Andrew Ranger

We are committed to delivering better life chances for all - breaking the link between background and success.

Through the Opportunity Mission, this Government is working to ensure all children and young people can access opportunities and that every child thrives in education and achieves their ambitions in work and later life, no matter their background.

Work is underway to deliver our manifesto commitment to commence the socio-economic duty in England. The duty will require specified public bodies to actively consider how their strategic decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage.

We are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds to create a modern Civil Service that delivers high quality public services.

There are a range of policies to support those from low socio-economic backgrounds wishing to join the Civil Service, this includes internships and apprenticeships which support people to gain valuable paid work experience in the Civil Service, as well as extensive outreach events to raise awareness of the Civil Service as an inclusive employer.

The Civil Service also provides entry routes through the Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) recruitment schemes across government. GFiE uses innovative approaches, working in partnership including with local government and the voluntary sector, to recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds into the Civil Service who may not otherwise have considered a Civil Service job, including people from low socio-economic backgrounds.

The Hospitality Sector Council’s Terms of Reference is publicly available, outlining that membership is by invitation only and is subject to final agreement by DBT Ministers in consultation with the joint chairs. Members are selected to provide a breadth of knowledge and experience across the hospitality sector and Government. All members are selected in a personal capacity and will be expected to speak for their areas of expertise rather than the specific interests of their organisation.

Membership is reviewed by DBT and it may be amended to take account of changing priorities in the sector to ensure appropriate representation and expertise is maintained.

Ministers meet regularly with business organisations and trade associations. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly on GOV.UK.

This Government has introduced the Employment Rights Bill, representing the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation. This includes day one protections from unfair dismissal, banning exploitative zero hours contracts and ending fire and rehire.

Since the election, we have turbocharged progress towards a clean power system, changing the planning rules, reforming the grid, lifting the onshore wind ban and consenting 3 times more solar power in 10 months than the last government did in 14 years.

Just this month we approved the Rampion offshore wind farm delivering power to 1.3 million homes as well as creating thousands of jobs.

Our mission is all about jobs, growth and energy security, and that’s what we’re delivering.

The Office for Clean Energy Jobs is working closely with industry and trade unions to improve accessibility of jobs in the clean energy sector, and coordinate across social inclusion initiatives. In January it published a ‘Clean Energy Jobs Employer Handbook’ which summarises support available, including for employees from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups. The Department will set out its wider approach to clean energy workforce strategy later this year, to support delivery of the workforce for the Clean Energy Superpower Mission.

Following NESO’s advice on 2030 Clean Power, the Government will publish a Clean Power Action Plan later this year, which will set out how we can deliver our ambition. The resources of North Wales already play a key role in delivering clean power, including through the Gywnt Y Mor offshore windfarm, and the Government is committed to working with the Welsh Government to deliver on our national missions and serve the people of Wales.

The government is taking action in both these areas. The Digital Inclusion Action Plan sets out how we have, for example, launched a device donation pilot scheme in partnership with The Digital Poverty Alliance to refurbish end-of-life government laptops from three departments and get them to those that need them most.

The government is also supporting digital upskilling, for example through Essential Digital Skills (EDS) provisions funded by the Department for Education’s Adult Skills Fund. We will also be enhancing support for the EDS framework, which supports businesses and individuals to get the digital skills they need.

High-quality careers provision is an essential part of the government’s missions to break down barriers to opportunity and to drive economic growth. The department is creating more opportunities for young people to develop skills and improve work readiness through our commitments to improve careers advice in schools and colleges and to guarantee two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person.

The department will publish updated careers statutory guidance this spring that sets out our expectations of what schools, colleges and independent training providers should do to raise the quality of careers provision and work experience for young people. The Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance, a standard for world-class careers guidance for young people, are a cornerstone of our approach. Building on the widespread adoption and impact of the benchmarks in recent years, the framework has been updated following extensive research and consultation, for implementation from September 2025.

Inclusion and impact for each and every young person is a prominent theme that emerged from evidence to the benchmark review. Updates to the benchmarks emphasise the importance of tailoring programmes to the needs of each young person. Particular attention is given to any additional or different support that may be needed by vulnerable or disadvantaged young people and those with special educational needs and disabilities.

The department is continuing to fund The Careers and Enterprise Company to support schools and colleges to deliver careers programmes in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks and to plan towards the delivery of two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person. 95% of secondary schools and colleges are part of a local Careers Hub, connecting careers provision to the needs of local economies through strategic partnerships with mayoral combined authorities, local authorities and employers. A network of 400 leading employers and over 3,700 business volunteers inspire young people about a range of exciting career opportunities, including in priority growth sectors.

The National Careers Service helps young people, aged 13 to 18, to discover their careers options. The website includes around 800 job profiles and young people can access information and advice via webchat and a telephone helpline which is supported by local community-based career advisers. The website can be found here: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/.

In addition, the Skills for Life campaign, ‘It all starts with skills’, promotes a range of priority skills programmes to young people, including apprenticeships, T Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.

For too many children and young people in Britain, their background, where they come from or their parents' income limits the life they are able to build. The government’s Opportunity Mission aims to break this link between a child’s background and their future success.

To achieve the department’s overall mission objective of closing the opportunity gap, we have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn.

As the Plan for Change set out, the department will measure our progress through 75% of 5-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment. We are already making good progress to deliver this first milestone, we have announced the largest ever uplift to the Early Years Pupil Premium, confirmed the first wave of 300 school-based nurseries and are on track to deliver the final increase in childcare entitlement from September. This first milestone is only the beginning of our ambition for children and young people.

The department’s first step for the Opportunity Mission is recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament. The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The department has already made good early progress towards this key pledge, including providing a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, announcing a £233 million initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, and confirming targeted retention incentives for shortage subjects worth up to £6,000 after tax.

More widely the department has already shown commitment to supporting the most disadvantaged by confirming over £3 billion will be provided to state-funded schools in England through the pupil premium in the 2025/26 financial year, an increase of almost 5% from 2024/25, to help disadvantaged pupils achieve and thrive in education and remove the barriers to learning that hold too many children back.

Too many people across our country do not get the chance to succeed. This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university or pursue an apprenticeship, regardless of their background, where they live and their personal circumstances.

All English higher education (HE) providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) that intend to charge higher level tuition fees are required to have an Access and Participation Plan approved by the OfS. These plans articulate how providers will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups. In creating their plans, providers should consider the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register which details 12 key sector risks across the student lifecycle and the student groups most likely to experience these, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Whilst many HE providers have demonstrated positive examples of widening access, including targeted outreach and bursaries, we want to see the sector go further.

In the summer the department will set out our plan for HE reform and we expect providers to play an even stronger role in improving access and outcomes for all disadvantaged students.

The department also wants to ensure that more young people can undertake apprenticeships. We are introducing foundation apprenticeships for young people, a work-based offer providing high-quality progression pathways into further work-based training and employment, including occupationally specific apprenticeships. The department is continuing to provide employers and providers with additional funding to support more apprenticeship opportunities for young people, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and up to age 24 for apprentices with an education, health and care plan or who have been in local authority care. These payments can be used to support costs such as work equipment, uniforms or travel.

The Secretary of State is clear that the performance of Avanti West Coast (AWC) on its North Wales route is not good enough with passengers facing too many cancellations and delays. Poor Network Rail (NR) infrastructure reliability has also contributed significantly to the disruption felt by passengers.

The Secretary of State met with the Managing Director of AWC and the NR West Coast South Route Director to challenge them on poor performance and demand immediate action to deliver urgent improvements. Officials continue to meet regularly with AWC and NR as part of a relentless focus on improving rail performance, bringing together track and train, and holding both sides accountable.

The Get Britain Working White Paper focuses on building a thriving labour market, reducing economic inactivity and increasing the number of people in work, which is central to growing the economy. We will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity, create an inclusive labour market in which everybody can participate and progress in work, and meet the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.

We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access good, meaningful work, and support them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. The new service will be available for anyone who wants to look for work, to increase their earnings or to change their career or retrain. It will be responsive to local employers, inclusive for all customers and will work closely in partnership with local services to tackle the challenges associated with local labour markets.

Additionally, our Youth Guarantee will ensure that all young people aged 18-21 in England can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship, or employment support, helping to bridge the gap for those who might otherwise struggle to find employment due to their socio-economic status.

We are committed to breaking down barriers and fostering greater social mobility across the UK, our plans as set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper Get Britain Working White Paper - GOV.UK set us on a path to achieving this.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Poole on 5 March 2025, to Question 33818.

Protecting the UK and our democratic processes from foreign interference is a priority for this Government and we have several mechanisms in place. The National Security Act 2023 provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt state threats. The Government's Defending Democracy Taskforce, chaired by the Minister of State for Security, is focused on safeguarding our democracy from the full range of threats including foreign interference. The Joint Election Security and Preparedness Unit (JESP) works between the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) to coordinate election security and preparedness activity including working with the devolved administrations, local authorities and the Electoral Commission. The Government has also committed to enhancing the safeguards against foreign funding of election campaigns and will be bringing forward proposals in due course. The Government also works with like-minded international partners to share expertise and develop tools to build our collective democratic resilience.

Distributional analysis shows that the expected impacts of government decisions from Autumn Budget 2024 onwards are progressive and benefit households in the lowest income deciles the most, on average, as a percentage of income in 2028-29.

The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible. The increases in tax are concentrated on the highest income households. Overall, on average, all but the richest 10% of households will benefit from policy decisions in 2028-29.

• The Taskforce has undertaken a comprehensive review of last year’s elections and is now driving forward a programme of work to ensure the UK’s democracy is strengthened and protected against a multitude of threats.
• This includes work to tackle the unacceptable instances of harassment and intimidation of elected representatives that we saw during the General Election.
• This vital work is ongoing, and I will further update the House in due course.

Social housing goes to those who need it most. Where someone is eligible for social housing, they will have their housing needs considered in accordance with the relevant local authority’s housing allocation scheme.