Lord Knight of Weymouth

The Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) has been created to ensure that clean energy jobs are abundant, high quality, paid fairly, and have favourable terms and good working conditions.

The OCEJ is engaging widely with industry, experts, and trade unions for a clear assessment of the skills opportunities and challenges. It is working closely with Skills England to ensure that skills systems reforms support the clean energy transition.

The OCEJ will also set out targeted interventions to support specific skills needs in the clean energy workforce. It recently announced support for the Energy Skills Passport to support oil and gas workers into new roles in the clean energy sector.

The Independent Pornography Review assessed the effectiveness of pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement and the Review’s findings continue to be assessed in detail by government departments. A further update on how the government is tackling the issues raised in the Review will be provided in due course.

The Independent Pornography Review assessed the effectiveness of pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement and the Review’s findings continue to be assessed in detail by government departments. A further update on how the government is tackling the issues raised in the Review will be provided in due course.

The Government has not made an assessment of the child protection benefits of streaming services partnering with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). Ofcom, as the independent regulator, now has a new duty introduced through the Media Act 2024 to assess audience protection measures used by video-on-demand (VoD) services, such as age ratings, to ensure they are adequate to protect audiences from harm. The Government will in due course be designating mainstream VoD services, bringing them under enhanced regulation by Ofcom. Ofcom will then consult on a new standards code for these services, similar to the Broadcasting Code. This could include the use of age ratings, if Ofcom considers it appropriate.

All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines effective strategies that will encourage good behaviour.

The Behaviour in Schools guidance is clear that any policy must be lawful, proportionate, and reasonable and comply with the school’s duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

The report recommends that the federation should consult its communities on its behaviour policy, including how best to reflect the government’s expectations on proportionality, dignity and reasonable adjustments. The department continues to engage with Mossbourne Federation to ensure that it implements any changes needed in response to the review’s findings and those from its own review, led by Anne Whyte KC.

The Behaviour in Schools guidance is kept under regular review and will be updated as necessary.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, is currently considering the findings of the independent review and market impact assessment of Oak National Academy. Both the findings of the review and the market impact assessment will be published in due course.

For the provision of school food, catering companies and suppliers are subject to allergen and packaging rules and regulations, such as the Food Information Regulations. Compliance with the Regulations falls under the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on governing bodies of maintained schools, proprietors of academies and management committees of pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils at their school with medical conditions. These may be food-related, for example a pupil may have a food allergy or coeliac disease. Schools should therefore take appropriate action in supporting such pupils to access food provision, particularly when schools have a legal requirement to offer free school meals (FSM) to those eligible for means-tested FSM or universal infant free school meals.

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I refer my noble Friend to the answer of 1 April 2025 to Question HL5134.

The department is aware that Microsoft are ending support for Windows 10 in October and are working with Microsoft to manage the impact on schools, including with regard to cost. Devices that meet the specification requirements for Windows 11 will be able to be updated for free. Many schools may have devices which are not able to upgrade to Windows 11 and we are keen to support these schools.

We have validated with Microsoft a more affordable rate for schools for extended security updates on Windows 10 devices, so schools can continue to use these devices safely for the next three years and do not need to purchase new devices. Extended security updates for Windows 10 will be offered to education institutions at the cost of $1 per device in the first year, $2 the following year and $4 the third year. More details about the transition to Windows 11 can be found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/blog/2024/04/windows-10-end-of-support-updates-for-education/.

Schools have the flexibility to choose how they spend their money in relation to technology to best suit their needs and there is no ring-fenced funding for technology. Some services offered through the department’s school resource management collection may also be helpful to schools in managing their budgets. For example, the ‘Get help buying for schools’ service includes the opportunity to get free help from procurement specialists to help those in schools responsible for buying goods and services to get the best value for money. It provides specific advice on buying specific goods and services for their school through a department approved framework. The service is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-buying-for-schools.