Peter Bedford

As with other public bodies, IPSA's Annual Report and Accounts provides information on special payments made each financial year, which can include the costs of employee settlement agreements. In line with IPSA's statutory responsibility to protect personal data, I can inform the Member that there were two such agreements made between 2020 and 2024 totalling £106,870.

The Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (SCIPSA) is a statutory Committee established under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. The Committee’s functions are set out in that Act. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was also created by 2009 Act, as a statutorily independent body.

Each year the Speaker's Committee reviews IPSA’s annual estimate of the resources it needs to discharge its functions. SCIPSA is required by statute to ensure that the estimate is consistent with the efficient and cost-effective discharge of IPSA’s functions. The Committee carries out public scrutiny of the estimate prior to it being laid before the House of Commons by the Speaker.

IPSA’s accounts are audited annually by the National Audit Office (NAO) and are presented to Parliament. The NAO audit includes consideration of value for money of both IPSA’s spend and MPs’ spend which IPSA oversees. IPSA is also subject to a rigorous internal audit programme overseen by its own Audit, Risk, and Assurance Committee.

As part of its work, SCIPSA also reviews IPSA’s performance against its Business Plan and has noted significant improvements in its performance in recent years. SCIPSA is planning to hold a public session with IPSA early in the new year and a further session in March 2025.

The Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (SCIPSA) is a statutory Committee established under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. The Committee’s functions are set out in that Act. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was also created by 2009 Act, as a statutorily independent body.

Each year the Speaker's Committee reviews IPSA’s annual estimate of the resources it needs to discharge its functions. SCIPSA is required by statute to ensure that the estimate is consistent with the efficient and cost-effective discharge of IPSA’s functions. The Committee carries out public scrutiny of the estimate prior to it being laid before the House of Commons by the Speaker.

IPSA’s accounts are audited annually by the National Audit Office (NAO) and are presented to Parliament. The NAO audit includes consideration of value for money of both IPSA’s spend and MPs’ spend which IPSA oversees. IPSA is also subject to a rigorous internal audit programme overseen by its own Audit, Risk, and Assurance Committee.

As part of its work, SCIPSA also reviews IPSA’s performance against its Business Plan and has noted significant improvements in its performance in recent years. SCIPSA is planning to hold a public session with IPSA early in the new year and a further session in March 2025.

The Attorney General’s Office has not entered into any employee settlement agreements since 2020.

Paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code states: ‘the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority’. This is known as the Law Officers’ Convention. Authority to make such disclosures is rarely given.

Full information on the use of settlement agreements is held by individual departments.

This government is committed to ensuring departments consider overall value for money in resourcing decisions.

To this end it has introduced a 2% target for reduction to administration budgets in financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26 and a stop to all non-essential spending on consultancy, with an aim to halve spending in future years.

As set out in the Budget, the government has committed to developing a long-term strategic plan for a more efficient and effective Civil Service, including bold options to improve skills, harness digital technology and drive better outcomes for public services.

Decisions relating to the size and cost of the Civil Service workforce will be considered as part of the Spending Review process. HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office will work closely with departments to develop plans that achieve the government’s reform objectives for the Civil Service.

The Cabinet Office does not hold actual outturn salary cost information for all Civil Service departments and organisations since 2010.

However, estimated nominal Civil Service salary costs have previously been calculated for the years 2010 to 2024. These are provided in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Source: Civil Service Statistics

Figures are based on Civil Service salaries as at 31st March in each year, and have been adjusted for missing values. They have not been adjusted for inflation (i.e. they are nominal values).

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4 October 2024 is attached.

The Department for Business and Trade issued less than 5 settlement agreements in the years 2020 and 2022. We withhold the exact figures and the total value of these agreements under Section 40(2) (Personal information) of the Data Protection Act.  Due to a Machinery of Government change, data prior to 1^st July 2023 relates to the Department for International Trade.

No settlement agreements were made in the other years requested.

DESNZ was formed on the 7^th of February 2023. In the last year – 2023-24 – there was one settlement agreement of the type outlined. We are unable to disclose the amount given this is a single case.

DSIT was established in February 2023 and we therefore do not hold date for the full period in question.

There has been less than 5 instances of settlement agreements being used since the department's creation. We are unable to share the precise number and value of agreements without individuals potentially being identifiable.

The number of settlement agreements issued by the department in the last five years are listed below:

2020 - 0

2021 - 0

2022 - 0

2023 - 0

2024 - fewer than 5

Due to the low number of settlement agreements issued by the department we cannot disclose the total value to ensure individuals are not identifiable.

The table below shows the number of employee settlement agreements since 2020.

*Until 30 November 2024

For 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 details where numbers are five or fewer are being withheld under section 40(2) of the Act that relates to Personal Information, as releasing the numbers may potentially lead to the identification of individual(s).

Financial education currently forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for mathematics (at key stages 1 to 4) and citizenship (at key stages 3 and 4). The primary mathematics curriculum includes arithmetic knowledge that supports pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, calculations with money and percentages. In secondary mathematics, pupils are taught topics such as how to calculate compound interest, which is relevant for personal finance. In citizenship, pupils are taught the function and uses of money, how to budget and manage credit and debt, as well as concepts like insurance, savings and pensions.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. The government‘s ambition is for a broad, rich and cutting-edge curriculum that equips children and young people with the essential knowledge and skills required to thrive as citizens, in work and throughout life. That is why the department has established an independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The review will seek to deliver an excellent foundation in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics, and a broader curriculum that readies young people for life and work, and reflects the diversities of our society. The review group ran a call for evidence, receiving over 7000 responses, and held events over the autumn term to gather the views of education professionals and other experts, parents, children and young people, and other stakeholders. The feedback received will help the review group to consider its next steps and recommendations. The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025 setting out their interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work and the final report with recommendations will be published in autumn 2025.

To repair public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance.

The government recognises the need to protect the smallest employers, which is why the Employment Allowance has been more than doubled to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with National Insurance Contributions (NICs) liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Employers will continue to be able to claim employer NICs reliefs, including the relief for employing apprentices under 25, where eligible.

In addition, at the Autumn Budget 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that from April 2025 the Apprentice Minimum Wage will increase by 18% from £6.40 to £7.55. The government has accepted the findings of the independent Low Pay Commission in full and this increase will boost the hourly wage for thousands of young apprentices across a range of sectors and those in their first year of an apprenticeship.

The government remains committed to ensuring that apprentice wages support the attraction of talented individuals into apprenticeships and remain fair for employers. High quality apprenticeships are key to unlocking a more skilled and productive economy.

The government has launched an independent review of Curriculum and Assessment and will also consider any changes it wishes to make to support the aim of delivering a rich and broad curriculum for every child whilst the review is conducted.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review group has launched a call for evidence, setting out a number of key questions and themes on which it would particularly welcome evidence and input to help direct the focus of the review and engagement with the sector over the autumn term. Anyone can access and respond to the call for evidence to provide a view on any area of the curriculum.

The department’s reformed growth and skills levy will deliver greater flexibility for employers and learners and is aligned with the government’s industrial strategy, both of which will create routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, such as in construction, digital and green skills.

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity, which means rebalancing levy spending towards young people at the start of their careers whilst ensuring that adults at different stages of their lives can upskill and retrain. The department is developing new foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors that will help to give more young people a foot in the door and support clear pathways into work-based training and employment.

However, in order to do this, there are tough choices that need to be taken on how levy funding should be prioritised in future. That is why, taking advice from Skills England, the department will be asking more employers to step forward and fund Level 7 apprenticeships outside of the levy.

The department is in the process of designing the growth and skills levy and will set out more detail in due course, including on Skills England’s engagement plans.