Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support youth work as a profession by providing (a) financial support for students and (b) fieldwork placements.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS works with the National Youth Agency (NYA) to fund bursaries for individuals to obtain youth work qualifications. Since 2019, £4 million of funding has been provided to the NYA via the Youth Worker Bursary Fund, allowing over 2,500 individuals from underrepresented groups to gain a qualification.
We have committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy, which is an opportunity to look afresh at the support, recruitment and retention of youth workers. The Strategy will be published this summer.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure there is a minimum level of provision for youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area. We will be launching the Local Youth Transformation pilot this year, which will support local authorities to build back capacity in the youth space and improve local youth offers.
This government has also committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy. As part of the Strategy, we will be consulting closely with young people and the youth sector. The Strategy will be published this summer.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a revocable license to practice for youth workers.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS funds the National Youth Agency to maintain a voluntary register of JNC Level 6 qualified youth workers and provide support to youth workers and organisations around safeguarding and risk management via their Safeguarding Hub.
In November, this government committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy, which is an opportunity to look afresh at the training, recruitment and retention of youth workers. The Strategy will be published this summer.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the restriction of puberty blockers for the treatment of gender incongruence on the (a) physical and (b) mental health of young trans people.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 11 December 2024 the Government introduced The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Restrictions on Private Sales and Supplies) Order 2024, which came into effect on 1 January 2025. Alongside this legislation the Government published a full impact assessment, which is available at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/1319/impacts
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding allocated to the National Citizen Service will be redistributed to youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Funding allocations for specific programmes will be communicated in due course, following the completion of business planning.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a breakdown of the total number of trustees of schools multi-academy trusts that received remuneration either as a member of staff as well as a trustee, or in their capacity purely as trustee in excess of (a) £120,000, (b) £130,000, (c) £140,000 and (d) £150,000 including employer pension contributions in each of the last five years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department collates and publishes data annually in the academies sector annual report and accounts on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Emoluments include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits received during the year. These are reported in bandings of £100,000 to £150,000 and over £150,000.
The academies sector annual report and accounts also publishes information on all trustee remuneration, including pension contributions. This covers bandings including £120,000 to £130,000, £130,000 to £140,000, £140,000 to £150,000, and £150,000 and over. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts
The department also publishes an annex alongside the academy sector accounts listing academy trusts paying one or more staff member remuneration of £150,000 in that year.
The academies sector annual report and accounts is drawn from academy trusts’ accounts data. The report for 2022 to 2023 will be published shortly and the deadline for academy trusts to submit data for 2023 to 2024 to the department is 28 January 2025.
As referenced in response to Question 21323, academy trusts must publish pay information in their annual audited accounts and on their website. The Academies Sector Annual Report and Accounts includes an annex, annex E in the most recently published set, listing all the academy trusts that paid at least one member of staff in excess of £150,000.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish (a) the number and (b) a list of trust names of academy trusts in which the highest paid member of staff including employer pension contributions was paid (i) more than £200,000, (ii) more than £250,000, (iii) more than £300,000, (iv) more than £350,000 and (v) more than £400,000 in the last 12 months.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department collates and publishes data annually in the academies sector annual report and accounts on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Emoluments include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits received during the year. These are reported in bandings of £100,000 to £150,000 and over £150,000.
The academies sector annual report and accounts also publishes information on all trustee remuneration, including pension contributions. This covers bandings including £120,000 to £130,000, £130,000 to £140,000, £140,000 to £150,000, and £150,000 and over. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts
The department also publishes an annex alongside the academy sector accounts listing academy trusts paying one or more staff member remuneration of £150,000 in that year.
The academies sector annual report and accounts is drawn from academy trusts’ accounts data. The report for 2022 to 2023 will be published shortly and the deadline for academy trusts to submit data for 2023 to 2024 to the department is 28 January 2025.
As referenced in response to Question 21323, academy trusts must publish pay information in their annual audited accounts and on their website. The Academies Sector Annual Report and Accounts includes an annex, annex E in the most recently published set, listing all the academy trusts that paid at least one member of staff in excess of £150,000.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21323 on Multi-academy Trusts: Pay, if she will take steps to collate a table with the total number of academy trusts reporting (a) one, (b) two and (c) three or more members of staff or trustees whose total remuneration was in excess of £150,000 for each of the last five years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department collates and publishes data annually in the academies sector annual report and accounts on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Emoluments include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits received during the year. These are reported in bandings of £100,000 to £150,000 and over £150,000.
The academies sector annual report and accounts also publishes information on all trustee remuneration, including pension contributions. This covers bandings including £120,000 to £130,000, £130,000 to £140,000, £140,000 to £150,000, and £150,000 and over. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts
The department also publishes an annex alongside the academy sector accounts listing academy trusts paying one or more staff member remuneration of £150,000 in that year.
The academies sector annual report and accounts is drawn from academy trusts’ accounts data. The report for 2022 to 2023 will be published shortly and the deadline for academy trusts to submit data for 2023 to 2024 to the department is 28 January 2025.
As referenced in response to Question 21323, academy trusts must publish pay information in their annual audited accounts and on their website. The Academies Sector Annual Report and Accounts includes an annex, annex E in the most recently published set, listing all the academy trusts that paid at least one member of staff in excess of £150,000.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average pay was for headteachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary school in the maintained sector in each of the last five years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The following link provides the full-time equivalent median average salary for head teachers in local authority maintained primary schools, local authority maintained secondary schools and total state-funded schools in England, as at November each year, for the academic years 2019/20 to 2023/24: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/1a07b1b4-e474-4cf7-1e4d-08dd2d8a762c.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterparts on the immediate release of Palestinian healthcare workers currently being detained without charge or trial.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Gazan civilians must be protected, and able to access effective healthcare. The UK has consistently raised concerns about the impact of this conflict on Gaza's healthcare system and medical staff, including reiterating the requirement for all parties to comply with international humanitarian law. Israel must allow medical staff to carry out their work unimpeded, and to travel around Gaza as needed. On 27 December I made clear to Israel's government that the situation in northern Gaza cannot continue, and raised our serious concern about repeated strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital, and the safety of civilians and medical workers there. The Foreign Secretary met Israeli Foreign Minister Sa'ar in Israel on 13 January, and stressed to him the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
We are particularly concerned by the reports of the recent Israel Defense Forces operation at Kamal Adwan hospital, and the reported detention of medical personnel there. We have raised this, and will continue to do so, directly with the Israeli Government. In recent weeks, I have specifically raised the detention of Kamal Adwan hospital director, Dr Hassam Abu Safiya, along with the wider need to ensure healthcare facilities in North Gaza are protected, and to enable World Health Organisation and International Committee of the Red Cross access, with both the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister and Israel's Ambassador to the UK. We urge Israel to urgently clarify the reasons for Dr Hassam Abu Safiya's detention (and that of paediatrician Mohammed Hamouda), and all other health workers detained in Gaza.