Lee Anderson

Economic Growth is the first priority of this government. To deliver on this, one of our first steps after taking office was to announce that we were resuming Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Having carefully reviewed our negotiation objectives we have now started talks with the first of these key partners. This is a first step towards getting businesses access to international markets, boosting jobs, and delivering growth. We are also committed to ensuring UK businesses can take full advantage of CPTPP when it enters into force in December.

I am open to considering options put forward by the Trustees for changes to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

The UK was the first country to set legally binding carbon budgets and the first major economy to establish a net zero target in law. An Impact Assessment of the level of the Sixth Carbon Budget was published at the time, including a cost-benefit analysis which showed the economic costs and benefits of net zero. Without the shift to renewable energy, we will continue to be exposed to volatile fossil fuel markets and the cost of living crises households had to live through in the last Parliament.

Although standing charges are a commercial matter for suppliers, and are regulated by Ofgem, we know that too much of the burden of the bill is placed on them. The Government has worked constructively with the regulator on the issue of standing charges, and we are committed to lowering the cost of them.

Ofgem’s recently published discussion paper sets out the options for how standing charges could be reduced, including by moving some supplier operational costs off standing charges onto the unit rate, increasing the variety of tariffs available for consumer in the market, and in the longer term, reviewing how system costs are allocated. Ofgem's publication can be found here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/call-for-input/standing-charges-domestic-retail-options.

We know that to achieve net zero, we must look at how we can accelerate the potential of all low carbon technologies including geothermal. The Government understands that geothermal can play a role in our decarbonisation ambitions particularly as a low carbon source for heat via heat networks. We have commissioned research into the potential costs of geothermal heat in the UK and will use this to understand how the government can support the sector to achieve its potential, in both the domestic and commercial sectors.

Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 sets out a parent’s right to educate otherwise than at school, i.e. to home educate. The department knows many parents work hard to provide a suitable education for their children in their home environment.

This government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth with the support of a strong skills system. The government is reforming the current apprenticeship offer to ensure that more young people can benefit from high quality training.

The new growth and skills offer will deliver greater flexibility for both learners and employers in England and will be aligned with the government’s industrial strategy, creating routes into good jobs in growing industries. As a first step, the department will be introducing new foundation apprenticeships for young people, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships, in targeted sectors. These flexibilities will provide high quality entry pathways for young people, help more people learn new high quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country. The department will set out more detail in due course.

This government has an extremely challenging fiscal inheritance. There are tough choices that need to be taken on how funding should be prioritised in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The government will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of level 7 apprenticeships themselves. The department is taking advice from Skills England, who engaged with employers on funding for level 7 apprenticeships over the autumn, and the department expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships shortly. Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion.

This government is working to create a clear, flexible, high-quality skills system that supports people of all ages, breaking down the barriers to opportunity and driving economic growth.

The department has established Skills England to ensure we have the highly-trained workforce needed to deliver the national, regional and local skills needs of the next decade. It will ensure the skills system is clear and navigable for both young people and older adults, strengthening careers pathways into jobs across the economy.

The department’s levy-funded growth and skills offer, with apprenticeships at its heart, will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers across England, including in Ashfield, and is aligned with our industrial strategy to create routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries. As a first step, this will include shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors, helping more people learn new high-quality skills at work, fuelling innovation in businesses across the country and providing high quality entry pathways for young people.

Latest data provided by West Nottinghamshire College confirms a total of 1343 apprentices in learning. Of this, 522 apprentices are either living or employed in Ashfield District, which is around 39% of the total. The sectors with the most apprentices either living or are from Ashfield are Building and Construction (128), Engineering (118), Manufacturing Technologies (93) and Administration (59).

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) support the department’s long term priority to drive local economic growth by reshaping the skills system to better align provision of post-16 technical education and training with local labour market needs and to support learners to gain the skills needed to get good jobs. The LSIP covering Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, which includes Ashfield, seeks to improve basic literacy and understanding of needs for learners and employees, digital skills as a key component of Technical Education courses, an increase in pre-16 engagement and skills development targeting young people, and basic employability skills that focus on for-work readiness.

West Nottinghamshire College is a large further education (FE) college based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, operating across nine centres and has specialist engineering and building services centres in Ashfield, with a construction skills training centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield. The college’s engineering training centre has been named as the UK’s first Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing in partnership with the Gene Haas Foundation.

The college has a well-established supported internship programme, which includes Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Capita and National Grid amongst its employer partners. The college’s high needs provision was recognised as outstanding by Ofsted in June 2023. Additionally, the college has embarked on a three-year programme to develop programmes further so that local employers, including in Ashfield, can benefit from a more diverse workforce.

The college has strong links with key public sector employers within Mansfield and Ashfield, including both district councils and the local hospital. The college’s principal is chair of the Making Mansfield Place Board and a member of the college’s executive leadership team is vice chair of the Discover Ashfield Place Board.

High-quality careers advice is an essential part of our missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and to drive economic growth. Our ambition is for everyone to have access to impartial careers information, advice and guidance throughout their lives. This will help open up more opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to access the skills and training they need to succeed in the workplace and to advance their careers.

This government is determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all children and young people, ensuring they have access to the brilliant education and care they need to thrive. This includes ensuring that wraparound care is available and accessible. The government is improving access to before and after school care through the National Wraparound Childcare Programme.

The programme is being delivered through local authorities, given their existing sufficiency duty. The Childcare Act 2006 places a legal duty on local authorities to make sure that there are enough childcare places within its locality for working parents or parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0 to 14, or up to 18 for disabled children. All local authorities should be able to demonstrate how they have discharged this duty and should include specific reference to how they are ensuring there is sufficient childcare to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as per the statutory guidance. This should be available from the local authority.

The National Wraparound Childcare Programme is helping local authorities discharge this duty, by distributing funding on the basis of anticipated need. Local authorities across England can decide how best to use the funding to set up or expand wraparound childcare in their area to meet the needs of their local community, including children with SEND. We have committed up to £3,990,920.18 between December 2023 to March 2026 to Nottinghamshire local authority to support delivery of additional wraparound places, including in Ashfield.

The government is also committed to making quick progress to deliver on our commitment to offer breakfast clubs in every primary school. Departmental officials are working closely with schools and sector experts to develop a programme that meets the needs of all children, including those with SEND.

On 23 September 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that up to 750 state funded schools with primary aged pupils will begin delivering free breakfast clubs from April 2025. The funding will allow these schools to run free breakfast clubs for their pupils starting in the summer term as part of a ‘test and learn’ phase to inform delivery of a national rollout, this will include testing approaches to supporting children with SEND.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.

The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children, and the role of local authorities to support them.

As local authorities know their carers best, they have the power to decide what financial support should be provided to kinship carers and any payments should be made in accordance with their model for assessing support needs.

The government does not set a maximum or minimum allowance for local authorities to administer. However, the kinship care statutory guidance, which was published in October 2024, states that, in its calculation of any ongoing special guardianship financial support, the local authority should have regard to the fostering allowance that would have been paid if the child was fostered.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the department announced £40 million to trial a new kinship allowance in some local authorities in England. The department will test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of caring for a child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. ​​ The department will share further details and the process for selecting local authorities in due course.​

This is the single biggest investment made by government in kinship care to date. This investment could transform the lives of vulnerable children who can no longer live at home by allowing children to grow up within their families and communities, reducing disruption to their early years, so they can focus on schooling and building friendships.

The department understands the unique challenges kinship carers face and is committed to providing the necessary support.

Giving young children the best start in life is the foundation of the government’s Opportunity Mission. Children’s earliest years are crucial to their health, development and life chances. We have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028.

The government set out its next steps for delivering on this milestone in the Plan for Change published on 5 December. It will roll out government-funded childcare support to improve access, delivering the expansion to 30 funded hours, and supporting 3,000 new and expanded school-based nurseries, increasing the availability of high-quality childcare places where they are needed most.

The government will work in partnership with the sector, reforming training and support for the workforce to drive up standards. Only by listening to the expertise and experiences of those on the ground can we deliver this together.

We will work towards a stronger early years system, beginning with offering sustained professional development and working with providers to help spread evidence-based programmes as part of comprehensive plans to drive high-quality early education and care. We will ensure that the reception year sets children up for success in the rest of primary school, by rolling out schools’ access to evidence-based programmes that boost early literacy and numeracy skills.

We will strengthen and join up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood. This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes to support early child health, parenting and home learning programmes. In addition, we will strengthen health visiting services for all families and improve early identification of special educational needs and disabilities.

In the Autumn Budget 2024, we provided an additional £1.8 billion to continue the expansion of government-funded childcare support for working parents in England, bringing total spending on childcare to over £8 billion in 2025/26.

As usual, hourly funding rates for providers offering the government-funded hours will vary between local authorities, reflecting local circumstances. On average, rates will rise to £11.54 for under 2s, £8.53 for two-year-olds and £6.12 for three and four-year-olds.

The government also announced, on 10 December, a new £75 million expansion grant, to be allocated later this year, to support nurseries, childminders and other providers to deliver the 35,000 additional staff and 70,000 places required to meet demand for September 2025.

The government will also deliver the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing rates by over 45% to up to £570 per eligible child per year. This unprecedented increase is an investment in quality early education for those children who need it most, in the areas that need it most, to give them the support they need to be ‘school ready’ at age 5 and go on to have the best life chances.

All parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their child receives a suitable, full-time education and they have the right to choose how their child receives that education. For example, by attendance at school or by home educating them.

The number of children in home education has risen significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated 92,000 children believed to be home educated as of October 2023. There is also an increase in parents reporting that they are moving their children into home education due to mental health concerns or special educational needs.

The department intends to introduce a package of measures to help ensure that children receive a safe, suitable education regardless of the setting they attend. The ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ policy paper, published on 18 November, confirmed the department’s intention to create a new requirement whereby parents will need local authority consent to home educate if a child registered at a school is subject to an enquiry under section 47 of the Children’s Act 1989 or on a child protection plan. If a child is subject to a section 47 Children Act enquiry or on a child protection plan and is already being home educated, the local authority will be able to require them to attend school.

We also intend to make improvements to the School Attendance Order process and, as announced in the King’s Speech, the government will introduce compulsory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill.

The UK has a longstanding and proud tradition of providing a safe haven to those who have no choice but to leave their home country because of endangerment to their lives or to those of their families. Higher education student support is available to those recognised as refugees, as well as their spouses, civil partners and children who were family members on the date the refugee applied for asylum, provided they have been ordinarily (i.e. lawfully) resident in the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and Isle of Man) since being recognised by the government as a refugee and are ordinarily resident in England on the course start date. They are exempt from the three-year ordinary residence requirement.

4,948 students with refugee status received student support from Student Finance England in the 2023/24 academic year to support their studies on full time undergraduate courses.

Individuals seeking asylum are not entitled to student support in England, whilst they are seeking asylum.

The department does not hold information on students who have self-funded their studies.

Nottinghamshire received a joint local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in February 2023 under the current Area SEND Inspection framework. Ofsted and the CQC found widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND which the local area partnership must address urgently. The report, which was published on 16 May 2023, included two areas for priority action (APA). The local area submitted a Priority Action Plan to Ofsted and the CQC to address these APAs, which was approved on 14 July 2023.

The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against the APAs found by inspectors and the progress made by children and young people with SEND. Nottinghamshire County Council is committed to working closely with the department to improve services.

The department has appointed a SEND Advisor to work collaboratively with an NHS England Adviser to challenge, support and work alongside Nottinghamshire County Council and the local area partnership. In addition, the department commissioned the Council for Disabled Children, which is part of the Research and Improvement for SEND Excellence Consortium contract, to deliver a bespoke package, supporting the local area to develop an outcome-based framework to underpin their new SEND strategy. This is available here: https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/education/special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send/special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send/nottinghamshire-local-area-send-strategy.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to taking a community wide approach in collaboration with local area partnerships, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs.

Ashfield Comprehensive School is currently in the feasibility stage of the School Rebuilding Programme. The feasibility will determine the scope of the project, programme and the budget. Once the feasibility is concluded the department will procure a contractor to undertake the detailed design of the scheme and secure planning permission.

The department currently anticipates appointing a contractor in spring 2025, with construction beginning from autumn/winter 2025.

Keeping children safe is a top priority for this government. Education plays a key role in ensuring children can lead safe and fulfilling lives, and it provides opportunity to intervene early, to prevent young people being drawn into crime.

Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) includes content on the situations that often lead young people to carry weapons such as knives, including criminal exploitation though involvement in gangs and county lines drugs operations and in particular the grooming relationships that often accompany this. Issues around gun and knife crime can also still be taught as part of a school’s wider curriculum. For example, schools can choose to include this content as part of their personal, social, health and economic education or citizenship curriculum.

Additionally, school-led Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed (‘SAFE’) taskforces have been established in 10 hotspot areas in England. The taskforces are investing in and delivering evidence-based interventions such as mentoring and social skills training to reach young people early, get them back on track with their education and reduce their vulnerability to serious violence. In alternative provision (AP), our Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforces programme enables teams of specialists such as speech and language therapists, youth justice workers and family workers to provide integrated, child-centred support in 22 APs in hotspot areas.

Youth Endowment Fund’s Toolkit, backed by Home Office funding, supports schools and wider services to take evidence based interventions to tackle serious violence. More information on this toolkit is available here: http://www.youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit/.

The government is driving an agenda of change to break down the barriers to opportunity and to reduce child poverty, working across local and national government to bring about change.

Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. That is why the government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackling the root causes, and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new Ministerial taskforce has been set up to begin work on the Child Poverty Strategy.

The department is also committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all children have the freedom to achieve and thrive in education. To support this aim, the department is committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, to set children up for the day and ensure they are ready to learn, while supporting parents and carers to work.

Disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools, as well as 16 to 18 year old students in further education, are entitled to receive free meals on the basis of low income. 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils are registered to receive free school meals (FSM) and a further 90,000 are registered to receive further education free meals. In addition, all children in reception, year 1 and year 2 in England's state-funded schools are entitled to Universal Infant Free School Meals, which benefits around 1.3 million pupils. As with all government programmes, we will keep our approach to FSM under review.

Nottinghamshire received a joint local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in February 2023 under the current Area SEND Inspection framework. Ofsted and CQC found widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND which the local area partnership must address urgently. The report, published on 16 May 2023, included two areas for priority action (APA). The local area submitted a priority action plan (PAP) to Ofsted and CQC to address these APAs, which was approved on 14 July 2023.

The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against the APAs found by inspectors and the progress made by children and young people with SEND. Nottinghamshire County Council is committed to working closely with the department to improve services.

The department has appointed a SEND advisor to work collaboratively with an NHS England Adviser to challenge, support and work alongside Nottinghamshire County Council and the local area partnership.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach in collaboration with local area partnerships to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools and to ensure special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.

It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, improving the life chances for every child and the work choices for every parent.

From April 2024, working parents of 2 year olds have been able to access 15 hours of government-funded childcare per week (over 38 weeks a year) from the term after their child’s birthday. From September 2024, this was extended to parents of children aged nine months and above and, from September 2025, working parents will be able to access 30 hours per week (over 38 weeks a year) for children from age nine months to when they start school. The department is also growing the provision of wraparound childcare, which is before and after school provision, for primary school children.

In 2024/25, we expect to provide over £1.7 billion to support local authorities and providers deliver the childcare expansion, which will rise in 2027/28 to over £4.1 billion. By the same year we expect to be providing over £8 billion every year overall on new and existing early years entitlements.

For Nottinghamshire County Council, the hourly rate for 3 to 4 year olds is £5.47, which is an increase of 5.2%. For 2 year olds, this rate is £7.63 per hour and for under 2s, £10.38 per hour.

The government has also committed to utilising unused space in primary schools to create much needed places in 3,000 nurseries, working in partnership with all parts of the sector and local authorities.

In addition to the entitlements, parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit Childcare. Parents can check what childcare support they are entitled to via the Childcare Choices website, which is accessible at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England on their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing, including supporting them through our childcare delivery support contract where appropriate.

The entitlements work on a termly basis, so children become eligible from the termly date after they reach the relevant age or after they or their parents first meet the eligibility criteria. The dates on which the terms start are 1 September, 1 January or 1 April. Therefore, depending on when a child is born or when the eligibility criteria is first met, there will be differing periods to wait until the relevant termly date.

The termly basis also allows local authorities and childcare providers to plan and ensure sufficient early years places are available for parents each term, as there are clear periods at which children are likely to enter a place.

Currently, there are no plans to amend the eligibility criteria, but this may be considered in the future.

The department is committed to rebuilding or refurbishing all schools selected for the School Rebuilding Programme, including all schools selected in Nottinghamshire.

Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to ensure they support a high-quality education for all children. All future decisions remain subject to the Spending Review.