Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Houses in Multiple Occupation in settled communities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
No such specific assessment has been made. I refer the noble Lord to policy DM10 of the new National Planning Policy Framework published on 17 August. The policy provides a more flexible framework for the use of Article 4 directions so local planning authorities can remove permitted development rights where it is necessary to protect the amenity or wellbeing of an area, for instance where there is an overconcentration of small Houses in Multiple Occupation.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker what is the total spend to date on the Restoration and Renewal programme; and what proportion of physical work under the programme has been carried out.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The total cost of the Restoration and Renewal (R&R) Programme, from 2020-21 until the end of 2025-26, is £537m. This includes the costs of the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body and R&R Delivery Authority which were established in April and May 2020 respectively (including £5m of costs in April 2020 before the Delivery Authority was formally incorporated). It also includes the costs of R&R Client Team, which took over the sponsor function for the programme from the Sponsor Body in January 2023, the costs of the House of Lords R&R team, and Strategic Estates’ costs of developing the enhanced maintenance and improvement delivery option.
The total budgeted spend for the current financial year (2026-27) is £75m, which includes the costs of the Delivery Authority, the R&R Client Team and the House of Lords R&R team.
The Delivery Authority’s funding is based on what is required to deliver the key activities tasked to it by the R&R Client Team. The Delivery Authority seeks to ensure that its expenditure remains taut and proportionate for the activities required to deliver the Programme and constantly re-assesses its resources, scaling up or down as appropriate. Under the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Act 2019, the Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission (PWEC) is required to review Estimates for the Delivery Authority’s expenditure before the Estimate is laid and, in doing so, is required to consult HM Treasury. Prior to this, the Delivery Authority’s proposed budget is subject to scrutiny by the R&R Client Team and House finance teams, Delivery Authority Board, R&R Programme Board, and the R&R Client Board. The R&R Programme routinely publishes information on costs, for instance in quarterly reports, annual reports, and memoranda provided to PWEC.
No major construction work to the Palace of Westminster has yet been carried out as part of the R&R Programme. Under the 2019 Act, the R&R Programme is currently in ‘phase one’ in which no Palace restoration works, other than preparatory works, may be carried out. Approximately 10% of the Delivery Authority’s spend to date has been on surveying the Palace, with 16 intrusive surveys completed and over 1000 spaces surveyed. The Delivery Authority’s spend to date has also included designs costs for the Palace and for Lords temporary accommodation, programme management, data and digital (including developing a 3D Building Information Model of the Palace which is able to generate drawings and plans of any part of the building), procurement preparation, heritage audits and starting up the organisation from scratch.
In February 2026, the R&R Client Board (the two House Commissions meeting jointly) published a report ‘Delivering restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster: the costed proposals’ (HL Paper 229). This recommended that the Houses should be invited to agree to an initial package of works, defined as “phase one works”, which would be capped at £3 billion and include up to seven years of expenditure as well as financial commitment for completion of significant works that cannot be stopped at the end of the seven year period. It would include the preparation of temporary accommodation for both Houses, enabling works, early works and pre-construction activity. Parliamentary debates are expected to be scheduled to allow the Houses to agree the preferred way forward.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether children who are receiving their schooling in virtual schools are classified as home educated or as missing from school rolls.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where parents have chosen to provide education otherwise than at school and the child is not registered at a school, the child would be considered electively home educated. Parents may choose how elective home education (EHE) is delivered, including through a virtual school.
Where a child is not registered at a school, local authorities have a duty to satisfy themselves that suitable education is being provided through making enquiries in line with its statutory duties. Where suitable education is not being received or the child's whereabouts are unknown, the child may be considered a child missing education (CME). If the local authority is satisfied that suitable education is being received, the child would not be regarded as a child missing education. The fact that education is delivered online does not in itself determine a child's CME or EHE status.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school teachers have taken early retirement in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of qualified teachers who leave service each year and the number of teachers who retire, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available on GOV.UK.
The closest measure available for teachers leaving the profession is the number of qualified teachers leaving service in the state-funded school sector in England.
The department does not hold information on the number of teachers taking early retirement. However, information is available on teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits before normal retirement age, including actuarially reduced, ill-health and premature retirement benefits. School workforce data are published on an academic year basis, while Teachers' Pension Scheme awards are recorded on a financial year basis.
The information requested is provided below.
Full-time equivalent number of qualified teachers leaving the state-funded school sector each year, by phase
Academic year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2024/25 | 17,953 | 17,477 |
2023/24 | 19,078 | 18,370 |
2022/23 | 20,298 | 19,124 |
2021/22 | 20,743 | 18,948 |
2020/21 | 17,059 | 15,528 |
Notes: Includes those leaving the state-funded sector in England due to a change of career, joining other UK education sectors, retirement and those who died. Primary includes Nursery schools.
Source: School Workforce Census
Headcount number of teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits (excluding normal age retirement), by phase
Financial year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2025-26 | 792 | 953 |
2024-25 | 694 | 800 |
2023-24 | 574 | 764 |
2022-23 | 903 | 1,086 |
2021-22 | 1,435 | 1,700 |
Notes: Includes actuarially reduced age retirements, ill-health retirements and premature retirements. Awards relating to normal age retirement have been excluded. These benefits may be awarded during service or after the teacher has left service. The number of awards may be revised for each past year as late applications for pension benefits are processed. Therefore, these figures differ to figures presented of leavers due to retirement.
Source: Teacher Pension Scheme
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children in care are there (1) in total, (2) under local authority care, (3) in unregistered care settings, and (4) in temporary care.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All looked after children are under local authority care if they are provided with accommodation for a continuous period of more than 24 hours, are subject to a care order, or are subject to a placement order.
The total number of children looked after by local authorities in England as of 31 March 2025 is 81,770.
Information on looked after children in unregistered care settings is not centrally held by the department.
The total number of children in temporary care, defined as children looked after exclusively under a series of short-term placements (respite), during the year ending 31 March 2025 is 500. Children may be provided with respite as 'children in need' or as 'children looked after', so this figure for looked after children will underrepresent the total number of children provided with short breaks.
The latest information on the numbers and placements for looked after children, relating to the year ending 31 March 2025, was published on 20 November 2025 in the annual statistical release 'Children looked after in England including adoptions'.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school teachers have left the profession in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of qualified teachers who leave service each year and the number of teachers who retire, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available on GOV.UK.
The closest measure available for teachers leaving the profession is the number of qualified teachers leaving service in the state-funded school sector in England.
The department does not hold information on the number of teachers taking early retirement. However, information is available on teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits before normal retirement age, including actuarially reduced, ill-health and premature retirement benefits. School workforce data are published on an academic year basis, while Teachers' Pension Scheme awards are recorded on a financial year basis.
The information requested is provided below.
Full-time equivalent number of qualified teachers leaving the state-funded school sector each year, by phase
Academic year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2024/25 | 17,953 | 17,477 |
2023/24 | 19,078 | 18,370 |
2022/23 | 20,298 | 19,124 |
2021/22 | 20,743 | 18,948 |
2020/21 | 17,059 | 15,528 |
Notes: Includes those leaving the state-funded sector in England due to a change of career, joining other UK education sectors, retirement and those who died. Primary includes Nursery schools.
Source: School Workforce Census
Headcount number of teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits (excluding normal age retirement), by phase
Financial year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2025-26 | 792 | 953 |
2024-25 | 694 | 800 |
2023-24 | 574 | 764 |
2022-23 | 903 | 1,086 |
2021-22 | 1,435 | 1,700 |
Notes: Includes actuarially reduced age retirements, ill-health retirements and premature retirements. Awards relating to normal age retirement have been excluded. These benefits may be awarded during service or after the teacher has left service. The number of awards may be revised for each past year as late applications for pension benefits are processed. Therefore, these figures differ to figures presented of leavers due to retirement.
Source: Teacher Pension Scheme
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the grounds of the judicial review regarding the establishment of the Oak National Academy as an Arm’s Length Body.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In establishing Oak National Academy as an arm's length body, the department is helping to tackle teacher workload, strengthen curriculum expertise and improve education. As legal proceedings are ongoing, the department cannot comment further on the judicial review or speculate on its outcome.
Monitoring the academy’s impact on the curriculum resources market remains a priority. A market impact assessment published on 26 September 2025 found that the academy had a modest impact on the domestic curriculum resources market and was unlikely to have had any significant impact on the international market. The department will continue to keep the academy’s impact under review, and the corporate report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of freely available resources by Oak National Academy on the commercial education publishing market.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In establishing Oak National Academy as an arm's length body, the department is helping to tackle teacher workload, strengthen curriculum expertise and improve education. As legal proceedings are ongoing, the department cannot comment further on the judicial review or speculate on its outcome.
Monitoring the academy’s impact on the curriculum resources market remains a priority. A market impact assessment published on 26 September 2025 found that the academy had a modest impact on the domestic curriculum resources market and was unlikely to have had any significant impact on the international market. The department will continue to keep the academy’s impact under review, and the corporate report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether online secondary schools are required to be registered; if so, how many of these schools are registered.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.
However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether online secondary schools are inspected by Ofsted.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.
However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.