Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to address falling school readiness, following the findings of the Kindred Squared School Readiness Survey, published on 30 January.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government welcomes the focus from the Kindred Squared School Readiness Survey. Preparing children for school should be a partnership between parents, early years settings and schools.
That is why this government has set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028.
This is an increase from 67.7% currently and would mean an additional 40,000 to 45,000 children a year hitting developmental goals.
To achieve this milestone, we will:
We will continue to work closely with parents and teachers as we deliver our ambitious reforms to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 11 March (HL5240), what is the turnover and gross value added for each of the 73 industries covered in their definition of energy-intensive industry.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average size of a UK industrial site by land area.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology does not hold information on the average size of a UK industrial site by land area.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the physical size of the UK industrial production sector in terms of land area.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology does not hold information on the physical size of the UK industrial production sector in terms of land area.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the increase in data centre capacity, as measured in megawatts, in the UK for each year since 2008.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has not collected figures on the growth of data centre capacity but has monitored the market periodically and through industry engagement. Other sources for this historical data are available, through Tech UK or CBRE's market outlooks for example.
The Government’s estimate, of the UK’s data centre capacity, defined as the maximum rated IT load of colocation data centres, is broken down by region in a table below. This is estimated as of Autumn 2024.
NUTS 1 Region | IT power (MW) |
North West | 52 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 16 |
London | 1,048 |
South West | 53 |
South East | 128 |
Scotland | 30 |
West Midlands | 15 |
East Midlands | 9 |
Wales | 154 |
East | 44 |
North East | 17 |
Total 1.6 GW
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is UK data centre capacity, as measured in megawatts, by region.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has not collected figures on the growth of data centre capacity but has monitored the market periodically and through industry engagement. Other sources for this historical data are available, through Tech UK or CBRE's market outlooks for example.
The Government’s estimate, of the UK’s data centre capacity, defined as the maximum rated IT load of colocation data centres, is broken down by region in a table below. This is estimated as of Autumn 2024.
NUTS 1 Region | IT power (MW) |
North West | 52 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 16 |
London | 1,048 |
South West | 53 |
South East | 128 |
Scotland | 30 |
West Midlands | 15 |
East Midlands | 9 |
Wales | 154 |
East | 44 |
North East | 17 |
Total 1.6 GW
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed in energy-intensive industries by (1) region, and (2) industry.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Department for Business and Trade maintains statistics on energy intensive industries (EII) which can be seen in full as an attachment.
In 2022, the regions with the highest employment in eligible energy intensive industries were the North West (59,590), the West Midlands (55,055) and Yorkshire and The Humber (53,135).
EIIs with the highest employment in 2022 were manufacture of other plastic products (45,850), manufacture of corrugated paper and paperboard and of containers of paper and paperboard (25,443), and processing and preserving of poultry meat (25,000).
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livermore on 19 December 2024 (HL3296), what advice they have sought on establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve for the United Kingdom; and whether they have had discussions with the government of the United States of America about any potential benefits this might offer the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in my previous response, HM Treasury currently has no plans to adopt a strategic bitcoin reserve.
The UK and US have a close and historic relationship and hold regular engagement. We will not comment on hypothetical policy positions.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 18 December 2024 (HL3295) for each year since 2019, how much cryptocurrency was recovered from confiscation, forfeiture, and civil recovery orders by (1) Police Forces in England and Wales, (2) the National Crime Agency, (3) His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, (4) the Serious Fraud Office, (5) the Crown Prosecution Service, (6) Border Force, (7) the Financial Conduct Authority, and (8) local authorities in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is reviewing plans to publish new statistics on crypto assets as part of future annual stats bulletins on asset recovery in response to the new powers that came into effect in April 2024.
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains powers to deprive criminals of their money, or other property connected to criminal activity, and recover the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrencies. As with all assets, action to seize, recover and manage crypto assets is for independent law enforcement bodies and the courts to consider.
We do not routinely publish the amount recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by asset type.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 18 December 2024 (HL3295), of the £243.3 million of assets recovered from confiscation, forfeiture, and civil recovery orders in the financial year 2023–24, what percentage was made up by cryptocurrencies; and how much of this has been redistributed to law enforcement agencies under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is reviewing plans to publish new statistics on crypto assets as part of future annual stats bulletins on asset recovery in response to the new powers that came into effect in April 2024.
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains powers to deprive criminals of their money, or other property connected to criminal activity, and recover the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrencies. As with all assets, action to seize, recover and manage crypto assets is for independent law enforcement bodies and the courts to consider.
We do not routinely publish the amount recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by asset type.