Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that Skills England is subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As an Executive Agency, Skills England will be subject to clear requirements on governance, transparency and accountability as set out by the Cabinet Office and applying across government.
A sponsor Minister within the department will be accountable to Parliament on all matters concerning Skills England, including the policy framework within which it operates, ensuring it meets its strategic objectives and, in doing so, delivers value for money.
Skills England will be led by a Chief Executive, who will be directly accountable to a relevant departmental sponsor Minister for delivery and day to day activities. They will also be accountable to the sponsor department’s Permanent Secretary for responsible use of public funds, via formal designation as Accounting Officer for the agency.
A framework document will be agreed between the department and Skills England, which will be approved by HM Treasury. This will set out the governance and accountability framework within which Skills England and the department will operate and will be publicly available.
In line with other Executive Agencies, and as set out in the Public Bodies Handbook, Skills England will regularly publish information on the execution of its functions. This will include an annual report, which sponsor ministers are required to publish to ensure Parliament is kept informed of Skills England’s activities.
The IfATE (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill also requires my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, to publish and lay before Parliament, within six months after the closure of IfATE, a report setting out which of the functions in this Bill are being exercised by Skills England and the impact of this on apprenticeships and technical education in England.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve recruitment in the early years sector.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The early years workforce is at the heart of the government’s mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver the Plan for Change. The department is determined to create change in the approach to early years, focusing on high-quality early education, celebrating early years careers and embedding the sector into the wider education system. Later this year, we will publish a strategy to reform early years education, including the workforce.
The government is supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders by creating conditions for improved recruitment and new routes into the workforce. Our national recruitment campaign is encouraging the public to ‘Do something BIG’ and start a career working with small children, and a dedicated campaign website is helping people to find out more about gaining qualifications and to search existing job vacancies. We are also piloting whether £1,000 financial incentives will boost recruitment in early years and have been running a childminder start-up grant scheme. Finally, we have introduced new routes into the workforce including Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible, employer-led courses that lead to accelerated apprenticeships.
Retaining and maximising the staff already in the workforce is also of vital importance. Through the experience-based route, providers will be able to maximise the potential of their staff who have the right skills and experience but do not hold an approved qualification. We have also taken steps to increase the graduate workforce via the early years teacher degree apprenticeship, providing a new undergraduate route to gaining early years teacher status.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of breakfast club funding.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Over 750 early adopter schools are now delivering free breakfast clubs across the country as part of a test and learn phase before further rollout of the programme. The department has used existing programmes and costs to determine the funding rates for early adopter schools, which have been tested and refined with a number of schools. An average school with 50% take up on the early adopter scheme would receive around £23,000 for a full year.
We will be working closely with the early adopter schools to test how they utilise the funding, which includes food, delivery and staffing costs. The department has a robust strategy in place to capture and analyse this data.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the weight of volumetric concrete mixers on (a) the number of journeys undertaken by volumetric concrete mixers and (b) carbon emissions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department ran a call for evidence from October to December 2023 seeking views on three potential options on weight limits for Volumetric Concrete Mixers (VCMs). The following factors were considered: reduction in payload per journey, increased waste, and increased vehicle mileage. Information received did not provide any compelling evidence for permitting a weight limit exemption specifically for VCMs.
As part of its consideration of the evidence, the Department for Transport has assessed the potential environmental impacts in accordance with the Environment Act 2021 which requires Ministers of the Crown to have ‘due regard’ to the environmental principles policy statement when making policy.
This is not a change to the policy on weights for VCMs but a decision to continue with the existing policy that a temporary exemption will come to an end in 2028.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the maximum weight of volumetric concrete mixers on the number of lorry drivers required.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The call for evidence conducted from October to December 2023 was an opportunity for respondents to present evidence, but it did not reveal significant new evidence supporting a change in policy.
The outcome of my department’s review into VCMs was published on 18 March. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/volumetric-concrete-mixers-review
This is not a change to the policy on weights for VCMs, but a decision to continue with the existing policy that a temporary exemption will come to an end in 2028.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help improve the energy efficiency of homes.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future. We will upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies like heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation.
The Government has announced Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund in England, to support social housing providers and tenants, as well as the new Warm Homes: Local Grant to support low-income homeowners and private tenants.
The Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. We will publish further details on the Warm Homes Plan in due course.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to increase grid capacity.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is taking action to deliver a major expansion of the electricity network. We are working closely with Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator to speed up delivery of new network infrastructure through reforms to planning, support for communities and strategic network design. Government is also reforming the connections process to ensure projects that are ready to connect to the network and strategically aligned can connect first. These actions will result in greater capacity on the network to connect new generation and new demand side investment, securing our energy supply while boosting growth and decarbonisation.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what plans he has to assess land use changes in applications for new energy infrastructure.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Land use changes arising from proposals for new energy infrastructure are subject to rigorous planning processes, which will involve a comprehensive Examination process for those that meet the criteria of a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the mental health and well-being of school students.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.
That is why the government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. Mental Health Support Teams continue to roll out in schools and colleges across the country and are expected to cover at least 50% of pupils this year.
The government will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures hubs with access to mental health support workers.
To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, such as a resources hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support first time buyers.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The affordability challenges facing prospective first-time buyers mean that too many people are now locked out of homeownership. This government is determined to change that, ensuring that young families and hardworking renters can buy a home of their own.
Boosting the supply of homes of all tenures must be at the heart of any strategy to improve housing affordability which is why the government’s Plan for Change includes a hugely ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.
In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, we are committed to introducing a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme, to support first-time buyers who struggle to save for a large deposit, with lower mortgage costs.