Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the priorities set out in the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact have informed the Government’s approach to the International Education Strategy; and what steps she is taking to strengthen international partnerships with UK universities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The UK Government recognises the important contribution that universities across the UK make to our economic growth, innovation and international standing. Our recently published International Education Strategy supports strong and sustainable long-term international partnerships for UK universities by promoting the whole of the UK’s education offer overseas, including research collaboration and driving growth through high quality UK transitional education.
The department will continue to work with the UK’s education sector, devolved governments and key partners such as the British Council to support the contribution of British universities, including in Scotland, to growth, innovation and international partnerships. Steps to strengthen this collaboration include the ministerially-chaired Education Sector Action Group, which brings together stakeholders to identify opportunities and remove barriers to growth, and the recent publication of the sector-led brochure ‘Advancing Talent with UK Education – Building Global Partnerships’.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report, entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact, on the contribution of universities to economic growth and innovation; and what steps her Department is taking to support that contribution across the UK.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The UK Government recognises the important contribution that universities across the UK make to our economic growth, innovation and international standing. Our recently published International Education Strategy supports strong and sustainable long-term international partnerships for UK universities by promoting the whole of the UK’s education offer overseas, including research collaboration and driving growth through high quality UK transitional education.
The department will continue to work with the UK’s education sector, devolved governments and key partners such as the British Council to support the contribution of British universities, including in Scotland, to growth, innovation and international partnerships. Steps to strengthen this collaboration include the ministerially-chaired Education Sector Action Group, which brings together stakeholders to identify opportunities and remove barriers to growth, and the recent publication of the sector-led brochure ‘Advancing Talent with UK Education – Building Global Partnerships’.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many permanent civil servants in her Department are staff without assigned posts; and how many are placed in an equivalent (a) people action team, (b) priority movers list, (c) redeployment register, (d) talent pool and (e) skills match hub in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Janet Daby
At any point in time, there are likely to be a small number of individuals who have been displaced due to restructures within their business units or, for example, have returned from a loan from another department and their role no longer exists. The exact number changes on a day-to-day basis.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much (a) her Department and (b) each of its arm’s length bodies has spent on external communications through (i) Crown Commercial Service agreement RM6125 and (ii) other agreements since 5 July 2024; and which firms have received funding.
Answered by Janet Daby
Total spend on external communications from 5 July 2024 to 6 March 2025 is £35,478,270.30.
This includes the following spending:
We only have data for arms length body spending through Oak National Academy, which spent £128,465.98.
Total spend through the framework is £34,553,792.52.
The vast majority of the spend constitutes the department’s key campaigns which are Get in to Teaching, Childcare Choices, Skills for life and Further Education. We are unable to detail the spend by campaign.
Top ten supplier spend through the framework is shown here:
Supplier | Spend (£) | % participation |
WAVEMAKER LIMITED | 163,975.79 | 0.47% |
KINDRED AGENCY LIMITED | 180,430.41 | 0.52% |
Verian Group UK Limited | 308,302.50 | 0.89% |
FOUR COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED | 536,585.42 | 1.55% |
BLACKBERRY PRODUCTIONS LTD | 610,447.58 | 1.77% |
SCROLL PROJECTS LTD | 939,406.87 | 2.72% |
M&C SAATCHI (UK) LIMITED | 969,646.82 | 2.81% |
BAM AGENCY LTD | 1,017,463.71 | 2.94% |
HAVAS WORLDWIDE LONDON LTD | 1,231,164.17 | 3.56% |
OMD GROUP TA MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD LTD | 28,028,649.23 | 81.12% |
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much their Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department has not spent any money on media or voice training for Ministers since 5 July 2024.