Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to tackle potential barriers to volunteering; and whether she plans to make funding available to tackle those barriers.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Government recognises that volunteering is critical to a vibrant and resilient civil society; it benefits volunteers and the organisations involving them and has transformational impacts on beneficiaries and their communities.
As a department, we are focused on simplifying routes into volunteering and seeking to make volunteering more inclusive.
Through the £7.4 million Volunteering Futures Fund, volunteering opportunities are being created to remove barriers to volunteering in arts, culture, sports, civil society, youth and heritage sectors. Young people, people with disabilities and those experiencing loneliness will be given the opportunity to volunteer and help others. DCMS is investing £6.25 million in the fund, together with £1.17 million provided by matched funders.
Our delivery partners for this programme are the Arts Council England, NHS Charities Together and Pears Foundation. The 19 Arts Council England funded projects will work with over 160 partners across heritage, arts, libraries, festival, community and sport organisations to increase accessibility to volunteering.
We are also supporting the development of the sector-led Vision for Volunteering, through which an ambitious ten year action plan is being developed to improve the volunteer experience. One of the five themes of the Vision is ‘Equity and Inclusion’, in recognition of the barriers that some people face to participating in volunteering.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to mark Armed Forces Day.
Answered by Boris Johnson
I am immensely proud of our armed forces, and I thank them and their families for their service to our country. Armed Forces Day is a fantastic opportunity for the nation to show our appreciation of all those who serve and have served. Almost 300 events are registered on the Armed Forces Day website and the National Event will be taking place in Scarborough on Saturday 25 June. The Ministry of Defence is providing general grants, people, equipment, flypasts, and air displays all by way of support. The Armed Forces Day flag will also be flying aloft 10 Downing Street.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps his Department has taken to support British shipbuilding.
Answered by Ben Wallace
On 10 March, the Prime Minister and I launched the UK’s new National Shipbuilding Strategy, setting out a comprehensive package of Government support for the key priority of furthering a shipbuilding renaissance for the whole of the UK. It reflects over £4 billion of investment in UK shipbuilding over the next three years. Implementation of this ambitious strategy is being led by the National Shipbuilding Office.
I am delighted with the progress already made since publication of the National Shipbuilding Strategy. In particular, the National Shipbuilding Office is now fully operational and brings with it a clear strategic focus on maximising the national benefits from Government shipbuilding activity. The Maritime Capability Campaign Office, the trade and investment arm of the National Shipbuilding Office, in the Department for International Trade is also fully established and is rapidly identifying new civil and defence export opportunities.
Other recent achievements include the announcement of the Chair and membership of the UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce, who will develop a strategy to boost skills and jobs in the shipbuilding industry. The second round of the multi-year Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition has also been launched as part of Department for Transport’s £206 million investment in a UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions, which will match-fund private investment in the commercialisation of clean maritime technologies. The Shipbuilding Enterprise for Growth, the main interface between Government and industry, has also met twice to drive implementation of the NSbS, and begun work to develop a model for the Shipyard of the Future and define UK Centres of Excellence.
Lastly, for all Ministry of Defence shipbuilding procurements, I have raised the percentage of the evaluation criteria that considers their contribution to social value to a minimum of 20%. This could include the extent to which procurements support skills development or supply chain resilience. We will also construct future contracts to ensure we maximise as much as possible either UK build, content or design, or all three.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to promote UK Parliament Week 2022.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Cabinet Office has been an official partner of UK Parliament Week since 2018. Each year, a programme of information and events is run by the Cabinet Office for officials across the Civil Service. Last year over 1500 civil servants took part in these, with many more events arranged by individual departments, agencies and public bodies.
Plans for a similar programme for UK Parliament Week 2022 are supported by ministers in the Cabinet Office. Promotion will begin in August and we look forward to taking part in UK Parliament Week from 14-20 November.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to mark Armed Forces Day on 25 June 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is supporting communities across the UK in celebration of Armed Forces Day. Almost 300 events are registered on the Armed Forces Day website, taking place across the UK, for the National Event on Saturday 25 June. The MOD is providing general grants, our people, our equipment, flypasts, and air displays all by way of support.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help promote media freedom globally.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK is committed to defending media freedom and continues to raise it on the global stage. Working with the Media Freedom Coalition we have issued statements condemning attacks on media freedom in Myanmar, Hong Kong and most recently in Ukraine by Russia as well as the situation of journalists in Russia itself. We are continuing to support the work of the Coalition by funding a Secretariat for two years. We are providing support to journalists in Ukraine by extending our existing three-year, £9 million project to support media freedom in Ukraine with £1 million of urgent support. We have also provided an additional £250,000 to the UNESCO Global Media Defence Fund to support journalists in Ukraine.
More widely our £3 million commitment over 5 years to support the Global Media Defence Fund has supported over 3000 journalists, 170 lawyers and 65 civil society organisations worldwide through legal assistance and other support. The UK has also provided over £500 million in ODA to support the media and the free flow of information in the past 5 years. We used our G7 Presidency to secure strong commitments, including support to the Global Media Defence Fund, improve the effectiveness of our diplomatic networks in protecting journalists, and to address the financial crisis facing media across the world.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps his Department is taking in cross-government policy to improve the mental wellbeing of veterans.
Answered by Simon Hart
On 1 March 2022, the Minister for Defence People and Veterans and I jointly announced that we would be appointing Colonel James Phillips as the Veterans’ Commissioner for Wales, thereby ensuring that all parts of the UK have an independent voice representing the interests of veterans. In this role, Colonel Phillips will engage with veterans and their families, listen to their needs and aspirations and identify areas for positive change. The appointment of Colonel Phillips is an important step forward in supporting ex-service personnel in Wales – including with mental wellbeing - and an integral part of meeting our ambition of making the United Kingdom the best place in the world to be a veteran.
The provision of mental health services is devolved to the Welsh Government. The Office of Veterans Affairs are supporting veterans’ mental health in England through Op COURAGE. It has engaged extensively with the Welsh Government throughout the development of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan. The Plan brings forward commitments in a variety of areas, including mental wellbeing.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve the mental wellbeing of veterans.
Answered by Alister Jack
The UK Government remains fully committed to improving the mental wellbeing of veterans, which is a key part of our Veterans’ Strategy. My Department works closely with the wider UK Government, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Veterans Commissioner and the Office of Veterans’ Affairs on this matter.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what contribution his Department is making in cross-Government efforts to improve the mental wellbeing of veterans.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Government remains fully committed to supporting veterans living in Northern Ireland and continuing to build on the good progress in delivering the Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Strategy. We are delivering on the Government’s commitments made in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, in particular, to ensure that Northern Ireland veterans are treated similarly to their counterparts across the UK.
My Department established and sponsors the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner’s Office, which advocates for and assists veterans as they navigate services such as health and social care.
Arrangements for service delivery in Northern Ireland are slightly different from those in other parts of the UK. Many of the service delivery aspects, including health provisions, are devolved.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in (i) early years and (ii) primary education.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department recognises the huge contribution the early years and teaching workforces make to giving every child the best start in life, especially during this period of education recovery.
The department continues to work with the early years sector to build our understanding of our workforce needs, including any issues related to recruitment and retention. The government is committed to ensuring there are routes to graduate level qualifications, alongside wider professional development activity for the workforce.
As part of our work to support recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the department announced up to £153 million in programmes to support workforce development. This includes increasing the number of places available for early years initial teacher training (EYITT). We are also developing new early years training routes.
The department recognises more needs to be done to ensure that primary teaching remains an attractive, high-status profession. At the heart of the Schools White Paper’s vision to boost literacy and numeracy outcomes is the need for an excellent teacher for every child. We aim to continue attracting and retaining the highly skilled teachers that every child needs. The Schools White Paper can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opportunity-for-all-strong-schools-with-great-teachers-for-your-child.
To do this, the department is taking action to improve teacher recruitment and retention by transforming the training and support we provide, not only to attract more people into teaching, but to encourage them to stay and thrive in the profession. Every teacher now has access to a golden thread of high-quality, evidence-based training and professional development at every stage of their career.
The department is creating an entitlement to at least three years of structured training, support, and professional development for all new teachers, bringing teaching into line with other prestigious professions such as law, accountancy, and medicine. Underpinning this is the new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework (ECF). Together, these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across ITT and into their induction. We also remain committed to increasing teacher starting salaries to £30,000 to make teaching an attractive graduate option.
Beyond the first few years of teaching, our priority is to help all teachers and school leaders to continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers so every child in every classroom in every school gets the best start in life. Teachers can now benefit from an updated suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs). Aimed at those who want to develop expertise in high-quality teaching practice, to those leading multiple schools across trusts, these professional development programmes are now free to access for those eligible to apply.
Teacher retention is key to ensuring effective teacher supply and quality, and we are taking action to support teachers to stay in the profession and thrive. The department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices.