Andrew Pakes

The Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport has not had any discussions with Cabinet Colleagues on the proposed sale of the Observer. Consideration of media mergers is a quasi-judicial decision for the DCMS Secretary of State to undertake alone, on the basis of the evidence available to her, without reference to presentational or political considerations.

Skills England will be required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under the Equality Act 2010. While currently operating in shadow form, Skills England will (subject to final approvals) be established as an Executive Agency of the department, and as such will be subject to the same requirements as the rest of the department.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has considered PSED in her decision making in the development of Skills England.

The information requested can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2241facc-8e02-44c3-7d16-08dcf4c39769.

These figures are published in the Apprenticeships statistics publication, which can accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.

For further information on the apprenticeship standard ‘physiotherapist’, please see the Institute for Apprenticeships website which is available here: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/physiotherapist-v1-2.

​​​​​High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but this government must do more to ensure the country has the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.

​Data on subjects taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce it in the format required. This is weighted to produce national estimates, but accurate breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are, unfortunately, not available. Nevertheless, we are working to ensure that we have sufficient teachers across the country, particularly in shortage national subjects.

The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession. As part of this, it is important that teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why this government has accepted the School Teachers Review Body recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools. This government is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets. Additionally, from 1 September 2024 schools are no longer required to use performance related pay (PRP) as the basis for appraisals and decisions related to pay progression.

​The department knows there is further to go to get more teachers into science, which is why, alongside teacher pay, it is making around £200 million available for bursaries and scholarships annually, with physics and chemistry trainees eligible in the 2023/2024 academic year for the highest bursaries of £28,000 and £30,000 for scholarships. The department will shortly be announcing the trainee incentives for the 2025/26 academic year.

To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing can also receive a Targeted Retention Incentive if working in disadvantaged schools in the first five years of their careers. 14 schools in Peterborough are eligible for payments to teachers of up to £6,000 after-tax.

​Alongside fairer pay and financial incentives, the department is also committed to supporting teachers with workload and wellbeing, including further support for flexible working. Teachers are now allowed to undertake planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time remotely. The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts. The named flexible working ambassador for schools in Peterborough is Thomas Gainsborough School.

​The department has also made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, including its ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service and the ‘education staff wellbeing charter’. Additionally, effective use of technology can automate tasks and help manage workload for teachers. For example, high quality AI tools have the potential to reduce the amount of time that teachers spend marking, whilst supporting effective feedback and tailored teaching which drive pupil progress.

​In August 2024, the government announced a £1 million fund to support innovators to develop proof of concept AI tools to support teachers with marking and providing feedback. Oak National Academy has also recently launched a sector-leading AI lesson planning assistant which enables teachers who choose to use it to create personalised and tailored lesson plans and resources in minutes.

​High quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. ​The department’s Teaching School Hubs play a significant role in delivering Initial Teacher Training, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and Appropriate Body services. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdonshire, Peterborough and South Cambridgeshire.

​​​​​High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but this government must do more to ensure the country has the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.

​Data on subjects taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce it in the format required. This is weighted to produce national estimates, but accurate breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are, unfortunately, not available. Nevertheless, we are working to ensure that we have sufficient teachers across the country, particularly in shortage national subjects.

The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession. As part of this, it is important that teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why this government has accepted the School Teachers Review Body recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools. This government is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets. Additionally, from 1 September 2024 schools are no longer required to use performance related pay (PRP) as the basis for appraisals and decisions related to pay progression.

​The department knows there is further to go to get more teachers into science, which is why, alongside teacher pay, it is making around £200 million available for bursaries and scholarships annually, with physics and chemistry trainees eligible in the 2023/2024 academic year for the highest bursaries of £28,000 and £30,000 for scholarships. The department will shortly be announcing the trainee incentives for the 2025/26 academic year.

To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing can also receive a Targeted Retention Incentive if working in disadvantaged schools in the first five years of their careers. 14 schools in Peterborough are eligible for payments to teachers of up to £6,000 after-tax.

​Alongside fairer pay and financial incentives, the department is also committed to supporting teachers with workload and wellbeing, including further support for flexible working. Teachers are now allowed to undertake planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time remotely. The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts. The named flexible working ambassador for schools in Peterborough is Thomas Gainsborough School.

​The department has also made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, including its ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service and the ‘education staff wellbeing charter’. Additionally, effective use of technology can automate tasks and help manage workload for teachers. For example, high quality AI tools have the potential to reduce the amount of time that teachers spend marking, whilst supporting effective feedback and tailored teaching which drive pupil progress.

​In August 2024, the government announced a £1 million fund to support innovators to develop proof of concept AI tools to support teachers with marking and providing feedback. Oak National Academy has also recently launched a sector-leading AI lesson planning assistant which enables teachers who choose to use it to create personalised and tailored lesson plans and resources in minutes.

​High quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. ​The department’s Teaching School Hubs play a significant role in delivering Initial Teacher Training, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and Appropriate Body services. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdonshire, Peterborough and South Cambridgeshire.

Educational access features as part of the wider Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes and we are developing it further as a new 3-year capital item; we expect this to be available later in 2025. It will be a stand-alone capital item, though applicants must have an agri-environment or woodland agreement with management actions for this capital item. In countryside stewardship, currently eligible visitor groups are school age children and care farming groups only, but in the new educational access capital item, more diverse groups of people will be able to visit and benefit from an educational experience on farms and woodland across England.

The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme (FiPL) provides grant funding for farmers and land managers to work in partnership with National Parks and National Landscape bodies in England to deliver projects achieving positive outcomes for climate, nature, people, and place. Between July 2021 and March 2024, the programme delivered over 3,400 educational access visits and engaged over 600 schools to create more opportunities for diverse audiences to explore, enjoy and understand farming in these unique landscapes.

The Government understands concerns regarding the impact of Chinese mitten crab in Cambridgeshire. However, whilst we continue to take steps to prevent the further spread of Chinese mitten crab, Defra is not currently aware of any cost-effective or proven methods of controlling this species in areas it is currently present, such as Cambridgeshire. Due to the known impact of this species we continue to monitor for any new viable methods of controlling and managing populations and to preventing further spread.

Although control in currently impacted areas is not currently possible, Defra has taken clear steps towards reducing the spread of this species. Chinese mitten crab is listed as a ‘Species of Special Concern’, this means it cannot be brought into GB, kept, bred, transported, sold, used or exchanged, allowed to reproduce, grown or cultivated, or released into the environment.

Defra also funds the Fish Health Inspectorate to carry out work to prevent the illegal sale and spread of this species and continues to support the ‘Check Clean Dry’ campaign which offers aquatic biosecurity advice to minimise the risk of spreading invasive plants and animals to new areas.

Provisional data, published by the Department for Education and covering all apprenticeships, indicates that there were 18,400 NHS apprenticeship starts from 191 NHS employers for the 2023/24 financial year.

'Public sector apprenticeships - aggregate return values by sub-sector' from 'Apprenticeships', Permanent data table - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK

With regards to the number of clinical apprenticeships within NHS Trusts, data is not validated.

This Government is determined to do all we can to help bring the conflict in Gaza to an end and make progress towards long-term peace and security in the Middle East. We are pushing for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the protection of civilians and unfettered humanitarian access to enable a rapid increase of aid into Gaza. We want a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution: a safe, secure Israel alongside a viable, sovereign Palestinian state.

The Foreign Secretary discussed these issues with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Herzog, PM Mustafa and others during his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories on 14-15 July. He also met with the families of those murdered and taken hostage by Hamas and assured them that the UK will continue to push for an immediate release of all hostages.

UK funding is delivered mainly through trusted international partners on the ground. Humanitarian actors can only operate effectively if they have access to the whole of Gaza and it is safe for them to work there.

That is why we are calling for unfettered access for humanitarian organisations alongside an immediate ceasefire, the protection of civilians, the release of all hostages and a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.

The Foreign Secretary called UNRWA Commissioner General Lazzarini on 19 July to discuss the reinstatement of UK funding. Development Minister Anneliese Dodds also met with Lazzarini following the announcement on 19 July. They discussed how the UK's £21 million of new funding will support UNRWA's lifesaving work in Gaza and the provision of basic services in the region. We also condemned the killing of almost 200 UNRWA workers in the conflict. The Foreign Secretary also spoke with UNRWA Gaza Director Scott Anderson on 15 July during his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. They also discussed the need for further protection of civilians in Gaza.

Since taking up post, I have had the opportunity to engage with hundreds of organisations, including Local Authorities, who are signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant; doing fantastic work for our people, and their families.

The Covenant pledge and the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme provide the opportunity to pledge, demonstrate and advocate support for the Armed Forces community. The provision of guiding principles for employers and organisations across the UK ensures an understanding of the Covenant and the impacts of Service life.

Over 12,800 organisations have signed the Covenant, a number that continues to grow weekly. This Government has committed to fully extend the Covenant into Law, which will increase education and awareness of the unique nature of Service