Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government which organisations (1) receiving funding through the Department for Education, or (2) holding contracts related to the work of the Department, between 1 January and 22 April have been notified of either (a) a reduction in, or (b) the cancellation of, their funding, broken down by category; which of those organisations will have funding withdrawn (i) in the current financial year, or (ii) over the next two financial years; and what is the total amount that will be withdrawn for such organisations over those periods.

Answered by Baroness Barran

The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to remarks by Lord Stewart of Dirleton on 29 April (HL Deb col 1704), what are (1) the make-up, and (2) the objectives, of the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) safety team, in relation to prisoners on IPP sentences in danger of self-harm.

Answered by Lord Bellamy

HMPPS Safety Group supports the safety of all prisoners, and within the group, one member of staff focuses on IPP prisoners, which includes taking forward the safety actions identified in the IPP Action Plan.

Our refreshed IPP Action Plan, which will be published this summer along with our IPP Annual Report, now has a workstream dedicated to Safety with the main objective of supporting prisons to deliver safety improvements for those serving an IPP sentence.

Our primary focus is on raising awareness of the heightened risk of self-harm and suicide of IPP prisoners and we have developed an IPP Safety Toolkit to support prisons.

We will continue to monitor, analyse and share any changing or emerging trends in published IPP prisoner data with staff and to inform and update our guidance where appropriate.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to distribute the next allocation from the Dormant Asset Scheme, and how much this allocation will be.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

The Dormant Assets Scheme is expected to release £350 million for England between 2024 and 2028. HM Government intends to allocate this equally between the four causes we have set out: youth, financial inclusion, social investment wholesalers, and community wealth funds. Further details will be published in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the current arrangements for the assessment of literacy and numeracy competence at the first stage of recruitment into any branch of the armed forces; what provision exists for adult education for (1) literacy, (2) numeracy, and (3) broader educational purposes, after the first two stages of the recruitment process; and what specialist and current expertise exists to assist senior officers in their responsibility to deliver professional and educational support.

Answered by Earl of Minto

The Armed Forces conduct a range of eligibility checks and assessments within recruitment pipelines, and these include the requirement for candidates to have minimum educational qualifications for entry into the Armed Forces. The single Services set their own minimum educational entry standards, and these are specific to the individual requirements of employment groups. Minimum educational qualifications for entry are regularly reviewed and amended to reflect the most up to date requirements of employment groups.

Following initial training, 95% of enlisted personnel are enrolled onto apprenticeships, which require Functional Skills standards. We support all Service personnel up to Level 2 Functional Skills English and Maths and provide further additional support for those with Specific Learning Differences. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) also promotes lifelong learning among members of the Armed Forces, using the Elective Education Schemes to gain higher level qualifications. MOD, and each of the Armed Forces, have specialist education and training policy teams to assist senior officers.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners were recalled to prison under (1) imprisonment for public protection sentences, and (2) all categories, in 2023.

Answered by Lord Bellamy

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total value of the Department for Education’s apprenticeships budget in each financial year since 2017–18.

Answered by Baroness Barran

The department’s apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts in apprenticeship levy and non-levy paying employers to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers and providers.

The table below provides the total value of the department’s apprenticeship budget for England for each financial year since 2017/18.

The budget figure for the 2024/25 financial year reflects the Spending Review 2021 settlement, as well as additional funding that has recently been announced to support apprenticeships, including the growth pilot announced at the Autumn Statement, and the additional funding the Prime Minister announced in March to boost apprenticeships for young people in smaller business and meet overall increased demand for apprenticeships.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of apprentice levy-paying employers have transferred the maximum 25 per cent of their levy contributions to other employers in each financial year since 2017–18.

Answered by Baroness Barran

Levy paying employers have been able to transfer a proportion of their annual funds to other employers since April 2018, when the maximum transfer allowance was 10%. This was increased to 25% in April 2019 and from 22 April 2024, the department has doubled the levy transfer allowance to 50%.

The table below shows the percentage of levy-paying employers who spent all of their transfer allowance in each financial year from 2018/19 to 2023/24.

Transfers provide levy paying employers with more flexibility about how they spend the funds available to them, including supporting other businesses such as smaller employers, flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities to help meet local and sector-specific needs. The department has improved the transfer system, introducing a pledge and match service on GOV.UK, to make it easier to find other employers who wish to take on apprentices with transferred funds. Since the service was introduced in September 2021, over 500 employers have pledged to transfer over £37 million to support apprenticeships in businesses of all sizes, as of 9 February 2024.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much money (1) was raised by the apprenticeships levy, and (2) was passed onto the devolved nations from levy receipts, in each financial year since 2017–18.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Monthly receipts data for the Apprenticeship Levy is published by HM Revenue and Customs in their Tax and NIC Receipts publication which can be found online[1] at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk

While the Apprenticeship Levy is UK wide, apprenticeship policy and spending is devolved. From FY2017-18 to FY2019-20, the devolved administrations received a population share of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s apprenticeship Levy forecast. Beyond 2019-20, the devolved administrations received funding through the Barnett formula in relation to English apprenticeship spending. The Block Grant Transparency publication which is available on GOV.UK sets out all Barnett consequentials generated at both departmental and programme level. It is for the devolved administrations to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit, including investing in their skills programmes.

[1] HM Revenue & Customs (2024), HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK

Found: all ambition and all innovation if we’re really beginning to cut things like this”. 86 Similarly, Lord

Found: LORD THOMAS OF CWMGIEDD LORD GARNIER LORD BLUNKETT BARONESS BURT OF SOLIHULL 135_ Clause 48

Found: REPORT [Supplementary to the Third Marshalled List] After Clause 48 LORD THOMAS OF CWMGIEDD LORD