Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new blasphemy guidance being developed by the Home Office will be legally binding upon schools; how they are planning to make schools aware of their new responsibilities under this guidance; and how it will be enforced.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In response to recent incidents, the Government has been repeatedly clear that there is no blasphemy law in Great Britain.
There are currently no plans to develop new blasphemy guidance for schools.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total apprenticeship budget allocated by HM Treasury to the Department for Education in each of the financial years (1) 2016–17, (2) 2017–18, (3) 2018–19, (4) 2019–20, (5) 2020–21, and (6) 2021–22.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts for all employers in England, to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers, providers, and apprentices.
The annual apprenticeship budget is set by HM Treasury (HMT). The table below shows the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget, and the total apprenticeships spend in England from the 2016/17 financial year to the 2021/22 financial year. This reflects the impact of the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April 2017 on increasing investment in apprenticeships and shows that in the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the budget in England was spent, with only £11 million unspent. Apprenticeships are an employer-led programme, and as is usual practice, any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the financial year are first returned to HMT, as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.
The Department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget and total apprenticeships spend for the 2016/17 to 2021/22 financial years:
Year | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget (£million) | 1,808 | 2,010 | 2,231 | 2,469 | 2,467 | 2,466 |
Total ring-fenced apprenticeships spend (£million) | 1,649 | 1,586 | 1,738 | 1,919 | 1,863 | 2,455 |
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they spent on apprenticeships in total in each of the financial years (1) 2016–17, (2) 2017–18, (3) 2018–19, (4) 2019–20, (5) 2020–21, and (6) 2021–22.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts for all employers in England, to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers, providers, and apprentices.
The annual apprenticeship budget is set by HM Treasury (HMT). The table below shows the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget, and the total apprenticeships spend in England from the 2016/17 financial year to the 2021/22 financial year. This reflects the impact of the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April 2017 on increasing investment in apprenticeships and shows that in the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the budget in England was spent, with only £11 million unspent. Apprenticeships are an employer-led programme, and as is usual practice, any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the financial year are first returned to HMT, as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.
The Department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget and total apprenticeships spend for the 2016/17 to 2021/22 financial years:
Year | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget (£million) | 1,808 | 2,010 | 2,231 | 2,469 | 2,467 | 2,466 |
Total ring-fenced apprenticeships spend (£million) | 1,649 | 1,586 | 1,738 | 1,919 | 1,863 | 2,455 |
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money was raised by the apprenticeship levy in each of the financial years (1) 2016–17, (2) 2017–18, (3) 2018–19, (4) 2019–20, (5) 2020–21, and (6) 2021–22.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in April 2017 and so there are no receipts for the 2016-2017 financial year. Monthly and Annual receipts data for the Apprenticeship Levy are published by HM Revenue and Customs in their Tax Receipts and National Insurance Contribution publication.[1]
A condensed version of the table of interest has been copied below, which shows how much funding has been raised by the Apprenticeship Levy in each year since it was introduced in financial year 2017-18:
Table: HMRC Receipts for Apprenticeship Levy by Financial Year
Financial Year | Apprenticeship Levy (£ million) |
2017 -18 | 2,271 |
2018 -19 | 2,713 |
2019 -20 | 2,798 |
2020 -21 | 2,910 |
2021 -22 | 3,213 |
[1] HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) religious workers visas, and (2) Minister of Religion visas, have been issued to Iranian subjects since July 2015; who were those visas issued to; and what plans they have, if any, to review this system.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release. Data on ‘Religious Worker (previously Tier 5)’ visas issued to Iranian nationals are published in table Vis_D02 of the ‘Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes’ detailed datasets. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q4 (October to December) 2022.
We are unable to discuss individual cases for GDPR reasons.
There are no plans to review the Immigration Rules governing Religious Workers or Ministers of Religion.