hairdressing there were, by region and level, for each of the English regions in each of the years from 2015 to the present.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The attached file contains apprenticeship starts for the 2015/16 to 2024/25 academic years, broken down by region and level, for hairdressing apprentices. These were last published in March 2025. They include full year figures from 2015/16 to 2023/24, and year to date figures for 2024/25 (August 2024 to January 2025).
The most recent years’ data are available in the published ‘Apprenticeships’ statistics, which have been included in the attached file, and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships/2024-25.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the provisions proposed in the Employment Rights Bill on the proportion of apprenticeships offered by employers to (1) existing employees, (2) new hires, and (3) 16–24 year olds; and what evidence regarding employers' decisions to award apprenticeship contracts they have used in this assessment.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In October, Government published 24 Impact Assessments representing a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This analysis shows that the Bill is expected to benefit younger workers, typically disproportionately represented in low paid, low quality, insecure jobs.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact on apprenticeship numbers of the measures included in the Employment Rights Bill, including the proposed extension of protections against unfair dismissal to day one of employment.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In October, Government published 24 Impact Assessments representing a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This analysis shows that the Bill is expected to benefit younger workers, typically disproportionately represented in low paid, low quality, insecure jobs.
The Employment Rights Bill will make basic protection against unfair dismissal a day one right for all employees. The new statutory probation period will provide lighter-touch standards for employers to dismiss an employee who is not suitable. These standards will also apply to apprenticeships and training contracts, requiring adequate evidence to justify dismissal on conduct or capability.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spent on research contracts and grants in (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24; and what proportion of that spending went to UK universities.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The table shows the Core CDEL R&D spend and estimated spend on R&D in UK universities. These values only include direct contracts between core Defra and UK universities and not universities funded through Defra research programmes delivered by UK Research and Innovation or others. In addition, it has not been possible to identify UK universities that may have received funding as a sub-contractor or consortium member.
| Table 1 | |||
| Total FY spend of Defra Core agreements £m | |||
| FY22-23 | FY23-24 | ||
| Q1/Q2 | Q3/Q4 | Q1/Q2 | Q3/Q4 |
Defra Core CDEL R & D – excluding funding transferred to Public Sector Research Establishments | 9.9 | 42.3 | 17.7 | 64.9 |
Of which grants | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Of which contracts to UK universities | 6.5 | 3.5 | ||
Data on R&D spending is published annually as part of the Office for National Statistics UK gross domestic expenditure on research and development.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Ministry of Defence spent on research contracts and grants in (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24; and what proportion of that spending went to UK universities.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) works to support a secure and prosperous United Kingdom (UK) through allies, industry and academia to ensure the UK has the right capabilities for defence and security. MOD records all contracts on its Contracting, Purchasing and Finance system. However, it is unable to distinguish which contracts cover research due to a lack of relevant metadata within this system.
In the time available, the following organisations within MOD have confirmed their spend (Extra-Mural Research) on research contracts and grants for the years 2022-2024:
Financial Year (FY)2022-23 Research Contracts
Organisation | Total Spend | Proportion with Universities |
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) | £387.6 million | 4.7% |
Navy Command* | £80.06 million | 0.03% |
FY2022-23 Research Grants
Organisation | Total Spend | Proportion with Universities |
Dstl | £0.4 million | 100% |
FY2023-24 Research Contracts
Organisation | Total Spend | Proportion with Universities |
Dstl | £461.1 million | 4.8% |
Navy Command | £130.85 million | 1.3% |
FY2023-24 Research Grants
Organisation | Total Spend | Proportion with Universities |
Defence Science and Technology (DST) | £10 million | 100% |
FY2023-24 Research Grants
Organisation | Total Spend | Proportion with Universities |
DNO (Rolls Royce) | £3.2 million | 100% |
* The figures provided include Navy Command spend delivered by Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), £32 million in FY2022-23 and £70.03 million in FY2023-24.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Department of Health and Social Care spent on research contracts and grants in (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24; and what proportion of that spending went to UK universities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department spent £1,446 million on research contracts and grants in 2022/23. In 2023/24, the Department spent £1,524 million on research contracts and grants, 32.8% of which went to universities in the United Kingdom.