Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to encourage inward investment into the UK.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary has tasked the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to use its diplomatic influence to champion the UK economy overseas. Our diplomats will be the sales force for UK plc, working with colleagues from across government to ensure we are attracting investment to the UK. This includes directly working with businesses and partner governments, such as a recent Foreign Secretary hosted business roundtable with senior UK representatives from top Japanese firms who have invested in the UK.
In addition, the National Security and Investment Act (NSI) will also aid the UK's growth ambitions by allowing the Government to intervene in transactions that threaten national security.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps British International Investment is taking to ensure that investments strengthen commercial relationships between the UK and partner countries.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
British International Investment's (BII) investments are building markets in partner countries that are stimulating economic growth. This also develops future UK trade and investment opportunities.
BII invest in sectors where it can have the most developmental impact. These tend to also align with areas of UK commercial strength, including financial services, clean energy, and digital. Examples of this modern approach to development include BII's partnership with Standard Chartered Bank which has enabled $10 billion in trade volumes across Africa and Asia since 2013 and BII's partnership with Vodafone that has brought down the cost of mobile services by up to 70 per cent in Ethiopia, and a new £100 million Mobilisation Facility to de-risk institutional investors such as those in the City of London to accelerate climate-focussed investments in developing countries. We will continue to work with BII to focus and maximise the impact of its work in line with our missions and the wider geopolitical situation.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps British International Investment is taking to align investment decisions with the Government’s (a) missions and (b) development objectives.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
British International Investment's (BII) investment decisions are taken within a framework agreed and aligned with the Government's mission and development objectives. BII is delivering on the Government's ambitions on growth, accelerating the clean energy transition, and unlocking private capital for development impact. In 2023 alone, BII-backed businesses operating in developing countries provided jobs for over one million people, paid $2.4 billion in taxes in partner countries, and generated 59 TWh of electricity.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and BII ensure this strategic alignment through governance arrangements that follow best practice guidance from Cabinet Office and HM Treasury with robust lines of accountability between FCDO and BII. We will continue to work with BII to focus and maximise the impact of its work in line with our missions and the wider geopolitical situation.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help meet the mental health needs of children from underserved communities in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that waits for children and young people's mental health services are far too long and that some disadvantaged groups are less likely to access support. That is why the National Health Service’s planning guidance for 2025/26 makes it clear that one of the priorities for children's mental health services is to reduce local inequalities in access to children and young people’s mental health services between disadvantaged groups, including in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes, and the wider population.
The Government will also recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adult mental health services and provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school through expanding Mental Health Support Teams, so that every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.
Early intervention and prevention support in the community is vital. That is why we are providing £7 million of funding to extend support for 24 Early Support Hubs that have a track record of helping thousands of young people in their community.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure early education providers in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire comply with the updated statutory guidance on additional charges for government-funded entitlements.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to secure funded early education and childcare for eligible children in their area. The early education and childcare statutory guidance sets out what local authorities must do as required by legislation, and what they should do to meet their statutory duties.
To support local authorities with their statutory duties, the department recently published updated statutory guidance, which will come into effect in April 2025, reaffirming that whilst providers can charge parents for some additional extras, these charges must not be mandatory. The updates to the guidance will support local authorities to take a more consistent approach to implementing the rules across providers, including in Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire. Local authorities are responsible for implementing the guidance at a local level and can intervene where the guidance is not being followed.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire are expected to benefit from the increase in the Early Years Pupil Premium to £1 per hour in 2025-26.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Early education gives all children the best start in life. That is why we are delivering the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the early years pupil premium rate by over 45%, from 68p per hour in the 2024/25 financial year to £1 per hour in the 2025/26 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. The early years pupil premium rate will be the same for all age groups.
Early years funding, including early years pupil premium, is paid on the basis of part-time equivalents (PTEs) where one PTE is equivalent to a child attending a setting for 15 hours a week over 38 weeks. We expect to fund 862.52 PTEs in Buckinghamshire and 547.01 PTEs in Milton Keynes at the increased early years pupil premium rate in the 2025/26 financial year. Final allocations will be paid on updated census and headcount data.
More information on the 2025/26 financial year early years allocations and estimated PTEs can be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the projected allocation of the expansion grant for early education providers in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire will be for financial year 2025-26.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2025/26, the government plan to spend over £8 billion on the early years entitlements. This government has increased the early years pupil premium by 45% and are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.
Buckinghamshire will receive £834,187 and Milton Keynes will receive £430,010 in Early Years Expansion Grant funding. We have now published full details of allocations and conditions of grant, which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-expansion-grant-2025-to-2026.
We expect local authorities to communicate all funding allocations to providers within six weeks of the publication of rates, that is by 10 April 2025.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) Company Share Option Plans, (b) Save As You Earn and (c) Share Incentive Plans in encouraging employee ownership.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government offers four tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which all enable employers to offer their employees tax-advantaged shares or share options in their business. These are Save as You Earn (SAYE), Share Incentive Plan (SIP), Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), and Company Share Option Plan (CSOP). These schemes are popular, generous and internationally competitive.
A call for evidence on SAYE and SIP ran from June to August 2023. It sought views on whether the schemes are meeting their policy objectives and opportunities to improve and simplify them. The Government is considering the responses to the call for evidence, and is grateful to those who took the time to respond.
In 2021-22, a review of the EMI scheme found that the scheme remained effective at achieving its policy aims, including employee retention. The review was expanded to consider if CSOP should be reformed to further support companies as they grow beyond the scope of EMI. Following this report, CSOP limits were expanded from April 2023.
The Government keeps all tax reliefs under review, to ensure they continue to meet their policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective. HMRC release annual statistics on the tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which can be found at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employee-share-scheme-statistics
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department has taken to raise awareness of employee share schemes among small and medium-sized businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government offers four tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which all enable employers to offer their employees tax-advantaged shares or share options in their business. These are Save as You Earn (SAYE), Share Incentive Plan (SIP), Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), and Company Share Option Plan (CSOP). These schemes are popular, generous and internationally competitive.
A call for evidence on SAYE and SIP ran from June to August 2023. It sought views on whether the schemes are meeting their policy objectives and opportunities to improve and simplify them. The Government is considering the responses to the call for evidence, and is grateful to those who took the time to respond.
In 2021-22, a review of the EMI scheme found that the scheme remained effective at achieving its policy aims, including employee retention. The review was expanded to consider if CSOP should be reformed to further support companies as they grow beyond the scope of EMI. Following this report, CSOP limits were expanded from April 2023.
The Government keeps all tax reliefs under review, to ensure they continue to meet their policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective. HMRC release annual statistics on the tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which can be found at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employee-share-scheme-statistics
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of employee share schemes on staff retention in UK companies.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government offers four tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which all enable employers to offer their employees tax-advantaged shares or share options in their business. These are Save as You Earn (SAYE), Share Incentive Plan (SIP), Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), and Company Share Option Plan (CSOP). These schemes are popular, generous and internationally competitive.
A call for evidence on SAYE and SIP ran from June to August 2023. It sought views on whether the schemes are meeting their policy objectives and opportunities to improve and simplify them. The Government is considering the responses to the call for evidence, and is grateful to those who took the time to respond.
In 2021-22, a review of the EMI scheme found that the scheme remained effective at achieving its policy aims, including employee retention. The review was expanded to consider if CSOP should be reformed to further support companies as they grow beyond the scope of EMI. Following this report, CSOP limits were expanded from April 2023.
The Government keeps all tax reliefs under review, to ensure they continue to meet their policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective. HMRC release annual statistics on the tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which can be found at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employee-share-scheme-statistics