Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent meetings her Department has had with victims of forced adoptions in England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has met with members of the Movement for an Adoption Apology, and the Adult Adoptee Movement, to hear first hand the experiences of those affected by historical adoption practices. Their testimonies and insights are vital, and they are helping to shape the government’s ongoing work in this area. The department continues to engage proactively with a range of organisations to understand fully the implications of past practice and to consider the most appropriate steps forward.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of salary differences between college lecturers and school teachers on recruitment to further education teaching posts for (a) construction and (b) electrical engineering courses.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.
The government recognises that colleges are facing recruitment challenges in construction and engineering. That is why our targeted retention incentive scheme gives eligible early career college teachers in priority subjects, including building and construction and engineering, up to £6,000 after tax annually. In the 2024/25 academic year, almost 6,000 teachers received payments.
In addition, we have announced that areas with Local Skills Improvement Plans will benefit from £20 million to form partnerships between FE providers and construction employers. This will help to build links between colleges and industry and boost the number of teachers with construction experience in FE.
Across the spending review period, we will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/2029. This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16 to19 providers to enable the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of funding under the (a) Landscape Recovery and (b) Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme has been received by farms smaller than 200 acres.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Landscape Recovery (LR) scheme does not directly award funding to participant land managers. Rather, the scheme awards funding to Projects, when in their development phase, and to a Single Legal Entity when they are in their implementation phase. This funding is then disbursed as per their project plans. The two pilot rounds of LR has seen in excess of 1400 land managers participating in LR projects with a range of holding sizes, with some choosing to enter whole farms into the project and others entering only part of their holdings. It should be noted that due to the dynamic nature of development proposals, this participation figure is subject to change.
The Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme pays farmers and land managers to manage land in a way that: protects, restores, or enhances the environment and mitigates the effects of climate change.
The table below shows the total value claimed under the CSHT scheme and the percentage paid to farm businesses which were 200 Acre and under.
CSHT Claim Year | Total Value Paid to Farm Businesses with a CSHT Claim | % of the Total Fund Paid to Farm Businesses who are 200 acres and under |
2021 | £68,340,619 | 9% |
2022 | £100,077,442 | 9% |
2023 | £125,409,391 | 8% |
2024 | £226,289,959 | 7% |
2025 | £174,616,734 | 8% |
** This includes woodland management and woodland creation plans and is based on land recorded as linked in the Rural Payments Portal.
To Note -The New improved CSHT opened in September 2025 and is being rolled out by invitation only - no annual payments will be due until the payment window opens in December 2026.