Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Act 2025 – Report on exercise of the Secretary of State’s functions, published on 27 November, what the role of Ofqual will be in the development of V levels, and what transitional arrangements they have made to maintain level 3 options for 16 to 19 year olds prior to the introduction of the new qualifications.

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

Ofqual will set the design rules for V Level structure, assessment and grading which each V Level must meet. In addition to the General Conditions of Recognition, these V Level specific conditions will be used to regulate awarding organisations’ design and delivery of every V Level, in the same way that each A level is regulated.

Ofqual will consider the regulatory approach that best meets the policy intent for V Levels and will consult on their plans in due course.

The department will work with Ofqual and awarding organisations on the approach to development and roll-out to ensure providers have as much time as possible to prepare for the delivery of V Levels.

In our consultation, we outlined plans to transition to V Levels while maintaining Level 3 options for 16 to19-year-olds. The government response will confirm the route order, implementation timetable, and priority subjects for first teaching in 2027.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many contracts across government departments have been let to Palantir in the past two years.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Palantir is not a strategic supplier and therefore details of contracts are not collated centrally.

Details of central government contracts above £12,000 and public sector contracts above £30,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder and for procurements commenced after 24 February 2025 are published on Find a Tender Service

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence were in prison on recall as of 1 December 2025 following a breach of licence conditions where no further criminal charge was brought; and to provide a breakdown of that number by the continuous length of time spent in custody since their most recent recall in increments of (1) less than 12 months, (2) one to two years, (3) two to three years, (4) three to four years, (5) four to five years, (6) five to six years), (7) six to seven years, (8) seven to eight years, (9) eight to nine years, (10) nine to ten years, and (11) more than ten years.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Data on the prison population is published as part of the Department’s Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) release, with the latest publication including prison population data as at 30 September 2025.

The requested information (based on the prison population as at 1 December 2025) cannot be provided at the current time because it would provide an early indication of the data underpinning the next iteration of these Accredited Official Statistics, which will be published on 29 January 2026

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 15 December (HL12482), when they expect to publish their response to their consultation, Post-16 level 3 and below pathways, closing on 12 January 2026.

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

The results of the consultation on Post-16 Level 3 and Below Pathways and the department's response will be published on GOV.UK in spring 2026.

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