Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of Ofsted reports that were amended under the (a) internal and (b) external review process.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend, the Member for Shipley, directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) her Department and (b) Ofsted has set targets for further education colleges on the number and proportion of students who should participate in relevant work placements during their course.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not set targets for further education colleges on the number and proportion of students who should participate in relevant work placements during their course. Ofsted assess whether learners are given appropriate and high quality work-related or employment experience depending on the learners’ needs. This varies greatly from one learner to another depending on their experience and from one programme to another.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number and proportion of students in further education colleges who have participated in work placements relevant to their course in each of the last three years.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Data on experiences of the workplace is captured by the Careers and Enterprise Company and the latest findings are based on a national dataset of 4534 state-funded secondary schools and colleges which can be found at: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/our-evidence/evidence-and-reports/insight-briefing-gatsby-benchmark-results-2022-2023/.
In the 2022/23 academic year, over 90% of further education colleges reported that most of their students had experience of a workplace by the time they finished their programme of study.
In post-16 education, pupils have access to work placement opportunities through the T level programme. T levels are designed to equip students for skilled employment, whilst also providing a high-quality route to further study, including apprenticeships, higher technical education and degree level study. The programme includes a T level industry placement where students spend a minimum of 315 hours (approximately 45 days) working with external employers. Since T levels were first introduced in 2020, 98.6% of the 2020 cohort and 94.9% of the 2021 cohort have completed their industry placement. This is a total of 4250 students who have successfully completed their industry placements.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of (a) GDP growth and (b) the value of exports in each year since 1 February 2021.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 12/04/2024 is attached.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of the UK's exit from the EU on levels of trade.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since leaving the EU, the Department for Business and Trade has secured free trade deals with 73 countries plus the EU, that accounted for £1.1 trillion of UK trade in 2022. The UK was the world’s 4th largest exporter in 2022.
The UK’s total trade with the world (including goods and services) increased by £43.3bn (inflation adjusted) in 2023 compared to 2018, and our services exports to the world were at a record high in 2023, increasing by £48.9bn (inflation adjusted) compared to 2018.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the Goldman Sachs report entitled the Structural and Cyclical Costs of Brexit, published on 9 February 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government keeps track of external analysis from third parties often based on a range of assumptions and hypothetical views. Since leaving the EU, the Department for Business and Trade has secured free trade deals with 73 countries in addition to the EU, partners which accounted for £1.1 trillion UK trade in 2022, and simplified import tariffs to lower costs for businesses and households.
The UK’s total trade with the world (including goods and services) increased by £43bn (inflation adjusted) in 2023 compared to 2018. Since the referendum, the UK has grown faster than Germany, Italy, and Japan and the IMF forecasted that the UK will see the 3rd fastest cumulative growth in the G7 over 2024-2029, ahead of Germany, Italy, France, and Japan.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2024 to Question 16638 on UK Health Security Agency: Finance, on what basis the information requested is considered to be commercially sensitive.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Further breakdown of customers groupings would identify individual customers and the value of individual vaccine sales. These grouping are varied and include customers such as wholesalers, hospitals, medical centres, travel clinics and other providers of vaccination services. To break this information down to a level that would identify individual purchases could prejudice future commercial relations with the UK Health Security Agency customers.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of banning the sale of tobacco products to people born after 1 January 2009 on tobacco duties.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published an Impact Assessment to support the ‘Tobacco and Vapes Bill’ on 20 March, which includes estimate of the reduction in tobacco duty over the period 2027 and 2056:Tobacco_and_vapes_bill_IA.pdf (parliament.uk)
The impact of final decisions on tobacco duties will be assessed and reflected in the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast. .Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in his Department have a criminal conviction.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
New appointments to Defra undergo pre-employment criminal record checks. Where a conviction is flagged, appointment is dependent on a role-specific risk assessment. Convictions for the following offences result in the individual automatically failing pre-employment checks and not being appointed: life sentences, arson, sexual offences and hate and terror offences.
Defra has participated in the Going Forward into Employment Scheme for Ex-Offenders and has appointed to posts via this scheme. We can confirm that the numbers appointed under this scheme are currently less than 10. However, exact numbers may enable individuals to be identifiable and the privacy and confidentiality of this information requires us to ensure individuals are properly protected.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many civil servants in his Department have a criminal conviction.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not held centrally by the Department and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. The Department undertakes Baseline Personnel Security Standard pre-employment checks for all new joiners. The FCDO's approach to employ those with a criminal record is assessed at national security level and all decisions are made in line with Cabinet Office's Security Vetting Guidance.