Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of providing free breakfast clubs in primary schools in each financial year to 2028-29.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will fund schools to provide the new breakfast clubs.
The department published its funding methodology alongside guidance for early adopters on 16 January, and it has worked closely with schools on these rates to ensure they were sufficient for the ask.
Funding for national rollout is subject to the next spending review.
Funding rates for schools as part of the national roll out will be informed by learning from early adopters.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost of providing free breakfast clubs in every primary school will be.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will fund schools to provide the new breakfast clubs.
The department published its funding methodology alongside guidance for early adopters on 16 January, and it has worked closely with schools on these rates to ensure they were sufficient for the ask.
Funding for national rollout is subject to the next spending review.
Funding rates for schools as part of the national roll out will be informed by learning from early adopters.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to local government of implementing the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department has conducted initial new burdens impact assessments, in line with normal practice, for measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Once the new burdens assessments have been finalised, where it is assessed there is a new burden on local government, all additional net costs will be funded by central government in line with the New Burdens Doctrine.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the total number of pupils who (a) have participated in the National Consortium for Languages Education’s language hubs since they were established and (b) currently use those hubs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
There are currently 15 language hubs across England, typically comprising one lead school, working with seven partner schools and feeder primary schools, in addition to supporting wider networks of schools within their region.
The support offered by language hubs is aimed at schools and teachers only. Being enrolled at a school which is also a language hub does not therefore mean that a pupil is enrolled in, or directly accessing, the languages support the hub offers.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils are enrolled in a National Centre for Computing Education computing hub.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Computing hubs are embedded within individual schools which provide free computing continuing professional development (CPD), met a ministerially approved quality bar and are supported by the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). 28 schools in England are currently part of a computing hub.
The support offered by computing hubs is, for the most part, aimed at teachers only. Being enrolled at a school which is also a computing hub does not therefore mean that a pupil is enrolled in, or directly accessing, the computing support the hub offers. The only support from computing hubs which is aimed directly at pupils is hub-run outreach events. In the 2023/24 academic year, over 3,700 young people attended an NCCE outreach event.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the consultation entitled Technical consultation - Inheritance Tax on pensions: liability, reporting and payment, published on 30 October 2024, if she will make an estimate of how much tax revenue will be raised following the extension of inheritance tax on death-in-service payments for military families in each of the next five years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The costing for including inheritable pension wealth in the value of the estate for inheritance tax purposes from April 2027 was certified by the OBR at the 2024 Autumn Budget as ‘reasonable and central’. Additional information on the costing methodology can be found in the OBR’s Economic and fiscal outlook – CP 1169.
The specific revenue raised as part of this costing from the extension of inheritance tax to death-in-service payments for military families in each of the next five years is not available as the data does not distinguish whether a taxpayer is or was a member of the Armed Forces.
Estates of service personnel will benefit from the normal nil-rate bands, reliefs, and exemptions available. For example, the nil-rate bands mean an estate can pass on up to £1 million and the general rules mean any transfers, including the payment of death benefits, to a spouse or civil partner are exempt fully from inheritance tax. There is also a full exemption from inheritance tax when a member of the armed forces dies from a wound inflicted, accident occurring, or disease contracted on active service.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of personal remittances from the United Kingdom in each of the last five years, broken down by region.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Remittances from the United Kingdom to other countries are not taxable, as such HMRC does not hold this data.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were exempted from the spouse visa financial requirements on account of receiving benefits which exempted them in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Where an individual is applying on the 5-year partner route, their partner must be in receipt of one or more of the specified disability related benefits in order to be subject to the ‘adequate maintenance test’ rather than the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR).
Each application for permission under this route is considered on its merits and against the appropriate financial requirement. Data is not centrally held on the numbers of people who are required to meet the ‘adequate maintenance test’ rather than the MIR, and could only be collated for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21364 on Further Education and Schools: Employers' Contributions, in which month her Department plans to pay the grant for the cost of national insurance.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Payment dates will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there will be future intakes for the development programme for CEOs of multi-academy trusts run with the National Institute of Teaching.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department has a contract in place with the National Institute of Teaching to deliver the multi-academy trusts CEO development programme to two cohorts of leaders that started their training in February and September 2024 respectively. The current contract runs to March 2026.
The government is committed to supporting the development of school leaders and has announced a review of the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), which will consider the support needed to meet the current and emerging training needs of leaders. NPQs provide training grounded in the best evidence and practice in education at every leadership level, including for executive leaders.