Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2024 to Question 13172 on Pre-school Education, what reforms to the early years system her Department plans; and whether she plans to publish a consultation on these reforms.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s long term intention is to reform the early years system as the foundation of opportunity and life chances for children. Giving children the best start in life is key to the government’s Opportunity Mission. We will consider what reforms, if any, and what consultation are necessary, and then set out our vision for reforming the early years sector next year.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the new transitional justice legislation in Nepal.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
A legitimate and effective transitional justice process in Nepal remains necessary even 18 years after the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. It will help ensure reconciliation and underpin lasting peace. The UK welcomes Nepal's recent step forward with its new transitional justice legislation. The UK continues to engage with the Government of Nepal, the UN and others on how best to provide constructive support for Nepal's transitional justice efforts that are victim-centric, fair and in-line with international standards. We also continue to work to address the injustices, inequalities and exclusion that sowed the seeds of the civil war.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to release an Early Years strategy.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s long term intention is to reform the early years system as the foundation of opportunity and life chances for children. We will set out our vision for reforming the early years sector next year.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of and (b) implications for his policies of recent investor-state dispute settlements under the bilateral investment treaty with Colombia; and whether he plans to retain that treaty.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government regards the UK-Colombia Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) as playing an important role in the investment relationship between our two countries. The stock of total investment between the UK and Colombia was £6.8 billion in 2023. The BIT contains legally binding investment protection commitments which ensure UK and Colombian investors are treated in line with the rule of law, and are protected against unfair, arbitrary or discriminatory treatment, and expropriation without adequate compensation.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he is taking steps to support Property Linked Finance to help homeowners to install (a) domestic renewables and (b) energy efficiency measures.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Green finance can play a key role in helping achieve our home decarbonisation ambitions. Through the Warm Homes Plan, the Department is exploring the role private financing can play in supporting homeowners to meet the upfront costs of installing domestic renewables and fabric energy efficiency improvements. As part of that work, Government is assessing the role novel finance models, including Property Linked Finance and Heat-as-a-Service, can play in addressing homeowner needs. Further details on the Warm Homes Plan, including future financing support for households, will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the proportion of schools that celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month; and what steps she is taking to help support the inclusion of this history on the National Curriculum.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold data on the proportion of schools that celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month.
Schools are free to decide which events to commemorate and what activities to put in place to support pupils’ understanding of significant events and particular months or days dedicated to specific communities, such as the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller history month in June.
Schools are already able to teach about Gypsy, Roma and Travellers’ history as part of offering a broad and rich curriculum, for example, through subjects such as history and citizenship. Resources are available from experts in the communities themselves and bodies such as the Historical Association.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if the Prime Minister will create a Minister for Manufacturing post in the Department for Business and Trade.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I am responsible for manufacturing as Minister for Industry.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with universities on the value for money of their contracts with academic publishers for (a) journal subscriptions and (b) open-access publishing.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Jisc is an independent nonprofit company that supports universities with the transition to open access. It does this through negotiating a range of transitional open access agreements and institutional access to journal publications. These agreements enable UK research output to be published open access in accordance with UK funder policies.
Jisc will negotiate new agreements with publishers on behalf of the sector in 2025. This will focus on pace of change to open access models, the financial sustainability of agreements, and equity to enable a wider audience to benefit including researchers, small specialist institutions and public health organisations.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps with academic publishers to help ensure that they are not influenced by foreign powers that seek to (a) censor and (b) otherwise restrict the dissemination of research.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises concerns about overseas interference in our higher education sector, including those related to overseas funding. The Government works with the Office for Students, and other stakeholders to ensure that overseas funding does not interfere with academic freedom.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of transferring] frozen Russian assets held in the UK to Ukraine to support the war effort.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Russia's obligations under international law are clear: it must pay for the damage it has caused to Ukraine. That is why on 22 October the Chancellor announced that we will provide £2.26 billion in additional support to Ukraine, as part of the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans to Ukraine scheme. In line with the Government's commitment to ensure that Russia pays for its illegal invasion of Ukraine, the UK's contribution will be repaid using the extraordinary profits generated on immobilised Russian sovereign assets. We will continue to consider all possible lawful avenues by which Russia can be made to meet its obligations to Ukraine under international law.