Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to meet with Quakers to discuss (a) repeated policing operations at their meeting houses and (b) the implications for religious communities supporting nonviolent social action.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
The details are published in quarterly stats.
Home Office: ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, July to September 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to colleges for staff pay.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.
In May 2025, the department announced a further £190 million investment for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers, in addition to the £400 million of extra funding we already planned to spend on 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year.
In October 2025, the department announced plans to go further in the 2026/27 financial year. From the Spending Review settlement, we will invest nearly £800 million extra on top of the original £400 million announced in 2025/26.
This significant investment will support the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent.
Targeted Recruitment Incentives of up to £6,000 (after tax) are available for eligible early career FE teachers working in key science, technology, engineering and maths and technical shortage subjects, in colleges, including in sixth form colleges. This is separate to teacher salaries.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many higher education institutions have sought to withdraw staff from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in each of the past four quarters.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises that the financial environment of the higher education (HE) sector is challenging for both providers and for their staff. We are aware that some providers are making difficult decisions around staffing in order to safeguard their financial sustainability, including in relation to pension arrangements.
As providers are independent, the government does not routinely collect information regarding pay and workforce matters in HE. However, we remain committed to engaging with both HE unions and the employer body to better understand the issues affecting the sector, including the workforce.
Furthermore, we appreciate both the impact of the increased Teachers’ Pension Scheme employer contribution rate on providers and that defined benefit pensions are highly valued by staff across the sector. As set out in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, the government is therefore seeking to better understand concerns within the post-1992 HE sector regarding pension provision.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of recent prison education funding changes on rehabilitation outcomes.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice is committed to supporting rehabilitation through high-quality education, skills and work activities. National funding for prison education has not been reduced. Inflationary pressures have affected the proportion of the overall budget that can be spent on the Core Education contracts, and this has led to reductions in the volume of delivery that prisons are able to commission. This represents just one element of the wider education, skills and work offer that prisoners are able to access and Governors retain the flexibility to commission provision that best meets the needs of their prison population.
We continue to monitor delivery closely through HMPPS contract management arrangements. In addition, a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service is underway to assess the impact of education provision on prisoner progress and rehabilitation outcomes, and to inform future policy and commissioning decisions.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average pay gap between further education college lecturers and school teachers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s role in relation to pay and conditions across schools and colleges differs.
The statutory requirements for teachers' pay and conditions within maintained schools in England are set out in the ‘School teachers’ pay and conditions’ document. This is updated each year, based on recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body.
In 2023/24, the median Full Time Equivalent (FTE) salary for classroom teachers in secondary schools was £47,666.
Further education (FE) colleges were incorporated under the terms of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, which gave them autonomy over the pay of their staff. The government does not set or recommend college teacher pay.
In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for teaching staff on permanent or fixed term contracts in general further education colleges was £36,316 and £47,133 in sixth form colleges.
The school and FE pay figures are sourced from different datasets and recorded differently which may make it difficult to make direct comparisons.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the proportion of students who are international students in each of the past five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on students in UK higher education providers (HEPs), including their country of domicile.
Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the proportion of students who are international in UK HE has ranged from 22% in 2020/21, to a peak of 26% in 2022/23. Since this peak, the proportion has decreased year on year, to 24% in 2024/25.
Year on year detailed table available below. Note that data provided is for all UK HE providers. The data source link to the table is: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb273/figure-9.
Academic Year | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Proportion of total that are International Students | 22% | 24% | 26% | 25% | 24% |
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many issues have been reported by the Government Digital Service on the Gov.UK One Login system and app for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
GOV.UK One Login is continuing to scale, with 227 services already onboarded, and over 15 million identities proven.
The GOV.UK One Login contact centre, which opened on the 31st October 2024, has received just over one million enquiries relating specifically to GOV.UK One Login. This includes a wide range of contacts, such as general queries, technical issues, and complaints.
The GOV.UK One Login Technical Service Desk, responsible for managing and supporting technical incidents, problems, cases, and requests for information, has dealt with over 40,000 escalated tickets since the 1st November 2023.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many issues have been reported by users on the Gov.UK One Login system and app for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
GOV.UK One Login is continuing to scale, with 227 services already onboarded, and over 15 million identities proven.
The GOV.UK One Login contact centre, which opened on the 31st October 2024, has received just over one million enquiries relating specifically to GOV.UK One Login. This includes a wide range of contacts, such as general queries, technical issues, and complaints.
The GOV.UK One Login Technical Service Desk, responsible for managing and supporting technical incidents, problems, cases, and requests for information, has dealt with over 40,000 escalated tickets since the 1st November 2023.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help ensure registered providers of social housing meet their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 in their work with their (a) tenants and (b) employees.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All registered providers of social housing are required to comply with the Equality Act 2010. This applies to their interactions with both tenants and employees.
Registered providers are also required to deliver the outcomes of the regulatory standards set by the independent Regulator of Social Housing. Under the Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard, registered providers are required to treat tenants with fairness and respect and take action to deliver fair and equitable outcomes for them as well as, where relevant, prospective tenants.
Since the introduction of the proactive consumer regulation regime in April 2024, the Regulator has begun carrying out regular inspections of large providers to ensure they are delivering the outcomes of its standards. The Regulator has strong enforcement powers to take effective action when it identifies serious failings.
Under the Regulator’s Governance and Financial Viability standard, registered providers must ensure governance arrangements adhere to all relevant law.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many complaints her Department has received from company directors unable to verify their identity using the One Log in system and app for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Since the onboarding of Companies House, GOV.UK One Login has received and replied to over one hundred pieces of correspondence. This includes complaints from users who are having difficulties proving their identity
GOV.UK One Login is currently used by 16 million users, therefore the number of complaints represents a small proportion of the service