Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that projects supported by the Zero Emission Vessel Infrastructure fund in (a) Aberdeen (b) Portsmouth and (c) the UK are able to proceed with vessel plug-in demonstrations; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (i) uncertainty on the UK Emission Trading Scheme's applicability to domestic maritime, (ii) the VAT rating of shore power and (iii) the level of ports' (A) transmission and (B) standing charges on the viability of such projects.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Zero Emission Vessel Infrastructure (ZEVI) fund provided £80 million of funding to ten projects, including over £25 million for cold ironing projects in Portsmouth, Aberdeen and Falmouth. Our UK SHORE programme delivery partner Innovate UK, monitors, scrutinises and works with projects to ensure they are on track for delivery and to assist with overcoming barriers which may impact upon delivery.
While we have not specifically assessed the impact of the points raised on the viability of ZEVI projects, the wider policy environment will of course enable the long-term viability of these projects.
The recently published Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy sets out our intended policy package for the UK domestic maritime sector, including expanding the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to domestic maritime from 2026. This will be a key policy in enabling the conditions for zero and near-zero emission vessels to be commercially viable, by applying a price to emissions, and incentivising the uptake of emissions reduction technologies.
In the coming months we will publish our response to the consultation on the technical details of including domestic maritime in the ETS, which will provide more certainty on the applicability of the scheme.
Further to this, we recently concluded a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports. It focused on port decarbonisation and zero emissions at berth, including questions on the barriers and opportunities of reducing emissions at berth and standing and transmission charges at ports. Our response to this call for evidence will follow in due course. We will continue to engage with Ofgem and other departments regarding the provision and use of electricity by ports and their users.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department's document entitled Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, published on 25 March 2025, when he will announce the outcome of the consultation on the application of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to shipping operating in UK waters.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A second, technical consultation on the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to include the maritime sector closed in January 2025. The UK ETS Authority is currently analysing responses and finalising policy design for implementation. The consultation outlined that the scheme would apply to domestic voyages between UK ports, including voyages that begin and end in the same UK port. The Authority also proposed to include emissions at berth in UK ports (irrespective of whether a ship is undertaking a domestic or international voyage). We will publish the Authority Response to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure distinct recognition for children from service families in education policy; and whether she will adopt a whole person, whole journey approach for such children.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Armed Forces Covenant aims to ensure that service people and their families are not disadvantaged by their service to our country. The government is dedicated to recognising and supporting the education of children and young people from military families within the state-funded education system, ensuring they have the opportunity to achieve and thrive.
Schools are allocated additional funding through the Service Pupil Premium to help them better support the specific needs of children from service families. For the 2025/26 financial year, over £26 million has been allocated to state-funded schools in England through the Service Pupil Premium, at a rate of £350 per pupil.
The government remains open to new evidence regarding the specific needs of service children and is committed to finding the best ways to support them throughout all educational phases.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the VAT treatment of (a) shore power supplied to ships and (b) the services provided by contractors who connect or disconnect that supply; and if she will make it her policy to amend the Extra-Statutory Concessions for electricity to be a zero-rated marine fuel for VAT purposes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT charged on electricity generated through shore power and supplied to ships can be recovered by businesses operating these ships subject to the normal rules of the tax.
Extra-Statutory Concessions (ESCs) are remissions of revenue that allow relief in specific sets of circumstances and are authorised when strict application of the law would create a disadvantage or the effect would not be the one intended. This does not apply to the rules that relate to the supply of electricity.
ESC 9.2 allows zero-rating of marine fuel as ships stores. It is limited to a specific set of rebated duty fuels (fuel oil, gas oil and kerosene) that qualified for zero-rating before July 1990. The Government has no plans to review or amend the scope of ESC 9.2.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing funding for support for education professionals working with armed forces children; and what steps he is taking to ensure that funding in this area is (a) informed by research, (b) supported by evaluation and (c) aligned with improving outcomes for armed forces families.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Understanding that education is a devolved matter, the Secretary of State for Defence does not issue core funding to educational settings for Service children.
However, the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Armed Forces Families Fund provides additional funding opportunities for schools and local authorities across the UK. Since 2023, £4.5 million has supported the Service Pupil Support Programme (SPSP) in schools and local authorities across the UK. The sub themes of the SPSP align with the aims of the Armed Forces Families Strategy and include elements focusing upon the educational outcomes of Service children and supporting Service children with additional learning needs. The SPSP is evaluated externally and is also presently funding three university research projects in areas of specific interest.
In England the Department for Education continues to allocate additional funding in the form of the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) to state funded schools with Service children among their pupils. Service Pupil Premium funding helps schools to provide pastoral and academic support to current and former Service children. Schools are allocated SPP funding for each pupil aged 5 to 16 who is currently recorded as a Service child in the autumn school census or who has held this status in the last six years via ‘Ever 6’, or who receives a child pension from the MOD. The SPP is now worth £350 per eligible pupil annually. For example, more than £26 million has been paid to schools in the financial year 2023 to 2024, benefiting more than 78,000 pupils.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is planning to take to improve the (a) quality and (b) availability of data on the educational (i) outcomes and (ii) experiences of armed forces children; and if he will make it his policy to develop a national dataset to help inform evidence-based (A) policy and (B) practice in this area.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We are committed with counterparts in Government to maintaining robust data around the educational outcomes of all children to inform future strategic and policy development. It is important to remember that education is a devolved matter, and caution should be applied in considering the feasibility of a UK-wide dataset, where very different education systems would be compared. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the importance of the devolved administrations maintaining their own datasets to inform where their resources should be targeted.
The Department for Education (DfE) continues to provide the MOD updated datasets on how Service children perform in state schools in England across key measures of academic attainment; this information is published in the Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report. The DfE and the MOD have also recently published joint guidance to schools and local authorities on how best to support Service children in education.
In Scotland, the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Act places duties on education authorities, who retain the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education in Scotland. These duties require Scottish authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of pupils. This includes Service children and young people, who may require extra support, short or long term and for whatever the reason. Delivery of ASL is a joint endeavour between the Scottish Government and Scottish Local Authorities.
The Welsh Government are currently exploring the potential to broaden the definition of Service children in Wales to ensure the maximum number of children can benefit from the support available. Linked to this they are considering how they collect data on Service children in Welsh schools to ensure that policy and support is based on robust evidence.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Legal Aid Agency paid in fees to (a) Kingsley Napley LLP, (b) Leigh Day LLP, (c) Wilson Solicitors LLP, (d) Bindmans LLP and (e) Duncan Lewis LLP in (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23, (iii) 2023-24 and (iv) 2024-25.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information for financial years 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-24 can be found in the table below:
| 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Bindmans LLP | £2,889,044.98 | £3,567,543.29 | £3,434,244.42 |
Duncan Lewis Solicitor LTD | £29,281,007.13 | £26,328,354.77 | £33,111,592.51 |
Kingsley Napley LLP | £1,103.00 | £19,784.00 | £25,553.00 |
Leigh Day | £1,033,994.11 | £761,937.35 | £525,154.12 |
Wilson Solicitors LLP | £3,713,641.93 | £2,616,516.78 | £3,859,081.76 |
Information relating to closed case expenditure in legal aid funded cases is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s Official Statistics. Data relating to financial year 24-25 is due for publication on June 2026.
Information broken down by financial year, legal aid provider, and type of legal aid can be viewed on the Provider explorer dashboard of the Legal aid provider completions and starts statistics data visualisation tool.
Please note that Kingsley Napley LLP no longer hold a legal aid contract. The firm withdrew from its criminal legal aid contract on 15 September 2023 and its civil legal aid contract on 31 August 2024. Expenditure in subsequent years represents bills paid relating to work carried out whilst the contract was live.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing student loans for apprentices.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeships are jobs with training, allowing apprentices to earn a wage whilst getting hands-on industry experience. Apprenticeships training is funded by the government and by employers, meaning that apprentices do not have to pay towards the cost of their training. For this reason, apprentices are not eligible for student finance, but we remain committed to ensuring that apprentice wages support the attraction of talented individuals into apprenticeships.
On 1 April 2025, the Apprentice National Minimum Wage (ANMW) increased by 18% to £7.55 per hour, from £6.40, which will help to encourage more young people to upskill via apprenticeships. Apprentices under 19, or aged 19 and above and in the first year of their apprenticeship, are entitled to the ANMW. In all other cases, apprentices must receive at least the correct national minimum wage for their age, although many employers choose to pay more than the minimum.
This government also wants to ensure that more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds can undertake apprenticeships. We continue to pay a bursary of £3,000 to apprentices under the age of 25 who have been, or are, in local authority care. The bursary is paid in instalments over the first year of the apprenticeship, supporting care leavers as they transition into employment.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) develop and (b) implement in-classroom screening tools for dyslexia; and if she will include those tools in the (i) training and (ii) resources provided to teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory guidance ‘SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ is clear that meeting the needs of a child with special educational needs (SEN) does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, the department expects teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed. The full guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with specific learning difficulties. As part of this, the department is considering both international evidence and best practice in its policymaking on SEN, with a focus on strengthening the evidence base on what works to identify and support needs in mainstream settings, including for specific learning difficulties.
The department has also commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people (age 0 to 25) with different types of needs.
In November 2024, the department established the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, chaired by Professor Karen Guldberg from Birmingham University, to provide an expert view and make recommendations on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings. The group brings together experts including clinicians, scientists and academics, education professionals, and charities representing specific types of neurodivergence. We have been clear that in developing their advice, we expect the group to draw on a wide range of inputs, including other sector experts and stakeholders, to ensure appropriate coverage of other types of neurodivergence. The group will also listen to the voices of neurodivergent children and young people, their parents, and others who care for them.
The initial teacher training and early career framework, which replaces the core content framework and early career framework from September 2025 and underpins what all new teachers should learn, contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND. The adaptive teaching content includes, for example, developing an understanding of different pupil needs, and learning how to provide opportunities for success for all pupils.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Portsmouth City Council on their voluntary position on the Devolution Priority Programme.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Portsmouth City Council joined the Devolution Priority Programme alongside Southampton Council, Hampshire County Council and the Isle of Wight Council earlier this year. I met with local leaders across the region, including Portsmouth City Council, on 4 February to discuss their application to the programme and on 1 April as part of a visit to the area. Baroness Taylor of Stevenage also met with local leaders on 17 December. Throughout these past months, I have also been in regular communication with local leaders through correspondence and my officials meet with officers across the region regularly to support them in delivering devolution to the most ambitious timeframe.