Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including further education providers under the remit of the School Teacher Review Body in her Department's contribution to the Spending Review.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating pay within colleges. Colleges are not bound by the national pay and conditions framework for school teachers, but are free to implement their own pay arrangements in line with their own local circumstances.
In making their recommendations for 2025/26, the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) has been asked to consider the impact of their recommendations for school teachers on the FE teaching workforce in England. The published evidence provides information and context for STRB to consider as part of this process.
The Autumn Budget 2024 set out the government’s commitment to skills, by providing an additional £300 million revenue funding for FE to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs. The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers and providers play in equipping learners with the opportunities and skills they need to succeed in their education. We will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.
FE institutions remain solely responsible for the pay, contractual conditions and terms of service for their workforce, and for managing their own industrial relations.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including further education colleges under the remit of the School Teacher Review Body from 2025-26.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating pay within colleges. Colleges are not bound by the national pay and conditions framework for school teachers, but are free to implement their own pay arrangements in line with their own local circumstances.
In making their recommendations for 2025/26, the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) has been asked to consider the impact of their recommendations for school teachers on the FE teaching workforce in England. The published evidence provides information and context for STRB to consider as part of this process.
The Autumn Budget 2024 set out the government’s commitment to skills, by providing an additional £300 million revenue funding for FE to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs. The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers and providers play in equipping learners with the opportunities and skills they need to succeed in their education. We will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.
FE institutions remain solely responsible for the pay, contractual conditions and terms of service for their workforce, and for managing their own industrial relations.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-establishing the Cultural Renewal taskforce.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Cultural Renewal Taskforce was set up to develop guidance for the safe reopening of DCMS sectors following the coronavirus pandemic. There are no plans at present to re-establish the Taskforce.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend copyright legislation in relation to text and data mining.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government will launch a consultation soon on a number of issues relating to copyright and AI, including text and data mining.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the curriculum framework for primary school science as part of her Department’s curriculum review.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Curriculum and Assessment Review is being independently conducted by a group of education leaders (the review group) and chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The terms of reference were published in July and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/curriculum-and-assessment-review.
As part of its work, the review group is undertaking a review of the existing national curriculum, including primary science. The role of the review group is to consider the evidence, the responses to the call for evidence and widespread engagement, and then make recommendations for the government to consider.
The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025 setting out its interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work and publish its final report with recommendations in autumn 2025.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on supporting non-UK (a) artists, (b) sponsors and (c) creative workers to work in the UK.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We have had no such recent meetings, but there are already several routes that provide opportunities for artists and creatives to come to the UK. The UK’s domestic rules allow musicians, entertainers, artists, and their technical staff, from non-visa national countries (such as EU/EEA nationals) to perform in the UK for up to 6 months without requiring a visa, as long as they are not receiving payment from a UK source other than prize money or expenses. Musicians, entertainers and artists from visa-national countries are likewise able to perform in the UK via the Standard Visitor route, and/or if performing at a festival detailed on the Permit Free Festivals list.
Additionally, the Creative Worker visa allows a professional artist, model, entertainer or musician (applicable to all nationalities) to carry out activity directly relating to their profession, if they have a Sponsor who is licensed by the Home Office and has assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship to the
individual.
We are committed to continuing to work closely with stakeholders to better understand their needs and challenges within the immigration system. This includes exploring ways to better streamline the processes within existing frameworks, to ensure the UK remains an attractive destination for global creative talent.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential (a) economic and (b) cultural impact of UK border controls on (i) non-UK artists, (ii) sponsors and (iii) creative workers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to ensuring workers in the creative industries have immigration routes that work for them. The United Kingdom has an excellent immigration offer for workers within the creative industries and we continually keep our policies under review.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the re-offending rate is for prisoners serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection who are released.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in the proven reoffending quarterly statistics on the proportion of offenders serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences who reoffend. Figures can be found in Table C2a: proven-reoffending-oct22-dec22-3-monthly.ods.
I have provided figures from the latest publication on the last four quarters of available data:
| Jan - Mar 2022 | Apr - Jun 2022 | Jul – Sep 2022 | Oct - Dec 2022 |
Proportion of IPP offenders who reoffend (%) | 4.8 | 9.5 | 6.5 | 2.3 |
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to his Department's Green Paper entitled Invest 2035: The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, published in October 2024, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the UK's copyright regime for text and data mining on the (a) Industrial Strategy and (b) eight growth-driving sectors.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government believes in both human-centred creativity and the potential of text and data mining and AI to open up new creative frontiers.
This is requires a balanced solution – one that supports all the sectors listed in the Invest 2035 industrial strategy, including the creative industries and the digital and technologies sector.
The Government will launch a consultation soon on a package of measures to address copyright and AI issues and support growth.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has made a comparative assessment of the potential impact of international text and data exceptions on (a) development of AI products and (b) creative industries.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are engaging with international partners to better understand their approaches to copyright and AI issues.
The Government will launch a consultation soon on a package of measures to address copyright and AI issues, and welcomes views and evidence of impacts, including international approaches.