Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) inspection process for Skills Bootcamp providers and (b) education inspection framework for skills providers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Ofsted inspections independently assess the quality of adult learning providers and Skills Bootcamps have been part of this remit since April 2023. Ofsted inspection reports help support providers to improve the quality of their provision. The department can, at its discretion, take appropriate contractual action where performance is below the standard expected of providers.
The government is committed to reforming Ofsted and improving the inspection system and has set out a series of commitments to reforming accountability, such as moving away from the single headline grade to a richer system through a report card. The government will want to engage with Ofsted, including looking closely at the results of its ‘Big Listen’ and will work in partnership with those from the range of sectors that Ofsted works in, including skills, to look at opportunities to improve the current arrangements.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to respond to the recommendations of the report by the Patient Safety Commissioner entitled The Hughes report, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will consider the recommendations of The Hughes Report and the relevant Minister is due to meet with the Patient Safety Commissioner this week.
To prevent future harm, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, and others have taken action to strengthen oversight of valproate prescribing. For example, nine specialist mesh centres are in operation across England, ensuring that women with complications of mesh inserted for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse get the right support in every region, and we have maintained the national pause on the use of pelvic mesh, which has been in place since July 2018.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will have discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring that the needs of children receiving specific provision for SEND within the private school system are taken into account as part of any consultation to introduce VAT on fees.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department regularly engages with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about a range of issues. The government recognises the importance of continuing a positive relationship with representatives of the sector to better support outcomes across the whole education system.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she (a) has had and (b) plans to have discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on consulting stakeholders that may be affected by the introduction of VAT on private school fees.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department regularly engages with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about a range of issues. The government recognises the importance of continuing a positive relationship with representatives of the sector to better support outcomes across the whole education system.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans she has for consultation of key stakeholders that may be affected by the introduction of VAT on private school fees.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the state education system.
The Prime Minister has been clear that if a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan that requires them to attend a private school because their needs cannot be met in the state sector, they will not feel an impact from VAT being charged on fees. The Chancellor has also been clear that changes will not come into force until 2025.
Further details on this policy will be set out in due course. The Government engages with a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in Government policy, including VAT, as part of the policy development and implementation process as a matter of course.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in securing maintenance from paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A principle of child maintenance is to increase levels of cooperation between separated parents and encourage parents to meet their responsibilities to provide their children with financial support. Where a family-based child maintenance arrangement is not suitable the Child Maintenance Service offers a statutory scheme for those parents who need it.
The Government is dedicated to ensuring parents meet their obligations to children and the Child Maintenance Service will do everything within its powers to make sure parents comply. Where parents fail to pay their child maintenance, the Service will not hesitate to use its enforcement powers, including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison. The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.
Statistics on child maintenance arrangements and collections are part of the CMS quarterly statistics published on gov.uk in tables 4, 5 and 6 of the National Tables. The below information is from the latest publication for data up to March 2024.
o £224.9 million was paid
o £91.9 million was unpaid
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to take to ensure that the needs of children receiving specific provision for SEND within the private school system are taken into account as part of any consultation to introduce VAT on fees.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the state education system.
The Prime Minister has been clear that if a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan that requires them to attend a private school because their needs cannot be met in the state sector, they will not feel an impact from VAT being charged on fees. The Chancellor has also been clear that changes will not come into force until 2025.
Further details on this policy will be set out in due course. The Government engages with a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in Government policy, including VAT, as part of the policy development and implementation process as a matter of course.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review the Child Maintenance Service's treatment of income from foreign assets held by paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Income, including income from assets as well as earned income, needs to be declared to the UK tax authorities and subject to UK tax in order to be included in the maintenance calculation.
The Government is now considering next steps on the child maintenance service.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of banning flights by Iran Air to the UK.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Alongside Whitehall partners we continue to explore measures to deter Iran from their hostile and destabilising activity. However, we do not publicly speculate on future restrictive measures.
We have however sanctioned more than 400 Iranian individuals and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety - for roles in weapons proliferation, regional conflicts, human rights violations, and threats to UK based individuals. We have also introduced new UK trade restrictions on the supply of drone components as part of our wider Iran sanctions regime introduced in December 2023.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations on upgrading the electricity grid in the report by Electricity Systems Operators entitled Beyond 2030, published on 19 March 2024.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The network build proposed in ‘Beyond 2030’ supports the connection of 21GW of offshore wind and other low carbon generation, covering £58 billion estimated investment into the electricity network.
Network expansion will support energy security and decarbonisation goals including connecting renewable energy to the grid, and the electrification of industry, heat and transport. The proposals will accelerate delivery of low-cost, homegrown energy to homes and businesses and reduce curtailment of renewable energy resulting from network constraints.
National Grid ESO estimates the proposals could add £15 billion to the UK economy and support over 20,000 jobs annually.