Tracy Brabin

The estimated cost of the current boundary review, comprising expenditure from 2015-7 and projected expenditure from 2017-19, is approximately £8 million. This includes the usual costs such as staffing and accommodation, and other activities necessary for the boundary review for the boundary commissions for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and is included in this reply.

As March 2017, Cabinet Office had 36 staff seconded in from outside of the Civil Service. Full details of the companies and organisations that staff are seconded from are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and is included in this reply.

As March 2017, Cabinet Office had 36 staff seconded in from outside of the Civil Service. Full details of the companies and organisations that staff are seconded from are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Government considers the issue of exhaustion of rights to be primarily a domestic issue. As free trade agreements do not typically restrict the freedom of countries to choose their own exhaustion regime, we will make full use of our autonomy to choose a permanent exhaustion regime now we have left the European Union.

In my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s announcement on 17 July, close contact services including treatments to the face are allowed to resume as of 1 August, as long as they operate in a COVID-secure way.

Our approach to allowing businesses to resume activity is guided by the scientific and medical advice, and every step is weighed against the evidence, remembering that the more we open-up the more vigilant we will need to be. Making any changes depends on us continuing to meet the five tests, and the fifth test is informed by the Chief Scientific Adviser and Chief Medical Officer’s opinion.

Where a business such as those in the aesthetic industries provides a mix of services, only those services that do not involve work in the highest risk zone – around the face – should be made available to clients. There is a much higher risk of transmission of the virus face-to-face and in very close proximity, such as facial treatments and make up services.

The Government has introduced an unprecedented package of support for businesses which are facing difficulty as a result of the pandemic, including loan schemes, grant funding and wage packages. Businesses from most sectors including the aesthetic industry are able to access this support, provided they meet the eligibility criteria for the schemes for which they are applying.

Our work continues to be led by the science, so we do not put lives at risk.

The Department has considered how decisions on reopening sections of the economy may affect people who are protected under the Equality Act, in fulfilment of its duty under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Our guidance emphasises that employers have a duty under UK law to protect the health and safety of their employees and other people who might be affected by their business. This includes considering the risks that COVID-19 represents. Nothing in this guidance affects employers’ existing responsibilities under employment and equalities legislation.

The Government recognises the significant contribution that creative industries make to the UK economy and have consulted with industry stakeholders on intellectual property and trade.

Our intellectual property regime is consistently rated as one of the best in the world. Any future trade agreement must achieve a balanced outcome for creators, producers, performers, users, and consumers, in line with international standards.

The Government is committed to creating a labour market that works for everyone. Effective enforcement is a key element of the Good Work Plan, which sets out the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.

Casting websites in the acting sector can already meet the definition of an employment agency, as set out in the Employment Agencies Act 1973. If they meet the definition, they need to comply with the current legislation, which includes specific regulations that cover acting and background extras agencies.

The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 includes certain requirements in relation to advertising by employment agencies and such requirements are enforced by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate.

EAS work with other enforcement partners, such as HMRC who enforce National Minimum Wage legislation. EAS share information with HMRC where there is information to suggest non-compliance with National Minimum Wage legislation, as well as with other enforcement partners to protect vulnerable workers in the labour market.

We expect to complete the evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme later this year.

To date we have prioritised collecting empirical data from a variety of sources, including a large-scale survey of nearly 4,500 parents. We plan to hold meetings with interested parties during the later stages of the evaluation.

The Government recognises the hard work of the Munitions workers and is extremely grateful for their input and sacrifices made during both world wars often working in harsh conditions, to ensure that our soldiers were well equipped during the war effort.

There are no plans to introduce a medal for munitions workers who served during the world wars. A commemorative badge is available thanks to the support of the BAE Systems Heritage Department and the efforts of the Munitions Workers Association. This is similar to those badges given to those who worked in the mines during the second world war – the so-called Bevan Boys. Surviving munitions workers and their families can approach the Munitions Workers Association to receive this commemorative badge.

BEIS engages regularly with UK based businesses and trade associations across a range of sectors including consumer goods. We understand the concerns of these businesses about retaining frictionless trade and want all manufacturers across the UK, including in West Yorkshire, to thrive now and in the future.

To help us engage effectively, we have set up sector-specific EU Exit panels. The first consumer goods panel will be taking place in early November and all consumer goods activity in the UK, including furniture manufacturing, is represented.

The Government has been clear that the best outcome is for the UK to leave the EU with a deal and why, following months of intensive work and detailed discussions, we proposed a third option for our future economic relationship, based on the frictionless trade in goods.

At March European Council, the UK and EU agreed that during the implementation period, the UK would be treated as a Member State for the purposes of international agreements, including trade agreements.

This provides certainty and confidence for business that there will be no disruption to existing relationships underpinned by international agreements as we move into the Implementation Period.

Certification of the products and the installation by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is a key eligibility requirement for two government incentives, the Renewable Heat Incentive and the Feed-in Tariff. The Department works closely with MCS and Consumer Codes operating in this sector to ensure that consumers using an MCS certified contractor for a renewable energy installation are protected.

Where an installer fraudulently claims to be MCS certified, the consumer can contact their local trading standards office https://www.gov.uk/find-local-trading-standards-office.

Where the Department receives individual correspondence regarding such cases, officials work closely with Ofgem and MCS to ensure best possible outcomes can be achieved for the consumer.

Statutory Adoption Pay is paid to eligible employees who are adopting a child to enable them to take time off work to settle the child into their new home. Unlike adoptive parents, the majority of special guardians already have an established relationship with the child. They are often relatives or family friends, and the child has often been living with them for an extended period before applying for a Special Guardianship Order.

Local authorities have a duty to provide for special guardianship support services: including financial support where necessary. Provision of support is discretionary and is based on an assessment of the guardian’s support needs. Where the child was looked after immediately prior to the making of the special guardianship order, funding from the Adoption Support Fund is available to pay for therapeutic services where they need help to recover from their previous experiences and bond with their new family.

The Department organises the Westminster Holiday Play Scheme. This is a childcare facility that takes place during school holidays. It is open to children from the age of 4 years and 9 months up to 15 years’ old. It is run on behalf of a consortium of departments through a contract led and administered by BEIS. It currently operates at 4 London locations. There is a cost of £35 per day per child. The Department meets £18 of this cost for its members of staff with parents/guardians paying the remaining £17.

Between September 2016 and August 2017 (inclusive) BEIS spent £10,244 on the play scheme. The Department does not have details on the number of individual staff members who made use of the scheme or on the amounts spent per child.

HM Revenue and Customs has no powers to sanction companies for withholding holiday pay.

However, HM Revenue and Customs plays a vital role in enforcing the National Minimum Wage and the Government has continued to strengthen enforcement action in this area.

More broadly, the Government has asked Matthew Taylor to consider new forms of work such as the ‘gig economy’ and self-employment, and their implications on employee rights and responsibilities, employer freedoms and obligations, and the existing regulatory framework surrounding employment.

There are currently 40 staff seconded to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The table below shows the organisations that secondees are from and the number of secondees from each organisation:

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy provides funding to Citizen Advice (CitA), the umbrella body for the Citizen Advice Service in England and Wales through an annual grant to support their core function and to deliver consumer advocacy and advice. Funding over the last three years is set out in the table below.

Central Government does not provide funding directly to local individual Citizen Advice offices, core funding for which is usually provided by the local authority in which they are located.

Entitlement to statutory employment rights, including family related statutory leave and pay, is determined by the individual’s employment status and not the type of contract that they have. This means that many women on casual, fixed-term or zero-hours contracts will already enjoy the same maternity benefits as women in full-time, permanent employment.

The wide ranging independent review of Modern Employment Practices is looking at the impact of non-standard forms of employment on security, pay and rights

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many of DCMS’ creative sectors including the publishing industry. Through regular ministerial-led roundtables, working groups and contact with DCMS officials, we will continue to work with the publishing sector to assess and understand the difficulties it faces in these challenging times and through recovery.

The Government has provided unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency. The Government’s response has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Bounceback Loan Scheme and business rates reliefs.

The publishing sector has also benefited from the government's introduction of a zero rate of VAT to e-publications, which was brought forward to 1st May this year. It ensures e-publications are entitled to the same VAT treatment as their physical counterparts.

We are continuing to meet with creative industries stakeholders to provide support and guidance for the sector during this time.

Through regular ministerial-led roundtables, working groups and contact with DCMS officials, we will continue to work with the publishing sector to assess and understand the difficulties businesses across the creative industries, including SME publishing businesses, face in these challenging times and through recovery.

Regarding other creative SMEs, the CRF complements wider measures to support businesses. Cultural organisations have benefited from, and should continue to explore, the wide variety of additional funding made available by Government beyond the CRF, including the Job Retention Scheme; a reduction in VAT from 20% to 5% for tourism and hospitality firms for six months; and the Bounce Back Loans scheme. The publishing sector has also benefited specifically from the government's introduction of a zero rate of VAT to e-publications, which will make it clear e-publications are entitled to the same VAT treatment as their physical counterparts.

The CRF has not been fully allocated and DCMS and the Culture Recovery Board will take decisions in the coming weeks on how best to allocate the remaining funds to best support the sector.

The UK Government expects funding for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 to come from a range of sources. Every effort will be made to ensure that any activities and programmes for the Jubilee do not impose an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.

The majority of the CRF funding is now being deployed with over £500 million allocated so far across both capital and recovery grants. A further £188 million has been allocated to the devolved administrations as part of the Barnett formula and £100 million has been directly allocated to national cultural institutions and English Heritage Trust.

Repayable finance awards (which made up £270m of the Fund) are currently under negotiation, with outcomes expected to be announced in the coming weeks, and part of the £120m capital funding is still to be allocated.

Additionally, DCMS has held back a substantial amount of CRF funding with a view to offering critical support when needed - we do not know what will happen next with this pandemic, and this government wants to support these sectors over the long term.

DCMS and its Arms Length Bodies are working closely to identify the ongoing needs of these sectors, and will make decisions as soon as possible about how best to use the contingency funding left within the CRF to provide further support to the sector.

Organisations in receipt of Culture Recovery grant funding are still able to access other Government support schemes, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. However recipients should not claim support for the same staff costs from multiple government schemes, and should rehire staff if it is right for them.

Where organisations have questions about the interaction between the culture recovery fund and the job retention scheme, they should speak to their relevant arms length body - Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England or the British Film Institute.

Good progress has been made in the Batley and Spen constituency, with over 98% of premises able to access superfast broadband according to Thinkbroadband - up from 41% in January 2012. Furthermore, over 68% of premises have access to ultrafast services (greater than 100Mbps) and over 21% have access to gigabit services (1,000Mbps). Virgin Media are currently upgrading their network and the department estimates that over 67% of the constituency will have access to gigabit speeds by the end of 2021.

In the Kirklees metropolitan area, over 98% of premises have access to superfast broadband, which is up from 59% in January 2012. Furthermore, over 72% have access to ultrafast services (greater than 100Mbps) and over 23% have access to gigabit services (1,000Mbps). Virgin Media are currently upgrading their network and the department estimates that over 65% of Kirklees will have access to gigabit speeds by the end of 2021.

For those rural premises in Batley and Spen and wider Kirklees that are still suffering from slow speeds, DCMS runs the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) that can be used by rural communities across the UK to reduce the cost of installing gigabit-capable connectivity. This provides a voucher worth up to £3,500 for eligible small businesses and vouchers worth up to £1,500 for residents. More details are available here: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/. To date across West Yorkshire, homes and small businesses have requested 1,133 vouchers totaling £2.8 million, including 30 from constituents in Batley and Spen.

In Medium Local Covid Alert Level areas (Tier 1) it is against the law to gather in groups of more than 6, unless everyone is from the same household and support bubble. In High (Tier 2) and Very High (Tier 3) areas, it is against the law to gather indoors in groups which do not consist only of the same household and support bubble. A number of exemptions apply. For example, some activities - such as those organised for under-18s including education or training supervised activities provided for children, including wraparound care, youth groups and activities - are exempt.

In addition, in a COVID-secure venue or public outdoor place, non-professional performing arts activity, including choirs, orchestras or drama groups can continue to rehearse or perform together where this is planned activity in line with the performing arts guidance and if they can do so in a way that ensures that there is no interaction between separate and distinct groups of no more than 6 (In Medium areas and outdoors) or individual households (in High and Very High areas) at any time (depending on Local Covid Alert Level restrictions). If an amateur group is not able to ensure that no mingling takes place between these sub-groups (depending on Local Covid Alert Level restrictions) - including when arriving at or leaving activity or in any breaks or socialising - then such non-professional activity should not take place. Local Covid Alert Level guidance (Medium, High, Very High) provides details on group size.

In Medium Local Covid Alert Level areas (Tier 1) it is against the law to gather in groups of more than 6, unless everyone is from the same household and support bubble. In High (Tier 2) and Very High (Tier 3) areas, it is against the law to gather indoors in groups which do not consist only of the same household and support bubble. A number of exemptions apply. For example, some activities - such as those organised for under-18s including education or training supervised activities provided for children, including wraparound care, youth groups and activities - are exempt.

In addition, in a COVID-secure venue or public outdoor place, non-professional performing arts activity, including choirs, orchestras or drama groups can continue to rehearse or perform together where this is planned activity in line with the performing arts guidance and if they can do so in a way that ensures that there is no interaction between separate and distinct groups of no more than 6 (In Medium areas and outdoors) or individual households (in High and Very High areas) at any time (depending on Local Covid Alert Level restrictions). If an amateur group is not able to ensure that no mingling takes place between these sub-groups (depending on Local Covid Alert Level restrictions) - including when arriving at or leaving activity or in any breaks or socialising - then such non-professional activity should not take place. Local Covid Alert Level guidance (Medium, High, Very High) provides details on group size.

Each arms length body, in this case Arts Council England, has the delegated authority over allocating grant funding.

Their decision-making processes have been designed to balance limited resource with the urgent need to award funds, and process a very high number of applications, as soon as possible. This means that they do not have the resources to provide tailored feedback to applicants who applied for grants of under £250k. These applications were assessed and considered within area-based panel meetings, with recommendations passed on to a National Investment Panel for final decision.

We know that some applicants will be disappointed with the outcome and both the Arts Council and DCMS will continue to do all we can to support creativity and culture in England. Arts Council have published resources on their website both for organisations and individuals which include alternative sources of support and wellbeing resources.

On July 5 the Government announced the Culture Recovery Fund, a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them preserve their local cultural offer and rescue organisations that are at risk of insolvency this financial year. This is the biggest ever one-off investment in UK culture. Within this, the British Film Institute (BFI) is allocating up to £30 million in grants on behalf of my department to support independent cinemas in England.

As of Friday 2 October 2020, the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas has received 72 applications from 109 individual cinema sites (one application can be made on behalf of a small cinema chain), amounting to grant requests of just over £4.5million. From this, 28 grants worth over £650,000 have been awarded to 42 cinema sites across England. This means almost 40% of applications received have been successfully awarded funding so far. The fund is being awarded on a rolling basis and will continue to assess and accept applications through to 30th October. For those organisations which have not yet had decisions, BFI are continuing to assess the evidence provided in line with the eligibility criteria and are working with them to explore their needs.

On July 5 the Government announced the Culture Recovery Fund, a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them preserve their local cultural offer and rescue organisations that are at risk of insolvency this financial year. This is the biggest ever one-off investment in UK culture. Within this, the British Film Institute (BFI) is allocating up to £30 million in grants on behalf of my department to support independent cinemas in England.

As of Friday 2 October 2020, the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas has received 72 applications from 109 individual cinema sites (one application can be made on behalf of a small cinema chain), amounting to grant requests of just over £4.5million. From this, 28 grants worth over £650,000 have been awarded to 42 cinema sites across England. This means almost 40% of applications received have been successfully awarded funding so far. The fund is being awarded on a rolling basis and will continue to assess and accept applications through to 30th October. For those organisations which have not yet had decisions, BFI are continuing to assess the evidence provided in line with the eligibility criteria and are working with them to explore their needs.

236 eligible applications from grassroots music venues were submitted for the Emergency Grassroot Music Venues Fund. £3.36M was distributed to 136 successful applicants and 100 venues that applied did not receive funding.

We are working closely with the sector to understand any issues they may have on reopening and looking at ways to address these, including the issue of insurance cover. Socially distanced indoor performances can now take place and we encourage people to support venues that are opening up by booking tickets and visiting our wonderful theatres once again.

The government’s £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund – the largest ever one-off investment in culture – will help our arts institutions and organisations through these challenging times.

DCMS has undertaken a survey and review of the impact of coronavirus on businesses and organisations. The second round of findings on this was published on 23rd September. This review found that the proportion of organisations with over 50% of employees furloughed is 38% for digital, 24% for culture, 25% for media and 28% for sport.

46% of respondents to the DCMS business survey said they have furloughed at least one employee in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. 42% of respondents with at least one employee currently furloughed reported that they expected to make further redundancies once the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) ends.

A number of exemptions to the Rule of Six have been published and the exceptions where groups can be larger than 6 people include: registered childcare, education or training supervised activities provided for children, including wraparound care, youth groups and activities, and children’s playgroups

Venues such as theatres, concert halls and other entertainment venues that are already able to host larger numbers, and are Covid secure in line with the relevant guidance, will continue to be able to do so - as long as groups of more than one household are limited to six and do not mix with one another.

It is estimated that the number of workers furloughed across DCMS sectors (including tourism) peaked at 1.5 million on 31st May 2020. This represented 37% of the total DCMS workforce. The estimated number of furloughed workers in these sectors has since declined to 812,000, or 20% of the workforce, as of 9th August.

The latest ONS Business Impacts of Coronavirus Survey data, recorded from 27th July to 9th August, suggests that 1.9% of Accommodation and Food Services Activities workers have been made redundant as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, along with 1.0% of Arts, Entertainment and Recreation workers. Across the UK economy as a whole, the figure stands at 1.1%.

The Culture Recovery Fund will provide targeted support to critical cultural, arts and heritage organisations to help them survive and recover through the coronavirus pandemic. In the first round of funding, £622 million will be distributed, the remaining £258 million has been reserved for funding later in the financial year. The distribution of this £258 million will be dependent on the outcome of the first round of funding so that it can best meet the developing needs of organisations.

DCMS conducted a business impact survey earlier this year with results published in June and the next set of results are due later in the Autumn. Since the start of the crisis, the department has engaged extensively with stakeholders across the Creative Industries and we are aware of the difficulties organisations and individuals face.

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to the creative industries which is why the Government announced an unprecedented £1.57 billion support package specifically for the cultural sector to help them through this crisis. This funding will provide targeted support to many organisations in the Creative Industries, to stay open and continue operating. This substantial sector-specific package is in addition to economic wide measures such as the furlough scheme, and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, both of which were designed to protect as many jobs as possible.

Our priority is to ensure that organisations get the funding they need as swiftly as possible. Our Arms Length Bodies made emergency funding available in the spring and this package builds on that. We expect funding to start flowing to organisations in September with further details to be announced after that.

Government has committed to overseeing discussions between rights holders and platforms as part of the online marketplaces roundtables. Progress has been steady with more time requested by all parties for bilateral discussions as each platform operates differently. Consequently, substantive progress has been made with a Memorandum of Understanding currently in draft phase. Throughout these discussions platforms have addressed some of the concerns raised by rights holders and the expectation is for a signed MoU this Autumn.

The Government is committed to ensuring that it takes an effective, pro-innovation approach to governing digital technologies.

That is why we established the Digital Markets Taskforce to advise on the potential design and implementation of pro-competitive measures in digital platform markets. The Taskforce will support the Government’s objective to ensure that digital markets work for all: to enable disruptors to challenge incumbents, to empower consumers through choice and control, to support quality services and content online, and to provide industry, especially SMEs, with fair access to digital markets to be able to grow their businesses. It will deliver its advice by the end of the year.

Further guidance on applications to the £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations will be published by our partner organisations - Arts Council England, BFI, Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund - later in July.

On 5 July, DCMS announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of sectors, including performing arts and theatres, museums and galleries, heritage sites, live music venues and independent cinema.

We want this package, which will be delivered through Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the British Film Institute, to support organisations across the cultural, heritage and creative sectors. We will publish further detailed guidance - including eligibility and application processes - as soon as possible in July.

On 5 July, DCMS announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of sectors, including performing arts and theatres, museums and galleries, heritage sites, live music venues and independent cinema.

We want this package, which will be delivered through Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the British Film Institute, to support organisations across the cultural, heritage and creative sectors. We will publish further detailed guidance - including eligibility and application processes - as soon as possible in July.

On 5 July, DCMS announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of sectors, including performing arts and theatres, museums and galleries, heritage sites, live music venues and independent cinema.

We want this package, which will be delivered through Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the British Film Institute, to support organisations across the cultural, heritage and creative sectors. We will publish further detailed guidance - including eligibility and application processes - as soon as possible in July.

In line with its hugely important role in supporting and developing England’s arts and culture, DCMS has worked closely with Arts Council England during the Covid-19 crisis to deliver tailored support packages at speed, and to develop the major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations.

DCMS will continue to work closely with the Arts Council as the landscape develops, but has no plans to publish any specific submissions.

We appreciate that this is an incredibly challenging time and that there are many cultural organisations and professionals who are currently facing difficult and uncertain circumstances. We are very alert to this issue and it is a priority of my department to work with the arts and cultural sectors to address the challenges of reopening, as and when it will be possible to do so.

From the information we have been receiving from various organisations and professionals, we know that the picture is nuanced across the country, with different organisations facing different challenges when it comes to the question of reopening.

The Secretary of State recently revealed a five stage roadmap that the government will work through to get the performing arts sectors back up and running as soon as possible:

• Stage One - Rehearsal and training (no audiences)

• Stage Two - Performances for broadcast and recording purposes

• Stage Three - Performances outdoors with an audience and pilots for indoor performances with a limited socially-distanced audience

• Stage Four - Performances allowed indoors and outdoors (but with a limited socially-distanced audience indoors)

• Stage Five - Performances allowed indoors / outdoors (with a fuller audience indoors)

From the 11th July, we will move to Stage Three. This means that performances outdoors with a socially distanced audience can take place in line with this guidance. DCMS will work with sector representative bodies to select a number of pilots for indoor performances with a socially distanced audience.

The purpose of the DCMS Coronavirus Business Survey is to assess the impact of Covid 19 on DCMS sectors and the extent to which they have accessed government support packages. DCMS has published selected headline findings, and we will publish the detailed results in due course.

The survey was launched on 23rd April 2020 and closed on 22nd May 2020. The survey was run simultaneously through DCMS stakeholder engagement channels and via a YouGov panel. A total of 3,936 responses were received from DCMS stakeholder engagement channels (2,369) and via YouGov (1,567).

The Cultural Renewal Taskforce, and the Working Groups which support it, include a wide range of relevant organisations and membership bodies to represent relevant sectors. We have strived to ensure they are made up of a diverse variety of different organisations that vary not only by size and scale, but which also represent a broad range of views and backgrounds from across the country.

The Cultural Renewal Taskforce has been working to support the renewal of DCMS sectors and to help develop new COVID-19 secure guidelines for the reopening of public places and businesses in these sectors, where and when it is safe to do so. The focus of the Taskforce’s work is on:

• ensuring that COVID-19 secure guidelines are developed in line with the phasing ambitions and public health directions, building on the existing guidance and providing intelligence and sector-specific expert input;

• developing creative solutions, to drive the return of sectors whilst maintaining consistency with the medical advice;

• agreeing and ensuring alignment of relevant sectoral guidance; and

• providing key sector stakeholders with a forum to support government work on cultural renewal.

The Cultural Renewal Taskforce has met seven times between 22 May and 1 July, and will continue to meet over the summer to support the progress towards the reopening and recovery of DCMS sectors.

The Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance for providers of community activities, holiday and after-school clubs as well as other out-of-school provision for children over the age of five, which sets out the protective measures that need to be in place to ensure that such settings can open as safely as possible, this guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Further more detailed DfE guidance on music will be published shortly.

The government has also published specific guidance for people working out of the home, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/homes.

No estimates have been made. However, we appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many of DCMS’ sectors including the creative industries which is why the Government has announced unprecedented support for businesses and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency.

DCMS is engaging with a range of departments to support the economic response to Covid-19, and ensuring that the needs of its sectors, and those who work in them, are fully understood.

To ensure we are assisting all our sectors as effectively as possible, regular ministerially-chaired roundtables are held with business representative organisations and trade associations from across the creative industries. In addition, officials are in regular contact with stakeholders from these sectors, and we continue to speak with HM Treasury colleagues to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches the UK's world-leading creative industries. DCMS will continue to work with these valuable sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.

Current Public Health England assessment is that singing carries a potential higher risk of transmission and that participation in this activity requires particular attention to the risk involved. Based on this, Government guidance proposes a precautionary risk-based approach to certain activities and aims to develop the ways activities can be carried out as the evidence base is better understood.

To help support the development of the evidence base in regards to singing, DCMS is engaged in a number of scientific activities focusing on the need to understand the different risks associated with singing, brass and woodwind. DCMS is working closely with SAGE and a number of specialists in aerosol transmission and ventilation, who will focus on a number of critical research questions. These groups will be examining existing and emerging evidence to provide advice to guide the future development of policy and guidelines.

Current Public Health England assessment is that singing carries a potential higher risk of transmission and that participation in this activity requires particular attention to the risk involved. Based on this, Government guidance proposes a precautionary risk-based approach to certain activities and aims to develop the ways activities can be carried out as the evidence base is better understood.

To help support the development of the evidence base in regards to singing, DCMS is engaged in a number of scientific activities focusing on the need to understand the different risks associated with singing, brass and woodwind. DCMS is working closely with SAGE and a number of specialists in aerosol transmission and ventilation, who will focus on a number of critical research questions. These groups will be examining existing and emerging evidence to provide advice to guide the future development of policy and guidelines.

Current Public Health England assessment is that singing carries a potential higher risk of transmission and that participation in this activity requires particular attention to the risk involved. Based on this, Government guidance proposes a precautionary risk-based approach to certain activities and aims to develop the ways activities can be carried out as the evidence base is better understood.

To help support the development of the evidence base in regards to singing, DCMS is engaged in a number of scientific activities focusing on the need to understand the different risks associated with singing, brass and woodwind. DCMS is working closely with SAGE and a number of specialists in aerosol transmission and ventilation, who will focus on a number of critical research questions. These groups will be examining existing and emerging evidence to provide advice to guide the future development of policy and guidelines.

We recognise that these are incredibly challenging times for arts and culture organisations, and the Government will continue to support the sector through the unprecedented financial measures we have announced. DCMS has worked closely with its arm’s-length bodies to deliver tailored support packages at speed, including the £160m Emergency Funding Package announced by Arts Council England, made possible by Government funding.

Alongside this, DCMS continues to engage with the sector extensively to best understand the challenges faced. We are working closely with the Arts Council to consider the additional support that may be needed to support the long-term recovery of the sector.

We recognise that these are incredibly challenging times for arts and culture organisations, and the Government will continue to support the sector through the unprecedented financial measures we have announced. DCMS has worked closely with its arm’s-length bodies to deliver tailored support packages at speed, including the £160m Emergency Funding Package announced by Arts Council England, made possible by Government funding.

Alongside this, DCMS continues to engage with the sector extensively to best understand the challenges faced. We are working closely with the Arts Council to consider the additional support that may be needed to support the long-term recovery of the sector.

We know that freelancers and individual artists across the creative industries are facing enormous difficulties as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government’s response has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world, including the Self Employment Support Scheme and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. In addition, the Government has adapted the welfare system so that the self-employed can access Universal Credit in full, to help people get quicker and more generous support when they need it most.

To ensure we are assisting all our sectors as effectively as possible, regular ministerially-chaired roundtables are held with business representative organisations and trade associations from across the creative industries. In addition, officials are in regular contact with stakeholders from these sectors, and we continue to speak with HM Treasury colleagues to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches the UK's world-leading creative industries.

In order to support the sustainability of the Arts sector, DCMS has worked closely with Arts Council England (ACE) to provide a tailored package of financial support. In March, ACE announced a £160m emergency response package to complement the financial measures already announced by the Government and to ensure immediate resilience of this vital sector.

This package includes £140 million of support for artistic organisations and £20 million for individuals, so they can better sustain themselves, and their work, in the coming months. More than 9000 individuals and organisations have been successful in applying for this emergency funding. Additionally, the National Lottery Heritage Fund launched the £50 million Heritage Emergency Fund, and Historic England has launched two £2 million Emergency Funds.

The Secretary of State, myself and officials continue to consult the Art and Heritage sectors extensively to ensure we fully understand the impacts of Covid-19 and remain well placed to respond as it develops.

The Chancellor has been clear that getting people back to work will be introduced in a measured way, avoiding a cliff edge. Therefore, from August 2020, the level of the grant for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will be slowly tapered to reflect that people will be returning to work.

The CJRS must be temporary and we must ensure that people can get back to work when it is safe to do so and get the UK economy up and running again.

We have strived to ensure the taskforce is made up of diverse individuals and organisations from across the sectors represented by DCMS, presenting a broad range of views and backgrounds. The organisations sitting on the taskforce vary not only by size and scale, but also represent a broad range of smaller organisations from across the country to ensure we consider the needs of organisations across the country.

The Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport currently has no plans to publish the minutes of respective Taskforce and working group meetings, but is considering ways to communicate summaries of the Taskforce’s work.

The Creative Industries Council is a joint forum between government and industry. Council members are leading figures drawn from across the creative and digital industries including TV, computer games, fashion, music, arts, publishing and film.

Secretary of State Oliver Dowden co-chairs the Creative Industries Council and we have been in continual dialogue with the Council through the Covid-19 crisis at both ministerial and official level. The next full meeting of the Council is in early July at which we expect the Council to confirm their priorities for 2020-21.

We recognise that these are challenging and unprecedented times, which demand the right affirmative action, and this is why my department has prioritised our handling of COVID-19 to support our citizens, sectors, and public bodies. We temporarily reorganised the department and redeployed staff as necessary to support the Cultural Renewal Taskforce and effectively address the challenges our sectors and stakeholders are facing. 4 FTE members of staff are working directly on the running of the Taskforce.

As of 31 May 2020, 114.1 FTE Civil Servants are deployed in DCMS Culture teams. Of these, 11 Civil Servants (10.8 FTE) have been allocated to Covid-19 priority work, including work to support the cultural sector at this time.

Membership of the Cultural Renewal Taskforce can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/culture-secretary-announces-cultural-renewal-taskforce. Membership of the Taskforce’s working groups can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/cultural-renewal-taskforce-and-supporting-working-groups#entertainment-and-events-members.

The Cultural Renewal Taskforce has been established to support the renewal of DCMS sectors and to help develop new COVID-19 secure guidelines for the reopening of public places and businesses in these sectors, where and when it is safe to do so. The focus of the Taskforce’s work is on:

• ensuring that COVID-19 secure guidelines are developed in line with the phasing ambitions and public health directions, building on the existing (work settings) guidance and providing intelligence and sector-specific expert input;

• developing creative solutions, including digital solutions, to drive the return of sectors whilst maintaining consistency with the medical advice;

• agreeing and ensuring alignment of all relevant sectoral guidance; and

• providing key sector stakeholders direct access to ministers.

The role of Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal has been established to provide the Government with an expert and independent voice on the cultural sectors, and to advise on how culture and heritage in the United Kingdom can begin the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further information about the Taskforce, including its purpose can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/culture-secretary-announces-cultural-renewal-taskforce.

As part of the Government’s roadmap for recovery from Covid-19, DCMS has launched the Cultural Renewal taskforce which will support plans for reopening across DCMS sectors.

The Taskforce meets weekly and is supported by eight sector-specific Working Groups.

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many of DCMS’ sectors including the creative industries, which is why the Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency.

DCMS is engaging with a range of departments to support the economic response, and ensuring that the needs of its sectors, and those who work in them, are fully understood. DCMS will continue to work with these valuable sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.

To ensure we are assisting all our sectors as effectively as possible, regular ministerially-chaired roundtables are held with business representative organisations as well as trade associations from across the Creative Industries. In addition, officials are in regular contact with stakeholders from these sectors, and we continue to speak with HM Treasury colleagues to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches the UK's world-leading media and Creative Industries.

DCMS have not purchased advertising with public service broadcasters in the last three years.

Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20th April. As of midnight on 23 April, HMRC had over half a million claims with a total value of around £4.5bn. CJRS, tax deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus, deferral of Self-Assessment payments due to coronavirus and Statutory Sick Pay rebate are new schemes and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.

As of 22 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme across all sectors, to over 16,600 businesses. At this time, the Government cannot provide a breakdown of funding by sector, as lenders have been given a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let lenders focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued.

Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20th April. As of midnight on 23 April, HMRC had over half a million claims with a total value of around £4.5bn. CJRS, tax deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus, deferral of Self-Assessment payments due to coronavirus and Statutory Sick Pay rebate are new schemes and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.

As of 22 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme across all sectors, to over 16,600 businesses. At this time, the Government cannot provide a breakdown of funding by sector, as lenders have been given a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let lenders focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued.

Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20th April. As of midnight on 23 April, HMRC had over half a million claims with a total value of around £4.5bn. CJRS, tax deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus, deferral of Self-Assessment payments due to coronavirus and Statutory Sick Pay rebate are new schemes and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.

As of 22 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme across all sectors, to over 16,600 businesses. At this time, the Government cannot provide a breakdown of funding by sector, as lenders have been given a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let lenders focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued.

The Department's Ministerial responsibilities were published on February 17th.

Details can be found on GOV.UK.

The Rugby Six Nations tournament has been a group B event on the listed events regime since 1998. As a group B event, live coverage may be provided by a subscription television service providing that delayed coverage or extended highlights are provided by a qualifying free to air channel.

The Government is clear that the existing list works well, and strikes the right balance between retaining free-to-air sports events for the public and allowing rights holders to negotiate agreements in the best interests of their sport. The Government therefore has no intention of undertaking a review of the list, or of moving the Six Nations from the category B list to the category A list.

41 people were employed in communications roles in DCMS on 1st March 2020.

In 2020 a full Spending Review will be held, reviewing public spending in the round and setting multi-year budgets. This will include individual government departments and arm's length bodies such as Sport England.

The Secretary of State for DCMS recently met with the Chairman of the BBC Board and the Director-General of the BBC to discuss a range of matters relating to the BBC.

The government has committed to maintain the licence fee funding model for the duration of this 11 year Charter period, until 2027.

The current licence fee settlement is agreed until April 2022. This includes the licence fee rising by inflation each year. Negotiations for the next licence fee settlement period, from April 2022, will take place in due course.

The government is committed to ensuring that the BBC and all public service broadcasters adapt to a fast changing market, and keeping them at the heart of our world class TV sector.

Ahead of the next Charter Review process, the Government will undertake a detailed look at the future of the TV licence model itself.

And we have recently launched a consultation on whether TV licence evasion should be decriminalised. We believe that it is right to look again at whether the criminal sanction remains appropriate for TV licence fee evasion given ongoing concerns about whether the criminal sanction is unfair and disproportionate.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has provided the following Grant-in-Aid funding to UK Anti-Doping over the past three years:

FY2016/17: £6.096m

FY2017/18: £5.996m

FY2018/19: £7.998m

The UK’s national anti-doping organisation, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), an arm’s length body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, acts according to the remit laid out in the UK’s National Anti-Doping Policy, and implements the UK’s National Anti-Doping Rules: https://www.ukad.org.uk/anti-doping-rules.

These Rules ensure the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Code are met in the UK. The Rules make no distinction between individual sports in terms of sanctions.

Decisions around any athlete ban from sport (if contested) are made by the independent National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP). This is independent of UKAD and is run on behalf of DCMS. The NADP’s procedural rules are available on their website: https://www.sportresolutions.co.uk/images/uploads/files/D_1_-_2019_NADP_Rules.pdf

DCMS has no Departmental plans to celebrate World Book Day in 2020 directly. However, over 90% of local authority public library services in England have expressed interest in participating in World Book Day activities. World Book Day has also put a message in the fifteen £1 books taking part in the World Book day campaign to encourage children and young people to join their local library.

The government is committed to maintaining free entry to the permanent collections of national museums, as outlined in the 2019 manifesto.

As culture is a devolved matter, information would not be held by my department on a UK basis. We do not hold complete information on all museums in England. However, we do hold this information for the fifteen DCMS sponsored museum groups, which encompass 40 museums and galleries. Six groups are either partly or wholly based outside of London (National Museums Liverpool, Royal Armouries, Natural History Museum, Tate, Science Museum Group, Imperial War Museums), encompassing half the total number of sponsored museum sites. Visitor numbers for these museum groups are published online: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sponsored-museums-and-galleries-annual-performance-indicators-201819

As the national development agency for museums, Arts Council England collects some information about museums and their visitors. It directly funds a number of regional museums through the National Portfolio and publishes data about their visitors figures. National Portfolio museums (and, pre-2018, Major Partner Museums) have a mix of operating models with some free to enter, some charging, and some charging for special exhibitions. Many charging museums also offer free or concessionary entry to local residents. https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/our-investment/national-portfolio-2018-22

Furthermore, the government supports free entry to regional museums through tax incentives like the VAT 33A relief scheme, and is committed to expanding access to museums across England.

The DCMS mean and median gender pay gaps have reduced since 2018. The mean gender pay gap is 5.6%, down from 7.5% and the median gender pay is 16.6%, down from 22.9%. We have introduced actions recommended by the Government Equalities Office to support further reductions including:

1. Improving the diversity of our talent pools through analysing gendered language in our job descriptions and adverts to ensure no-one is deterred by masculine or feminine framing.

2. Improving the transparency of pay, reward and promotion processes to empower individuals to manage their careers and achieve goals.

3. Promoting the uptake of Shared Parental Leave, using our Senior Civil Servants as rode models and our Diversity and Inclusion Ambassadors as champions.

The UK publishing sector is one of the UKs oldest, most respected and successful industries. We recognise the importance of the publishing sector, economically and culturally, as well as the need to support digital innovation as consumption trends broaden beyond physical products.

In particular, the Government is committed to supporting the sustainability of the news publishing industry as it transitions online. Last week we responded to the Cairncross Review into a sustainable future of journalism in the UK, by setting out support for the majority of its recommendations.

The Government has already started to take forward some of the interventions proposed in the Review. We have worked with Nesta to develop a £2million pilot innovation fund, which launched in October 2019, and seeks to invest in new technological prototypes, start-ups and innovative business models to explore new ways of sustaining the industry in this changing landscape. The government will evaluate this pilot to inform decisions on the full innovation fund ahead of the next Spending Review.

The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. The duty of care will ensure companies have appropriate systems and processes in place to keep their users safe. Companies will be required to take robust action when there is evidence that children are accessing inappropriate content, which includes underage access to dating applications.

The People’s Postcode Lottery is an ‘umbrella’ lottery scheme, under which draws held by different societies are promoted under a single brand.

Society lotteries pre date the National Lottery, which has its own founding legislation. They are permitted as fundraising tools for charities, community groups, sports clubs and other non-commercial organisations. Unlike the National Lottery they have limits on ticket sales and prizes, must return a minimum amount to good causes, and do not have to pay Lottery Duty. The distinction between society lotteries and the National Lottery ensures that the two are not in direct competition. This is an important principle to maintain, as direct competition between the two sectors risks reducing the level of sales overall, and therefore reducing the amount available for good causes.

The government intends to publish the membership of each committee in due course.

In July 2019 the government consulted on whether to add women’s equivalents of men’s events currently on the list to both group A and group B categories. The consultation closed on 11 December 2019. The government is now carefully considering the responses in detail and we will respond in due course.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government; therefore, the government has no role in deciding whether BBC services, such as the BBC Red Button teletext service, should be continued.

It is the BBC’s responsibility to assess the potential effect of the closure of the BBC Red Button service on the public’s access to information. The Government welcomes the BBC's decision to pause the closure of the Red Button service, ahead of its review of the impact of the closure on the most vulnerable including the elderly, and deaf and blind licence fee payers.

The Creative Industries Sector Deal was launched jointly between government and industry in 2018 in order to unlock growth for creative businesses across the regions and nations of the UK. The programmes are still underway and their evaluations are ongoing.

Among the Sector Deal programmes are Creative Scale-Up, which aims to increase the profitability, scalability and productivity of small creative industries businesses in three pilot regions – Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and the West of England.

Others include the Creative Clusters programme - which is developing nine world class-creative clusters across the UK, from Dundee to Bristol and Cardiff to York - and the Audiences of the Futures programme, which is working at the cutting edge of tech and creativity, with projects across the nation and with partners such as the RSC in Stratford and Aardman Animations in Bristol.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has established two trade advisory committees jointly with the Department for International Trade. The members of these groups are stakeholders from various DCMS sectors and have a breadth of knowledge and experience in trade matters.

The UK’s creative industries are an exporting powerhouse, delivering around 12 per cent of the UK total for exports in services. The sector is one of our fastest growing, and continues to outpace wider economic growth by two to one and job creation by three to one.

We are working closely with industry and across government to ensure that our sectors are fully represented and supported in the UK’s future trade agreements, and we will continue to work with them during the transition period.

We want the creative industries to continue to flourish as part of a modern and ambitious global trading framework - from world-leading news coverage that reaches every corner of the globe, to life affirming arts and culture, and immersive technologies that bring people and communities together.

Through Sport England, government has invested the following in grassroots rugby union in each of the last three years:

• 2016/17: £4.06m
• 2017/18: £3.45m
• 2018/19: £4.02m

These figures include investment in both the Rugby Football Union as the national governing body for the sport, together with investment in specific community rugby union projects.

Over this time period, Sport England has invested a further £12.61m in multi-sport projects where rugby union is one of the sports benefitting.

Through Sport England, government has invested the following in grassroots rugby league in each of the last three years:

• 2016/17: £2.58m
• 2017/18: £5.18m
• 2018/19: £2.76m

These figures include investment in both the Rugby Football League Ltd as the national governing body for the sport, together with investment in specific community rugby league projects.

Over this time period, Sport England has invested a further £9.27m in multi-sport projects where rugby league is one of the sports benefitting.

As part of its support for grassroots rugby league, government is also investing up to £10m in rugby league facilities to help drive a legacy from the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.

Sport England receives both Grant-In-Aid (GIA) funding and good causes funding from the National Lottery from DCMS. The allocated totals for each of the past three years are:

• 2016/17: £105.6m GIA; £202.8m National Lottery
• 2017/18: £100.8m GIA; £203.3m National Lottery
• 2018/19: £104.5 GIA; £199.4m National Lottery

Overall income from the National Lottery Distribution Fund is variable and dependent on ticket sales. Sport England receives 12.4% of the Lottery returns to good causes which results in variable annual Lottery income to the organisation.

I meet with the Premier League, the Football League, the Football Association, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and the Football Supporters Association regularly to discuss a variety of matters including this government’s commitment to move towards areas of standing in football stadia currently subject to the all-seater policy. I will be setting out the government's intention in this area in due course.

The Government has committed to ensure that the administration of government is less London-centric and to locate more Civil Service roles and public bodies out of London and into the regions and nations of the United Kingdom

The Arts Council’s Head Office is in Manchester, and the majority of its staff are based there.

The Arts Council also has a network of a further eight Area Offices across the country: with offices in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, London, Newcastle and Nottingham. Senior staff with sector expertise are based in each local area, and work closely with local strategic partners.

The Cabinet Office Places for Growth team is working with departments and public bodies on any future relocation plans.

Arts, culture and heritage plays a crucial role in making towns attractive places to live, work and visit. This is why DCMS is working closely with MHCLG to support the delivery of the Towns Fund.

In particular, we are supporting the delivery of the £95million High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme with Historic England. The programme will not only revive and regenerate historic high streets and town centres but will support a cultural programme to engage people in the life, culture and history of their places. Historic England will be working in close partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and the Architectural Heritage Fund.

In addition, the £250m Cultural Investment Fund announced in October will benefit many towns through culture-led regeneration.

DCMS will continue to explore other opportunities to support towns, and is engaging with towns in order to better understand their needs.

The Government has committed to review the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age. We will announce further details in due course.

The Government has announced that the Department for Exiting the EU will be wound up once the UK leaves the EU on 31 January. All Machinery of Government changes are a matter for the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister has set out an ambitious programme for the Government to unite and level up the country, delivering on its key priorities around getting Brexit done and investing in the NHS, education, safer streets and better infrastructure.

Good cause income raised by the National Lottery funds arts, heritage, sport and communities (covering health, education, environment and charitable causes). It is distributed at arms length of Government by twelve Lottery Distributing Bodies.

Religious and faith based organisations are eligible to apply for National Lottery funding and are typically required to demonstrate that projects will benefit the wider community and will not have any religious content.

Information about the religious status of organisations that apply for grants is not consistently collected, so it has not been possible to analyse the data on this basis.

I have spoken with the Chief of the Executive of the Football Association to hear the background of the sale of rights to IMG, which in turn resulted in Bet365 and other betting companies providing live streaming of FA Cup fixtures to account holders. Betting and Gaming Council rights holders in this deal have relinquished any exclusivity over these rights, so that they may now be streamed outside of betting environments, and the FA are exploring how they can rescind these deals. I shall be meeting with the FA this week to discuss their next steps.

Following the discussion at the DCMS Select Committee on 24 October 2018, Ministers at the time wrote to Camelot who confirmed that they do not publish this information because it is commercially sensitive.

DCMS has secured over £20million of new grant funding for organisations across England working on tackling loneliness and bringing people together.

This includes the £11.5m Building Connections Fund (delivered in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund and Co-op Foundation), which launched in 2018. In addition, The People’s Postcode Lottery has committed £5million of players money to top up its existing grants to charities that combat loneliness, and the Health Lottery has committed £4m to charities that work to improve social links in areas facing disadvantage across England.

Government has since granted an additional £1,369,174 to the Co-op Foundation to tackle youth loneliness via co-design and community spaces.

£2,369,174 of this funding was contributed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

To date, government has spent a total of £6,775,297 on work to tackle loneliness across England through these funds.

The regional breakdown of the Building Connections Fund spend to date is as follows. It is not possible to separate out the DCMS element of this spend:

The remainder of the £11.5 million is committed to administrative and evaluation costs. So far, £5,406,123.16 of the government contribution of £5,500,000 has been spent. All government funding will be spent by 31st March 2020.

The regional breakdown for the £1,369,174 granted to Co-op Foundation to tackle youth loneliness using co-design and community spaces funding is as follows.

In addition, DCMS has spent over £1 million on other cross-England work on tackling loneliness as set out in the government’s loneliness strategy, including the Let’s Talk Loneliness campaign, the data pilots with local authorities and the cost of hosting the cross-government loneliness team.

As loneliness is a devolved issue, there has been no DCMS spend in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

At 31 December 2019 DCMS employed 1,264 Civil Servants, the majority of whom worked directly on projects relating to digital, culture, media and sport as set out in the table below. The staff not included in this table are either part of the corporate centre (e.g Finance and HR), part of cross-cutting teams working across multiple policy areas (e.g the department’s Central Analytical Team) or part of teams which aren’t directly linked to digital, culture, media or sport (e.g. the Office for Civil Society and the Gambling team).

The information in the table above relates to Civil Servants on DCMS’ payroll. This includes permanent staff, those on fixed-term contracts, those on paid loan/secondment in/out of DCMS and those on paid maternity leave.

The number of Civil Servants employed by DCMS in each year between 2017 and 2020 is as follows:

The department’s headcount has steadily increased over the past four years due to an expanded policy remit and EU Exit preparations.

The information in the table above relates to Civil Servants on DCMS’ payroll. This includes permanent staff, those on fixed-term contracts, those on paid loan/secondment in/out of DCMS and those on paid maternity leave.

This information is included in the DCMS Annual Report and Accounts.

Through Sport England, Government is investing £24.6m in The Football Association over the course of 2016-21 for its work on grassroots participation, the football talent pathway, and coaching programmes. Within this, there is no specific ringfencing of funding between men's and women's programmes apart from £2.6m which is specifically reserved for women and girls talent programmes.

Separately, Government invested £18m in football facilities through the Football Foundation in each of 2017, 2018 and 2019. It is not possible to separate out the investment amounts by gender.

The Government has also committed to investing £550m into grassroots football facilities over the next 10 years to support plans to bid for the 2030 Men’s FIFA Football World Cup.

The selection criteria for the Board was outlined within the expression of interest as published on the Cabinet Office's public appointments website. The candidates were asked to demonstrate high level experience of strategic leadership, communication and influencing skills and have a strong understanding of the Centre's role. As well as this - we were looking for relevant expertise across key areas which include; data science, business, ethics, social sciences, policy, law and regulation.

The specific information requested is not centrally held and to obtain it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Westminster Holiday Playscheme (​WHP​)​, a school holiday service run by Tinies Kids Clubs, is available to civil servants of specific government departments including DCMS. DCMS offers WHP childcare facilities to all staff with a 50% subsidy.

The government's consultation closed on 5 July and we will set out the next steps on this issue in due course.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Parliament is dissolved.

The list of Cabinet Committees and Implementation Taskforces, and their membership, is published here; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cabinet-committees-system-and-list-of-cabinet-committees. Other Ministers attend the European Union Exit and Trade Committee where the agenda item concerns their portfolio.

It is important that working parents have the choice and flexibility that enables them to fully realise their potential contribution to the creative industries workforce.

We will soon be hosting a Forum with industry leaders from across DCMS sectors, including the creative industries, which will aim to identify and share best practice around promoting diversity and social mobility in the workforce, to help ensure we have an economy that works for all.

Government is committed to supporting everyone to get active and participation in swimming has an important role to play.

Sport England has invested more than £40,000 of National Lottery funding in a Kirklees swimming programme and since 2010 has invested £1.5 million of Lottery funding in swimming in West Yorkshire.

Since 2010, Sport England has invested £35,407,363 of National Lottery money has been invested in a range of swimming projects across Greater London, including £34,442,800 in swimming in Newham and the London Aquatics Centre.

Sport England is also in discussion with the Amateur Swimming Association regarding the investment it will be making in swimming for the 2017-21 period.

Sporting Future set out the Government's commitment to ensuring that no child left school unable to swim and commissioned the Amateur Swimming Association's Swim Group to undertake a review. The Group is finalising its report and will be sharing its findings with government shortly.

We have no such assessment . From April, large employers will be required to publish any differences in average earnings and bonuses paid to women and men. The Government’s Equalities Office (GEO) are responsible for policies regarding gender equality.

We have no such assessment . From April, large employers will be required to publish any differences in average earnings and bonuses paid to women and men. The Government’s Equalities Office (GEO) are responsible for policies regarding gender equality.

The UK’s negotiations for exiting the EU are complex and the Government is focused on securing the best deal for Britain. Together with the Department for Exiting the EU, we are analysing all the impacts of leaving the EU, looking at over 50 sectors. Once we have left the EU, decisions on how taxpayers’ money will be spent will be made in the UK. There may be European programmes in which we might want to participate, but this will be a decision for the UK as we negotiate the new arrangements.

The UK’s negotiations for exiting the EU are complex and the Government is focused on securing the best deal for Britain. Together with the Department for Exiting the EU, we are analysing all the impacts of leaving the EU, looking at over 50 sectors. Once we have left the EU, decisions on how taxpayers’ money will be spent will be made in the UK. There may be European programmes in which we might want to participate, but this will be a decision for the UK as we negotiate the new arrangements.

The UK’s negotiations for exiting the EU are complex and the Government is focused on securing the best deal for Britain. Together with the Department for Exiting the EU, we are analysing all the impacts of leaving the EU, looking at over 50 sectors. Once we have left the EU, decisions on how taxpayers’ money will be spent will be made in the UK. There may be European programmes in which we might want to participate, but this will be a decision for the UK as we negotiate the new arrangements.

The UK’s negotiations for exiting the EU are complex and the Government is focused on securing the best deal for Britain. Together with the Department for Exiting the EU, we are analysing all the impacts of leaving the EU, looking at over 50 sectors. Once we have left the EU, decisions on how taxpayers’ money will be spent will be made in the UK. There may be European programmes in which we might want to participate, but this will be a decision for the UK as we negotiate the new arrangements.

The UK’s negotiations for exiting the EU are complex and the Government is focused on securing the best deal for Britain. Together with the Department for Exiting the EU, we are analysing all the impacts of leaving the EU, looking at over 50 sectors. Once we have left the EU, decisions on how taxpayers’ money will be spent will be made in the UK. There may be European programmes in which we might want to participate, but this will be a decision for the UK as we negotiate the new arrangements.

The UK’s negotiations for exiting the EU are complex and the Government is focused on securing the best deal for Britain. Together with the Department for Exiting the EU, we are analysing all the impacts of leaving the EU, looking at over 50 sectors. Once we have left the EU, decisions on how taxpayers’ money will be spent will be made in the UK. There may be European programmes in which we might want to participate, but this will be a decision for the UK as we negotiate the new arrangements.

The Department has invested over £195 million to support remote education and access to online social care, delivering over 220,000 laptops and tablets during the summer term for disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have access to a digital device.

The Department is adding to this support by making over 340,000 additional laptops and tablets available to support disadvantaged children that might experience disruption to their education. Since September 2020, over 100,000 of these have been delivered to schools.

This scheme is not directly providing funding. It is providing a number of offers to support remote education, including laptops and tablets, 4G wireless routers, other internet offers and support for schools to access education platforms.

Data about the number of laptops and tablets delivered to local authorities and academy trusts over the summer term can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/912888/Devices_and_4G_wireless_routers_progress_data_as_of_27_August_2020.pdf.

Data about the number of laptops and tablets delivered or dispatched to Local Authorities or trusts since 1 September can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/929064/Ad-hoc_stats_note_shipped_data_231020_FINAL.pdf.

As of 4 July, providers offering out of school activities to children, such as youth educational organisations, have been able to open for both indoor and outdoor provision with safety measures in place. Providers are also able to resume non-overnight domestic educational visits, and the Department has updated our protective measures guidance for these providers to support them to do so as safely as possible. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

The Department continues to advise against domestic overnight or overseas educational visits, and residential provision, for the time-being. This is consistent with the latest government guidance for accommodation providers, which advises that you should not stay overnight away from your home with members of more than one other household. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-advice-for-accommodation-providers. We continue to keep this position under review; and will continue to be guided by the best scientific and medical advice, to ensure that the right decisions are taken at the right time.

The Government has also made financial support available to employers and the self-employed, including sole traders and limited company directors. Youth educational organisations that have been adversely affected by COVID-19 can find out what financial support is available for their business at: https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder. They may be eligible for tax relief, loans or cash grants depending on their circumstances.

Where schools and colleges had accepted entries from external candidates (students who they did not teach themselves because they were home-educated, followed distance-learning programmes or studied independently), those students should have been taken account of in the process of producing centre assessment grades, where the head teacher or principal was confident that they and their staff had seen sufficient evidence of the student’s achievement to make an objective judgement.

Not all external candidates were able to be awarded centre assessed grades this summer because they were not able to provide sufficient evidence to enable their exam centre to include them in their centre assessment grades and rankings. Students in this position will need to sit exams to get their grades, either in the autumn or in summer 2021.

Students wishing to enter for autumn exams should do so via the school or college where they were due to sit their exams in the summer. The exception is students who did not achieve a grade 4 or above in english or maths GCSE. These students will take those exams at their post September institution.

The Department has published detailed guidance for schools to prepare for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September 2020. The guidance published on 2 July outlines that there may be an additional risk of infection in environments where you or others are singing, chanting, playing wind or brass instruments or shouting, and provides further information on steps that schools should take to keep staff and pupils safe. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-and-colleges-to-reopen-in-full-in-september.

The apprenticeship levy is at the centre of our reforms to build an employer-led apprenticeship system and transform the quality of apprenticeship training. We continue to engage with employers in all sectors of the economy to help them realise the benefits of apprenticeships. In the creative sector, we work closely with industry bodies, such as the Creative Industries Council, Creative and Cultural Skills, and ScreenSkills.

In response to this engagement, we introduced transfers in 2018 to offer employers greater flexibility. This gives apprenticeship levy-paying employers the freedom to transfer funds to any employer, including smaller employers in their supply chain, or Apprenticeship Training Agencies and charities. In April 2019, we increased the cap from 10% to 25% of employers’ funds that can be transferred each year. An Apprenticeship Training Agency acts as the apprentice’s employer throughout their training, allowing them to complete the 12-month minimum apprenticeship duration through a series of shorter placements with different employers.

We are also working with employers and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to prioritise the development of 17 new standards in the creative sector to help address skills gaps.

We recognise that some employers in the creative industries experience challenges in utilising the apprenticeship levy to support starts in their business or the wider sector. The Department for Education and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are working with ScreenSkills and industry partners on an innovative film and TV pilot which will enable 20 apprentices to benefit from hands-on experience on the sets of major films and TV shows. Launched on 23 January, it will explore a new model for how apprenticeships can be used to deliver multiple placements on film and TV productions, as well as addressing skills shortages.

This is a matter for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

This is a matter for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Department intends to publish guidance for schools on income generation in due course. The guidance will set out different types of income generation activities, including letting out premises, working with local businesses, selling goods and services and applying for grants.

Our aim is to level the playing field between schools in their ability to generate income and help them build strong community links at the same time.

Based on information supplied by local authorities, as at 31 May 2019, there were 2,353 children’s centre and 700 linked sites[1] open to families and children providing children's centre services as part of a network.

Sure Start children’s centres were rolled out in three phases between 2004 and 2010. A National Audit Office memorandum to the Children, Schools and Families Committee in 2009[2] published data on the number of children’s centres rolled out in phases 1 and 2 as set out in the table below.

There are no published records of the number of children’s centres that had been opened by the end of the 2007 calendar year. The 2008 statistic is based on management information that the Department for Education holds on the pattern of children’s centre designations[3] during the roll out of Phase 2 children’s centres between 2006 and 2008. This data shows there were fewer than 2,300 children’s centres prior to 2008.

The Department for Education will publish the management information in an ad-hoc statistical release in due course.

[1] Source: Get Information about Schools database https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.

[2] National Audit Office memorandum to Children’s Schools and Families Committee, 2009 https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0910_sure_start_memorandum.pdf

[3] To count towards children’s centre targets, centres were officially ‘designated’, meaning that they were open and providing some services, with plans in place to deliver all the required services within two years.

We have a well-established working relationship with ScreenSkills and welcome their feedback on the impact of our apprenticeship reforms on the film and television industries. This, together with feedback from our broader engagement with employers, is informing our ongoing evaluation of the impact of the reforms in England and our work to promote apprenticeships under the Creative Industries Sector Deal.

In my capacity as the Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, I met the CEO of ScreenSkills in October 2018 to discuss their work to support the take-up of apprenticeships in the UK’s world-leading film and television industries. Officials from the Education and Skills Funding Agency continue to meet representatives of the organisation.

Levy-paying employers can already transfer funds to an Apprenticeship Training Agency, which acts as the apprentice’s employer. We recognise that this model can provide a valuable opportunity for employers, including those in the film and television industries and the creative sector more generally, to realise the benefits of apprenticeships for their business. We are continuing to engage with ScreenSkills to explore how such arrangements could support the creative industries.

In response to feedback from employers in a range of sectors, we have recently raised the cap on the amount of funds that levy-payers can transfer from 10% to 25% of the annual value of funds entering their apprenticeship service accounts.

We do not know the number of children that will not benefit from the funding for free school meals (FSM) and activities during the 2019 summer holidays. This would depend on how many children in the funded areas choose to take up the offer of free holiday provision.

Our 2019 programme will take place in 11 local authority areas. It will enable us to test the effectiveness of a model of local coordination of free holiday club provision. We are carrying out an independent evaluation of this programme and will publish the results of this, including information on attendance.

The next stage in the reception baseline assessment development process is a large-scale voluntary pilot, commencing in September 2019. Schools were able to sign up to take part in the pilot from 1 March to 5 April 2019. We have received a very good response; we intend to publish the number of schools that have applied to participate in the pilot in the near future.

A publication date has not been set yet. The report is still being drafted and we will set a publication date once we have a final version of the report.

The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements on a financial year basis. Allocations for each of the 3 and 4-year old entitlements are:

Full details, including allocations for the other early years funding streams (15 hours entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-old children, the early years pupil premium, disability access fund and maintained nursery schools supplementary funding) can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.

Final funding allocations for 2018-19 will be updated in the summer using data from the January 2019 schools and early years census.

In January 2018, 154,960 two year olds benefitted from funded early education, representing 72% of the eligible population. Local authority breakdowns are available in Tables 1A and 8LA of the ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age, January 2018’ national statistics release, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018.

The 2019 national statistics release, covering the position in January 2019, will be published in June 2019.

The Public Health Outcomes Framework is a comprehensive source of data at local authority unitary, county and district level on the extent to which local strategies are successful and effective in improving outcomes for children in the early years. It is available at the following link: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework.

The framework includes data on outcomes for children aged 5 from the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). Further information on the EYFSP is broken down by local authority and available to view at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2017-to-2018. We do not publish this data at constituency or combined authority level.

In January 2018, 154,960 two year olds benefitted from funded early education, representing 72% of the eligible population. Local authority breakdowns are available in Tables 1A and 8LA of the ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age, January 2018’ national statistics release, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018.

The 2019 national statistics release, covering the position in January 2019, will be published in June 2019.

The average cost to the public purse of providing 15 hours, across 38 weeks, of free childcare for a disadvantaged two-year-old is around £3,080.

Eligibility for the 30 hours entitlement is based on parental income. It is available to families where both parents are working (or the sole parent is working in a lone parent family), and each parent earns the equivalent of a weekly minimum of 16 hours at national minimum wage or national living wage, and less than £100,000 per year. This also includes self-employed parents and parents on zero-hour contracts.

The government has made provisions to ensure that parents in certain circumstances will be regarded as being in work. This includes couple families where one parent is in receipt of benefits relating to caring responsibilities or their disability.

Full details on the eligibility criteria are set out in the regulations, which can be found here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/1257/contents/made.

Parents of children aged 0-2 in England that use childcare reported paying an average of £79 per child per week during term-time in 2018. The amounts paid by families vary depending on the amount of childcare used by their child, by the number of children in the family, by childcare provider type used, and by home region.

This data is published as annual official statistics from the ‘Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents’.

Information on early years providers that are co-operatives is not held centrally.

The department’s Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers collects data on group-based providers, maintained providers and childminders. The survey is published annually.

We will be spending around £6 billion on childcare support in 2019-20 – a record amount. That includes funding for our free early education entitlements, on which we plan to spend around £3.5 billion this year alone.

The government’s Early Years National Funding Formula allocates funding to local authorities for the purpose of delivering our early years entitlements. Our new formula was introduced in April 2017 following extensive consultation and it includes an additional needs factor to weight funding according to disadvantage.

To accompany the government response to the consultation, we published an Equalities Impact Assessment looking into the effects of the formula on specific groups. Both documents may be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/early-years-funding-changes-to-funding-for-3-and-4-year-olds.

We also require local authority funding formulas, which allocate funding to providers, to have a mandatory deprivation supplement.

The government recognises the need to keep the evidence base on costs up to date. We continue to monitor the provider market closely through a range of regular and one-off research projects which provide insight into various aspects of the provider market.

This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

As of 15 November 2018, there were around 60 full-time equivalent members of staff working on early years’ policy and this includes the delivery of 30 hours of free childcare for three and four-year olds. Other staff members in the funding and analysis teams also contribute to the early years’ policy development as part of their work.

The compulsory school age is five under section 8 of the Education Act 1996. Whilst the reception year is not compulsory, children who are aged four who are enrolled in a reception class in a state-funded school are still covered by the requirements under the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework within the Childcare Act 2006. This includes assessments carried out in the reception year.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has visited, since his appointment on 8 January 2018, five nurseries, and has spent time meeting nursery children and teachers during four primary school visits. He has not yet visited any childminders.

The number of employment-based early years trainees for whom the department provided early years initial teacher training (ITT) funding in academic years 2016/17 and 2017/18 is as follows:

For all trainees shown above, both the training grant and employer incentive was provided.

We are unable to provide any data collected prior to the academic year 2016/17. A review of early years ITT data found that prior to the academic year 2016/17, data was not collected with sufficient quality to produce high quality statistics.

Further information about this and the subsequent actions put in place by the department, can be found in the ‘Data collection and quality’ section of the ITT Census 2017/18, found here at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2017-to-2018.

We do not centrally collect the data requested.

However, the number of workers with qualifications at various levels is published in our ‘Childcare and early years providers surveys’ at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2016.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2013.

The 2018 survey is due to be published on 1 November 2018.

UCAS handles applications to higher education on behalf of providers, independent of government. Universities, colleges and other organisations that award degrees may sign up for their services, but whether they do so, or not, is their decision.

The reception baseline assessment was trialled in a nationally representative sample of schools between 10 September and 19 October 2018. Schools’ participation in the trials was voluntary.

In line with accepted practice, the names of the schools that are participating in these trials will not be released by the department. Schools were recruited on this basis and releasing this information could adversely affect school participation in future voluntary trialling, which would put our ability to develop high quality, valid and reliable assessments at risk.

In our response to the public consultation on the future of the primary assessment system in England, and having noted the support from respondents to that consultation exercise, we confirmed that we would introduce a reception baseline assessment from the 2020 to 2021 academic year onwards. As part of that, we committed to explore the issue of what information from the assessment should be shared with schools. That consideration is continuing and we will make a further announcement prior to the introduction of the assessment.

The reception baseline assessment was trialled in a nationally representative sample of schools between 10 September and 19 October 2018. Schools’ participation in the trials was voluntary.

In line with accepted practice, the names of the schools that are participating in these trials will not be released by the department. Schools were recruited on this basis and releasing this information could adversely affect school participation in future voluntary trialling, which would put our ability to develop high quality, valid and reliable assessments at risk.

In our response to the public consultation on the future of the primary assessment system in England, and having noted the support from respondents to that consultation exercise, we confirmed that we would introduce a reception baseline assessment from the 2020 to 2021 academic year onwards. As part of that, we committed to explore the issue of what information from the assessment should be shared with schools. That consideration is continuing and we will make a further announcement prior to the introduction of the assessment.

37 mainstream primary free schools and one special primary free school have opened since September 2017. 17 of the mainstream primary free schools have nursery provision and six have plans for nursery provision. 14 of the mainstream primary free schools and the one special primary school that opened since September 2017 do not currently have, or have plans for, nursery provision.

In addition to this, four voluntary-aided primary schools have opened during this period, one of which includes nursery provision. The department does not hold information on the number of these schools planning nursery provision.

These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.

All free school applications are subject to a rigorous application process. Each application, including those with a nursery element, is assessed against published criteria. The assessment process includes consideration of the capacity and track record of proposers, financial viability and value for money.

The cost of a nursery in a free school is integrated into the total cost of the project. It is not possible to separate out the costs of the nursery alone, as they will generally share facilities and services with the school itself.

For the purposes of forecasting, we estimate that the average additional per pupil cost of including a nursery within a primary free school is around £12,000 excluding VAT. For actual projects, costs will depend on a variety of local circumstances including site specifications and pupil numbers.

Where local authorities (LAs) identify the need for a new school, they must seek proposals to establish a new free school. They are responsible for setting the specifications (including for a nursery) and assessing applications. LAs are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, principally using basic need funding provided by the department.

LAs are also responsible for approving proposals for new voluntary-aided schools, including where proposals include nursery provision. LAs and proposers are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, with the proposer expected to cover up to 10% of this amount.

All free school applications are subject to a rigorous application process. Each application, including those with a nursery element, is assessed against published criteria. The assessment process includes consideration of the capacity and track record of proposers, financial viability and value for money.

The cost of a nursery in a free school is integrated into the total cost of the project. It is not possible to separate out the costs of the nursery alone, as they will generally share facilities and services with the school itself.

For the purposes of forecasting, we estimate that the average additional per pupil cost of including a nursery within a primary free school is around £12,000 excluding VAT. For actual projects, costs will depend on a variety of local circumstances including site specifications and pupil numbers.

Where local authorities (LAs) identify the need for a new school, they must seek proposals to establish a new free school. They are responsible for setting the specifications (including for a nursery) and assessing applications. LAs are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, principally using basic need funding provided by the department.

LAs are also responsible for approving proposals for new voluntary-aided schools, including where proposals include nursery provision. LAs and proposers are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, with the proposer expected to cover up to 10% of this amount.

The information requested is not held centrally. The provision of children information officers is a matter for individual local authorities.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide information, advice and assistance to parents and prospective parents on the provision of childcare in their area, including the 30 hours offer and HM Revenue and Customs Tax-Free Childcare. The government requires all local authorities to pass through 95% of their three and four year old funding to early years providers.

The department also provides direct support from officials and through our delivery partner, Childcare Works, to ensure they are best placed to deliver the government’s childcare offers.

Of the mainstream and special free schools opened since September 2017, 21 have nursery provision, and a further nine have plans for nursery provision. These figures are broken down in the attached table.

Of the 20 primary schools approved by the department during the same period, 13 have plans for nursery provision. This includes 11 (of 18) schools approved following local authority-run competitions (as required by Section 6A of the Education and Inspection Act 2006) and 2 (of 2) special primary schools approved through the department’s special free school application wave. These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.

As local authorities (LA) are responsible for approving LA maintained schools, we do not hold information on the number of LA maintained schools approved in this period.

Not all early years and childcare settings in England will pay business rates. The government has introduced a range of business rate reforms and measures, which will be worth more than £10 billion by 2023. This includes:

• raising the rateable value threshold for 100% relief from £6,000 to £12,000, which means that about 655,000 small businesses pay no business rates at all.
• A package of support worth £435 million over five years to support the businesses facing the steepest increases following the 2017 revaluation.

We are also increasing the frequency of property revaluations from every five to every three years following the next revaluation, to ensure that bills more accurately reflect property values.

Further, we provided powers under the Localism Act 2011 to enable local authorities to offer business rate discounts. In 2015, officials wrote to all councils to encourage them to use those powers to support access to local high-quality childcare provision. It is a matter for local authorities to exercise those powers as they see fit. We do not collect information on how local authorities have used these powers in relation to early years and childcare settings.

There has been no specific assessment made of the impacts of removing or freezing business rates on the early years market, however we have commissioned independent research to provide us with robust, up-to-date evidence on the costs of delivering childcare, including operating costs such as business rates.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Since September 2017, 60% of the mainstream and special free schools that have opened currently have, or have plans for, nursery provision. Since September 2017, 65% of mainstream and special primary schools approved, currently have plans for nursery provision.

In addition to this, four voluntary-aided (VA) primary schools have opened, one of these includes nursery provision. Some, or all of the VA schools, may be as result of local reconfiguration of schools in an area. As local authorities are responsible for approving VA schools, we do not hold information on the number of VA schools approved in this period.

These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.

Since September 2017, 60% of the mainstream and special free schools that have opened currently have, or have plans for, nursery provision. Since September 2017, 65% of mainstream and special primary schools approved, currently have plans for nursery provision.

In addition to this, four voluntary-aided (VA) primary schools have opened, one of these includes nursery provision. Some, or all of the VA schools, may be as result of local reconfiguration of schools in an area. As local authorities are responsible for approving VA schools, we do not hold information on the number of VA schools approved in this period.

These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.

This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.

The decline in numbers in the autumn term 2018 is an expected effect driven by four-year olds entering reception and no longer being able to use their code for the 30 hours policy. In autumn term 2018, there were 254,136 codes issued which is an increase from autumn term 2017 where there were 224,885 codes issued.

For the autumn term 2018, to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare a child will have to have turned three on or before the 31st August 2018. Most children who had turned four by 31st August will be in a reception place instead which results in less children with issued codes for the autumn 2018 term compared to the summer 2018 term.

We publish termly experimental statistics showing the number of children in a place. The full publication, which shows local authority and regional level breakdowns, is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated.

As of the 30 September 2018, we have spent £268,842.90 on advertising and marketing the 30 hours free childcare offer since it launched on the 1 September 2017. This includes paid for social media advertising, flyers and hosting information about the offer on the Childcare Choices website. The social media communications has been particularly successful, reaching more than 5.3 million people.

Further information will be published alongside the launch of the main phase of the Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme in early autumn 2018. Peer reviewers will be selected on the basis of their expertise and experience. All peer reviewers will be expected to have an excellent understanding of services for disadvantaged children and families as well as the drivers of outcomes at the age of five.

Further information will be published alongside the launch of the main phase of the Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme in early autumn 2018. Peer reviewers will be selected on the basis of their expertise and experience. All peer reviewers will be expected to have an excellent understanding of services for disadvantaged children and families as well as the drivers of outcomes at the age of five.

The Department for Education does not intend to change its policy on the reception baseline in response to the British Educational Research Association’s report.

The new baseline is being developed by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), an organisation with a proven and respected track record of developing assessments.

The proposal to introduce the new baseline was set out in our 2017 public consultation on the future of the primary assessment system in England and drew support from a majority of respondents. Those responding in favour included the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of School and College Leaders. Their responses were on the basis that the introduction of the new baseline will make it possible for statutory end of key stage 1 assessments to be removed, thereby making the primary assessment system more proportionate.

All aspects of the development of the new baseline will be informed by an extensive evidence base of research into the assessment of pupils in the early years. NFER will collect further evidence during the trial and pilot phases to inform the department’s decision-making. This will ensure that the reception baseline is robust. It will also ensure that the data collected is sufficiently valid and reliable for the purposes of creating a new value-added progress measure. This progress measure will recognise the progress that schools make with all their pupils, regardless of the pupils’ background, throughout their time at primary school.

The most recent Ofsted statistics, published on 27 June, show that the number of providers of childcare on non-domestic premises (group providers) has remained stable over time, having decreased by just 2% since 31 August 2012. There was also a small increase in the number of childcare places that they offer. These statistics can be viewed on Ofsted’s website at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted/about/statistics.

We regularly monitor the effect of our early years and childcare policies on the childcare market. The take-up of our childcare entitlements is positive, with 94% of three and four year-olds benefiting from funded early education and 72% of eligible two year-olds taking up the 15 hours entitlement. Furthermore, since the roll-out of 30 hours’ free childcare, more than 340,000 children have benefited from a 30 hours place. This saves around £5,000 per year for parents who use the full 30 hours.

Childminders, including grandparents who are childminders, cannot receive early years funding, including the new 30 hours’ entitlement, for related children. This is set out in Sections 18(4) and 20 of the Childcare Act 2006: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/21/contents.

This long-standing position avoids creating an incentive for adults to register to become formal carers for related children they are already looking after on an informal basis.

As at 31 May 2018, there were 26 full time equivalent members of staff working on the 30 hours free childcare policy out of 81.2 full time equivalent staff working in the Department for Education’s Early Years Group. Other staff members in the department also contribute to early years policy, including the 30 hours free childcare policy, as part of their work.

The government notes the recent research conducted by the London School of Economics on this issue. In February 2018, the Department for Education commissioned its own research into the factors affecting take-up of free early education entitlements. A report will be published in due course.

The government introduced an entitlement to 15 hours of free childcare a week for disadvantaged two year olds in September 2013. Since then more than half a million two year olds have benefitted from a place and 71% of eligible children are taking advantage of the offer. We have also increased the hours of free childcare available to all three and four year olds.

As of 31 May 2018, there were 17.2 FTE members of staff in the Department’s Early Years Group working in the Quality, Outcomes and Providers team, which is the team responsible for children’s centres. Other staff members in the department also contribute to the early years policy as part of their work, however, the numbers for this are not held centrally.

As at 31 May 2018, there were 81.2 full-time equivalent members of staff working in the Department for Education’s Early Years Group, working on and supporting early years policy. Other staff members in the department also contribute to early years policy as part of their work.

We recognise that to work in an early years setting, a practitioner must hold a full and relevant early years qualification that has been approved by the Department for Education. When developing the Early Years T Level, we will make sure that it aligns to the Early Years criteria and will enable a student to practice within an early years setting.

Students who have completed the Early Years T Level will count towards an early years settings level 3 ratio. When developing the T Level, we will make sure that it aligns to the Early Years criteria which will allow a practitioner to be included in the ratios.

I have written to the Chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee with a clarification. I would expect this letter to be published as part of the normal course of the inquiry. It should therefore be available to the House without the need for a copy to be placed in the Library.

Local authorities are responsible for defining and procuring 30 hours systems that best fit their needs and requirements. As these requirements vary across local authorities, the department does not provide scrutiny of these systems.

The Department recently published a research report on delayed school admissions for summer born pupils, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission.

The report includes the findings of a survey of local authorities. The findings show that there has recently been an 84% increase in the number of requests for summer born children to be admitted to reception, rather than year one, at the age of five. Such requests represent 0.5% of the five-year-old population, and 75% were granted.

The findings also show that there are fewer requests made in areas where the local authority’s policy is only to grant requests supported by strong evidence, and there are more requests in areas with a higher proportion of granted requests. The report suggests this may be because parents are more likely to submit a request if they believe there is a higher chance of it being granted. The increase in requests may also be due, in part, to greater awareness of this option amongst parents. The Department remains committed to amending the School Admissions Code to ensure summer born children can be admitted to reception at age five where this is what their parents want.

There has been advertising expenditure in relation to promoting the Early Years Initial Teacher Training route. Expenditure in the last three years, was as follows:

• 2016-17: £36,000
• 2015-16: £78,500
• 2014-15: £53,616

As of the 30 April 2018, we have spent £240,771.05 on advertising and marketing the 30 hours free childcare offer. This includes social media advertising, flyers and hosting information about the offer on the Childcare Choices website – https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

The names of the (a) unions and (b) bodies the department consults with in respect of regulations made under section 122 of the Education Act 2002 are:

Unions:

• Association of School and College Leaders

• Association of Teachers and Lecturers

• National Association of Head Teachers

• National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers

• National Union of Teachers

• UCAC (Welsh teaching union)

• Voice, the union

Bodies:

• Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector (HMCI)

• National Employers Organisation for School Teachers

• National Governors Association

• Welsh Government

• British Association of Teachers of the Deaf

In April 2017, the department published operational guidance for local authorities and childcare providers, which highlights various case studies and different models of partnership working and their key features to help providers deliver the 30 hour’ entitlement. The guidance also provides online links to two toolkits specifically produced for providers to support partnership working across early years. The operational guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-la-and-early-years-provider-guide.

The government continues to encourage providers to take advantage of the free packages of business support the department has invested in via Childcare Works and key sector organisations including National Day Nurseries Asssociation, Pre-School Learning Alliance and Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years. Guidance’s on these are available by accessing the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/early-years-business-sustainability and www.childcareworks.co.uk.

The percentage of children achieving a good level of development at age five and the gap between children eligible for free school meals and their peers at age five have been identified as improving in Staffordshire and Newcastle since children’s centre provision in those areas was reorganised in 2015-16. Further details are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2016-to-2017.

The Sutton Trust report ‘Stop Start’ found that the proportion of children’s centres in disadvantaged areas has remained constant. We will be writing to the Science & Technology select committee to clarify this point.

The percentage of children achieving a good level of development at age five and the gap between children eligible for free school meals and their peers at age five have been identified as improving in Staffordshire and Newcastle since children’s centre provision in those areas was reorganised in 2015-16. Further details are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2016-to-2017.

The Sutton Trust report ‘Stop Start’ found that the proportion of children’s centres in disadvantaged areas has remained constant. We will be writing to the Science & Technology select committee to clarify this point.

We have carried out a consultation, including engagement with relevant stakeholders such as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, unions and bodies representing the interests of governing bodies of schools, school and college leaders and teachers.

We are now considering consultees’ feedback and will make an announcement in due course.

As indicated in my answer to question 136295, the current children’s centre statutory guidance says that local councils should update their children’s centre data on a regular basis to reflect any changes to provision. We believe that this is fit for purpose and do not believe it is necessary to place an explicit requirement on local authorities to report children’s centre closures in ‘real time’.

The arrangements between software suppliers and individual local authorities are often unique and systems, to support the delivery of 30 hours free childcare, are procured through an open market. Due to the commercial implications, the department remains unbiased and does not provide procurement advice.

The department has provided, through the Digital Accelerate Fund and the Delivery Support Fund, an additional £3.5 million to help local authorities improve localised IT systems for 30 hours. Local authorities were responsible for procuring any additional system functionality they required.

The government will be investing £1 billion a year to increase our hourly funding rates for the free entitlements and deliver 30 hours of free childcare. These funding rates are based on our ‘Review of Childcare Costs’, which was described as “thorough and wide ranging” by the National Audit Office. This looked at both the current costs of childcare provision and the implications of future cost pressures facing the sector, including the National Living Wage.

We continue to monitor delivery costs of our early years entitlements and have commissioned new research to provide us with robust and detailed cost data from a representative sample of early years providers.

The Get Information About Schools service is currently a ‘Beta’ release, and therefore, still in development. The service consistently handles over 100,000 user sessions each month and there is an active feedback channel for users to leave comments and suggestions for improvement. In terms of children’s centres records, the data will only be as good as the information provided by local authorities.

The Care to Learn scheme can help with childcare costs for eligible parents aged under 20 who meet Care to Learn residency criteria and are in receipt of publicly funded education or training. Care to Learn payments are not income assessed and a maximum amount that can be claimed is £175 per child per week in London and £160 per child per week elsewhere. Further details are available at: www.gov.uk/care-to-learn.

For learners aged 19 and above, Learner Support is available to help those with a specific financial hardship that prevents them from taking part in learning. Colleges and providers have discretion to help learners meet costs such as childcare and travel.

A Childcare Grant is available to full-time student parents in higher education using registered or approved childcare, so that childcare costs incurred while studying do not act as an additional barrier for lower income families accessing higher education. The grant helps with childcare costs for children under 15, or under 17 if they have special educational needs. The amount of Childcare Grant payable in 2018-19 will be based on 85 per cent of actual childcare costs, subject to a maximum grant of £164.70 per week for one child only or £282.36 per week for two or more children.

Students are not entitled to receive a Childcare Grant if the student or their partner has elected to receive the childcare element of Working Tax Credit, the childcare element of Universal Credit, or is claiming support for childcare through the NHS bursary scheme.

Students with children may also be able to receive the Parents' Learning Allowance to meet course related costs, and students with adult dependants may be able to receive an Adult Dependants Grant. The maximum amount of Parents Learning Allowance payable in 2018/19 will be £1,669 and the minimum £50. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/extra-help.

All three and four year olds and the most disadvantaged two year olds are entitled to access 15 hours a week of early education.

I refer the hon. Member for Batley and Spen to the answers given on 20 October 2017 to 108889, 16 January 2018 to 123170, 14 March 2018 to 132596 and 132601, and 13 April 2018 to 135478:

• https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2017-10-20/108889;
• https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-01-16/123170/;
• https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-14/132596/;
• https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-14/132601/; and
• https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-04-13/135478/.

The government funds local authorities to deliver the free entitlements in line with our regulations and guidance. It is the responsibility of local authorities to collect information from providers for funding purposes.

Schools can choose to teach Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE). Advice for schools on teaching of the subject can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-social-health-and-economic-education-pshe/personal-social-health-and-economic-pshe-education.

The Department recently conducted an engagement process on the content of Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education, and on the status of PSHE. This involved a range of stakeholders and a public call for evidence. The Department plans to consult on draft regulations and accompanying statutory guidance shortly, before laying the regulations in the House for debate.

Citizenship remains a National Curriculum subject at secondary schools and is encouraged at primary schools. The secondary programme of study can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.

The recommended programme of study for primary schools can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/citizenship-programmes-of-study-for-key-stages-1-and-2.

All children in reception, year 1 and year 2 in England's state-funded schools, including academies and free schools, are entitled to free school meals. Eligibility is based on the child’s year group rather than their age.

For benefits-based free school meals, Section 512 of the Education Act 1996, as amended, places a duty on maintained schools, academies and free schools to provide free school meals to pupils of all ages that meet the criteria.

In 2016, following consultation, the department introduced a requirement in the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) for newly qualified level 2 and level 3 early years staff to also hold a current Paediatric First Aid (PFA) or emergency PFA certificate.

Childminders, and any assistant who might be in sole charge of the children for any period of time, must also hold a full current PFA certificate:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.

In the same year we launched the voluntary Millie’s Mark quality scheme with the National Day Nurseries Association to recognise those settings that go over and above the statutory requirement of the EYFS by ensuring that all staff on site have PFA training:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-gold-standard-in-paediatric-first-aid-launched.

This data is publically available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated.

The government set out in the 2015 Spending Review that we expect 390,000 children to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare. This includes both three and four year olds. This figure is a January snapshot and therefore is the mid-point, spring term estimate and an average across the year.

For the summer term, we said that we were aiming for 370,000 eligibility codes to be generated and we exceeded this target with 377,535 codes generated by 31 March. This was set out publically in the Management Information release on 12 April, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated.

This is publically available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2017.

The department is working with local authorities, fostering service providers, foster carers and others in the sector to develop plans to allow foster carers to access the additional 30 hours free childcare for their foster children where it is right for the child.

We plan to implement this change in time for September 2018. More detail will be set out shortly.

The department announced its preferred bidder for the Reception Baseline Assessment on 11 April. As government commercial procedure dictates, the contract for the Reception Baseline Assessment will be uploaded to Contracts Finder once contract award is complete. Information about the number of applications will be included in the contract award notice.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the lead regulator on managing asbestos and publishes guidance on effective and safe management of asbestos in line with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage requires providers to keep children safe, ensure premises are fit for purpose, are able manage any risks and undertake risk assessments to identify aspects of the environment that need to be checked on a regular basis or be removed or minimised. Providers must comply with requirements of Health and Safety legislation.

The responsibility for managing asbestos in a building rests with the ‘duty holder’. The duty holder being the ‘person or organisation that has clear responsibility for the maintenance or repair of non-domestic premises.’ Duty holders are required to survey their building, create a register of Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) and write a management plan detailing the procedures for monitoring the condition of ACMs.

The department publishes guidance (‘Asbestos Management in Schools’) that would be relevant for early years provision in schools and could be applicable for a range of settings. This is intended to help duty holders understand their obligations and to support the effective management of asbestos.

The HSE advice remains that as long as asbestos-containing materials are undamaged, and not in locations where they are vulnerable to damage, they should be managed in situ.

The findings in the Stop Start report are estimates based on analysis of different datasets and a snapshot survey of local councils. Local councils currently supply data on children’s centre provision through the Department for Education’s ‘Get Information about Schools’ (GIAS) database at https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. Statutory guidance says that local councils should update their children’s centre data on a regular basis to reflect any changes to provision. We believe that the GIAS database is the most efficient and proportionate method for local councils to report children’s centre closures on a regular basis. As set out in legislation, local councils have responsibility for determining precisely what services are delivered through children’s centres. We believe that this is the right approach.

I refer the hon. Member for Batley and Spen to the answers given by the former Minister of State for Children and Families (Robert Goodwill) on 12 December 2017 to question 118316: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=118316. And on 19 December 2017 to question 118701: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=118701.

The findings in the Stop Start report are estimates based on analysis of different datasets and a snapshot survey of local councils. Local councils currently supply data on children’s centre provision through the Department for Education’s ‘Get Information about Schools’ (GIAS) database at https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. Statutory guidance says that local councils should update their children’s centre data on a regular basis to reflect any changes to provision. We believe that the GIAS database is the most efficient and proportionate method for local councils to report children’s centre closures on a regular basis. As set out in legislation, local councils have responsibility for determining precisely what services are delivered through children’s centres. We believe that this is the right approach.

The department will be working to develop the baseline assessment by trialling it in the 2018/19 academic year. A nationally representative selection of schools will be selected to participate in this trial, which will allow us to evaluate and refine the assessment. We will be consulting key stakeholders throughout this process.

This is a matter for the Institute for Apprenticeships. I have asked its Chief Executive, Sir Gerry Berragan, to write to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses when it is available.

By 2019 - 20 we will be spending a record £6 billion on childcare support, which includes £1 billion a year by 2020 to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and fund the increase in hourly rates that we introduced in April 2017.

Our average hourly rates for three and four year olds compare very favourably with published research into the cost of childcare by Frontier Economics.

London is benefiting from our investment and has seen an increase of £116 million in their Dedicated Schools Grant early years allocation in 2017-18.

We have always been clear that getting the funding right is critical to the successful delivery of the government’s early years entitlements. This is why we have commissioned Frontier Economics to visit a representative sample of childcare providers and spend time with them to understand their costs in detail.

The government is spending a record amount on childcare support, £6 billion by 2019-20. This includes £1 billion a year to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and fund the increase in rates that we introduced in April 2017. We have always been clear that getting the funding right is critical to the successful delivery of the government’s early years entitlements.

Ofsted publishes regular statistics on the number of providers on its Early Years and General Childcare Registers. The most recent statistics, covering the 31 August to 31 December period on this are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-december-2017. The number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register has remained broadly stable at 1.3 million since 2012, with a slight increase of almost 1,600 places in the last reporting period.

By 2019 – 2020, we will be spending around £6 billion on childcare support, including £1 billion a year to deliver the 30 hour childcare entitlement and fund the increase in rates that we introduced in April 2017. Our increased level of funding was based on our comprehensive “Review of Childcare Costs” which looked at both the current costs of childcare provision and the implications of future cost pressures. The Review was described as “thorough and wide ranging” by the National Audit Office. We front-loaded our funding increases, rather than staggering them over time, so that providers could benefit from them as soon as possible. We continue to monitor delivery costs and have commissioned new research to provide us with robust and detailed cost data from a representative sample of early years providers.

We are in the final stages of a procurement process to better equip the schools workforce to support pupils with all types of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). We expect to award the contract in April and will announce the contractor at that point.

Under the new annual net earned income threshold of £15,400, it is estimated that by 2023 around 7,000 more children will benefit from the two-year-old entitlement compared to the previous benefits system.

Local authorities are not required to carry out children’s centre inspections in place of Ofsted inspections. Registered early years provision within children’s centres will continue to be inspected by Ofsted as part of the Common Inspection Framework. Children’s centre inspections are suspended and local authorities are responsible for managing children’s centres and ensuring the services they provide through children’s centres meet appropriate quality standards.

The Department for Education has commissioned an independent evaluation of the first year of delivery of 30 hours free childcare. This is due to be published in the summer and we will use the evidence from the report to inform the future delivery of the programme.

30 hours free childcare is available to working parents of three and four year olds and eligibility is based on parental income.

A three or four year old is eligible for 30 hours free childcare if both their parents, or the sole parent in a lone parent family, expects to earn a weekly minimum equivalent to working 16 hours at national minimum or living wage and under £100,000 a year.

We estimate that 58% of three and four year olds are not eligible for 30 hours because either only one of their parents is employed or because their parent(s) do not meet the required minimum income threshold.

We estimate that less than 1% of three and four year olds are not eligible, even though both parents are employed and meet the required minimum threshold, because at least one of their parents expects to earn £100,000 or more per year.

Under the new annual net earned income threshold of £15,400, it is estimated that by 2023 around 7,000 more children will benefit from the two-year-old entitlement compared to the previous benefits system.

The department’s one year contract with The Communication Trust (TCT) was awarded last Spring following a competitive exercise. The letter awarding the contract made it clear the department did not intend to extend the contract beyond March 2018. As part of the contract, TCT were required to develop a sustainability plan, which set out how the work would be sustained beyond the life of the contract.

The department started the procurement process for a new SEND school workforce contract in December 2017 to enable the contract to be in place from April 2018. This is in line with government procurement standards.

Each term we have stated a target for the number of eligibility codes we expect to be issued to eligible parents. We are expecting to issue a total of 370,000 30 hours eligibility codes by 31 March 2018 for the summer term 2018.

Further information relating to 30 hours codes issued for the summer term was published on 15 March 2018 in ’30 hours free childcare: Spring term 2018’. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/30-hours-free-childcare-spring-term-2018.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State agreed to a request from Birmingham local authority to disapply the Finance Regulations so that funding rates allocated to their maintained nursery schools could be changed part way through the 2017-18 financial year.

The request had support from the early years sector and the schools forum and had undergone proper consultation. The change to the method of allocating funding would have complied with the Schools and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations, if it had been decided before the start of the financial year.

In the 2015 Spending Review the government set out that 390,000 children are expected to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare. We estimate this to be around 42% of 3 and 4 year olds.

The number of eligible children will increase with a rising population through the academic year as more children turn three.

Local councils make Disability Access Fund (DAF) payments and are required to pay £615 to early years settings for each child that is taking-up the three- and four-year old free entitlement (not in reception) and receiving Disability Living Allowance.

The early years and schools censuses based on census day in January 2018 will provide us with data about the take-up of the DAF. The early years census is open to local authorities until mid-April therefore final data is not available.

The department published data regarding the number of 30 hours codes issued for the summer term on 15 March in ’30 hours free childcare: spring term 2018’. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/30-hours-free-childcare-spring-term-2018.

The release set out that, as of the 7 March 2018, an estimated 353,045 eligible codes had been issued for the summer term.

Of these, 303,772 (86%) were children who had received a code for the spring term and includes autumn and spring children who have successfully reconfirmed. 49,273 (14%) of these are children only eligible for the summer term and therefore new applicants.

We expect these figures to continue to rise as the summer term application deadline of the 31 March 2018 approaches. The next update for summer term will be available in a management information release due in April 2018 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated.

The department is exploring a range of approaches for supporting graduates in the early years workforce – including in disadvantaged areas. This work is still underway and further information will be made available in due course.

I refer the hon. Member for Batley and Spen to the answer I gave on 2 February 2018 to question 125731, local authorities who manage children’s centres are responsible for ensuring the services they provide through children’s centres meet appropriate quality standards.

Under the new annual net earned income threshold of £15,400, it is estimated that by 2023 around 7,000 more children will benefit from the two-year-old entitlement compared to the previous benefits system.

The Delivery Support Fund will provide support to the 147 local authorities who submitted a bid for funding. Funding allocations are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-delivery-support-fund-grants-for-local-authorities.

I refer the hon. Member for Batley and Spen to the answer I gave on 8 March 2018 to question 131079 and the answer I gave on 1 February 2018 to question 125413.

- http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-05/131079/.

- http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-01-29/125413/.

The government intends to work with sector leaders to identify how best to achieve the social mobility ambition set out in the report ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, including through children’s centres. The department will provide more information in due course. The report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667690/Social_Mobility_Action_Plan_-_for_printing.pdf.

The department is considering a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years workforce – including the training routes available. This work is still underway.

The department is considering a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years workforce – including the training routes available. This work is still underway.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has allowed a disapplication request from one local authority to change the funding rates allocated to their early years providers part way through the financial year.

The information requested is not held centrally.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to enter into agreements with providers to deliver free early education entitlements and childcare. These agreements should be clear about how and when providers will be paid and the documentation required from providers in order to receive payment.

The government’s expectations on what should be included in those agreements were set out in the department’s model agreement. The model agreement was developed in partnership with early years providers and local authorities. It is intended to bring greater consistency to provider agreements across all local authorities and all types of providers. Furthermore, it includes an expectation that from September 2018, all providers, especially childminders, should be paid monthly unless they request otherwise.

The Model Agreement: Early years provision free of charge and free childcare can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/
file/604417/Model_Agreement_FINAL_20170302.pdf.

It is government policy that the reception baseline assessment (RBA) will be taken by all children within six weeks of entering reception. The same children will also be observed as part of the early years foundation stage profile assessment (EYFSP) during the reception year.

As set out in the response to Question 130185, the two assessments have different purposes. The RBA is a brief teacher-mediated assessment that will take place at the beginning of the reception year to establish a baseline for a new school-level progress measure between reception and Year 6. This means there will no longer be a need to test children at Key Stage 1. The EYFSP is intended to provide parents, carers and Year 1 teachers with a rounded assessment of a child’s knowledge, abilities and development at the end of the reception year.

The department’s statutory guidance requires local authorities (LAs) to work with providers to ensure that, if providers charge parents a deposit to secure their child’s free place, the deposit is refunded in full to parents within a reasonable time scale. Operational guidance for LAs and providers gives further details, stating that the purpose of the deposit is to give providers certainty that a parent will take up the place. LAs and providers should make it clear to parents that if they fail to take up their place, the provider is not obliged to refund the deposit.

LAs are responsible for ensuring that all eligible children can take up their place free of charge and that providers’ charging policies, including charging deposits, enable this. LAs must enter into arrangements with childcare providers to ensure the providers comply with legislative requirements. The LA is not required to fund a provider that is unwilling to accept these requirements.

The department’s statutory guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682005/Early_education_and_childcare_Statutory_guidance_for-LAs.pdf.

Question 124482 referred to the answer to Question 118316. That answer referenced the gathering of evidence to consider what steps would be appropriate. The department has gathered evidence from numerous sources and held numerous discussions with representatives of stakeholder groups since September 2015, which contribute to the development of policy. We do not hold records of every discussion that has taken place.

The government intends to work with sector leaders to identify how best to achieve the social mobility ambition set out in ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, including through children’s centres. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667690/Social_Mobility_Action_Plan_-_for_printing.pdf.

The Department for Education does not set pay and conditions for early years professionals employed in private and voluntary sector organisations, which is the majority of the early years workforce.

The most recent data we have on the early years sector and pay is from the 2016 Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers SFR (statistical first release). The accompanying research report, which is more detailed than the SFR, is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/593965/SFR09_2017_Research_Report.pdf. The section on Childcare staff pay in group-based and school-based providers can be found in pages 69 to 72.

Employers are responsible for staff recruitment. We do not hold data on unfilled vacancies. The Early Years Workforce strategy published in March 2017 is intended to support the early years sector to remove barriers to attracting, retaining and developing the early years workforce.

The department has had numerous discussions with representatives of each of the stakeholder groups named in the question about a range of early years issues, including children’s centres, since September 2015. We do not hold records of every discussion that has taken place.

The estimated number of two-year-olds eligible for 15 hours of free early education is shown in the table below:

Two-year-old eligible population estimates[1]

England

Years: 2015 -2017

Source: Department for Work and Pensions estimates of eligible population

We do not hold an estimate for the eligible population prior to 2015. This is because the entitlement to 15 hours of free early education for disadvantaged two-year-olds was introduced in September 2013 and extended in September 2014. The January 2015 early years census, the first census following the extension, was the first to record the eligible population.

[1] The estimated number of eligible two-year-olds is based on analysis of administrative data held by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) containing information on benefit and tax credit records relating to November each year.

The estimate is therefore based on the benefit and tax credit eligibility criteria only. The following non-economic eligibility criteria are not covered: children with a current statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) or an Education, Health and Care plan; children who are looked after by a local authority; children who are no longer looked after by the local authority as a result of an adoption order, a special guardianship order or a child arrangements order which specifies with whom the child lives. Two-year-olds from families in receipt of Universal Credit are also not included in the published figures.

The procurement for a supplier to develop and deliver the reception baseline assessment is currently in progress. The process is following all due commercial procedure and, as such, no information can currently be disclosed on the number of bids received during the tendering stage.

The procurement for the reception baseline assessment has followed all due commercial procedure. As such, no current or previous Secretary of State, Minister or Department official has held meetings with contractors in which details of the reception baseline assessment were discussed or in which contractors were encouraged to apply for this work before the specification and contract were made public.

The Department for Education does not plan to include the performance management of teachers in the reception baseline assessment.

Work is ongoing to strengthen Childcare Service management information so this information may be available in the future.

The procurement for the reception baseline assessment has followed all due commercial procedure. As such, no current or previous Secretary of State, Minister or Department official has held meetings with contractors in which details of the reception baseline assessment were discussed or in which contractors were encouraged to apply for this work before the specification and contract were made public.

The Department for Education does not plan to include the performance management of teachers in the reception baseline assessment.

The early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP) assessment is observational and gives a picture of each child’s development over the early years foundation stage. Observational assessment over longer periods of time is crucial to support effective teaching and learning, which is why it remains a vital part of the EYFSP.

The reception baseline assessment, however, has a different purpose. It will enable schools to focus on the progress made by each year group through all of their time at primary school from reception to the end of key stage 2. For this purpose, we require assessment data that correlates with key stage 2 assessment data and which can determine pupils’ differing starting points so that consistent like-for-like comparisons can be made. To achieve this, observational assessments would represent a greater burden for teachers due to the significant additional moderation requirements to provide the consistent baseline for comparing school-level progress nationally.

I refer the hon. Member for Batley and Spen to the answer given by the former Minister for Children and Families, (Robert Goodwill), my hon. Friend for Scarborough & Whitby, on 19 December 2017 to Question 118701.

Further details will be available in due course.

Parents who fall out of eligibility are able to retain their childcare place for a short period, known as the grace period. A parent enters their grace period if they are found ineligible when reconfirming their details (every three months), or if they forget to reconfirm in time. In the case of the latter, this can mean that a parent is only in their grace period for a matter of days before successfully reconfirming. These parents do not lose their 30 hours place at the end of their grace period. Some parents who enter their grace period will successfully regain employment before they lose their childcare place.

Therefore, the number of children who entered their grace period during a term changes on a daily basis, and as such, the total number of children who have entered a grace period is not meaningful.

Local authorities are required to consult providers on annual changes to their local formula for the forthcoming financial year. Local authorities must calculate and notify initial budgets to providers by 31 March. Unless a disapplication is authorised by the Secretary of State, the formula cannot be changed after the financial year has started.

More detail is set out in the Early Years entitlements: local authority funding of providers: Operational Guide 2018 to 2019.

Ofsted provides a form on its website that childcare providers can complete to self-evaluate their performance prior to inspection. Ofsted’s online myth-buster makes clear that completion of this form is optional but inspectors will ask providers about the quality of care and activities they provide, and how well the setting is meeting the learning needs of all children.

Ofsted has discussed removing the self-evaluation form template with stakeholder organisations and Department for Education officials were involved in that discussion. This is an operational decision for Ofsted and they will communicate with the wider sector about this in due course.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The department has made clear, in A4.13 and A4.14 of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities, that local authorities should pay all providers, particularly childminders, monthly and are expected to do so from September 2018. However, if a provider requests and the local authority agree an existing alternative sustainable method of payment may be continued. We have also stated in the statutory guidance that local authorities should sign up to the prompt payment code which has been produced by the Institute of Credit Management. The code is available to view here: http://www.promptpaymentcode.org.uk/.

The Early education and childcare - Statutory guidance for local authorities is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2.

The department’s long-standing annual Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, capturing information from a sample of approximately 10,000 providers, is the main way in which the department collects robust, wide-ranging and up-to-date evidence on childcare providers in England. This year, the analytical programme will be enhanced with more detailed research on provider finances and childcare costs for 2-4 year olds. This will involve externally commissioned research with site visits to a representative sample of early years providers to provide us with robust, up-to-date evidence on childcare costs.

The most recent Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2016.

The department regularly receives correspondence from childcare and early years settings on a wide variety of topics, including funding rates. It has been made clear that getting funding rates right is key to the successful delivery of childcare entitlements, and the department is happy to hear from providers and other organisations on this.

The information requested in relation to Question 126727 is not readily available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

The department does not record whether early years childcare settings that receive public funding have sprinkler systems. However, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework, which is mandatory for all early years providers, requires providers to comply with requirements of health and safety legislation, including fire safety. Providers must have appropriate fire detection and control equipment (for example, fire alarms, smoke detectors, fire blankets and/or fire extinguishers) in working order. As the regulator, Ofsted is responsible for making sure providers comply with the requirements of the EYFS.

The Department for Education’s current one-year contract with I CAN, on behalf of The Communication Trust (TCT) is due to end, as planned, at the end of March 2018. We were clear with TCT at the beginning of the 2017-18 contract that the contract was for one year only.

Over the last year, we have been working with TCT on the sustainability of their work beyond the contract period. We are also discussing with TCT how we will best ensure that all practitioners are able to make continued use of the wealth of materials, resources and training developed through this contract.

Specialist speech, language and communication support is not funded directly by the Department for Education. It is commissioned locally, for example by local authorities using their high needs funding budgets, and also via clinical commissioning groups.

The department’s current one-year contract with I CAN, on behalf of The Communication Trust (TCT) is due to end, as planned, at the end of March 2018. The contract was to develop sustainable resources and programmes to support the education workforce to develop their skills in supporting children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. We are in discussion with TCT about how best to ensure that all practitioners are able to make continued use of the wealth of materials, resources and training developed through this contract.

Since 2014, state funded schools in England have been required by law to provide free lunches to all children in reception, Year 1 and Year 2, under the universal infant fee school meals policy. The criteria are not age related. The legislation is clear that local authorities must provide a free meal to a child in reception, Year 1 and Year 2, where a meal has been requested.

The Department for Education has funded The Communication Trust (TCT) to provide support to those working with children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) since 2007. Between 2007 and 2013 this was via direct grants to TCT; since 2013, it moved to a contractual arrangement, with funding secured via an open competition.

In March 2017, the Department for Education agreed a one year contract with I CAN, on behalf of TCT, to develop sustainable programmes and resources to help the workforce to develop their skills in supporting children and young people with SLCN. That contract is due to end, as planned, at the end of March 2018. The purpose of the contract was not to provide specialist roles, such as Speech and Language Therapists. Speech and Language Therapists working with children are employed by local authorities, the health service or directly by schools. Therefore, no roles involving the delivery of these services directly to children should be at risk as a consequence of this one year contract ending.

We remain committed to supporting those with SLCN and want to do more to embed knowledge and ensure good practice is disseminated and understood widely. That is why our new Social Mobility Action Plan (SMAP), ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667690/Social_Mobility_Action_Plan_-_for_printing.pdf), prioritises work in the early years to close the word gap and improve early language acquisition for disadvantaged children. The SMAP includes proposals for continuing professional development training; and an early language assessment tool for health visitors and early years practitioners, to ensure that any language delays can be picked up and the right support put in place quickly. We expect to invite tenders for this work and would welcome bids from all suitably qualified organisations or consortia.

The department is in the process of procuring a new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) strategic workforce contractor, to help schools to develop improved knowledge and skills among their staff, in relation to specific impairments. In addition, we are encouraging bids for the Strategic School Improvement Fund and the Teaching Leadership Innovation Fund which focus on improving provision for pupils with SEND. The Education Training Foundation is also being funded to increase the capability and capacity of the workforce to respond to the needs of students in Further Education.

The Department for Education has funded The Communication Trust (TCT) to provide support to those working with children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) since 2007. Between 2007 and 2013 this was via direct grants to TCT; since 2013, it moved to a contractual arrangement, with funding secured via an open competition.

In March 2017, the Department for Education agreed a one year contract with I CAN, on behalf of TCT, to develop sustainable programmes and resources to help the workforce to develop their skills in supporting children and young people with SLCN. That contract is due to end, as planned, at the end of March 2018. The purpose of the contract was not to provide specialist roles, such as Speech and Language Therapists. Speech and Language Therapists working with children are employed by local authorities, the health service or directly by schools. Therefore, no roles involving the delivery of these services directly to children should be at risk as a consequence of this one year contract ending.

We remain committed to supporting those with SLCN and want to do more to embed knowledge and ensure good practice is disseminated and understood widely. That is why our new Social Mobility Action Plan (SMAP), ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667690/Social_Mobility_Action_Plan_-_for_printing.pdf), prioritises work in the early years to close the word gap and improve early language acquisition for disadvantaged children. The SMAP includes proposals for continuing professional development training; and an early language assessment tool for health visitors and early years practitioners, to ensure that any language delays can be picked up and the right support put in place quickly. We expect to invite tenders for this work and would welcome bids from all suitably qualified organisations or consortia.

The department is in the process of procuring a new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) strategic workforce contractor, to help schools to develop improved knowledge and skills among their staff, in relation to specific impairments. In addition, we are encouraging bids for the Strategic School Improvement Fund and the Teaching Leadership Innovation Fund which focus on improving provision for pupils with SEND. The Education Training Foundation is also being funded to increase the capability and capacity of the workforce to respond to the needs of students in Further Education.

There are 890 employees in receipt of childcare vouchers in the department. This equates to 16 per cent of the workforce. This includes employees in the department’s Executive Agencies, which comprises of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the National College for Teaching and Leadership and the Standards and Testing Agency.

It is not unusual for ministerial roles to be unpaid and this does not reflect the importance of the work.

Subject to parliamentary procedure, from 1 April 2018 a new net earned income threshold of £15,400 will come into force for families on Universal Credit. A typical family earning around this threshold, depending on their exact circumstances, would have a total annual household income of between £24,000 and £32,000, once benefits are taken into account. The two-year-old entitlement lasts for a year and once children have taken it up, they do not lose it, even if their family circumstances change. This means no two-year-old who has started his or her entitlement would lose it because of this change.

We fund 15 hours of free childcare a week for disadvantaged children aged two, three and four, as well as the early years pupil premium for disadvantaged three and four year olds.

Our funding allocations for the following financial years can be found at:

2018-19 (Initial allocation):

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.

2017-18 (Provisional allocation):

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2017-to-2018.

2016-17 (Final allocation):

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2016-to-2017.

2015-16 (Final allocation):

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016.

Ofsted is the non-ministerial government department responsible for the regulation and inspection of early education and childcare providers. They publish a regular series of statistics relating to early years providers, which can be viewed from this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted/about/statistics.

This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libaries of both Houses.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Department for Education or by Ofsted.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The department will release updated information on the proportion of childcare codes validated for the 2018 spring term for 30 hours of free childcare on 8 February 2018.

The update will be uploaded alongside the other 30 hours management information releases and will appear here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated.

Although all children in infant classes can receive a free meal under universal infant free school meals, the school census still records which children would have been eligible for a free school meal (FSM) under the criteria used for later school years. Of the 663,796 reception pupils in the January 2017 census, 92,733 are recorded as having been eligible for an FSM under these rules. This accounts for 14% of reception pupils.

I refer the hon. Member for Batley and Spen to the answer I gave on 2 February 2018 to Question 125731 [http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-01-30/125731/].

Ministers’ diaries hold a range of meetings, including regular meetings with departmental officials, meetings with external stakeholders, and visits to a various organisations. Details of all Ministerial meetings with external organisations for January will be published on GOV.UK in due course: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns.

According to January 2017 statistics on schools, pupils and their characteristics, around 56% of state funded primary schools did not have any nursery pupils registered at the school. Figures for 2018 will be published later this year.

I refer the hon. Member for Batley and Spen to the answer I gave on 25 January 2018 to Question 124199 [http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-01-22/124199/].