Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of approving requests from local authorities for council tax increases above the referendum cap.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is currently analysing results of the consultation on the provisional local government finance settlement for 2025-26 including the council tax referendum principles that will be set. The ability for councils in exceptional financial circumstances to request council tax increases is not new. As with previous years the government will consider requests for bespoke referendum principles from councils seeking exceptional financial support, but this government will put taxpayers at the forefront of their consideration.
The government will consider requests on a case-by-case basis and expects that any additional increases would only be agreed in exceptional circumstances. The government has been clear it will look carefully at councils’ specific circumstances, for example their existing levels of council tax relative to the average and the strength of plans to protect vulnerable people. As with previous years, referendum principles for all councils will be set out at the final Local Government Finance Settlement in February.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to announce her decision on requests from local authorities for approval of council tax increases above the referendum cap.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is currently analysing results of the consultation on the provisional local government finance settlement for 2025-26 including the council tax referendum principles that will be set. The ability for councils in exceptional financial circumstances to request council tax increases is not new. As with previous years the government will consider requests for bespoke referendum principles from councils seeking exceptional financial support, but this government will put taxpayers at the forefront of their consideration.
The government will consider requests on a case-by-case basis and expects that any additional increases would only be agreed in exceptional circumstances. The government has been clear it will look carefully at councils’ specific circumstances, for example their existing levels of council tax relative to the average and the strength of plans to protect vulnerable people. As with previous years, referendum principles for all councils will be set out at the final Local Government Finance Settlement in February.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned increase in employer National Insurance contributions on charities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government highly values the charity sector, and its positive contribution across society.
Due to the difficult economic inheritance from the previous government, we have had to take a number of difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability.
The Government has considered the implication of this policy change on the charity sector, and the impacts have been published in the usual way by HMRC as part of the Autumn Budget process.
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN), which gives a clear explanation of the policy objective and an assessment of the impacts, was published alongside the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill on 13 November 2024. This Note includes the impacts of the policy on the Exchequer; the economic impacts of the policy; and the impacts on individuals, businesses, civil society organisations and equality impacts.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of full-time undergraduate students paying international fees who are (a) British nationals and (b) non-domiciled in the UK.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to identify students who are paying international fees who are (a) British nationals and (b) non-domiciled in the UK.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on students coming from overseas to study in UK higher education providers (HEPs). Information on the type of fees a student pays, however, is not collected across all UK HEPs.
The legal nationality of the student is collected across all HEPs that submit data to HESA. The department estimates that of the 288,465 full-time, undergraduate, international students (those with permanent address outside the UK) enrolled in UK HEPs in the 2022/23 academic year, 12,805 declared that they held British nationality. Of the remaining full-time, undergraduate, international students, 271,505 declared that they held an overseas nationality and 4,155 have an unknown nationality.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December to Question 19589 on Newspaper Press: Foreign Investment in UK, whether her Department has (a) considered and (b) taken legal advice on issuing Foreign State Intervention Notices in the last six months.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Secretary of State has a quasi-judicial role when considering foreign state ownership, influence and control in newspapers and news magazines, and as such we cannot comment further.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December to Question 19589 on Newspaper Press: Foreign Investment in UK, what level of indirect investment by foreign states will trigger the issuing of a Foreign State Intervention Notice.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Consultation on The Enterprise Act 2002 (Mergers Involving Newspaper Enterprises and Foreign Powers) Regulations 2024 closed on 9 July 2024. Ministers recognise the high importance of this issue and are considering the responses carefully. Ministers take into account a wide range of issues and evidence when making a decision, and will publish the response in due course.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 19590 on Newspaper Press: Foreign Investment in UK, whether the response to the consultation is contingent on free trade negotiations.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Consultation on The Enterprise Act 2002 (Mergers Involving Newspaper Enterprises and Foreign Powers) Regulations 2024 closed on 9 July 2024. Ministers recognise the high importance of this issue and are considering the responses carefully. Ministers take into account a wide range of issues and evidence when making a decision, and will publish the response in due course.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many Foreign State Intervention Notices have been issued in the last six months.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There have been no Foreign State Intervention Notices issued in the last six months.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support hospices that rely on charitable donations, in the context of changes to National Insurance thresholds.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance contributions (ENICs) rise will be implemented in April 2025.
The Government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, like hospices, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with ENICs liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Businesses and charities will still be able to claim ENICs reliefs, including those for under 21 and under 25 year old apprentices, where eligible. The Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year in due course.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve (a) management accountability and (b) the complaints and oversight system for staff at multi-academy trusts.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All school staff should feel safe and supported at work, and confident in being able to report concerns. We expect school leaders, as employers, to take appropriate action to tackle any issues that are raised.
All school employers, including trusts, have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees. The primary duty to take reasonable care for the health and safety of all employees, including school leaders, rests with the employer. The employer is therefore responsible for doing what is reasonably practicable to ensure that employees are adequately supported in relation to wellbeing and should take appropriate action where they are aware of any matters that impact their employee’s welfare. It is the responsibility of individual trusts to have robust staffing policies in place to ensure this is the case.
This includes having complaints guidance and whistleblowing policies and procedures in place. Guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-up-an-academies-complaints-procedure/best-practice-guidance-for-academies-complaints-procedures and here: https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, is the prescribed person for matters relating to education for whistleblowers who do not want to raise matters directly with their employer. Concerns can be raised with the department using the Customer Help Portal available here: https://customerhelpportal.education.gov.uk.
More widely, as Principal Regulator for academies, the Secretary of State is clear that accountability is non-negotiable. The department holds academies to high standards, setting and enforcing all non-financial standards, and facilitating, supporting and overseeing intervention in multi-academy trusts when it is needed.
Academy trusts are also bound by their funding agreements to conduct their academies within the terms and requirements of their Articles of Association, the Academies Trust Handbook and any legislation or legal requirement that applies to academies. Where concerns about an academy are identified or raised, the department works closely with trusts to ensure statutory requirements are being met.