Richard Tice

The Business Impact Target, which was repealed by the previous government through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act, was the principal mechanism through which government made an estimate of the total annual cost of regulation to business. In its place, the reformed Better Regulation Framework encourages an earlier and more thorough assessment of impacts of individual regulatory proposals. This government will use the framework to ensure that new regulations achieve their objectives, with the lowest possible cost to businesses and households.

The department does not maintain records of expenditure on measures to achieve net zero.

The department’s estate is managed and maintained by the Government Property Agency (GPA). The GPA is responsible for investment in energy efficiency measures that relate to the department’s office estate.

Details of the department’s sustainability performance can be found in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Critical minerals, including rate earth elements are crucial for the UK in terms of security, clean energy, industry and emerging technologies. That is why the Government is developing a critical minerals strategy to ensure we are diversifying our supply chains, delivering the security we need and supporting the many UK-based companies that mine and process around the world. The strategy will be published this year.

The transition to net zero is critical for driving growth and delivering new jobs. We have been clear that decarbonisation should not mean deindustrialisation.

Many companies that have decarbonised become more efficient and productive. The challenge can be the capital costs of transitioning and that is why the government is providing extensive support and access to funding for industry, including through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, Aerospace Technology Institute and Advanced Propulsion Centre UK. At the same time, the number of jobs in the low carbon and renewable energy economy grew by 27% between 2020 and 2022, more than 5 times faster than overall UK employment (source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-power-2030-action-plan-assessment-of-the-clean-energy-skills-challenge/assessment-of-the-clean-energy-skills-challenge#fn:6)

The Government is in negotiations with British Steel’s shareholder regarding the company’s commercial plans to transition to productive and efficient methods of steel production.

As with any responsible Government, we continue to consider all possible outcomes, and we stand ready to support local workers and local communities as needed.

The steel industry declined more than 50% in the last decade because there was no strategy to protect and grow this strategically important sector. We are developing a Steel Strategy which we will publish in Spring 2025, and we have committed up to £2.5bn of investment to rebuild the UK steel industry.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does not have a specific number of staff tasked with processing and responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. On receipt, FOI requests are allocated to officials in the area of the Department relevant to the subject of the request, who then provide the response.

The Department’s Information Rights Team (IRT) provides advice and assistance to staff on the application of information rights legislation. The IRT consists of seven members of staff.

FOI requests vary considerably from case-to-case in terms of complexity and effort required to provide a response. It is not possible to estimate the annual cost of responding to all the FOI requests the department receives.

Data on combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power stations are published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics.

Modelling analysis from the National Energy System Operator, which covers Great Britain, suggests around 35GW of unabated gas capacity, which includes CCGTs as well as other types of gas generators, will need to be available by 2030 to maintain security of supply.

The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its analysis of the cost of reaching net zero by 2050 in chapter 3 of the July 2021 edition of its UK Fiscal Risk Report. As the OBR has noted, “the costs of failing to get climate change under control would be much larger than those of bringing emissions down to net zero.” Spending Review 2021 set out £26 billion of public capital investment in net zero over four years across Government.

The Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme required that consumers seek advice from a suitably qualified TrustMark registered installer before they applied for a voucher. It also required that installations meet Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 2035.

If a homeowner believes that any installation work carried out in their home under a Government scheme is faulty, they should first contact the installer. Where the installer has failed to adequately resolve the issue or have ceased trading, they may refer to TrustMark’s website which contains further guidance on steps consumers can take if things go wrong and the dispute resolution process: (https://www.trustmark.org.uk/homeowner/support/complaints-process).

This data is published by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility and Ofgem.

Renewables provide energy security by reducing our exposure to gas price volatility, as well as providing significant savings for those households and businesses directly benefitting from small-scale renewable measures, such as solar panels.

I have raised my concerns about the reporting of mobile connectivity with Ofcom, but according to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report (published on 5 December 2024) 99% of the Boston and Skegness constituency has 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile operators, and that 5G is available from at least one operator outside 99% of all premises.

The Government wants all areas of the UK, including Boston and Skegness constituency, to benefit from good quality mobile coverage. Our ambition is for all populated areas to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030.

We work closely with the mobile industry and are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition in the market

The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.

This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

​​The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for the 2024/25 academic year. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in some shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ and the further education teacher recruitment campaign ‘Share your Skills’.

A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a Targeted Retention Incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools. There are seven schools in the Boston and Skegness constituency where teachers are eligible for Targeted Retention Incentives.

The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve the experience of teaching, including a more comprehensive school report card in place of Ofsted’s single headline grades, providing a clearer picture of schools’ strengths and weaknesses for parents, and more proportionate accountability for staff. We are also making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.

The department is funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working, whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time. Lapal School of Hales Valley Trust is the flexible working ambassador school providing local, tailored peer support for Boston and Skegness schools.

High-quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. The department has established 87 Teaching School Hubs across the country, providing approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. These Hubs play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the early career framework and national professional qualifications. L.E.A.D. Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Boston, Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Holland, South Kesteven, East Lindsey and West Lindsey.

Answering requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is part of the day-to-day work of all the department’s officials. The costs of officials’ time are not held in such a way that time spent on processing and responding to Freedom of Information requests can be estimated.

The department encourages private schools to be high quality and is seeking to further improve regulation of the sector through measures outlined in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Amongst other things, the Bill seeks to ensure that all pupils receive both a safe and suitable education and to strengthen and improve the regulatory regime for private schools.

Capacity to expand domestically, within individual school settings, is a matter for private schools themselves. Where they do wish to expand, the department seeks to effectively consider the required material change application. Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will make these requirements clearer.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) provides support for UK private schools that wish to expand internationally. They do this in a number of ways by:

• Arranging outward missions with delegations of UK schools, an example of which is one that went to Vietnam and resulted in the signing of agreements with six UK schools to open campuses in that country, one alone which was for seven campuses.
• Involving them with inward delegations from overseas and other events.
• DBT has a dedicated schools specialist embedded within its International Education team who works closely with UK private schools.
• Supporting UK school expansion overseas is a major strand of the education sector wide International Education Strategy (IES). This strategy is currently being reviewed and will be refreshed, taking into account DBT’s discussions with the whole education sector, including those with UK private schools and their membership organisations.
• The department works positively with DBT to help them engage with private schools where appropriate.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. Ensuring schools have the high quality and sustainable buildings they need is a key part of that.

The department has a critical role to play in all aspects of sustainability, including the drive to achieve net zero and supporting the delivery of the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan and Net Zero Strategy.

Since November 2021, the department has required that all new department-delivered schools will be designed to be net zero carbon in operation, alongside investment to increase green infrastructure and sustainable water management on school sites.

Capital funding is allocated to the school sector each year for improving the condition of the estate and to keep schools safe and operational. Funding can also support projects that improve the energy efficiency, sustainability and resilience to climate change of school buildings. Decisions on which projects to prioritise are primarily taken at a local level.

The department allocated an additional £447 million of capital funding in 2022/23 for schools and sixth form colleges for capital improvements to buildings and facilities, prioritising energy efficiency and supported by guidance for schools on effective approaches.

To make sure that the department is tackling the most urgent need in the school estate, we have committed to rebuilding or significantly refurbishing buildings at 518 schools through the School Rebuilding Programme. New buildings delivered through the programme are designed to be net zero carbon in operation and more resilient to the effects of climate change.

In 2022/23, further education (FE) colleges were allocated £53 million to improve facilities, prioritising energy efficiency. All condition improvement projects receiving departmental grant funding and delivered by FE colleges have been required to consider the 2021 FE Output Specification, which advises how to achieve net zero in operation. FE colleges have also been able to support condition improvement projects that support energy efficiency and sustainability and keep colleges safe and operational.

Schools, as other public bodies, have also been able to access funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) is responsible for VAT policy. HMT has published its assessment of the impacts of removing the VAT exemption that applied to private school fees, which can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/ac8c20ce-4824-462d-b206-26a567724643#who-is-likely-to-be-affected.

This overall assessment considers special educational needs and disability (SEND) but does not provide a separate assessment broken down by SEND.

Overall, the government predicts that, in the long-term steady state, there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private sector in the UK as a result of the removal of the VAT exemption applied to school fees. This represents around 6% of the current private school population. This movement is expected to take place over several years, and most moves will occur at natural transition points. Of this number, the government estimates an increase of 35,000 pupils in the state sector in the long-term steady state, with the other 2,000 consisting of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling. This state sector increase represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over nine million.

The government expects the revenue costs of pupils entering the state sector in England to steadily increase to a peak of around £0.3 billion per annum after several years. However, the government expects to raise around £1.8 billion per annum by 2029/30 from this VAT policy and from removing private schools’ eligibility for business rates charitable rate relief.

Longer term impacts on those who move schools may be lessened by revenue raised by this measure being used to help the 94% of children who attend state schools.

It is important to note that pupils who need a local authority-funded place in a private school will not be impacted by the changes. The majority of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) are educated in mainstream schools, whether state-maintained or private, where their needs are met. The overwhelming majority attend state schools. To protect pupils with SEN that can only be met in a private school, local authorities that fund these places are able to reclaim the VAT they are charged on those pupils’ fees.

The department supports local authorities to provide suitable school places for children and young people with SEND through annual high needs capital funding. This can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced a £2.3 billion increase to the core schools' budget in 2025/26, increasing per pupil funding in real terms. This included a £1 billion uplift to high needs funding in 2025/26, providing additional support for the more than one million children in the state sector with SEND.