Adam Jogee

Cutting-edge science, innovation and technology are central to modern defence and UK national security. DSIT is working closely with MOD to input into its Strategic Defence Review, to help MOD leverage the strengths of the UK S&T ecosystem to achieve its ambitions. This includes investments in future research breakthroughs and innovation to grow our technology sector, which also supports future defence needs. DSIT’s teams regularly engage with cross-Government colleagues including Defence on the opportunities and risks of new technologies and are integrated into the relevant board structures for defence-related R&D. DSIT's Secretary of State speaks frequently to cabinet colleagues on issues of mutual importance.

Science and innovation are vital to our mission to kickstart economic growth and create jobs in every part of the country.

For example, Research England invested £5 million into the HyDEX programme, which Keele University leads on behalf of the Midlands-based Energy Research Accelerator. This is helping build a Midlands hydrogen economy by working with established national businesses and accelerating local SMEs’ work.

Through the Strength in Places Fund, UKRI invested £18.3 million in the “Midlands Advanced Ceramics for Industry 4.0” programme led by Staffordshire company Lucideon. This led the Applied Materials Research, Innovation, & Commercialisation Company to be established.

The Secretary of State met with each of his ministerial counterparts in the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive.

These discussions have been highly constructive, in keeping with the Prime Minister’s reset in relations with the Devolved Governments, and have revealed a number of areas of shared interest and scope for collaboration across the science, innovation and research portfolio.

The Secretary of State has also undertaken official visits to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including to Queen’s University Belfast and the Smart Nano NI consortium in September.

Increasing productivity right across the UK is fundamental to our mission to kickstart economic growth. We know businesses grow faster because of science and innovation. In the 6 years after receiving their first R&D grant funding, the average business increases employment by 21% and turnover by 23%. The Government will continue to support regional growth through the industrial strategy. As set out in the Industrial Strategy Green Paper, research, development, and innovation are essential to developing the UK’s growth-driving sectors. The Government will explore how to build on existing place-based initiatives to support high-potential clusters.

R&D is fundamental to achieving the Government’s mission of kickstarting economic growth and we know businesses grow faster because of science and innovation. In the 6 years after receiving their first R&D grant funding, employment increases in the average business by 21% and turnover grows by 23%.

That is why the government is investing record amounts into R&D, with total government investment in R&D rising to a record £20.4 billion in 2025/26. This investment also supports our research base and underpins the innovations and technological advancements that will help the UK boost productivity and create high-paid jobs.

We are ensuring R&D supports the government’s five missions, via such vehicles as the R&D Missions Programme. Through this, R&D is at the heart of our agenda to boost growth and improve lives by maximising the potential of science and technology.

The Department continues to closely monitor the implementation and impact of the grant scheme through the regular reporting of the grant administrator, EMB. Since 2010, the Government has returned over £350 million to listed churches, synagogues, mosques and temples through the grant scheme. This has helped protect our listed places of worship and enabled them to continue their work as centres of worship and community assets.

As a tenant for each of our offices including our London and Manchester HQs, DCMS does not manage food provision or waste in our offices. For our London HQ this service is provided by our landlords, the Government Property Agency.

This Government recognises and welcomes the success of the creative industries in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is committed to supporting our world-leading creative industries, and their growth in regions across the UK.

The Office for National Statistics includes Newcastle-Under-Lyme as part of the Stoke-On-Trent ‘Travel To Work Area,’ and indicates that 3,777 people were employed in the creative industries in 2021, an increase of 5% since 2017.

The second wave of the £50 million Creative Clusters competition will be announced in the coming months, which will provide Newcastle-Under-Lyme, and the surrounding area, the opportunity to further develop themselves as a creative cluster. This would build on many of the strengths already present in the region, including video games, digital production and crafting.

I will ask my officials to keep both the New Vic Theatre and the Philip Astley Centre in mind when planning future visits.

The UK is proud to have hosted the Commonwealth Games twice in the past decade. This government welcomes the £1bn of Gross Value Added to the UK economy from the Games, including hundreds of millions to the local economy in the West Midlands. The Legacy Enhancement Fund from the Games continues to drive inward investment to and grassroots activity in the region, ensuring the area benefits from a lasting legacy of hosting the Games.

The Government is committed to developing grassroots sport and will work with our Arms Length Body Sport England to support projects which facilitate participation in the Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency. DCMS’s Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities and Park Tennis Courts programme have already had an impact in the area by investing in a new 3G football surface at Roe Lane Playing Fields, and will continue to deliver high-quality, inclusive grassroots facilities that help more people access sport wherever they live.

The government is committed to the introduction of statutory children not in school registers, maintained by each local authority in England. These registers will include those children who are being educated at home, and parents will have a duty to provide information about their children and where and how they are receiving their education. These measures are part of the recently announced Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on Tuesday 17 December. As part of that Bill, we are also taking steps to require parents of some of our most vulnerable children to obtain local authority consent before they can move to home education. This will apply to children who are subject to ongoing enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 2004, children who have a child protection plan, and children who are attending a special school. Where those children are already being educated at home, local authorities will be able to consider whether that is in their best interests and to assess the suitability of their home learning environment. If that leads to a determination that home education is not in the child’s best interests, the local authority will be able to issue a school attendance order.

Local authorities currently maintain voluntary registers of home educated children in their area. This will be made a legal requirement and authorities also required to share data from their registers with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. This will allow us to develop a stronger understanding of home education numbers and drivers at local and national levels and determine policy responses where home education has been chosen for reasons other than the provision of suitable education to a child.

Information on the school workforce, including the pupil to adult and pupil to teacher ratios at national, regional, local authority and individual school level, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

In the 2023/24 academic year, which is the latest data available, the ratio of pupils to teachers (qualified and unqualified) was 16:8 in state-funded secondary schools in England, the same as the previous year.

The attached table provides the pupil to adult ratio and the pupil to teacher ratio for state-funded secondary schools in Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency, Staffordshire local authority and England for the 2010/11 to 2023/24 academic years.

The government is clear on the impact that breakfast clubs can have to support children to arrive at school ready to learn, which is why we are committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every school with primary aged pupils.

From April 2025, free breakfast clubs will be available in up to 750 early adopter schools, as part of a ‘test and learn’ phase, in advance of a national roll out.

The new breakfast club offer, once rolled out nationally, will be available to every state funded school with primary aged children. It will both provide parents with more affordable childcare choices, supporting families with the cost of living, and support school attendance and attainment, ensuring children are set-up for the day and ready to learn.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and other governmental Ministers visit a wide variety of education settings across a broad geography. Ministers are grateful to receive many invitations to different establishments and will continue to regularly visit nurseries, schools, colleges and universities.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reinspected Staffordshire SEND services on their eight areas of significant weakness in February 2022. The inspectors assessed each area of weakness and concluded that sufficient progress had been made to address six. Staffordshire produced an Accelerated Progress Plan (APP) to address the remaining two areas of significant weakness. The APP is being monitored on a 6-monthly basis and the next review is due to take place in November 2024.

The department is committed to supporting and monitoring progress of the identified areas for improvement and have put in place regular monitoring and challenge meetings with SEND advisors from the department and NHS England.

The Government is committed to meeting current legal targets for air quality, including the targets recently set under the Environment Act 2021, and will review the policy measures needed to achieve them. We will deliver a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy, including a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality guidelines are intended to inform the setting of air quality standards and are not ready-made targets for direct adoption as they do not consider achievability or individual countries’ circumstances. However, we will consider WHO guidelines as part of an evidence led process when considering future targets.

On 5 September the Secretary of State reaffirmed the Government’s intention to rollout a Mandatory Water Efficiency Label (MWEL). We will introduce the MWEL in the UK via Secondary Legislation under Section 52 and Schedule 6 of the Environment Act 2021. The label will be informed by the international standard ISO’s 31600:2022.

We are working with the Environment Agency to engage manufacturers and other stakeholders to keep them informed about the regulations as they develop.

On 5 September the Secretary of State reaffirmed the Government’s intention to rollout a Mandatory Water Efficiency Label (MWEL). We will introduce the MWEL in the UK via Secondary Legislation under Section 52 and Schedule 6 of the Environment Act 2021. The label will be informed by the international standard ISO’s 31600:2022.

We are working with the Environment Agency to engage manufacturers and other stakeholders to keep them informed about the regulations as they develop.

On 5 September the Secretary of State reaffirmed the Government’s intention to rollout a Mandatory Water Efficiency Label (MWEL). We will introduce the MWEL in the UK via Secondary Legislation under Section 52 and Schedule 6 of the Environment Act 2021. The label will be informed by the international standard ISO’s 31600:2022.

We are working with the Environment Agency to engage manufacturers and other stakeholders to keep them informed about the regulations as they develop.

We recognise the importance of raising awareness of air pollution and associated health impacts. In addition to our commitment to deliver a new Clean Air Strategy, we are undertaking a review of how we communicate air quality information to ensure members of the public, and vulnerable groups in particular, have what they need to protect themselves.