Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies of the proportion of time spent by secondary school teachers spending teaching subjects they are not trained in.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
There is currently the highest number of teachers on record. There are now over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The most recent School Workforce Census shows that almost 9 in 10 (87.4%) hours taught in English Baccalaureate subjects were taught by a teacher with a specialism in that subject. Overall, teachers spent a total of 3 in 5 teaching hours (63.7%) teaching the English Baccalaureate subjects of mathematics, English, sciences (including computer science), history, geography and modern languages. The School Workforce Census is available online at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Further information on the numbers and proportions of hours taught by teachers with relevant specialism in state-funded secondary schools in England in November 2022 can be found in the census publication at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f8c83028-7cce-463b-4c97-08dc5d297e6b.
The department recognises that there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects and to ensure that more teaching is done by teachers with a specialism in the relevant subject. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including increased bursaries worth up to £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth up to £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing, and the department’s financial incentives package for the 2024/25 initial teacher training recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
Additionally, the department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Last year the department accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and leaders. This means that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received a pay award of 6.5%, which is the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years. The 2023/24 award also delivered the manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country.
The department also funds a number of subject-specific curriculum hubs, in subjects such as mathematics, sciences and languages, where schools can access more targeted training and development for their teachers, including those teaching out of specialism.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she plans to launch a consultation on the renewable liquid heating fuel obligation before 23 July 2024.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government intends to issue the consultation by September this year, in line with commitments made by ministers during Parliamentary debates on the Energy Act.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the (a) scope and (b) terms of reference of the consultation on the renewable liquid heating fuel obligation will be.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government will consult on the potential role of renewable liquid fuels in heat by September, in line with commitments made during the passage of the Energy Act. The Department is developing the consultation at pace and its final scope and terms of reference will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has provided financial assistance to farmers to repair flood damage.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Farming Recovery Fund has been opened to provide farmers support to recover from uninsurable damage with grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was before exceptional flooding of Storm Henk. The fund was initially opened in nine English local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has already been activated to help farms which have experienced the highest levels of flooding, and the eligibility for the Fund remains under review.
This forms part of a package of support available to farmers through the Flood Recovery Framework, including a grant of up to £2,500 through the Business Recovery Grant Scheme.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many watchkeeper drones the UK has.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 March 2024 to Question 18362 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of levels of bovine tuberculosis.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bovine TB is a devolved policy matter.
The latest bovine TB statistics published on GOV.UK, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb, continue to show a gradually improving picture in most headline indicators for England overall and particularly in the High Risk Area and the Edge Area. In 2023 the lowest annual incidence of TB in cattle herds in England was recorded since 2007. In the Low Risk Area, the incidence and prevalence of TB in cattle herds remain very low and stable.
During the 2023 calendar year, just over 20,000 cattle were slaughtered for TB-related reasons in England, having peaked at 34,500 in 2018.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the report entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues published by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on 21 March 2024, HC 638.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to support the use of renewable liquid fuels following the removal of renewable liquid fuel import tariffs from the US in February 2023.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government supports the use of renewable fuels in several ways. Regulations generate demand for them in the UK and provide a signal for future investments. The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme continues to support renewable fuels, which are primarily deployed in road transport, and delivers a third of transport’s carbon savings under carbon budget 4. The Government will introduce a similar mandate scheme to drive the deployment of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2025. We also have a track record of supporting UK production of advanced renewable fuels through grant funding programmes. Most recently the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) has allocated over £135 million of capital funding to 13 projects to support the development of a UK SAF industry.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the public's awareness of the side effects that can arise from taking weight loss drugs such as Ozempic.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) plays a pivotal role in ensuring the safety, efficacy, and quality of medicines and healthcare products available to patients in the United Kingdom. Patient safety remains the MHRA’s highest priority, and they take every opportunity to encourage reporting of any safety concerns to the Yellow Card scheme, which helps to improve the safe use of medicines and medical devices for everyone.
New medicines including, Mounjaro and Wegovy, are intensively monitored to ensure that any new safety concerns are identified promptly. The Commission on Human Medicines and the MHRA encourages the reporting of all suspected reactions to newer drugs and vaccines, which are denoted by an inverted Black Triangle symbol. This symbol appears next to the name of a relevant product in drug safety updates, the British National Formulary and the Nurse Prescribers’ Formulary, the monthly index of medical specialities, the electronic medicines compendium, and advertising material. Patient information leaflets accompanying licensed medicines in the UK must include a description of the adverse reactions which may occur in normal use of the medicinal product, as well as information on how to report them. All adverse reactions must be reflected in the leaflet, in language that the patient will understand.
The MHRA has received a small number of reports of falsified and unlicenced medicines being sold illegally online as a treatment for weight loss. The agency has issued public health messaging warning of the dangers of buying such medicines from illegal trading sources online.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve early intervention for mental health conditions in working-age adults.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The £795 million of additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement will see thousands of working-age adults with mental ill health helped back into work over the next five years, keeping them out of poverty, improving their wellbeing, and raising their living standards.
This will increase the number of sessions per course of Talking Therapies treatment, to tackle the root causes of common mental health conditions like anxiety and depression and to broaden access, leading to an expected additional 384,000 people completing a course of treatment by 2028/29.
The investment will also fund an additional 100,000 Individual Placement and Support places over five years, which will help people with severe mental illness gain and retain paid employment.
Between 2019 and 2022, total number of NHS Talking Therapies staff across England, including clinical and non-clinical, has risen by 38%. NHS England has published a positive practice guide for NHS Talking Therapies staff working with those from black and ethnic minority groups, which is helping providers take appropriate action to ensure that communities have equality of access to NHS Talking Therapies