Adam Thompson

Justice and change that victims of the Windrush Scandal deserve has not been delivered.

Recently, I met with the WNO and Windrush Cymru Elders as part of this Government’s fundamental reset, and am proud that since taking office, we have re-established the Windrush unit in the Home Office; improved our caseworking with the introduction of a single named caseworker; committed to appointing a Windrush Commissioner; and are bringing in £1.5mil in grants to fund additional advocacy and support for claimants.

I am also pleased to hear about the excellent work of the Long Eaton Settlers Legacy Association in your constituency. Campaign groups like them do very important work in the local community, supporting victims of the Windrush Scandal to access the compensation they deserve. I will ensure that the Windrush Engagement Team is aware of their work as they continue reaching out to organisations and communities across the country.

This Government is determined to right the wrongs of the Windrush Scandal.

The Government encourages university-business collaboration through a range of incentives, funding and knowledge exchange. The Higher Education Innovation Fund, managed through Research England, providing £280m annually for knowledge exchange, including £20m specifically for business and commercialisation activity.

The Government has also established Skills England, which is tasked with identifying and articulating the skills needed while working with other actors in the skills system to ensure provision is aligned with our industrial strategy. We are building a flexible and high-quality system that breaks down the barriers to opportunity and drives growth.

The UKAEA has developed world-leading fusion expertise having hosted JET for 40 years. A decision was made to cease operations at the end of 2023 as major upgrades to JET’s ageing infrastructure would offer only limited scientific value.

Most of the staff linked to JET are now a part of JET decommissioning or other UKAEA programmes. JET decommissioning will provide a unique opportunity to develop knowledge in the decommissioning of a fusion device and will inform the design of STEP. Furthermore, the repurposing of the estate will support ongoing growth of the cluster of fusion organisations based at the Culham campus.

The next Research Excellence Framework (REF) is currently being developed by Research England and the three Devolved higher education funding bodies, in collaboration with the higher education sector.

As development of REF 2029 proceeds, the funding bodies will continue to engage with the sector and assess the feedback and evidence received from stakeholders until final guidance for the next exercise is set in 2026.

The UKRI open access policy aims to make the results of publicly funded research immediately available so they can be accessed and built upon. UKRI encourages preprints across research disciplines and reserves the right to require preprints where necessary.

UKRI Open Access Block Grant Awards support institutions in meeting its policy requirements. Awards cover article publishing charges (APCs) only under certain value for money terms as well as the sharing of papers via repositories and improvements to digital research infrastructures. UKRI monitors progress on open access, as well as how best to increase the accessibility of the research it funds.

The latest figures for the 2023/24 academic year show there have been 44,060 apprenticeship starts at degree level, including 3,540 in the East Midlands.

Degree apprenticeships can provide school leavers and older learners alternative routes into degree level professions, which supports diversity and inclusion.

The department will work with Skills England to ensure that degree apprenticeships continue to offer good value for money and drive economic growth.

1102 private schools closed between 11 May 2010 and 5 July 2024.

The data in the attached table breaks this down into a) Parliamentary constituency and b) Upper tier local authority in England.

Up to the end of 2023/24, the total amount of funding received by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust for the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital scheme was £7.5 million. The breakdown of how much the Trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023

All trusts in the Programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The New Hospital Programme had confirmed £3.7 billion in funding up to the end of 2024/25.

Up to the end of 2023/24, the total amount of funding received by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust for the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital scheme was £7.5 million. The breakdown of how much the Trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023

All trusts in the Programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The New Hospital Programme had confirmed £3.7 billion in funding up to the end of 2024/25.

The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The scheme is currently at the Pre-Consultation Business Case stage, and is at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 0.

The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The scheme is currently at the Pre-Consultation Business Case stage, and is at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 0.

Improving safety and outcomes for women and babies is central to NHS England’s three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, which is built on recommendations from recent maternity safety inquiries and specifically addresses the key themes they raised. The plan includes measures to determine success that will be used to monitor outcomes and progress in achieving key objectives in the plan. To facilitate monitoring against the key objectives, NHS England published technical guidance which includes information to provide clarity on the data sources and indicator construction for these measures.

There are a number of measures in place to monitor progress of maternity safety improvement schemes, including the perinatal quality oversight model (PQOM). The PQOM provides a structure with clear lines of responsibility and accountability for addressing and escalating quality and safety risks at a trust, integrated care board, regional, and national level.

The Maternity Safety Support Programme provides dedicated and intensive support to trusts that require additional support. Maternity improvement advisors work closely with trusts to develop tailored maternity improvement plans and monitor progress. NHS England undertook an evaluation of the programme this year and they are currently exploring where improvements can be made.

Within the current benefit in kind tax rules employers are able to provide their employees with a loan, which can be provided tax free, as long as the total value of the loan is below £10,000. This type of loan can be used to make purchases such as train season tickets, most of which are under £10,000, and the employee will then reimburse their employer out of their net salary.

The Government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review. Any decisions on future changes will be taken in the context of the wider public finances.