Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what partnerships they plan to establish with local government to deliver the new Youth Guarantee outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper (CP 1191).
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper identified a lack of accountability for support that joins up the various education, training and employment opportunities available to 18-21 year olds.
As a first step, the Get Britain Working White paper announced £45m funding for eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England. Our partnerships with local government will test one of the key objectives of the Youth Guarantee that ensures better connections through local systems, of knowledge and awareness of resource and services in local areas, to ensure all 18-21 year olds have easy access to a wide range of education, training or employment opportunities.
By working closely on the detail of the design and delivery of the Youth Guarantee with the eight trailblazer areas, we will be able to maximise the difference it makes to young people’s lives locally. The findings of the trailblazers will inform future approach.
We will also work in partnership with organisations at the national and local level to join up, enhance and champion their efforts as part of our new Youth Guarantee. Our first partnerships will be developed with Channel 4, the Royal Shakespeare Company and leading sports organisations including the Premier League.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Get Britain Working White Paper (CP 1191), what assessment they made of the value of partnering with cultural and arts organisations, and in particular of the levels of pay and employment rights offered by such organisations.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government will work in partnership with organisations at the national and local level to join up, enhance and champion their efforts as part of our new Youth Guarantee. Our first partnerships will be developed with Channel 4, the Royal Shakespeare Company and leading sports organisations including the Premier League.
These sports, culture and arts organisations play a vital role in our economy, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and contributing to growth. This work has become even more important since the Covid-19 pandemic, which harmed the chances and choices of so many young people.
We have partnered with these organisations on the basis that they already have a track record of building trusted relationships with young people from all walks of life, including those in schools and those from areas of socio-economic disadvantage. As well as being heavily involved with young people in schools they all have a particular interest in young people who are not earning or learning.
We plan to expand into other sectors and organisations who also play a vital role in youth education, employment and training.
DWP does not hold data on pay by individual organisations.
The Good Work Review, published in February 2023 by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, was co-funded by DCMS and is the first sectoral deep dive of its kind into job quality and working practice in the creative industries.
DCMS is working closely with the sector as it responds to these recommendations. The review set out a number of priorities, including driving improvements in workplace and management practices in the Creative Industries.
Statistics on median annual gross pay in the Creative Industries and subsectors (vs. UK as a whole) in Economic Estimates: Earnings 2023 and Employment October 2022 to September 2023 for the DCMS Sectors and Digital Sector - GOV.UK
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.52 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, whether the application of inheritance tax to unused pension funds and death benefits will apply to the (a) BBC and (b) Channel 4 defined benefit pension scheme.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, from 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and death benefits will be included within the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax purposes
This change will apply to all UK registered pension schemes
The impact this will have on specific schemes depends on their scheme rules.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people referred to the Prevent programme went on to commit acts of (a) terrorism and (b) violent crime in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The first priority of Government is to keep its citizens safe. Prevent is a vital part of that. We must try and divert people away from radicalisation and violent ideologies.
Between 2019 and 2024, there have sadly, been 4 instances where somebody who had previously been referred to Prevent for early intervention support went on to commit a terrorist attack. This is a very small, but tragic number compared to the 2,800 individuals that have been supported through the Channel multi-agency programme since 1 April 2019. We have looked very closely at each of these 4 cases to identify lessons and then to deliver improvements to ensure that the Prevent programme does all it can to identify and support those susceptible to radicalisation.
The Home Office does not hold a comprehensive dataset on those individuals that have been referred into Prevent and have subsequently committed a violent crime. We are working with regional police forces and CT Police to strengthen this dataset and learn from any such incidents.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Autumn Budget 2024 (HC 295), whether public corporations will be classified as public sector organisations for the purposes of receiving the allowance to compensate for increases to employer National Insurance contributions; and whether (1) the BBC, and (2) Channel 4, will receive the allowance.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance Contributions costs only. This funding will be allocated to departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way.
The Government plans to set out allocations by department as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many migrants have entered the UK in small boats since the general election; and how many entered the UK in small boats in the five months up to the general election.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
From 5 July 2024 until 17 October 2024, a total of 13,983 migrants arrived in the UK having crossed the Channel in small boats. Between 5 February 2024 (five months before the election) and 4 July, the total was 12,239.
It has been the normal pattern since the start of the small boat crossing in 2018 for arrivals in the summer months to exceed those in the earlier part of the year.
The table below provides the equivalent figures for the same time periods in prior years.
Year | Arrivals 5 Feb – 4 July | Arrivals 5 July – 17 October |
2023 | 10,035 | 14,683 |
2022 | 11,561 | 24,199 |
2021 | 6,370 | 12,686 |
2020 | 2,399 | 4,802 |
2019 | 547 | 784 |
2018 | 4 | 17 |
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants attempting to enter the United Kingdom illegally in small boats have died in the English Channel in each of the last five years: how many such fatalities were children; and how many occurred in (a) UK and (b) French territorial waters.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There have been 31 tragedies, since August 2019, where 97 people are confirmed to have died and at least 14 people have been reported as missing at sea, presumed dead, as a result of or linked to attempting these dangerous crossings.
Numbers of fatalities
Date | Confirmed fatalities |
2024 (to 05/09/24) | 37 |
2023 | 12 |
2022 | 4 |
2021 | 34 |
2020 | 6 |
2019 | 4 |
TOTAL | 97 |
A total of eight minors are reported to have died in the fatal incidents that have occurred this year. Prior to this, the only known minor fatalities occurred as a result of an incident in October 2020 when an entire family group, including 3 children, died following the capsizing of a migrant vessel.
Almost all fatalities have occurred in French Territorial Waters (TTW). There has been one incident (on 14 December 2022), involving the deaths of 4 people, which undoubtedly took place within UK TTW. However, an earlier tragedy – the loss of 27 people in a single incident in November 2021 – was proven after investigation to have partially occurred within UK TTW. It is subject to an ongoing Art.2 Human Rights Inquiry led by Sir Ross Cranston.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff have left Channel 4 in each year since 2015.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
DCMS does not hold this data centrally.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2024 to Question 25469 on Mineworkers' Pension Scheme, how many recipients there are in each region of the UK.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The number of scheme members by region, as at July 2023, is as follows:
Name of Region | Number of members |
Channel Islands | 8 |
East Midlands | 29641 |
East of England | 490 |
Isle of Man | 4 |
London | 194 |
North East | 15917 |
North West | 4901 |
Scotland | 8269 |
South East | 1791 |
South West | 908 |
Wales | 13838 |
West Midlands | 9461 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 30510 |
A breakdown by region of former miners and dependants is not available.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) reduced budgets, (2) loss of advertising revenue, and (3) a changing production landscape, on the UK television and film sector; and what steps they are taking to incentivise people to work in the sector.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government has a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and another 1 million jobs by 2030. This was set out in June 2023 in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which was accompanied by £77 million of new funding to support the sector’s growth. This is in addition to the range of tax reliefs for the creative industries which have been introduced or expanded since 2010, including for film and television.
HM Government is already taking steps to ensure a strong, skilled and resilient workforce for the film and television sector – as well as the creative industries more broadly – across the UK. The Creative Industries Sector Vision set out that by 2030 we want to deliver on our creative careers promise to build a pipeline of talent into the sector, and to support the creation of a million extra jobs. The Sector Vision includes a long-term strategy to improve the quality of jobs and working practices in the sector, including supporting the high proportion of self-employed workers in the sector through the promotion of fair treatment, support networks, and resources (for example through Creative UK’s ‘Redesigning Freelancing’ initiative).
HM Government also welcomes the steps that our public service broadcasters have taken to support self-employed workers. This includes the support announced by Channel 4 and the BBC in August, in partnership with the National Film and Television School.
DCMS and the industry have also committed to produce an action plan in response to the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre’s Good Work Review; these actions include the recent launch of the British Film Institute’s £1.5 million Good Work Programme for screen. HM Government will continue to work with the BFI and the Screen Sector Skills Task Force to support a strong skills pipeline into the sector.
On pensions, the new State Pension supports self-employed freelancers as comprehensively as employed people. The new State Pension, introduced in 2016, means that self-employed people can receive a State Pension which is around £2,700 a year higher than it would have been in the previous system. The self-employed are a highly diverse group with varying incomes, assets, and employment experiences. The Department for Work & Pensions has undertaken an initial research and trial programme to test different approaches aimed at increasing private pension-saving. It is currently working with research partners, including looking at international evidence, to explore the feasibility of building and testing retirement savings solutions in digital platforms used by self-employed people to manage their money.