James MacCleary

There are a range of robust rules in place to ensure that gambling adverts, wherever they appear, are socially responsible and do not exacerbate harm.

The Gambling Commission is further strengthening protections on marketing to improve customer control over the marketing they receive and the tightening rules on the design of incentives such as free bets.

However, as the Gambling Minister set out in her speech at the GambleAware conference on 4 December, the government recognises that more needs to be done to improve protections. The industry now has a clear task to further raise standards to ensure that levels of gambling advertising does not exacerbate harm, and this work will be monitored closely.

On the 22nd of January, I was pleased to announce that the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme would continue from March 2025 to March 2026 with a budget of £23m. Further details can be found here in the Written Statement.

The Department monitors the implementation and impact of the grant scheme through the regular reporting of the grant administrator. Since 2010, the grant scheme has returned over £350 million to listed places of worship including churches.

Departmental settlements have been set following the Budget announcement on October 30. Individual programmes will now be assessed during the departmental Business Planning process.

We are introducing a registration scheme for short-term lets in England. Our aim is to reap the benefits of a thriving tourist economy whilst protecting the spirit and fabric of communities, including by giving local authorities valuable data on short-term lets in their area to help address housing impacts through the scheme.

The registration scheme will work to create a level playing field across the guest accommodations sector and ensure short-term lets are set to the same standards as more traditional accommodations such as hotels and B&Bs.

The scheme will support operators of short-term lets by boosting the reputation of England’s guest accommodation sector and attracting more visitors by giving visible assurance we have a high-quality, safe guest accommodation offer.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. High-quality and sustainable buildings are a key part of that.

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme supports schools, hospitals and other public sector bodies with funding to switch to cleaner heating and cut building emissions. Additionally, capital funding allocated by the department to the school sector each year can be used for projects that improve the energy efficiency and sustainability of school buildings, as well as improving the condition of the estate to keep schools safe and operational. From visits made to schools for the department’s Condition Data Collection programme (CDC2), we know that almost 30% of schools already have photovoltaic panels installed.

Decisions on which projects to prioritise with capital allocations are primarily taken at a local level. In the 2024/25 financial year, the department committed £1.8 billion in capital funding to improve the condition of the school estate. At the Autumn Budget 2024 the government increased funding to £2.1 billion for the 2025/26 financial year.

This is on top of the School Rebuilding Programme, which is rebuilding or refurbishing poor condition buildings at over 500 schools. Since November 2021, the department has required all new department-delivered schools be designed to be net zero carbon in operation. This is alongside delivering investment to increase green infrastructure and sustainable water management on school sites.

The department is aware of an increasing amount of interest in this area from schools and suppliers and is engaging with the sector to look at how it can further support schools in the move to solar. Our sustainability support programme provides online and in person help to education settings in identifying appropriate actions to become more sustainable, including considering decarbonisation of their energy supply. Where schools are considering the purchase of solar panels or other sustainable systems, our ‘Get help buying for schools’ service provides support to ensure that schemes procured are of high-quality and value to the sector. Information about the service can be found here: https://gethelpbuyingforschools.campaign.gov.uk/.

Pilot programmes such as the Net Zero Accelerator Service and the Decarbonisation Pilots have been working with small groups of schools to explore what interventions work best in different typologies of schools to reduce emissions and energy bills. The learning from these pilots will be captured and shared through the sustainability support programme.

The department has also published guidance for schools and colleges on sensible steps for reducing energy use and small-scale works to improve energy efficiency. Further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-efficiency-guidance-for-the-school-and-fe-college-estate/energy-efficiency-guidance-for-the-school-and-further-education-college-estate. In addition, advice on reducing energy costs, including renewing energy contracts, and frameworks for procuring sustainable solutions, is available here: https://find-dfe-approved-framework.service.gov.uk/pages/rising-energy-prices.

The Centre for Latin Excellence has contacted all the schools involved in the Latin Excellence Programme and has received assurances that all pupils due to take Latin GCSE this summer will continue to do so.

​The department is working closely with the Centre for Latin Excellence to ensure that teachers currently delivering the Latin curriculum to key stage 4 pupils will be prioritised and will receive extra support in the lead up to the end of the programme. All schools on the programme will continue to have access to the curriculum resources once the programme ends supporting them in the continue delivery of Latin teaching.

The fiscal situation this government inherited means there are difficult decisions to take on how money is spent right across the public sector to ensure the department delivers on our priorities. Given this, we have taken the difficult decision not to extend the Latin Excellence Programme beyond the end of the current contract on 28 February 2025.

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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. FE Colleges were incorporated under the terms of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, which gave them autonomy over the pay and contractual terms and conditions of their staff.

This government is committed to ensuring there is a thriving FE sector, which is vital to our missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and boost economic growth.

At the October Budget 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out an additional £300 million revenue funding for FE in the 2025/26 financial year to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs. The department will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.

This builds on our investment to extend targeted retention incentive payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. The department is also delivering funding to support those young people who do not pass mathematics and English GCSE at 16, who are predominantly studying in FE.

The department will continue to offer financial incentives for those undertaking teacher training for the FE sector in priority subject areas. For the 2024/25 academic year, FE training bursaries are worth up to £30,000 each, tax free. Additionally, we are supporting industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through our ‘Taking Teaching Further’ programme.

The 5.5% pay award announced in the summer for the 2024/25 academic year was for school teachers only. School teachers’ pay is set through an independent, statutory process each year, and for 2024/25 the department accepted the School Teachers' Review Body’s (STRB) recommendation in full.

The process for determining the school teacher pay award for 2025/26 is currently underway. On 10 December, the department published its written evidence to the STRB, to inform their recommendations. The evidence sets out that in the context of the challenging national economic picture, a 2.8% pay award for school teachers would be appropriate, ensuring school teachers’ pay remains competitive.

In making their recommendations for 2025/26 school teacher pay, the STRB have been asked to consider the impact of their recommendations on the FE teaching workforce in England. This does not change how pay is set in FE, but, as the FE and school workforces are closely related, it is important that the STRB consider the totality of the workforce when they look at the evidence.

Helping children and young people to both achieve and thrive, including through work on mentoring and supporting wellbeing, is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity – one of the five missions of this government.

The department is investing £17 million across two mentoring projects that will support the school attendance of at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally. The first project is set to conclude this academic year, while the second, larger pilot will continue until 2028.

To support mental health and wellbeing, the government has also committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school in England.

The department has also launched a targeted mental wellbeing support toolkit to further help schools select the most effective targeted support options. This covers a range of evidence-based interventions, including mentoring, which we recognise can be a useful component of a whole school approach to wellbeing.

The government is committed to deliver on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary aged children. We have made early progress towards this, including announcing that up to 750 early adopters will be delivering these new breakfast clubs by April 2025. Breakfast clubs offer much more than just food. They can serve as a welcoming space for children, providing valuable opportunities for them to play, learn, and socialise at the beginning of the school day.

Across government, we are also supporting a variety of other schemes with a focus on mentoring and wellbeing for young people in wider communities.

Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to help improve the way that children and young people can access opportunities and support in their local communities, in doing so, promoting their development, improving mental health, and preventing young people being drawn into crime. Expertise has been brought together from across government departments to deliver on this manifesto commitment, and the government will be engaging with national and local partners, local communities and children and young people to co-design and explore options for the design and delivery of the hubs.

There are currently around 65 locally funded early support hubs in England open to those aged 11 to 25. These are open to anyone who may not meet the threshold to receive NHS support. This means children and young people experiencing feelings of anxiety or stress will have a physical space to go to in their community when their problems first emerge without the need for a referral. Early support hubs also offer advice on wider issues which may affect a young person’s mental health, including careers advice, educational support or support with their financial circumstances. In 2024/25, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is also running a Shared Outcomes Fund project, backed by £8 million, to boost and evaluate the impact of 24 existing early support hubs.

In the wider healthcare system, DHSC will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

Supporting mentoring in wider communities, Youth Futures Foundation receives funding through the Dormant Assets Scheme, which is led by industry and backed by the government, for their ‘Building Futures’ programme with the Football Beyond Borders as their year 1 partner, which will enable thousands of vulnerable young people to access crucial mentoring support.

I refer the hon. Member for Lewes to the answer of 29 October 2024 to Question 10604.