Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate the Department has made of the number of small and medium sized businesses in Northumberland that will be eligible for the new cost-reduction support programmes announced in 2025 following the Willow Review.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to supporting businesses of all sizes in the transition to net zero. We are helping SMEs countrywide access sustainability benefits through initiatives such as the new Business Growth Service, the UK Business Climate Hub (UKBCH) for decarbonisation advice, and the rollout of smart meters
Following the Willow Review, £200,000 has been allocated to enhance UKBCH and integrate it with the Business Growth Service. Additionally, £150,000 extra funding has been allocated to the North East Made Smarter Adoption programme this year, to provide Energy Efficiency grants for manufacturing SMEs. The network of local Growth Hubs, including North East Growth Hub, offer tailored support at any stage of a business's journey and can signpost to these new and improved offers.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate the Department has made of the number of small and medium businesses in Hexham constituency that will be eligible for the new cost-reduction support programmes announced in 2025 following the Willow Review.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to supporting businesses of all sizes in the transition to net zero. We are helping SMEs countrywide access sustainability benefits through initiatives such as the new Business Growth Service, the UK Business Climate Hub (UKBCH) for decarbonisation advice, and the rollout of smart meters
Following the Willow Review, £200,000 has been allocated to enhance UKBCH and integrate it with the Business Growth Service. Additionally, £150,000 extra funding has been allocated to the North East Made Smarter Adoption programme this year, to provide Energy Efficiency grants for manufacturing SMEs. The network of local Growth Hubs, including North East Growth Hub, offer tailored support at any stage of a business's journey and can signpost to these new and improved offers.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the number of small and medium businesses in the North East eligible for cost- reduction support programmes following the Willow Review.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to supporting businesses of all sizes in the transition to net zero. We are helping SMEs countrywide access sustainability benefits through initiatives such as the new Business Growth Service, the UK Business Climate Hub (UKBCH) for decarbonisation advice, and the rollout of smart meters
Following the Willow Review, £200,000 has been allocated to enhance UKBCH and integrate it with the Business Growth Service. Additionally, £150,000 extra funding has been allocated to the North East Made Smarter Adoption programme this year, to provide Energy Efficiency grants for manufacturing SMEs. The network of local Growth Hubs, including North East Growth Hub, offer tailored support at any stage of a business's journey and can signpost to these new and improved offers.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the number of small businesses in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency that will be eligible for the new cost-reduction support programmes announced in 2025 following the Willow Review.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to supporting businesses of all sizes in the transition to net zero. We are helping SMEs countrywide access sustainability benefits through initiatives such as the new Business Growth Service, the UK Business Climate Hub (UKBCH) for decarbonisation advice, and the rollout of smart meters. Additionally, the Made Smarter Adoption programme for manufacturing SMEs in the South East will double its budget from April to £3.1m, boosting productivity through digital adoption-focused skills and grants.
Following the Willow Review, £200,000 has been allocated to enhance UKBCH and integrate it with the Business Growth Service. The network of local Growth Hubs, including Buckinghamshire Business First, offer tailored support at any stage of a business's journey and can signpost to these new and improved offers.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help support businesses to take up digital technologies in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The Hertfordshire Growth Hub provides businesses in Harpenden and Berkhamsted with support and advice on adopting digital technology. More widely, the industry-led SME Digital Adoption Taskforce will soon publish its final recommendations on how Government and industry can work together to increase SME uptake of digital technology across the UK. Building these capabilities will form part of our forthcoming SME Strategy.
Our Industrial Strategy also set out ambitions, informed by the Technology Adoption Review, to increase digital adoption in eight growth-driving sectors. This includes up to £99m for the Made Smarter Adoption programme to help manufacturing SMEs adopt digital technologies.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help support businesses to take up digital technologies.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The SME Digital Adoption Taskforce will shortly publish its final recommendations to accelerate digital adoption among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and we are launching pilots to test delivery of support.
Our Industrial Strategy set out ambitions, informed by the Technology Adoption Review, to increase digital adoption in growth-driving sectors. This includes expansion of Made Smarter Adoption up to £99m for manufacturing SMEs.
This complements existing support like Help to Grow: Management which offers training to business leaders (including on digital), National Cyber Security Centre guidance, and implementation of the AI Opportunities Action Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government where the £615 million allocated to schools to fund teachers' pay awards for 2025–26 will come from within the existing budget of the Department for Education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has made some tough decisions to ensure every pound of taxpayers’ money is driving high and rising standards for our children. By ending tax breaks for private schools, and undertaking a robust line-by-line budget review to identify poor value for money spend, we are able to deliver this investment in recruiting and retaining more expert teachers in our classrooms. We have driven efficiency through increasing digital capability both inside and outside of the department, reducing central headcount and removing duplication within programmes.
As we have made clear throughout the pay process, we are also asking schools and colleges to do their part in ensuring that we are driving productivity across all areas of the public sector, ensuring resources are deployed intelligently to maximise support for teaching and learning, freeing up educators to focus on what matters most, which is providing every child with the high quality education they deserve.
Schools will be expected to find approximately the first 1% of pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending to make every pound count. There will be those who say this cannot be done, but schools have a responsibility, like the rest of the public sector, to ensure that their funding is spent as efficiently as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money has been saved by reviewing the budget of the Department for Education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has made some tough decisions to ensure every pound of taxpayers’ money is driving high and rising standards for our children. By ending tax breaks for private schools, and undertaking a robust line-by-line budget review to identify poor value for money spend, we are able to deliver this investment in recruiting and retaining more expert teachers in our classrooms. We have driven efficiency through increasing digital capability both inside and outside of the department, reducing central headcount and removing duplication within programmes.
As we have made clear throughout the pay process, we are also asking schools and colleges to do their part in ensuring that we are driving productivity across all areas of the public sector, ensuring resources are deployed intelligently to maximise support for teaching and learning, freeing up educators to focus on what matters most, which is providing every child with the high quality education they deserve.
Schools will be expected to find approximately the first 1% of pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending to make every pound count. There will be those who say this cannot be done, but schools have a responsibility, like the rest of the public sector, to ensure that their funding is spent as efficiently as possible.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of staff pay rises on schools in deficit.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% school teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government support staff pay offer in 2025/26. This additional increase in funding means that the overall core schools budget (CSB) will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26 compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This is a year-on-year increase of £3.7 billion.
Schools will, on average, be expected to fund approximately the first 1 percentage point of the teacher and support staff pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending. That is equivalent to about 0.8% of a school’s overall budget, on average. The pay award will be funded above this level from new and existing funding increases from the government. The department believes that schools can make productivity gains. We know that this is challenging, but this is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services.
Schools are already making savings and bringing core operating costs down. For example, the 400 schools who participated in the department’s new energy for schools offer will save 36% on average compared to their previous contracts, which will free up vital funding to deliver for children and young people. The department is also making plans to secure better banking solutions for schools, getting them better returns on their cash balances. We will continue to provide schools with additional tools, guidance and support. Those best placed to identify ways for individual schools to operate more efficiently will be headteachers and school business managers.
Budgets for 2026/27 are still to be agreed and this includes the 2026/27 CSB. This will be subject to the multi-year spending review, which we expect to be concluded in June this year. The department will be taking account of the impact of the full year's costs of the teacher pay award.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of existing levels of funding for secondary schools on (a) class sizes, (b) subject availability and (c) access to support staff in school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% school teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government support staff pay offer in 2025/26. This additional increase in funding means that the overall core schools budget (CSB) will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26 compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This is a year-on-year increase of £3.7 billion.
Schools will, on average, be expected to fund approximately the first 1 percentage point of the teacher and support staff pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending. That is equivalent to about 0.8% of a school’s overall budget, on average. The pay award will be funded above this level from new and existing funding increases from the government. The department believes that schools can make productivity gains. We know that this is challenging, but this is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services.
Schools are already making savings and bringing core operating costs down. For example, the 400 schools who participated in the department’s new energy for schools offer will save 36% on average compared to their previous contracts, which will free up vital funding to deliver for children and young people. The department is also making plans to secure better banking solutions for schools, getting them better returns on their cash balances. We will continue to provide schools with additional tools, guidance and support. Those best placed to identify ways for individual schools to operate more efficiently will be headteachers and school business managers.
Budgets for 2026/27 are still to be agreed and this includes the 2026/27 CSB. This will be subject to the multi-year spending review, which we expect to be concluded in June this year. The department will be taking account of the impact of the full year's costs of the teacher pay award.