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Written Question
Revenue and Customs: Research
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many research projects have started work in the HMRC datalab in each year since 2013.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC Datalab have provided 106 projects access to de-identified HMRC data for research purposes, since 2012.


Written Question
Department for Education: Equality
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which unit in her Department is responsible for equalities.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Every department across government has a responsibility for equalities. The Human Resources and Transformation Directorate is responsible for equalities in the Department for Education. The department also has a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) team who can provide colleagues with advice on equalities-related issues. Under the PSED, all public authorities, including government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.

The government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers. The Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.


Written Question
Department for Business and Trade: Equality
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Nine DBT staff members have the words equality and/or gender in their job titles. These roles are all externally facing roles, responsible for negotiating provisions and chapters within bilateral and multilateral contexts. There are no DBT staff members with diversity; inclusion; LGBT; or race in their job title.

The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support the

equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) of the workforce, through the review of EDI

spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.


Written Question
NHS: Facsimile Transmission
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number of fax machines used in the NHS.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No data is collected in relation to the number of fax machines being used in the National Health Service.


Written Question
New Homes Ombudsman
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on putting the New Homes Ombudsman on a statutory footing.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government legislated in the Building Safety Act 2022 to establish a statutory New Homes Ombudsman. They will provide dispute resolution for, and determine complaints by, buyers of new build homes against developments.


Written Question
Home Office: Equality
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people work in his Department's equality, diversity and well-being team.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

There are 29 members of staff working in the central Equality, Diversity and Wellbeing Team based on headcount, this represents 0.06% of the total staff working for the Home Office.


Written Question
Nuclear Power: Regulation
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race in the (i) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, (ii) Civil Nuclear Police Authority and (iii) UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The table below refers to the organisations as per your question:

Organisation

Number of roles

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

4

Civil Nuclear Police Authority

6

UK Atomic Energy Authority

1


Written Question
Degrees
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of degrees were awarded at first class in each year since 1994.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), now part of Jisc, collects and publishes data on student qualifications across all UK higher education providers, including data on degree classifications. Counts of first degree qualifications by class of degree for academic years 2006/07 to 2021/22 are published in Chart 9 of HESA’s Student Data, which is available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/chart-9.

The data includes students studying for first degree qualifications and excludes students who qualified with an unclassified first degree (mainly including degrees that do not have a classification, such as Medicine).

Counts for academic years 1994/95 to 2005/06 can be found in HESA’s publication archive, and can be accessed for the relevant years via the links below:


Written Question
GCE A-level and GCSE
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average point score was at (a) GCSE and (b) A level in each local authority in each year since 2010.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department produces two average point score measures at GCSE, Average Attainment 8 and Average Ebacc APS. Average Attainment 8 was first introduced to all schools in the 2015/16 academic year, and Average Ebacc APS was first introduced in the 2017/18 academic year. More information can be found in the Secondary accountability measures guide here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/progress-8-school-performance-measure. The data can be found at the following links:

Figures are based on pupils at the end of key stage 4 who attended state-funded schools in England.

The A level average point score (APS) for each local authority in England, including number of students and average grade from 2014/15 to 2022/23, are available from the links below.

Prior to that, APS data for local authorities covered all level 3 qualifications (A levels, but also other level 3 academic and vocational qualifications) where links are provided for the 2009/10 to 2013/14 academic years.

All figures are based on students at the end of 16-18 study who attended state-funded schools and colleges in England.

Note that APS data for the 2015/16 to 2022/23 academic years for A levels is on a scale of 0-60, where a grade A* is given 60 points and a grade E is 10 points. APS data for the 2009/10 to 2014/15 academic years uses an older QCDA points scale where A level grades are on the scale 0-300, where a grade A* is 300 points and a grade E is 150 points. Vocational qualification grades are scaled 0-270.

2014/15 - 2022/23 data: A level APS per entry and grade:

2009/10 to 2013/14: Level 3 APS per entry:


Written Question
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the funding per pupil was in each (a) secondary and (b) primary school in England in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Current school funding, for individual schools and at local authority level, cannot be directly compared to school funding in 2010 due to structural changes in the funding system. For local authorities, funding for schools was only identified separately from funding for high needs or early years in 2013, so comparisons cannot be made before that point. In 2018, the schools national funding formula (NFF) started to direct funding according to a consistent assessment of need, rather than historic local spending decisions. Funding changes since 2018 will therefore reflect this move to fairer funding.

Local authority level data on school funding, including average funding per pupil, is published annually as part of the announcement of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocations.

The block of funding in the DSG relating to primary and secondary mainstream schools (the 'schools block') was first introduced in 2013/14. DSG data between 2013/14 and 2017/18 provides the schools block per-pupil unit of funding for each local authority. This covers both primary and secondary schools together. The department does not hold separate data for primary and secondary pupils for this period and does not have comparable data for years prior to 2013/14.

The funding system changed again in 2018/19 when the NFF was introduced. With the introduction of the NFF, funding was provided by reference to primary and secondary schools separately.

The scope of the per pupil figures pre and post-2018 are not directly comparable. In particular, the central services provided by local authorities was split out from the schools block funding in 2018/19, and instead funded separately through the central school services block from that year onwards.

Links to the published DSG tables can be found here:

2013/14

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-2013-to-2014

2014/15

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-2014-to-2015

2015/16

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016

201617

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2016-to-2017

2017/18

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2017-to-2018

2018/19

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pre-16-schools-funding-guidance-for-2018-to-2019

2019/20

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2019-to-2020

2020/21

https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2020-to-2021

2021/22

https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2021-to-2022

2022/23

https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2022-to-2023

2023/24

https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2023-to-2024

2024/25

https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2024-to-2025

The DSG allocations are at local authority level, not at the level of individual schools. However, notional school level funding data is published annually in the NFF school impact table, including notional funding per pupil. However, this does not represent the level of funding that individual schools will necessary ultimately receive, as schools’ actual allocations are based on local authorities’ local funding formulae.

Links to the latest NFF school impact tables can be found here:

2023/24

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2023-to-2024

2024/25

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2024-to-2025