Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the application of VAT on independent school fees on the number of independent school closures in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Approximately 50 mainstream private schools close each year. There are a range of reasons for closure, including financial viability and action taken by the department where schools are not meeting standards. We expect the number of private school closures to remain relatively low, and be influenced by various factors, not just the VAT policy.

The government is aware there may be a temporary increase in the schools closure rate over the normal rate during the few years after implementation of the VAT policy. It is estimated that this may be broadly equivalent to 100 schools in total closing over the next 3 years, in addition to the normal levels of turnover, after which closures would return to historic norms. The government has conducted a thorough and detailed analysis of this policy’s impacts and published a Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/ac8c20ce-4824-462d-b206-26a567724643#summary-of-impacts.

Historically, there has been significant turnover within the sector. Since 2000, average fees in the sector have increased by 75% in real terms, while pupil numbers have remained stable, as have total school numbers.

Local authorities routinely support parents who need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed. The department works with local authorities to support place planning and ensure there is capacity in the state-funded sector to meet demand. Parents can seek places in other private schools or find a state-funded place through their local authority.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of road traffic fatalities related to potholes in (a) Solihull Borough, (b) the city of Birmingham, (c) Warwickshire, (d) Oxfordshire and (e) Worcestershire in each of the last four years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Statistics on reported road injury collisions in Great Britain are published based on data reported by police via the data collection known as STATS19.

Within STATS19, reporting police officers can assign up to 6 factors which they believe may have contributed to the collision, including ‘poor or defective road surface’. Contributory factors are assigned based on the opinions of the reporting officer at the scene or within a short time of the collision, rather than a detailed investigation.

The number of road fatalities where a police officer assigned the contributory factor “poor or defective road surface” in Solihull Borough, the city of Birmingham, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire for the last 4 years for which data are available totalled 1 fatality. This fatality occurred in Warwickshire in 2020.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the risk of interference by Russia in Georgia.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Georgia remains at the forefront of Russian hybrid aggression, with Russian military units stationed just 30 minutes from the capital, Tbilisi. In December 2024 I discussed with Georgian Dream representative, Maka Botcharishvili, Russian interference in Georgia. The UK remains vocal at the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), where Russia regularly exerts pressure, in our support for Georgian territorial integrity and sovereignty over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We continue to call on the Russian Federation to withdraw their troops from Georgian sovereign territory and reverse recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetian independence.

Found: _93 Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst Dr Ben Spencer .

Found: _93 Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst Dr Ben Spencer .

Found: _93 Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst Dr Ben Spencer .

Found: _93 Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst Dr Ben Spencer .

Found: _93 Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst Dr Ben Spencer .

Found: _93 Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst Dr Ben Spencer .

Found: specialist palliative, hospice or other care. 41 COMMITTEE STAGE Tuesday 4 March 2025 _93 Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst