Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the cost to families of VAT on school uniform for 14-16 year olds.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. The UK’s generous regime for children’s clothing costs approximately £2 billion a year, and we are one of only two countries in the OECD – out of 37 total - that maintain this zero rate.
Expanding the existing relief would also not necessarily succeed in reducing the price of school uniforms. Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates, instead absorbing the additional saving from tax to increase their profit margin.
Going further by zero-rating all branded school uniform would also carry significant risks that the relief would not remain tightly targeted at those whom it would be intended to benefit. This is because many schools have moved away from traditional styles and uniforms, opting instead for a range of clothing that could be acceptably worn by adults, such as plain white shirts or black shoes.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse has been of the school rebuilding programme broken down by spending on (a) completed projects and (b) ongoing projects.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
School buildings are integral to high and rising standards and need to be fit for the future.
We have committed to rebuilding or refurbishing 518 schools and sixth form colleges through the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP).
The Autumn Budget 2024 included £1.4 billion for the 2025/26 financial year to drive the ongoing delivery of the current programme. Future capital funding for schools beyond 2025/26 will be confirmed following the next multi-year phase of the Spending Review.
Annual capital budgets to date for the SRP are published within the Supplementary and Main Estimates on parliament.uk. These budgets are combined with the legacy Priority School Building Programme.
The department also publishes information on all contracts awarded over £10,000, including rebuilding projects, normally within 30 days of the contract being signed. These are published on GOV.UK at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated in total for the school rebuilding programme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
School buildings are integral to high and rising standards and need to be fit for the future.
We have committed to rebuilding or refurbishing 518 schools and sixth form colleges through the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP).
The Autumn Budget 2024 included £1.4 billion for the 2025/26 financial year to drive the ongoing delivery of the current programme. Future capital funding for schools beyond 2025/26 will be confirmed following the next multi-year phase of the Spending Review.
Annual capital budgets to date for the SRP are published within the Supplementary and Main Estimates on parliament.uk. These budgets are combined with the legacy Priority School Building Programme.
The department also publishes information on all contracts awarded over £10,000, including rebuilding projects, normally within 30 days of the contract being signed. These are published on GOV.UK at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of school rebuilding projects have (a) been completed, (b) been completed within their intended time frame and (c) have passed their original deadline.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As of 31 December 2024, buildings have been handed over at 23 schools. Of these, demolition and ground works are complete at nine schools, with a further six forecast to reach practical completion this financial year.
The programme started in 2020, with the first projects announced in 2021. In line with initial expectations for the programme, just under half of School Rebuilding Programme projects have commenced various stages of delivery activity, despite some market challenges caused by significant global events. The remaining projects have been given indicative start dates for delivery over the next few years based on a prioritisation of need, with building projects taking up to five years from commencement to complete.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many temporary classrooms are currently in use in schools across England, broken down by number in use in (a) primary schools (b) secondary schools and (c) special schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary aided school bodies, to manage the maintenance of their schools and alert the department if there is a concern with a building. Local authorities and academy trusts do not need to report the use of temporary classrooms to the department, therefore, the department does not hold this data. The department does provide support on a case-by-case basis, working with the sector, if it is alerted to a serious safety issue. The department always puts the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which contractors have been chosen to carry out works under the school rebuilding programme; and on what criteria these contractors were chosen.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department procures contractors from its frameworks to deliver the vast majority of projects, including the School Rebuilding Programme. Information on the contractors on its frameworks, including the criteria for selecting contractors for individual projects, can be found on GOV.UK, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-buildings-construction-framework-2021/appendix-d-framework-contractors.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) promote patient awareness of walking aid return and reuse schemes, (b) promote NHS staff awareness of the possibility of establishing those schemes and (c) encourage NHS trusts to set up those schemes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is committed to reducing its environmental impact, and in 2020, published its Delivering a Net Zero NHS strategy, committing to reach net zero by 2045.
The NHS recognises that reusing walking aids, such as crutches, frames, and walking sticks, provides an excellent opportunity for carbon savings due to the high greenhouse gas intensity of aluminium manufacture. As part of its commitment to reach net zero by 2045, NHS England is working to expand walking aid refurbishment and reuse schemes, and has made a range of resources and tools available to support NHS staff starting new schemes or boosting existing schemes. The most recent support for staff being the inclusion of walking aids in the net zero product savings calculator, available to all NHS staff. NHS Supply Chain’s Aid for Daily Living framework has also been designed to maximise the return and reuse of such devices with the inclusion of a refurbishment service.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of compulsory walking aid return and reuse schemes for NHS trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is committed to reducing its environmental impact, and in 2020, published its Delivering a Net Zero NHS strategy, committing to reach net zero by 2045.
The NHS recognises that reusing walking aids, such as crutches, frames, and walking sticks, provides an excellent opportunity for carbon savings due to the high greenhouse gas intensity of aluminium manufacture. As part of its commitment to reach net zero by 2045, NHS England is working to expand walking aid refurbishment and reuse schemes, and has made a range of resources and tools available to support NHS staff starting new schemes or boosting existing schemes. The most recent support for staff being the inclusion of walking aids in the net zero product savings calculator, available to all NHS staff. NHS Supply Chain’s Aid for Daily Living framework has also been designed to maximise the return and reuse of such devices with the inclusion of a refurbishment service.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she is taking steps to improve staffing levels in the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), demand for the service increases. To allow us to meet this demand and provide an efficient service we continuously look at the resources we have and where we should focus our efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers. We review our overall resource supply twice yearly and take the appropriate steps to ensure that the CMS staffing levels meets the current demand.
CMS has an ongoing recruitment campaign; this will continue into 2025. This will ensure that CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand. Additionally, through extensive modernisation to both telephony and digital channels, and by promoting self-service online, we are ensuring customers use the most appropriate and efficient contact method to quickly resolve their queries and reduce demand on our services. Furthermore, we have taken timely action to further train, support and redeploy resources within CMS to where it is needed most.
Every change and improvement made to our processes, systems, and resourcing are all part of modernising our service. This will be an ongoing process of regular review and improvement to ensure CMS has the capability to deliver a service which is accessible to all parents.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November to Question 14520 on Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients, how many people have been held in Section 136 suites for over 24 hours in the last five years; and under which section of the Mental Health Act 1983 they were held.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information in the format requested. Information on the number of uses of section 136 suites, collected by NHS England, is available at the following link: