Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect (a) private businesses and (b) public bodies from cyberattacks.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The cyber security of the UK is a priority for the Government. This year we will introduce the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to improve UK cyber defences and better secure our essential services and the IT infrastructure they rely upon. The Government offers free guidance, tools and training to help businesses and organisations improve their cyber resilience. This includes a new Cyber Governance Code of Practice to help boards and directors manage digital risks, and the Cyber Essentials scheme which is highly effective in protecting businesses against cyber attacks. The PSTI Act, along with Codes of Practice on AI, Software and Apps, are helping protect organisations at scale by making technology secure by design.
The Government Cyber Security Strategy (2022-2030) sets a clear target for all public bodies to be resilient to known vulnerabilities and common attack methods by 2030. To date we have delivered GovAssure as our new cyber assurance regime and the Government Cyber Coordination Centre to support cross-government incident response.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 increase research into (a) the causes of and (b) treatment options for chronic migraine disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) into a range of conditions, including chronic migraine. The NIHR promotes participation in research through the Be Part of Research service, which features chronic migraine research studies seeking participants. Further information is available at the following link:
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/
The NIHR also invites proposals for new research into the causes and treatment of conditions through its website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to (a) expand and (b) promote non-academic education routes to support young people into employment.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the government’s plan to ‘Get Britain Working’, we will launch a new Youth Guarantee for young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they are supported to access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.
The department is investing in and promoting a wide range of non-academic routes to support young people into employment, including:
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of business rates on the viability of small businesses operating on the high street.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to creating a fairer business rates system that supports small businesses and protects the high street.
Over a third of properties (more than 700,000) already pay no business rates as they receive 100 per cent Small Business Rates Relief, with an additional c.60,000 benefiting from reduced bills as this relief tapers.
To deliver our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27.
This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. To target support towards smaller RHL properties, the Government intends to give the biggest cut to RHL properties currently paying the small business multiplier – those with a rateable value less than £51,000. The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes, as well as the economic and fiscal context.
Ahead of these changes being made, the Government recognises that businesses will need support in 2025-26. As such, we have prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. We have also frozen the small business multiplier, protecting over a million properties from inflationary bill increases.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of challenges in finding work placements for T-level courses.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
High quality industry placements are an important part of what makes T Levels a success. Overall completion rates on industry placements remain high, with 97.5% of students finishing their T Level last summer successfully completing their placement. However, the department recognises that schools and colleges face challenges securing high quality placements for their students in some sectors and regions.
To address this, we have updated our delivery approaches to allow for greater flexibility in how placements can be delivered, including increasing the number of placement hours that can be completed remotely. We also continue to work closely with stakeholders to increase awareness and engagement on T Levels amongst employers of all types. We recently confirmed additional support for T Levels which includes a targeted Employer Support Fund for the 2025/26 financial year, and the extension of the department’s T Level provider and employer support packages for a further year.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increased operating costs on the (a) employment retention and (b) pay levels of small businesses.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recognises the need to protect the smallest employers.
The Government has doubled the Employment Allowance, meaning that more than half of businesses with NIC liabilities will either gain or will see no change this year. As well as this, a Business Growth Service will make it easier for businesses across the UK to get the advice they need.
The National Minimum Wage increases that came into effect on the 1st April 2025 follow the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. To inform its recommendations, the Low Pay Commission considered the impact on business, competitiveness and the labour market, and undertook extensive research and stakeholder engagement. The Government’s Impact Assessment1, includes a detailed assessment of the impact of the rates on small and micro businesses, including the increase in pay levels and possible wider impacts on competitiveness and employment.
1The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025 - Impact Assessment
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of provisions in the Employment Rights Bill on (a) statutory sick pay and (b) dismissal procedures on small businesses.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has published a robust set of Impact Assessments on all aspects of the Employment Rights Bill, available here: Employment Rights Bill: impact assessments - GOV.UK. These include assessments on the impacts to small and micro businesses in line with the Better Regulation Framework.
New dismissal procedures and statutory sick pay measures will apply to all businesses regardless of size. Whilst it is recognised that smaller businesses could potentially face disproportionate challenges due to their limited resources, the broader societal benefits of increased job security, productivity and fairness in the labour market justify the policies scope.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that vacant commercial properties owned by institutional landlords do not inhibit small businesses' access to affordable premises.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government is committed to revitalising our high streets and tackling vacancy. To that end, we have introduced High Street Rental Auctions, new powers for local authorities to bring vacant units back into use by auctioning the lease. We anticipate this will increase cooperation between landlords and local authorities regarding vacant units and make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable for tenants, including SMEs and local businesses.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of schools needing to reduce (a) subjects taught, (b) the number of support staff and (c) maintenance of facilities to cover the cost of staff pay rises.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% school teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government support staff pay offer in 2025/26. This additional increase in funding means that the overall core schools budget (CSB) will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26 compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This is a year-on-year increase of £3.7 billion.
Schools will, on average, be expected to fund approximately the first 1 percentage point of the teacher and support staff pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending. That is equivalent to about 0.8% of a school’s overall budget, on average. The pay award will be funded above this level from new and existing funding increases from the government. The department believes that schools can make productivity gains. We know that this is challenging, but this is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services.
Schools are already making savings and bringing core operating costs down. For example, the 400 schools who participated in the department’s new energy for schools offer will save 36% on average compared to their previous contracts, which will free up vital funding to deliver for children and young people. The department is also making plans to secure better banking solutions for schools, getting them better returns on their cash balances. We will continue to provide schools with additional tools, guidance and support. Those best placed to identify ways for individual schools to operate more efficiently will be headteachers and school business managers.
Budgets for 2026/27 are still to be agreed and this includes the 2026/27 CSB. This will be subject to the multi-year spending review, which we expect to be concluded in June this year. The department will be taking account of the impact of the full year's costs of the teacher pay award.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of staff pay rises on schools in deficit.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% school teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government support staff pay offer in 2025/26. This additional increase in funding means that the overall core schools budget (CSB) will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26 compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This is a year-on-year increase of £3.7 billion.
Schools will, on average, be expected to fund approximately the first 1 percentage point of the teacher and support staff pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending. That is equivalent to about 0.8% of a school’s overall budget, on average. The pay award will be funded above this level from new and existing funding increases from the government. The department believes that schools can make productivity gains. We know that this is challenging, but this is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services.
Schools are already making savings and bringing core operating costs down. For example, the 400 schools who participated in the department’s new energy for schools offer will save 36% on average compared to their previous contracts, which will free up vital funding to deliver for children and young people. The department is also making plans to secure better banking solutions for schools, getting them better returns on their cash balances. We will continue to provide schools with additional tools, guidance and support. Those best placed to identify ways for individual schools to operate more efficiently will be headteachers and school business managers.
Budgets for 2026/27 are still to be agreed and this includes the 2026/27 CSB. This will be subject to the multi-year spending review, which we expect to be concluded in June this year. The department will be taking account of the impact of the full year's costs of the teacher pay award.