Derek Twigg

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not had recent discussions with universities regarding the attendance of defence companies at career fairs and events. As autonomous institutions, universities have the discretion to decide which companies they invite to such events.

The department does not specifically collect data on school days lost due to weather conditions.

From the start of the 2024/25 academic year, it became mandatory for schools to share attendance data with the department. Attendance data can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.

Other attendance statistics and past releases are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-pupil-absence. This shows pupil absence statistics from May 2010 onwards and pupil attendance statistics from September 2022.

It is for individual settings and responsible bodies to determine their approach to closure based on their own risk assessment. Closures should be considered a last resort, and the imperative is for settings to remain open where it is safe to do so. Where a school was planning to be open for a session but then has to close unexpectedly, for example due to adverse weather, the attendance register is not taken as usual because there is no session. For statistical purposes this is counted as a ‘not possible’ attendance.

Where settings are temporarily closed, individual settings and responsible bodies should consider providing remote education for the duration of the closure in line with departmental guidance. Providing remote education does not change the imperative to remain open, or to reopen as soon as possible. Pupils who are absent from school and receiving remote education still need to be recorded as absent using the most appropriate absence code. Schools should keep a record of and monitor pupil’s engagement with remote education, but this is not formally tracked in the attendance register. Guidance for schools on providing remote education is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools. Additional guidance for parents on remote education is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-information-to-parents-template.

Bed occupancy rates for each National Health Service trust are published monthly by NHS England. The latest data is for December 2024, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-and-occupancy/bed-data-overnight/

Information on accident and emergency performance is published monthly by NHS England. The headline metric used is the four-hour accident and emergency waiting time standard. This data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/

Provisional data is published on median average waiting times in emergency departments by National Health Service provider. This data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/provisional-accident-and-emergency-quality-indicators-for-england

The mean average waiting time from referral to the first outpatient appointment for patients under vascular services at the Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is 78 days. For the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, a breakdown of the data on vascular services is not currently held by the Department.

The Elective Reform Plan outlines our commitments on reforming outpatient care to reduce waiting times for first and subsequent appointments. These include improving the NHS App and the Manage Your Referral Website to give patients more control over their outpatient care, increasing Advice and Guidance to ensure that patient care takes place in the right setting, and reducing missed appointments and less clinically valuable follow ups. These reforms will help to free up clinicians’ time and reduce waiting times for those patients who most need care, including first appointments and clinically necessary follow ups. Outpatient transformation will help fulfil the Government’s commitment that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015.

A table showing the information requested is attached.

Responsibility for purchasing radiotherapy treatment machines sits with local systems. The Government committed £70 million for new machines in last year’s Budget, to ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.

The Home Office keeps all its immigration visa routes under regular review, which includes consulting the Department of Health and Social Care on which occupations should be eligible for the Health and Care Visa.

The below table highlights the Royal Navy’s budget for training between financial years (FY) 202018-19 and 2023-24. This includes Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) costs. In accordance with standard financial practice in all public and private organisations, it is not possible to provide figures for the entire period requested.

The below table provides the Royal Air Force budget for training between financial years (FY)2018-19 and 2023-24. This includes Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) costs. It is not possible to provide figures for the entire period requested.

The Department has interpreted training to mean the budget for direct training exercises only. This includes Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) costs.

The below table highlights the Army’s budget for training between financial years (FY)2018-19 and 2023-24. As a result of changes in accounting practices, it is not possible to provide figures for the entire period requested.

As of 1 April 2024, there were 26,030 Army Trade Trained Regular, Gurkha and Trained Reserve Engineers.

We do not routinely release the workforce requirement figures of Army regiments for reasons of operational security.

The Trade Trained Regular Army only exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from Gurkha Trained Army Personnel (GURTAP) to UK Trained Army Personnel (UKTAP).

Reserve figures are for Trained Army Group A Reservists for Army. Group A includes Volunteer Reserves, Mobilised Volunteer Reserves, High Readiness Reserves and University Officer Training Course (OTC) Support & training staff.

The 'Engineering' trades listed above are defined in line with the agreed definition from the Defence Engineer Remuneration Review (DERR).

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Whilst a statistical release of overall Armed Forces strength is published annually, strength and capability statistics for certain specialisations are not released.

Releasing the current strength and requirement of medical service personnel, or indeed other specialised professions, could be exploited by our adversaries to target, disrupt and degrade an important element of Armed Forces capability.