First elected: 5th May 2005
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Lyn Brown, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
A Bill to make involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for drug supply, drug production, drug importation and money laundering offences; to make being a victim of child criminal exploitation a mitigating factor in sentencing for such offences; to establish reviews of sentencing guidelines in relation to the prevention of child criminal exploitation and criminal liability in relation to child criminal exploitation for organised criminal offenders; to amend the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to include a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation; to create a register of child criminal exploitation offenders; to place duties on public bodies to make plans to prevent, and collaborate in preventing, child criminal exploitation; to make provision about the reporting of the scale of child criminal exploitation and the inclusion of such exploitation in child, domestic, and offensive weapons homicide reviews; to require criminal justice agencies to publish information on their responses to child criminal exploitation; to make provision about the training of professionals in responding to child criminal exploitation; to make provision about the content and national oversight of local serious violence strategies in relation to child criminal exploitation; and for connected purposes.
Teenagers (Safety and Wellbeing) Bill 2022-23
Sponsor - Alex Norris (LAB)
Co-operatives (Permanent Shares) Bill 2022-23
Sponsor - Gareth Thomas (LAB)
Housing and Homelessness (Local Accommodation Duty) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Karen Buck (Lab)
Dogs and Domestic Animals (Accommodation and Protection) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Andrew Rosindell (Con)
House of Lords (Exclusion of Hereditary Peers) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - David Hanson (Lab)
Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Diana Johnson (Lab)
Maternity and Paternity Leave (Premature Birth) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Steve Reed (LAB)
We are clear that a person’s sexuality and gender identity is a personal issue, and fully support people’s right to privacy.
In certain circumstances, maliciously revealing a person’s sexual orientation or gender reassignment status without their consent could be found to be harassment under the Equality Act 2010.
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 also provides robust protection for trans people with a Gender Recognition Certificate from unwanted disclosure of their gender history, making it a criminal offence for anyone who has acquired information about a Gender Recognition Certificate holder’s gender history in an official capacity to disclose that information to anyone else, save for in a small number of exempted contexts.
We recognise that appropriately supporting all children in schools can involve balancing complex and sensitive matters. The Government continues to work across departments and with the LGBT sector to better understand these issues and how best we can support schools. The Secretary of State for Education has recently written to the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to accept her offer of advice as they determine their next steps in this area and other equalities issues for schools.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the independent regulator for equality law and regularly issues guidance on areas of equality law that span across several sectors.
It is not unusual for regulators and the Government to engage on relevant issues nor for Government departments to issue guidance relevant to their specific briefs. In this specific instance, that approach will enable Department for Education sectoral expertise, on safeguarding for example, to be taken fully into account in any next steps.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent public body, and makes its own decisions on how it exercises its functions and its relations with its stakeholders. All public appointments to the EHRC are made in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments through fair and open competition.
The Equality Hub is engaging with a wide range of stakeholders who hold different views in relation to conversion therapy. The Core Issues Trust wrote to the Equality Hub asking a Minister to meet to discuss our efforts to ban conversion therapy, an invitation which was declined. Instead, Equality Hub officials met briefly with the group as part of their routine stakeholder engagement around the proposed ban.
The Government launched its consultation into how – not whether – to ban conversion therapy on Friday 29 October. This will close on Friday 10 December. I would encourage everyone with an interest in this area to submit a response.
The Government is working at pace to deliver on our commitment to ban conversion therapy. We will also ensure there is support available for victims of conversion therapy, the first time the UK Government has offered this. The support will be available to whoever considers themselves to be at risk of - or has undergone - conversion therapy, whatever the circumstances.
The importance of developing a quality service is of central importance and we are working at pace to explore delivery options available to realise this commitment. An announcement with more details on the service and how it will be delivered will be made in due course.
Through our COP26 Nature Campaign, we are advancing work in four core areas; tackling the drivers of deforestation, promoting sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture, mobilising increased and more targeted finance for nature, and driving political ambition on nature.
On Nature Day at COP26, we are creating several opportunities to drive international action on all areas of biodiversity, including grasslands. The UK’s top priority is to agree on a strong post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. We will be pushing countries to make ambitious commitments to curb the dual crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change. This will put us on a path to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and mitigate the climate crisis.
This Government supports inclusive workplaces and believes that all LGBT people should be able to be themselves at work, so that they can do their best and achieve their full potential.
It is fundamental that everyone is able to seize opportunities in the workplace without fear of discrimination or harassment.
Memberships of external schemes are kept under review, to ensure value for taxpayers’ money.
This Government supports inclusive workplaces and believes that all LGBT people should be able to be themselves at work, so that they can do their best and achieve their full potential.
It is fundamental that everyone is able to seize opportunities in the workplace without fear of discrimination or harassment.
Memberships of external schemes are kept under review, to ensure value for taxpayers’ money.
This Government supports inclusive workplaces and believes that all LGBT people should be able to be themselves at work, so that they can do their best and achieve their full potential.
It is fundamental that everyone is able to seize opportunities in the workplace without fear of discrimination or harassment.
Memberships of external schemes are kept under review, to ensure value for taxpayers’ money.
This Government supports inclusive workplaces and believes that all LGBT people should be able to be themselves at work, so that they can do their best and achieve their full potential.
It is fundamental that everyone is able to seize opportunities in the workplace without fear of discrimination or harassment.
Memberships of external schemes are kept under review, to ensure value for taxpayers’ money.
All honours are awarded on the basis of merit. Donations to any political party should not be regarded as a reason for disqualification from receiving an honour.
There are clear procedures in place to protect the honours system and to ensure the integrity of the selection process. There are specialist honours committees which provide recommendations to the Prime Minister. Each committee is chaired by an independent chair and comprising a majority of independent members.
More broadly, fundraising by political parties is a legitimate part of the democratic process. The alternative is taxpayer-funding of political campaigning, which would mean less money for frontline services like schools, police and hospitals.
A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 18 July is attached.
Officials are engaging with Bain & Company better to understand the status of the findings in the recently published Zondo Commission reports and to seek appropriate assurances to the Government that Bain has taken steps to remedy any shortcomings identified therein.
The grounds for exclusion of organisations from bidding for Government contracts are set out in The Public Contracts Regulations 2015. These rules set out the circumstances in which bidders must, or may, be excluded from a public procurement process for a variety of criminal offences and in other specific situations. In all cases, individual departments and other public sector bodies are responsible for their own decisions on these matters, which apply only to the award of new contracts.
The Government recognises the need to commemorate those who have died during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to mark and remember this period as one of immense struggle.
The Prime Minister announced on 12 May the establishment of a UK Commission on Covid Commemoration. The Government will set out the Commission membership and terms of reference in due course.
We are aware of the call for the Memorial Wall to become a permanent national memorial. The UK Commission on Covid Commemoration, once established, will consider the appropriate way to remember those who have lost their lives during the pandemic.
Discussions on the future of the Memorial Wall are being led by Lambeth London Borough Council.
The entitlement of resident Commonwealth and Irish citizens to vote reflects our close historical ties with Commonwealth countries and the reciprocal arrangements UK has with Ireland. The Government has no plans to alter these rights.
In relation to relevant citizens of the Union, I refer the Hon member to the answer which I gave to PQ 1802 on 29 January 2020.
The Scottish Parliament is responsible for the franchise for local elections in Scotland. The Welsh Assembly is responsible for the franchise for local elections in Wales.
I refer the Hon. Member to the briefing notes on the Queen's Speech (p.133-134) published on 19 December 2019, which outline the Government's proposals:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-speech-december-2019-background-briefing-notes
I refer the Hon. Member to the briefing notes on the Queen's Speech (p.133-134) published on 19 December 2019, which outline the Government's proposals:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-speech-december-2019-background-briefing-notes
I refer the Hon. Member to the briefing notes on the Queen's Speech (p.133-134) published on 19 December 2019, which outline the Government's proposals:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-speech-december-2019-background-briefing-notes
The United Kingdom is one of the leading countries confronting the scourge of modern-day slavery, including forced labour. The UK is committed to working in partnership with producing countries to achieve sustainability in our supply chains, including for products such as palm oil, and supporting better outcomes for nature, climate, and people.
The Modern Slavery Act requires businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to publish modern slavery statements annually to report on the steps taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
The Government also supports voluntary due diligence approaches by UK businesses as steered by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises.
In 2021, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spent £32,039,053 in Official Development Assistance (ODA) on technical assistance delivered by UK-based organisations. This spend was through our International Climate Finance programming, from a UK wide ODA spend of £11.4bn that year. BEIS’s technical assistance aims to support developing countries to raise their climate ambition to help limit global temperature rises to less than 1.5 degrees, in order to reduce the devasting impact of climate change on the world’s poorest communities.
For non-Official Development Assistance spend, this information is not held centrally and it would not be proportionate to obtain this information.
HM Treasury is currently conducting a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and evidence regarding the impact of energy costs on post offices is included in that. However, the Government cannot confirm details on further support after 31st March 2023 until the end of the review, which will report in January 2023.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave the Hon. Member for Norwich South on 1st November 2022 to Question 69713.
Decisions concerning pricing and availability of mortgages are commercial decisions for lenders. The Government does not seek to intervene in these.
Spray foam is acceptable under Publicly Available Specifications 2030/2035 standards which are a pre-requisite for many Government schemes. This provides the customer with security and guarantees against work delivered.
Under the Voucher Scheme, it was the responsibility of a certified installer to recommend an appropriate product that meets standards, with homeowner’s responsible to decide measures they want to install.
In order to be eligible as an installer for the scheme, tradespeople must be registered with TrustMark, which has a robust framework of operating requirements, including dispute management.
Legislation will provide Ofgem regulatory powers to investigate and intervene on networks where prices for consumers appear to be disproportionate, if prices are significantly higher than those consumers would expect to pay if they were served by an alternative heating system.
All energy users are having to deal with rising energy costs, which have been caused by global factors. To help consumers, including those on heat networks, government have introduced support worth more than £9bn for vulnerable households, through initiatives such as the Energy Bill Rebate and the Household Support Fund adding to the help provided throughout winter 2021.
There is no national database for smart electricity or gas meter billing information. Billing is the responsibility of individual energy suppliers. Energy consumption is recorded and securely held by the meter whether smart or traditional. Energy suppliers access this data remotely or via manual meters reads for billing purposes.
As the question does not specify which grant scheme it relates to, I am responding under the assumption that it refers to Restart Grants which are the current primary business grant mechanism managed by local authorities.
Any changes to the rating list (rateable value or to the hereditament) after 1 April 2021 should be ignored for the purposes of eligibility. Local Authorities are not required to adjust, pay or recover grants where the rating list is subsequently amended retrospectively to 1 April 2021. In cases where it was factually clear to the Local Authority on 1 April 2021 that the rating list was inaccurate on that date, Local Authorities may withhold the grant and/or award the grant based on their view of who would have been entitled to the grant had the list been accurate. This is entirely at the discretion of the Local Authority and only intended to prevent manifest errors.
It is critically important that the following people stay at home and self-isolate immediately: anyone who has tested positive with COVID-19, anyone who has been contacted by NHS Test and Trace or their local authority, and anyone who has returned from abroad and is required to quarantine.
The Government has developed guidance on employment rights and self-isolation so that workers and employers are clear about their rights and obligations. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/if-you-need-to-self-isolate-or-cannot-attend-work-due-to-coronavirus.
In addition, anyone who is due to work anywhere other than where they are self-isolating (normally their home) must inform their employer that they are required to self-isolate. An individual can receive a Fixed Penalty Notice of £50 for not doing so.
It is an offence for an employer to knowingly allow a person who is required to self-isolate to work anywhere other than where they are self-isolating. If an employer is reasonably believed to be in breach of this requirement, they may be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice, ranging from £1,000 to £10,000.
Local Authorities provide written and verbal advice to businesses to enable them to comply with their obligations. Enforcement action is taken against employers who do not follow this advice and who do not take reasonable steps to ensure that their workers who must be self-isolating are not working from outside their home.
It is critically important that the following people stay at home and self-isolate immediately: anyone who has tested positive with COVID-19, anyone who has been contacted by NHS Test and Trace or their local authority, and anyone who has returned from abroad and is required to quarantine.
The Government has developed guidance on employment rights and self-isolation so that workers and employers are clear about their rights and obligations. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/if-you-need-to-self-isolate-or-cannot-attend-work-due-to-coronavirus.
In addition, anyone who is due to work anywhere other than where they are self-isolating (normally their home) must inform their employer that they are required to self-isolate. An individual can receive a Fixed Penalty Notice of £50 for not doing so.
It is an offence for an employer to knowingly allow a person who is required to self-isolate to work anywhere other than where they are self-isolating. If an employer is reasonably believed to be in breach of this requirement, they may be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice, ranging from £1,000 to £10,000.
Local Authorities provide written and verbal advice to businesses to enable them to comply with their obligations. Enforcement action is taken against employers who do not follow this advice and who do not take reasonable steps to ensure that their workers who must be self-isolating are not working from outside their home.
We will consult on a one-year extension of the current Warm Home Discount scheme later this year. We will also consider reform to improve the fuel poverty targeting of the scheme beyond 2022, and will consult on this in due course.
The Competition and Markets Authority issued a public statement on 5 March to reassure businesses and consumers that it is monitoring retail practices during the coronavirus outbreak and will take direct enforcement action, or advise the Government to take additional measures, if it is required.
The Government strongly supports the BBC’s mission to bring high quality and impartial news to global audiences in some of the most remote places in the world, particularly where free speech is limited.
The BBC’s proposal to merge BBC News and BBC World News forms part of their plan announced on 26 May to build a digital-first organisation, and means they will continue providing a 24-hour news channel for the UK and overseas.
We recognise that in the current fiscal context, the BBC, like other organisations, is facing difficult financial decisions. However, the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government, and decisions on service delivery are a matter for them.
The safety of fans at the 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League Final will be the responsibility of the stadium owners and UEFA. All relevant UK bodies (including the Sports Ground Safety Authority and the UK Football Policing Unit) will engage with the appropriate organisations to assist with security planning if a UK team is involved.
The government strongly values the work of the BBC World Service and its independent and impartial broadcasting. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine means that BBC World Service channels are playing an increasingly valuable role in challenging disinformation emanating from the Kremlin.
The Secretary of State has made it clear to the BBC in her letter confirming the final licence fee settlement that it should continue to make a substantive investment from the licence fee into the World Service to ensure that it continues to effectively reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world - in English and through its language services.
As set out in the Framework Agreement the BBC should continue to agree objectives, priorities and targets for the World Service with the Foreign Secretary, as well as the languages in which the World Service is to be provided, and any changes to these matters. The World Service’s Spending Review settlement for the period 2022 to 2025 from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be confirmed shortly.
In addition on 24th March the government announced an additional £4.1m of funding for the BBC World Service, to support its Ukrainian and Russian language services. We are not considering providing any further additional funding at this time.
The Government recognises the important social and economic contribution that social enterprises are making across the country.
Social enterprises continue to benefit from the unprecedented package of support made available by the government, including Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Many will also have benefited from government grants where they have been required to close non-essential retail.
In addition to cross economy measures the Government made available a £750 million package of funding, specifically for charities, social enterprises, along with unlocking an additional £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts. This funding has helped over 13,000 organisations continue to deliver vital services for those most affected by the pandemic.
We continue to monitor sector health closely. The government is committed to working with social enterprise representatives to support a strong and resilient sector.
Physical education (PE) and school sport plays an important role in supporting children and young people to be physically active, particularly during the current COVID-19 restrictions. The Department is working with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care on how to support better PE, sport and physical activity provision for all children and young people. This is part of our continuing work to deliver our joint school sport and activity action plan, published in 2019.
I can confirm that the School Games Organisers are now fully funded for the 2021/22 financial year. Funding beyond that point will be subject to future Government Spending Review decisions.
Physical education (PE) and school sport plays an important role in supporting children and young people to be physically active, particularly during the current COVID-19 restrictions. The Department is working with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care on how to support better PE, sport and physical activity provision for all children and young people. This is part of our continuing work to deliver our joint school sport and activity action plan, published in 2019.
I can confirm that the School Games Organisers are now fully funded for the 2021/22 financial year. Funding beyond that point will be subject to future Government Spending Review decisions.
We know that bulk purchasing for the purpose of reselling at profit through automated bots is a concern for some members of the games industry and their customers. Officials have discussed reports of games console scalping with the trade association for the video games industry, Ukie, who have been considering for example whether there is any additional advice games companies could provide to consumers.
The UK has an extensive framework of consumer protection law to ensure people get a fair deal when buying goods and services. For example, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 protect consumers when they make online purchases of goods, services or digital content from business traders. This includes rights of redress should there be a problem with a product, rules around clear labelling and pre-contractual information, and protection from unfair contractual terms.
However, these rules do not generally extend to guaranteeing the price for the product, nor its availability. Traders are generally able to set their own prices, so long as the price is clear and not misleading and the firm is not abusing a dominant position.
More broadly, as a government we want the UK to be a society in which technology works to the benefit of all citizens. For this to be the case, we must ensure we have the right rules in place to unlock these benefits while also protecting people from harm. That’s why we will pursue a pro-tech approach to regulating digital technologies, which will promote competition and innovation and build public trust through greater safety and security for users of digital tech.
The government recognises the value of esports which has the potential to develop as an area of real national strength in the UK, building on our world-class video games, entertainment and sports sectors.
To deliver on this, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently hosted the first government roundtable with the esports industry, discussing a range of issues including the importance of safeguarding to ensure young people can engage with esports safely.
Safeguarding will be a key area of consideration as the government builds on the roundtable, developing plans over the next few months to support the growth of a safe and inclusive esports sector in the UK.
Further education (FE) teachers are pivotal to the delivery of great student outcomes and to training the next generation of skilled workers to help boost productivity and drive national economic growth.
The department works closely with the sector to continually review the evidence around the impact of workforce supply and demand. The department knows the FE sector will need to grow the overall size of its teaching workforce due to the roll-out of T Levels which require more teaching hours, delivery of maths to 18, demographic pressures and the delivery of other important skills reforms.
We are making significant investments to support the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, including specialist teachers. The Spending Review 2021 made an extra £1.6 billion available for 16-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year compared with 2021/22. We are investing £125 million of available funds in the2023/24 financial year for 16-19 education to increase the national funding rate by 2.2% from £4,542 to £4,642, and boost specific programme cost weightings by 10%, to support the additional costs of recruiting and retaining specialist teachers in construction, manufacturing, engineering, and digital subject areas.
In addition, Institutions in London and the South East get additional funding through an area cost uplift to address the higher costs of delivering education in this part of England. For example, FE colleges in London attract a 20% uplift (inner London) and a 12% uplift (outer London), to their 16-19 funding allocations.
The adult education budget (AEB) is devolved to the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority. The Mayor is now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for London residents and allocation of the AEB to providers.
The department is supporting teacher recruitment in the sector through a national campaign to encourage industry professionals to become FE teachers.
We have supported the creation of new, high-quality routes into FE teaching, including a revised Level 5 Learning and Skills Teacher apprenticeship for those planning to work in the FE sector. The department is also providing bursaries worth up to £29,000 each tax-free to support FE teacher training in priority subject areas for the academic year 2023/24. The Taking Teaching Further (TTF) programme has supported around 1,000 industry professionals to train as FE teachers since 2018. In addition, the department is piloting a new £6,000 financial incentive for TTF recruits teaching in some of the most hard-to-fill subject areas, such as digital, construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing and maths. Finally, early career support is being offered for teachers in the form of access to a trained mentor through the Teacher Mentoring Programme which was announced in March 2023.
The department will continue to work with the sector to consider options for providing further support so that all learners are able to benefit from high-quality teaching.
Further education (FE) teachers are pivotal to the delivery of great student outcomes and to training the next generation of skilled workers to help boost productivity and drive national economic growth.
The department works closely with the sector to continually review the evidence around the impact of workforce supply and demand. The department knows the FE sector will need to grow the overall size of its teaching workforce due to the roll-out of T Levels which require more teaching hours, delivery of maths to 18, demographic pressures and the delivery of other important skills reforms.
We are making significant investments to support the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, including specialist teachers. The Spending Review 2021 made an extra £1.6 billion available for 16-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year compared with 2021/22. We are investing £125 million of available funds in the2023/24 financial year for 16-19 education to increase the national funding rate by 2.2% from £4,542 to £4,642, and boost specific programme cost weightings by 10%, to support the additional costs of recruiting and retaining specialist teachers in construction, manufacturing, engineering, and digital subject areas.
In addition, Institutions in London and the South East get additional funding through an area cost uplift to address the higher costs of delivering education in this part of England. For example, FE colleges in London attract a 20% uplift (inner London) and a 12% uplift (outer London), to their 16-19 funding allocations.
The adult education budget (AEB) is devolved to the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority. The Mayor is now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for London residents and allocation of the AEB to providers.
The department is supporting teacher recruitment in the sector through a national campaign to encourage industry professionals to become FE teachers.
We have supported the creation of new, high-quality routes into FE teaching, including a revised Level 5 Learning and Skills Teacher apprenticeship for those planning to work in the FE sector. The department is also providing bursaries worth up to £29,000 each tax-free to support FE teacher training in priority subject areas for the academic year 2023/24. The Taking Teaching Further (TTF) programme has supported around 1,000 industry professionals to train as FE teachers since 2018. In addition, the department is piloting a new £6,000 financial incentive for TTF recruits teaching in some of the most hard-to-fill subject areas, such as digital, construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing and maths. Finally, early career support is being offered for teachers in the form of access to a trained mentor through the Teacher Mentoring Programme which was announced in March 2023.
The department will continue to work with the sector to consider options for providing further support so that all learners are able to benefit from high-quality teaching.
Further education (FE) teachers are pivotal to the delivery of great student outcomes and to training the next generation of skilled workers to help boost productivity and drive national economic growth.
The department works closely with the sector to continually review the evidence around the impact of workforce supply and demand. The department knows the FE sector will need to grow the overall size of its teaching workforce due to the roll-out of T Levels which require more teaching hours, delivery of maths to 18, demographic pressures and the delivery of other important skills reforms.
We are making significant investments to support the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, including specialist teachers. The Spending Review 2021 made an extra £1.6 billion available for 16-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year compared with 2021/22. We are investing £125 million of available funds in the2023/24 financial year for 16-19 education to increase the national funding rate by 2.2% from £4,542 to £4,642, and boost specific programme cost weightings by 10%, to support the additional costs of recruiting and retaining specialist teachers in construction, manufacturing, engineering, and digital subject areas.
In addition, Institutions in London and the South East get additional funding through an area cost uplift to address the higher costs of delivering education in this part of England. For example, FE colleges in London attract a 20% uplift (inner London) and a 12% uplift (outer London), to their 16-19 funding allocations.
The adult education budget (AEB) is devolved to the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority. The Mayor is now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for London residents and allocation of the AEB to providers.
The department is supporting teacher recruitment in the sector through a national campaign to encourage industry professionals to become FE teachers.
We have supported the creation of new, high-quality routes into FE teaching, including a revised Level 5 Learning and Skills Teacher apprenticeship for those planning to work in the FE sector. The department is also providing bursaries worth up to £29,000 each tax-free to support FE teacher training in priority subject areas for the academic year 2023/24. The Taking Teaching Further (TTF) programme has supported around 1,000 industry professionals to train as FE teachers since 2018. In addition, the department is piloting a new £6,000 financial incentive for TTF recruits teaching in some of the most hard-to-fill subject areas, such as digital, construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing and maths. Finally, early career support is being offered for teachers in the form of access to a trained mentor through the Teacher Mentoring Programme which was announced in March 2023.
The department will continue to work with the sector to consider options for providing further support so that all learners are able to benefit from high-quality teaching.
Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including what items are banned from school premises.
Schools have the autonomy to decide which items should be banned from their premises, and these can include e-cigarettes or vapes. School staff can search pupils for banned items, as outlined in the Department’s ‘Searching, screening and confiscation at school’ guidance, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation.
The relationships and sex education and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks, including smoking, alcohol use, and drug-taking.
To support schools to deliver this content effectively, the Department has published a suite of teacher training modules, including one on drugs, alcohol and tobacco, which makes specific reference to e-cigarettes and vaping.
The department knows that UK national students will be concerned about any disruption to their education as a result of the conflict in Sudan.
British nationals are considered settled in the UK and will be eligible to apply for home fee status and student support once they hold three years ordinary residence in the UK prior to the start of any higher education (HE) course. This requirement ensures that the support provided by the taxpayer is targeted at those who have a substantial and recent connection with the UK.
There is no discretion to waive the three-year ordinary residence requirement. Student Finance England will consider on a case-by-case basis whether a period of absence affects a person’s ordinary residence.
To allow flexibility in dealing with the circumstances of individual applicants, HE providers can waive or reduce fees where they consider it appropriate to do so. The onus would be on individual applicants to provide a compelling and persuasive case to their individual university which would warrant the exercise of this discretion in their favour.
The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) ceased in England a number of years ago. The government made the decision to discontinue the EMA as evidence showed that it was poorly targeted and wasteful in supporting financially disadvantaged young people to stay in education beyond the age of 16. The EMA was paid to 45 per cent of all 16 to 18-year-olds in further education, but survey evidence found that only around one in ten of those who received EMA said that they would not be able to participate without it.
The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund targets those young people most in need of financial support to stay on in further education and training. The bulk of the funding is allocated to institutions who are responsible for ensuring that these funds go to those who need them. Bursaries of up to £1,200 per year are also available to specific vulnerable groups.
An independent impact evaluation looking at the change from the EMA to the 16-19 Bursary Fund was commissioned by the government and published in 2015. This can be found at:: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-16-to-19-bursary-fund-year-1-report.
For the 2022/23 academic year the department has increased the Bursary Fund by over £9 million from £134,352,473 to £143,691,863. This will help with the increasing costs of attending education, and we are keeping this situation under review.
The setting and payment of fees is a matter for universities as autonomous institutions and therefore, the department does not hold data on the exact number of international students in the UK who have not paid full fees in each of the last three years.
The Office for Students (OfS) collects and analyses financial data from higher education (HE) providers in England to ensure they have an up to date understanding of the sustainability of the sector. We work closely with the OfS and recognise that although there is variation in the performance and strengths of individual institutions the overall financial position of the HE sector remains sound.
Where the OfS identifies concerns about the financial viability of an HE provider, they will implement enhanced monitoring of that provider.
Payment of tuition fees and course progression is a matter between a student and their sponsor (HE institution). If a sponsor decides to withdraw a student from a course for non-payment of fees, they are required to notify the UK Visas and Immigration which may subsequently result in the student’s visa being cancelled
During the COVID-19 pandemic the department, alongside the government, worked hard to ensure that international students were supported throughout this difficult time, including visa concessions so that students who could not travel to the UK during the pandemic were not adversely impacted.
In addition, the department provided grant funding to the OfS for the 2021/22 financial year included an allocation of £5 million to HE providers in England in order to provide additional support for student hardship. This hardship funding could be accessed by international students and would be allocated by providers to where the need was greatest.