Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to find alternative routes for the export of grain from Ukraine given the closure of Black Sea ports in that country.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Grain is leaving Ukraine through Black Sea ports. As of 19 March, more than 900 voyages carrying over 25 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs departed ports to deliver vital foodstuffs to Asia, Africa and Europe through the UK supported Black Sea Grain Initiative. The UK, along with G7 partners, has also supported increased exports of grain from Ukraine through land routes into Europe. Specifically the UK provided £10 million to bolster the Ukrainian railway system and provide greater resilience to facilitate the movement of grain by land exports.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations his Department has received on the business case for improvements to the Shrewsbury-Black Country-Birmingham rail line.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Midlands Connect submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for its proposals to upgrade the railway between Shrewsbury and Birmingham to the Department for Transport in 2022.
The benefits of upgrading the line are outlined in the SOBC, including an estimate of the economic impacts of the scheme. We are considering the case for upgrading this line in terms of value for money, affordability, and alignment with the Government’s strategic priorities.
We are committed to publishing the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) update as soon as possible to provide clarity on the progress of projects.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an estimate of the potential economic merits of enhancing the Shrewsbury-Black Country-Birmingham rail line.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Midlands Connect submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for its proposals to upgrade the railway between Shrewsbury and Birmingham to the Department for Transport in 2022.
The benefits of upgrading the line are outlined in the SOBC, including an estimate of the economic impacts of the scheme. We are considering the case for upgrading this line in terms of value for money, affordability, and alignment with the Government’s strategic priorities.
We are committed to publishing the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) update as soon as possible to provide clarity on the progress of projects.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) temporary and (b) permanent job centres there are at the (i) national (ii) regional and (iii) district level.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
(a) 194 Temporary Jobcentre REEP (Rapid Estate Expansion Programme), 14 REEP sites are co-sited with permanent (established) Jobcentres.
(b) 639 Permanent (established) Jobcentres
Temporary Jobcentres: Regional level
Region | # |
Central & West Scotland | 4 |
East & North Scotland | 7 |
London & Essex | 41 |
North & East Midlands | 20 |
North Central | 19 |
North East | 12 |
North West | 20 |
South East | 31 |
South West | 15 |
Wales | 6 |
West Midlands | 19 |
Grand Total | 194 |
Temporary Jobcentres: District level
District | # |
Avon, Somerset & Gloucestershire | 4 |
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire | 6 |
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire | 7 |
Birmingham & Solihull | 5 |
Black Country | 6 |
Cheshire | 3 |
Cumbria & Lancashire | 5 |
Devon & Cornwall | 5 |
Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire & Isle of Wight | 6 |
Durham & Tees Valley | 4 |
East Anglia | 5 |
East London | 11 |
East Scotland | 3 |
Essex | 5 |
Greater Manchester | 11 |
Kent | 8 |
Leicestershire & Northampton | 4 |
Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland | 3 |
Mercia | 8 |
Merseyside | 6 |
Midland Shires | 8 |
North & Mid Wales | 3 |
North East Scotland | 3 |
North East Yorkshire & Humber | 3 |
North London | 6 |
Northern Scotland | 1 |
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear | 5 |
South East Wales | 2 |
South London | 12 |
South West Scotland | 2 |
South West Wales | 1 |
South Yorkshire | 4 |
Surrey & Sussex | 10 |
West London | 7 |
West Scotland | 2 |
West Yorkshire | 10 |
Grand Total | 194 |
Permanent (established) Jobcentres
Region | # |
Central & West Scotland | 40 |
East & North Scotland | 44 |
London & Essex | 63 |
North & East Midlands | 87 |
North Central | 54 |
North East | 59 |
North West | 54 |
South East | 61 |
South West | 74 |
Wales | 60 |
West Midlands | 43 |
Grand Total | 639 |
District | # |
Avon, Somerset & Gloucestershire | 23 |
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire | 13 |
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire | 14 |
Birmingham & Solihull | 13 |
Black Country | 14 |
Central Scotland | 7 |
Cheshire | 9 |
Cumbria & Lancashire | 22 |
Devon & Cornwall | 22 |
Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire & Isle of Wight | 29 |
Durham & Tees Valley | 21 |
East Anglia | 26 |
East London | 10 |
East Scotland | 22 |
Essex | 14 |
Greater Manchester | 28 |
Kent | 13 |
Leicestershire & Northampton | 14 |
Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland | 19 |
Mercia | 16 |
Merseyside | 17 |
Midland Shires | 28 |
North & Mid Wales | 21 |
North East Scotland | 10 |
North East Yorkshire & Humber | 18 |
North London | 11 |
Northern Scotland | 12 |
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear | 20 |
South East Wales | 17 |
South London | 14 |
South West Scotland | 11 |
South West Wales | 22 |
South Yorkshire | 13 |
Surrey & Sussex | 21 |
West London | 14 |
West Scotland | 22 |
West Yorkshire | 19 |
Grand Total | 639 |
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of proposed budget cuts to Birkbeck University’s Mathematics and Statistics Department on opportunities for (1) mature, and (2) Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), students.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Higher education (HE) providers are independent, autonomous institutions responsible for their own decisions on staffing issues, including how they structure themselves to deliver research and teaching priorities. Where it is necessary to reshape their activities, it is important that universities carefully consider the impact of job losses on staff and students, and the overall sustainability of teaching and research in this country.
The department will continue to work closely with the Office for Students (OfS) and various parties, including a variety of HE providers across the sector, mission groups and other Government departments, to understand the ongoing impacts and changing landscape of financial sustainability in the HE sector.
We want to provide a ladder of opportunity for everyone to get the education and skills they need for job security and prosperity and to support levelling up across the country. Access to HE should be based on a student’s attainment and their ability to succeed, rather than background.
The government has issued guidance to the OfS, asking it to refocus the entire access and participation regime to create a system that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by ensuring students are able to make the right choices and to access and succeed on high quality courses that are valued by employers and lead to good graduate employment.
John Blake, as the Director for Fair Access and Participation, is driving forward this important change. Using his experience and expertise from the schools’ sector, he is supporting and challenging providers to identify what will ultimately help students progress on their course and obtain good outcomes from their degree, such as programmes of intervention in schools, summer schools, and targeted bursaries to assist with living costs.
The government is committed to cementing the UK’s status as a science and technology superpower, levelling up across the country.
To achieve this, the UK needs talented people with the right knowledge, skills, and experience. We are investing in programmes that do this at all levels of education, including through:
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on the potential merits of making improvements to the Shrewsbury-Black Country-Birmingham rail route.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Midlands Connect has submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case outlining its proposals to upgrade the railway line between Shrewsbury and Birmingham, which includes an economic case.
My officials are considering the case, and an update on new rail enhancement schemes will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential economic merits of improving the Shrewsbury-Black Country-Birmingham rail line.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Midlands Connect has submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case outlining its proposals to upgrade the railway line between Shrewsbury and Birmingham, which includes an economic case.
My officials are considering the case, and an update on new rail enhancement schemes will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve the (a) monitoring and (b) reporting of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2021/22 we invested £1 million to expand our fine particulate matter (PM2.5) monitoring network, and will have at least doubled the size of the current network by the end of 2025. We are also investing £1.5 million during 2022/23 to establish two new multi-instrument particulate matter (PM) composition measurement sites to monitor PM2.5 mass, particle speciation, particle counting, black carbon and ammonia. While expert advice is that PM2.5 mass is the most effective metric for measuring harm to health from PM, these monitors will provide new data on the composition of PM, helping us to better understand how composition changes across the country and how composition relates to health impacts, which remain a scientific challenge.
Defra, the UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care are also conducting a holistic review of the way we communicate air quality information and advice to the public. The outcomes will ensure the public is provided with timely and relevant information about air pollution: the actions people can take to limit their personal exposure; the impacts of air pollution on their health; and their own influence on air quality. Alongside this review a major overhaul of the UK-Air website and other Air Quality Web services is underway. This will deliver a simplified holistic service for all users. The department’s aim is to complete the whole web system review and have a clear vision for future web service provision by March 2025, with improvements being made in the interim.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help improve the monitoring and reporting of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2021/22 we invested £1 million to expand our fine particulate matter (PM2.5) monitoring network, and will have at least doubled the size of the current network by the end of 2025. We are also investing £1.5 million during 2022/23 to establish two new multi-instrument particulate matter (PM) composition measurement sites to monitor PM2.5 mass, particle speciation, particle counting, black carbon and ammonia. While expert advice is that PM2.5 mass is the most effective metric for measuring harm to health from PM, these monitors will provide new data on the composition of PM, helping us to better understand how composition changes across the country and how composition relates to health impacts, which remain a scientific challenge.
Defra, the UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care are also conducting a holistic review of the way we communicate air quality information and advice to the public. The outcomes will ensure the public is provided with timely and relevant information about air pollution: the actions people can take to limit their personal exposure; the impacts of air pollution on their health; and their own influence on air quality. Alongside this review a major overhaul of the UK-Air website and other Air Quality Web services is underway. This will deliver a simplified holistic service for all users. The department’s aim is to complete the whole web system review and have a clear vision for future web service provision by March 2025, with improvements being made in the interim.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that Black history is taught in schools all year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Teaching a knowledge-rich, well-sequenced history curriculum means that black history can be taught at all Key Stages of the curriculum. As part of a broad and balanced curriculum, pupils should be taught about different societies, and how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain. This can include the voices and experiences of black people in Britain.
The freedom and flexibility in the history National Curriculum means that teachers can include black history as a natural part of the themes and eras in the curriculum, both in terms of British and world history, and their interconnection.
The Department published a blog on Black History Month in October, where it was emphasised that there is scope in the curriculum to teach black history all year round. References to high quality curriculum resources were included and it highlighted how important it is to celebrate the contribution black communities and individuals have made over the centuries in shaping the dynamic and diverse country we have today. The blog can be accessed at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/10/03/black-history-month-how-black-history-is-taught-in-our-schools-2/.
The Department is developing a Model History Curriculum to support teaching a history curriculum which reflects the diversity in history. This will be published in early 2024.