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 (Minister for Women and Equalities)
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 (Minister for Women and Equalities)
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 (Reform UK - 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 - Minister of State (Education)
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 (Reform UK - 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 - Minister of State (Education)
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: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on the advanced manufacturing sector.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Advanced Manufacturing is vital to UK prosperity. The Autumn Budget awarded over £2.5bn towards advanced manufacturing, including £16m to continue the Made Smarter digitalisation programme for SMEs, £2bn towards the automotive sector, £975m to aerospace, and £520m for Life Sciences.
Shortly before the budget, Advanced Manufacturing was announced as one of eight growth-driving sectors that will feature in Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy. A targeted Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan is currently being developed in partnership with business, devolved governments, regions, experts and a range of stakeholders. The Industrial Strategy will be published in spring 2025, aligned with the multi-year Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of regulatory frameworks for electricity and gas throughout the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government’s Smarter Regulation programme aims to reform existing regulations to minimise regulatory burden, ensure regulations are contemporary and forward looking, and make use of alternatives to regulation wherever beneficial, whilst ensuring a well-functioning regulatory landscape. Alongside this, the Government’s retail energy reform programme aims to ensure consumers receive good service, fair prices, that energy companies invest in innovative products and services, and consumer choice contributes towards a lowest-cost flexible energy system. In addition, the ongoing Review of Electricity Market Arrangements is conducting a widescale assessment of the current regulatory arrangements for the wholesale electricity market.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of inflation on the £25 billion retail deposit level at which banks are required to ring-fence their retail deposit-taking operations.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
On 28 September 2023, the government published draft secondary legislation for consultation on reforms to the ring-fencing regime. The reforms will make the regime smarter and simpler by taking forward recommendations made by the independent ring-fencing review and going further in a number of areas. This includes increasing the “core deposit” threshold, above which firms become subject to the regime, from £25bn to £35bn.
The deposit threshold was originally set at £25bn by HM Treasury following recommendations from the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) in 2011. The government white paper published in 2011 in response to the ICB outlined that the threshold would need to be adjusted over time to reflect the evolution of banking practices and growth in the deposit base.
Since then, the deposit base has grown significantly and the resilience of the banking sector has increased. The proposed £10bn increase to the threshold would result in approximately 90% of banks’ UK retail deposits being covered by the ring-fencing regime, which is broadly in line with the proportion covered when the threshold was set originally.
The updated threshold will provide banks currently below the £25bn deposit threshold with more room to grow before becoming subject to the ring-fencing regime. By removing a potential barrier to growth for banks, this proposal will support competition in the UK retail banking industry, and benefit the sector and its customers as a whole
The government will publish an impact assessment on its proposed reforms to the ring-fencing regime alongside introducing forthcoming secondary legislation.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the £25 billion threshold for banks to separate out their retail deposit-taking operations into a ring-fenced entity on the competitiveness of the UK retail bank industry.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
On 28 September 2023, the government published draft secondary legislation for consultation on reforms to the ring-fencing regime. The reforms will make the regime smarter and simpler by taking forward recommendations made by the independent ring-fencing review and going further in a number of areas. This includes increasing the “core deposit” threshold, above which firms become subject to the regime, from £25bn to £35bn.
The deposit threshold was originally set at £25bn by HM Treasury following recommendations from the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) in 2011. The government white paper published in 2011 in response to the ICB outlined that the threshold would need to be adjusted over time to reflect the evolution of banking practices and growth in the deposit base.
Since then, the deposit base has grown significantly and the resilience of the banking sector has increased. The proposed £10bn increase to the threshold would result in approximately 90% of banks’ UK retail deposits being covered by the ring-fencing regime, which is broadly in line with the proportion covered when the threshold was set originally.
The updated threshold will provide banks currently below the £25bn deposit threshold with more room to grow before becoming subject to the ring-fencing regime. By removing a potential barrier to growth for banks, this proposal will support competition in the UK retail banking industry, and benefit the sector and its customers as a whole
The government will publish an impact assessment on its proposed reforms to the ring-fencing regime alongside introducing forthcoming secondary legislation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff in her Department have been tasked as part of the Red Tape Review with reviewing departmental archival holdings identifying EU regulatory burdens that had been identified by previous deregulation audits.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We do not centrally hold information on the number of staff tasked with reviewing departmental archival holdings identifying EU regulatory burdens that had been identified by previous deregulation audits.
The government is however - via the Retained EU Law review and reform programme and the wider Smarter Regulation programme - committed to reviewing regulations on an ongoing basis to identify where improvements can be made and where the cost on business or consumers can be reduced. As part of this the government has passed the Retained EU Law (REUL) Act, giving departments the powers to reform their stock of REUL where appropriate.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report entitled Where have all the workers gone, published on 20 December 2022, whether his Department's review of issues holding back workforce participation, as announced in the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022, plans to cover (a) whether sectors of the workforce will need to adapt by re-organising the way they produce their output, for example by replacing labour with automation or changes to terms and conditions, (b) in instances where those sectors are unable to adapt, whether they will become smaller than they would have been and (c) whether a Government policy response is necessary on these matters.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The government is clear that increasing labour supply is a key priority.
We will identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce and/or resulting in people leaving the workforce early and will be focussing on four cohorts: early retirees, disabled people and people with health conditions, unpaid carers, and students.
How firms adapt to a changing labour market will depend on their type of business, for example, in the case of manufacturing we want more manufacturers to adopt technology that will improve productivity and stimulate growth, including robotics and automation and we have programmes that support them to do this. This includes the Made Smarter programme which has committed almost £200m in funding to large manufacturers and SMEs to develop new technology solutions and adopt existing tech, including robotics and autonomous systems.
We will work with other government departments and engage with a wide network of stakeholders, including economists, academics, charities, industry/business representatives and research organisations, to gather insight and develop new ideas to tackle the issue.