Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the school workforce that is neurodivergent.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
The department does not collect data centrally on whether school staff are neurodivergent.
Schools are asked to record whether staff self‑report a disability, which may include neurodivergent conditions where individuals choose to declare them. However, the disability data collected does not enable the department to identify or extract information specifically on neurodivergent staff.
In the November 2025 school workforce census, around 85% of teachers provided disability information. Where disability information was reported, around 3% of teachers were recorded as disabled. This is the most recent data available and has been available since 4 June 2025
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Value for Money Government Procurement framework in prioritising bids that include capital investment guarantees.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to achieving value for money across all public procurement. There is no single document titled the 'Value for Money Government Procurement framework’.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve data-sharing protocols between the Home Office and local authorities regarding individuals leaving asylum accommodation.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office continues to share information to support effective transitions from asylum accommodation. This includes the weekly Discontinuation Prediction Tool, which provides a real-time view of cases entering the discontinuation process and a four-week forward look at the likely volumes of individuals who may seek local authority assistance following a positive decision.
Under the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness strategy the Home Office has made a commitment to ensure all local authorities receive information from asylum accommodation providers for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness. We are working closely with partners across the asylum accommodation system to achieve this commitment and improve the timely sharing of information. This will enable local authorities to commence a homelessness assessment which will be received within 2 days of an asylum discontinuation and within 14 days of family reunion visa issuance.
To support this commitment, the Home Office is working with asylum accommodation providers and reviewing its data-sharing arrangements to improve the quality and timeliness of information provided to local authorities, including more consistent and actionable information at the point asylum support is discontinued.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the average time taken for newly recognised refugees to secure accommodation following the issuance of a biometric residence permit.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
We continue to work closely with local authorities to improve housing outcomes for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation.
In March this year, the Home Office decided to set the notice period for all individuals granted leave exiting the asylum accommodation estate to 42 days, following an extensive 56-day pilot and evaluation. In reaching the decision, we considered a wide range of evidence, including key findings from the evaluation of the 56-day pilot. The full evaluation can be found on gov.uk: www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process.
It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements, regardless of when their eVisa (which replaced biometric residence permits in for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation in 2024) is issued. Support is available to all individuals through Migrant Help in order to do this, which includes advice on how to access Universal Credit, the labour market and where to get assistance with housing.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the VAT registration threshold on the net revenue growth of SMEs.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are not in the VAT system at all.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the total fiscal yield generated by the Energy Profits Levy.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Office for National Statistics publishes monthly updates on public sector current receipts. Since its introduction in 2022 until July 2026, the Energy Profits Levy has raised £13.5bn on an accruals basis.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the average administrative compliance costs incurred by a business when transitioning across the VAT registration threshold.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Government set out the impacts, including administrative impacts, of specific policies in the Tax Impact and Info notes which are published alongside tax policy changes at each Budget.