Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with her Northern Ireland counterpart on substitute teachers unable to get permanent jobs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Supply teachers perform a valuable role and make an important contribution to the smooth running of schools by filling posts on a temporary basis and covering teacher absences.
Schools, academies and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of supply teachers, which includes deciding whether they contract supply teachers directly or use employment agencies.
Education is a devolved matter. The department is in contact with Northern Ireland counterparts at an official level to discuss and share valuable knowledge about supply teachers and the supply system in England and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that foreign-born prison officers undergo appropriate (a) vetting and (b) background checks before appointment.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Eligibility for employment in the Civil Service, including with regard to nationality, is set out in the Civil Service Nationality Rules (CSNRs). All applicants applying to work in the Ministry of Justice or its agencies must meet the CSNRs and must have a valid right to work in the United Kingdom and have successfully completed pre-employment checks.
All candidates, regardless of nationality, are subject to a series of background checks, which assess them against a range of legislative requirements and security-related factors that are pertinent to anyone working within H M Prison Service. These include confirmation of identity, right to work in the UK, a criminal records check, declaration of any offender connections, employment reference enquiries and a financial vulnerability assessment.
All directly employed prison staff, including prison officers, must have a minimum security clearance of Enhanced Level 2. A range of additional digital vetting and social media checks are also conducted in relation to prison officer recruits.
For all prison officers working in prisons in the Long-Term and High Security Estate, an additional National Security Vetting Check at Counter Terrorist Check level is required, as a minimum.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to regulate the use of supply teacher agencies by schools, including (a) measures to ensure fair pay, (b) pension access, and (c) transparency in agency fees.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools are responsible for recruiting supply teachers, which includes deciding whether to use supply teacher agencies.
The department, in conjunction with the Crown Commercial Service, has established the agency supply deal, which supports schools to obtain value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. The deal has established a list of preferred suppliers that schools can access, all of which will be transparent about the rates they charge.
The Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) Regulations 2014, which set out the rules for the TPS, determine that for teachers to be eligible, their employment must be with an accepted employer, usually a school. Where supply teachers are self-employed, or employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a contract for services, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS. This is because there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of expanding Statutory Sick Pay on recruitment agencies; and if he will consider taking steps to (a) enable agencies to recover SSP costs from hirers where workers fall ill during assignments, (b) clarify how Day 1 entitlement applies to agency workers and (c) strengthen HMRC’s role in preventing multiple SSP claims across different agencies.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is part of the Government’s Plan to Make Work Pay. The Government conducted a Regulatory Impact Assessment Here on the impact of the SSP measures in the Employment Rights Bill.
Whilst this is not a specific assessment on the impact on recruitment agencies, the Government believes that the SSP measures strike the right balance between providing financial security to employees and limiting additional costs to employers, including agencies. The Bill ensures that people who work through employment agencies and employment businesses have comparable rights and protections to their counterparts who are directly employed.
a) We do not intend to make changes to allow agencies to recover SSP costs from end hirers during gaps in assignment. The government believes that employers, including those in the recruitment sector, are best placed to manage sickness absences and ensuring employees receive appropriate support. The removal of the waiting period means all eligible employees will be entitled to SSP from Day 1 of their sickness absence. This includes eligible agency workers. This enables employees to take the time off work they need to recover when sick.
b) Strengthening HMRC’s role in preventing multiple SSP claims from one employee would require mandatory reporting from businesses. This would be administratively burdensome, particularly for SMEs.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of commercial agencies in the supply teaching sector; and whether she plans to provide funding for non-commercial operators in that sector.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers and are best placed to make decisions on this.
The supply market in England is large and diverse. It includes supply pools, direct recruitment and commercial agencies. Although the department does not hold data on the precise number of commercial agencies operating, agencies account for the majority of supply provision to schools.
The department is aware of the concern around agency fees and is working with the Crown Commercial Service on their agency supply deal, which supports schools to obtain value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. The deal has established a list of preferred suppliers that schools can access, all of which will be transparent with schools about the rates they charge.
There are currently no plans to provide funding for non-commercial operators in the sector. The department does, however, continue to conduct policy research into the supply market.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available at age 18 to young people who were in care during early childhood before being (a) adopted or (b) placed under alternative permanency arrangements.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Young people who were in care before being adopted or placed under a Special Guardianship Order or Care Arrangements Order remain eligible for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund until the age of 21, or 25 if they have an education, health and care plan.
Adopted individuals aged 18 and over also have the legal right to access their birth and adoption records. Support is available through local authorities and registered adoption agencies to help them understand their adoption history and, where appropriate, reconnect with birth relatives.
Additionally, some children with kinship foster carers are entitled to leaving care support. This includes support from a Personal Adviser up to the age of 25, and support to engage in education, employment or training. This also includes providing continuity of support and relationships through the Staying Put programme and investing in family-finding, mentoring and befriending programmes.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many compliance investigations were (a) opened and (b) closed by HM Revenue and Customs on businesses classified under Standard Industrial Classification codes (a) 96020 (hairdressing and barbering) and (b) 96090 (nail and beauty services) in each year since 2020; and what the total (A) number and (b) value was of (1) penalties issued, (2) cash seizures and (3) civil recovery actions taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act in those sectors.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not hold specific data showing the number of hairdressers and nail salons investigated for tax non-compliance.
HMRC’s approach to tax compliance includes a range of activities that aim to both detect and tackle current non-compliance and change future behaviours. HMRC aims to help and support customers to understand their tax obligations and provides clear guidance to make it easy for them to get things right.
HMRC is aware that some workers and businesses in the hairdressing and beauty sector find it hard to understand their tax obligations. To help support these customers, HMRC has worked with trade bodies for this sector to develop new educational material including a YouTube video and has published guidance on GOV.UK to better explain the employment status and tax implications of different business models. Details can be found at: https://youtu.be/5o3au6PyXG8 and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-if-you-work-in-hair-and-beauty
Closing the Tax Gap is one of HMRC’s three priorities. The government is committed to measures which will raise over £7.5 billion additional tax revenue per year by 2029 to 2030. This includes the package to close the tax gap at Autumn Budget 2024 (£6.5 billion) and further messages at Spring Statement 2025 (over £1 billion).
As part of these packages, HMRC will receive extra funding over the next five years to recruit an additional 5,500 compliance staff and to fund 2,400 debt management staff.
HMRC has led multiple operations in the hair and beauty sector, specifically barbers and nail bars. For example, during March 2025, HMRC undertook a series of unannounced visits (including Turkish style barbers) across the West Midlands as part of a three-week operation conducted jointly with the NCA and other agencies. This exercise resulted in Police seizures under Proceeds of Crime provisions of more than £500k in cash and illegal funds.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department is taking fiscal steps to help support employment agencies in the context of trends in the level of costs in that sector.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The department recognises the vital role employment agencies play in our labour market. While there are no specific fiscal measures targeted exclusively at employment agencies, the government is conscious about the cost of conducting business. That is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, more than half of employers see no change or gain overall from this package and employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
Employment agencies will also benefit from the new tools to unlock access to finance, action to address late payments and regulatory costs, improve digital adoption and create easier pathways to business support through the Business Growth Service.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether national security related vetting procedures are applied equally to permanent recruitment exercises and to government internship programmes in all departments and agencies, including summer intelligence internships.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Levels of National Security Vetting required are not primarily based on length of employment, or whether an individual is employed on a permanent or temporary basis.
The level of vetting required for a role is instead based on a range of factors, including: access to classified material, buildings and other assets; proximity to public figures assessed to be at particular risk from terrorist attack; and access to information or material assessed to be of value to terrorists or hostile states.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to ensure that people who are white British are eligible to apply for all (a) government and (b) (i) MI5 and (ii) MI6 summer internships.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
A range of internships exist across government, any decisions relating to eligibility are taken in line with the CS Commission rules and in accordance with UK Employment Law. Specifically relating to the CS Summer Internship Programme, as set out in August, it will be exclusively for undergraduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds for 2026. White British people that meet the eligibility criteria for the Summer Internship Programme will be able to apply.
The intelligence agencies, as with any arm to the Civil Service, must take any decisions seeking to improve the diversity of their workforce in-line with UK law and in adherence with the relevant measures of the Equalities Act 2010. These measures permit employers to take specific actions to enable or encourage those with protected characteristics to apply for particular roles. Such action is considered lawful and includes both individuals from White minority backgrounds, those from socially or economically underrepresented groups and those from an ethnic minority background.