Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the National Rural Crime Unit since its inception.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National Rural Crime Unit is a specialist unit, and its activities exemplify the importance of collaboration in this area, involving farmers, policymakers and police working together at national and local level to examine how UK farming businesses can be better protected against crime.

The National Rural Crime Unit has recovered stolen property, including agricultural machinery and vehicles, worth £10 million since 2023. It has also co-ordinated operational responses across the UK that resulted in multiple arrests as well as disrupting organised crime groups.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how the Child Poverty Strategy intends to reduce child poverty in rural and coastal communities.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are committed to delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty which is why we have set up a Ministerial Taskforce that is urgently working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025.

Our publication on 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we will develop the Strategy, harnessing all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this Parliament.

The Strategy will look at policies across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

The Taskforce will hear directly from experts across the UK on each of the Strategy’s themes including children and families living in poverty and work with leading organisations, charities, and campaigners.

Alongside the work of the Taskforce, we are continuing to provide substantial funding to Local Authorities to support those most in need. At the Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced that £1 billion, including Barnett impact, will be invested to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England by a full year until 31 March 2026, and to maintain Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales. This enables Local Authorities to provide discretionary support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water.

The government knows how important bus services are to local communities and knows that buses can be a lifeline in particular for those in rural areas. We have set out a plan to deliver better buses throughout England by giving local leaders the tools they need and empowering them to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities they serve, including through the introduction of the Buses Bill later in this parliamentary session. The government also recognises the importance of providing funding to support and drive improvements to bus services over the longer-term. In the Budget we confirmed over £1 billion of funding to support and improve bus services, and keep fares affordable in England outside London.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address teacher burnout and turnover in special education schools due to low pay and temporary contracts.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but the department knows that there is more to do to ensure that there are sufficient teachers across the country in both mainstream and special schools. This is why the department has committed to recruiting 6,500 more expert teachers. The department’s initiatives are aimed not only at increasing teacher recruitment in key subjects and areas, but also at ensuring teachers stay and thrive in the profession, including by improving teacher wellbeing and workload.

Fair pay is key to ensuring teaching is an attractive and respected profession, which is why this government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September. The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award in 2024/25 and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.

The school teachers’ pay and conditions document for 2024 sets out that an additional special educational needs (SEN) allowance must be paid to teachers in a SEN post that requires a mandatory SEN qualification and involves teaching pupils with SEN. It is for schools to determine the specific amount, but this must be between £2,679 and £5,285 per annum. The school teachers’ pay and conditions document for 2024 is attached and can also be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67165b0d9242eecc6c849b4b/School_teachers_pay_and_conditions_document_and_guidance_2024_.pdf.

The department has made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department’s improve workload and wellbeing for school staff service, developed alongside school leaders, includes a workload reduction toolkit to support schools to identify opportunities to cut excessive workload, as well as the education staff wellbeing charter, which sets out commitments from government, Ofsted, schools, and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff. Over 3,900 schools have signed up to the charter since it was launched in November 2021.

Schools are ultimately responsible for the employment and make-up of their workforce, including the number of temporary staff they employ, as they have the best understanding of their needs and what is needed to ensure every child receives the best possible education.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce legally binding, time-constrained targets to eliminate child poverty as part of the Child Poverty Strategy.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring. It will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change. The taskforce is exploring a range of metrics and will make decisions alongside the publication of the strategy in Spring 2025.

Found: Letter dated 03/06/2024 from Lord Gascoigne to the Lord Bishop of Lincoln regarding the asylum backlog

Found: Letter dated 09/05/2024 from Viscount Younger of Leckie to Lord Bishop of Lincoln regarding the debate