Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Recognise Teaching Assistants as an important asset to schools by raising wage.
Gov Responded - 12 Aug 2022 Debated on - 17 Jul 2023 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsTeaching Assistants are an extremely important part of the running of schools in England, but are not currently recognised as this by our government when reflecting on the wage.
Do not impose any new requirements on parents who are home educating
Gov Responded - 20 Aug 2021 Debated on - 27 Mar 2023 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsThe Education Committee has recently recommended introducing a statutory home educated register, and greater assessment of home educated children. These recommendations are in contrast to the views of many parents who home educate.
Do not require parents to register home educated children with local authorities
Gov Responded - 8 Aug 2022 Debated on - 27 Mar 2023 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsRemove the clauses relating to 'Children not in school' from Part 3 of the Schools Bill, and do not pursue compulsory registration of all home-schooled children. We see no evidence that this would be beneficial, and we believe the proposals place a discriminatory burden on supportive parents.
Make suicide prevention a compulsory part of the school curriculum.
Gov Responded - 21 Oct 2022 Debated on - 13 Mar 2023 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsWe want suicide spoken about in schools in a safe and age-appropriate way. Speaking about suicide saves lives
The Dept for Education are conducting a review of the RSHE curriculum; this petition calls on the DfE to include suicide prevention within the statutory guidelines of the new curriculum.
Increase curriculum content about water safety as part of swimming lessons
Gov Responded - 3 Jun 2021 Debated on - 12 Jul 2021 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsAs a country we see many water-related fatalities every year. We see many more call outs to water related incidents. Throughout lockdown year our coastguards were tasked to almost double the call outs than in the previous year. Our children NEED to learn about Cold water shock & rip currents.
Allow teacher predicted grades for BTEC students
Gov Responded - 17 Feb 2021 Debated on - 15 Mar 2021 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsThe government should allow BTEC students to achieve teacher predicted grades rather than being forced into a system that is unethically downgrading thousands of students grades.
Close schools in Tier 4 areas
Gov Responded - 21 Jan 2021 Debated on - 15 Mar 2021 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsSchools can be a breeding ground for the spread of coronavirus. Children are mingling at schools and returning to families who are potentially vulnerable, keeping rates high.
It's only been since schools opened that infection rates have been high in Kent, and keeping them open may keep it high.
Cancel GCSE and A-levels in 2021 replace with Course Work and Teacher Assessment
Gov Responded - 26 Jan 2021 Debated on - 15 Mar 2021 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsCancel all standardise testing for year 11 and year 12 students in 2021. By replacing tests with smaller amounts of course work and teacher assessment, students would have a fair chance at achieving their target grades and it would relieve stress for teachers and students.
Keep schools closed until May
Gov Responded - 15 Mar 2021 Debated on - 15 Mar 2021 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsPlease don’t send students back until we know we have had the priority groups vaccinated such as the elderly, the extremely clinically vulnerable, and those with underlying health conditions.
No prosecution for parents that remove child from school during a pandemic.
Gov Responded - 6 Apr 2020 Debated on - 2 Nov 2020 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsLegislate to allow parents to have the option to remove their children from school if there is a pandemic e.g. Coronavirus or similar without negative action by schools or local authorities. They shouldn’t lose the child’s place in the school or face any kind of prosecution.
Review the decision to use previous data to calculate exam grades
Gov Responded - 4 Sep 2020 Debated on - 12 Oct 2020 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsWe want the Education Secretary and the Government to step in and review the exam board’s decision on how GCSE and A-Level grades will be calculated and awarded due to the current coronavirus crisis. We want a better solution than just using our previous data to be the basis of our grade.
Reduce curriculum content for year 10 & 12 students who will sit exams in 2021.
Gov Responded - 30 Jul 2020 Debated on - 12 Oct 2020 View Nick Gibb's petition debate contributionsA significant number of students will sit their final 2021 examinations. The outcome of which undoubtedly will be their passport, for many of their future life chances and successes. In order for this to be done fairly, it is imperative that the amount of content they are tested on is reduced.
These initiatives were driven by Nick Gibb, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Nick Gibb has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Nick Gibb has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
Nick Gibb has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Healthcare (Delayed Discharges) Bill 2021-22
Sponsor - Andrew Murrison (Con)
The Government published the National Security and Investment Act’s first Annual Report on 16 June 2022. This report covers the first 3 months of the system operating from 4 January 2022 to 31 March 2022. The report states that, in this period, the Investment Security Unit received a total of 196 mandatory notifications. The 2023 Annual Report will provide data on notifications received in the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
The number of GCSE entries by pupils at the end of key stage 4 in the requested subjects can be found in the attached spreadsheet.
The department publishes information about open free schools, including the date they opened. This information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development.
The attached table provides the number of free schools opened each year from 2011 to 2023. This includes primary, secondary, all through and 16-19 age ranges of the following types of free schools: mainstream free schools, alternative provision free schools, special free schools and specialist maths schools. University technical colleges and Studio schools have been listed separately.
As of 4 March 2024, there are 7,223 mainstream primary academies and 12 alternative provision primary academies. There are 2,867 mainstream secondary academies and 151 alternative provision secondary academies.
Between January 2008 and December 2023, 9,345 schools opened as primary converter academies, primary sponsored academies, secondary converter academies and secondary sponsored academies. A breakdown of this information by calendar year is given the following table:
| Primary | Secondary | ||
Converter | Sponsored | Converter | Sponsored | |
2008 |
|
|
| 47 |
2009 |
|
|
| 70 |
2010 | 25 |
| 68 | 68 |
2011 | 309 | 5 | 724 | 48 |
2012 | 423 | 171 | 366 | 76 |
2013 | 424 | 291 | 132 | 84 |
2014 | 393 | 264 | 68 | 56 |
2015 | 380 | 190 | 51 | 62 |
2016 | 545 | 148 | 64 | 34 |
2017 | 621 | 190 | 80 | 47 |
2018 | 604 | 162 | 64 | 44 |
2019 | 442 | 98 | 45 | 25 |
2020 | 198 | 59 | 21 | 17 |
2021 | 254 | 40 | 28 | 16 |
2022 | 258 | 44 | 22 | 13 |
2023 | 272 | 53 | 32 | 10 |
Table 1: Converter and sponsored academies opened between 2008 and 2023.
The Government remains firmly committed to completing our reforms to the national school funding system, and introducing a direct national funding formula.
This will mean that each mainstream school is allocated funding on the same basis, wherever it is in the country, and every child can be given the same opportunities, based on a consistent assessment of their needs.
The Department is moving carefully towards the direct national funding formula over the coming years, working with the sector to ensure that the transition is a smooth one. From 2023-24, local authorities will have to move their own funding formulae closer to the national funding formula as part of our step-by-step approach to transition. Local minimum funding guarantee protections will remain in place to maintain stability for schools and protect them from sudden drops in pupil-led per-pupil funding.
We are also continuing to develop the schools national funding formula to allocate funding nationally in line with our recent consultation: https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/implementing-the-direct-national-funding-formula/supporting_documents/Implementing%20the%20direct%20national%20funding%20formula%20%20government%20consultation.pdf. The Department's response will be published in due course.
The Department will also provide an update on the Schools Bill in due course.
Water quality is an absolute priority for me. I have been crystal clear with water companies – including Southern Water – that the current frequency of sewage discharges is unacceptable. We are the first government to set out our expectation that water companies must take steps to significantly reduce storm overflows, and Southern Water has recently received a £90 million fine – the largest on record.
Due to the COVID-19 vaccination and booster programme and the availability of antiviral treatments, there is a lower risk to the population of severe illness or hospitalisation. The Government’s guidance has transitioned to encouraging responsible behaviours, while targeting protection towards those individuals most at risk from the virus.
In April 2022, guidance for the public was issued which set out how the risk of infection and transmission of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, can be reduced in addition to guidance for people with symptoms of a respiratory illness. Public health principles were also published to reduce the spread of respiratory infections in the workplace.
The UK Health Security Agency and the National Health Service continue to promote safe behaviours and vaccination to the public through the media and local authorities, including Directors of Public Health and their teams. The Government continues to monitor a range of data to ensure the country’s response to COVID-19 remains effective and proportionate and will communicate public health advice through all available channels.
On 21 February 2022, the Government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to offer an additional spring booster dose to all residents in care homes for older adults, individuals aged 12 years old and over who are immunosuppressed, and all adults aged 75 years old and over.
On 19 May 2022, the JCVI published interim advice on an autumn COVID-19 booster programme which states that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to residents in a care home for older adults and staff; frontline health and social care workers; all those aged 65 years old and over; and adults aged 16 to 64 years old in a clinical risk group. The JCVI is considering the vaccination of other patient groups and the detail of the definitions of clinical risk groups. The JCVI keeps the current epidemiological data under review and will issue further advice if necessary.
In 2020/21, the latest period for which figures are available, there were 527 dentists with National Health Service activity in the NHS West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group. To improve information on the number of NHS dentists accepting patients, including in West Sussex, we have written to dental practices to ensure that this information is updated via NHS.UK.
We provided an additional £50 million for National Health Service dentistry for the final quarter of 2021/22 to provide urgent care to patients. Of this funding, £6,887,000 was made available to the South East region, including West Sussex. NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver 100% of contracted units of dental activity and 100% of units of orthodontic activity to safely improve access for patients.
Dental patients are not registered to a particular practice outside a course of treatment. A dental practice can accept a patient for a course of treatment and there are no geographical restrictions on which practice a patient may attend. In addition, NHS Digital has written to practices to ensure that information on appointment availability via NHS.UK is updated to allow patients to access NHS dental care. Patients can contact NHS England’s Customer Contact Centre for assistance in finding a local dental practice or NHS 111 if seeking urgent dental care.
The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association, to improve NHS dentistry and negotiations are underway on initial measures. This aims to increase access to NHS dentistry, including in West Sussex.
The information requested is not held centrally, as appointments for National Health Service treatment are managed directly by dental practices. Between April and June 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver at least 95% of contracted units of dental activity to safely improve access for patients, including in areas such as West Sussex.
In 2020/21, the latest period for which figures are available, there were 527 dentists with National Health Service activity in the NHS West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group. To improve information on the number of NHS dentists accepting patients, including in West Sussex, we have written to dental practices to ensure that this information is updated via NHS.UK.
On 19 May 2022, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) published interim advice on an autumn COVID-19 booster programme. The JCVI’s current advice suggests that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to residents in a care home for older adults and staff; frontline health and social care workers; all those 65 years old and over; and adults aged 16 to 64 years old in a clinical risk group. The JCVI will continue to review the vaccination programme and the epidemiological situation, particularly in relation to the timing and value of doses for less vulnerable older adults and those in clinical risk groups before autumn 2022. The Government will consider the JCVI’s final recommendations later this year.
Work to reform the National Health Service dental contract is underway. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association, on alternative ways of commissioning services. This aims to improve patient access, reduce health inequalities and make the NHS a more attractive place to work for dentists.
As of 11 December, over 1,285,987 12 to 15 year olds in England have now received their first dose. Since the school-based vaccination offer commenced in the autumn, 95% of all schools have either been visited or have a visit planned. NHS England and NHS Improvement are also planning a programme to reach those who were absent on the day of the vaccination visit; those who tested positive for COVID-19 within a 28-day period; and those who now wish to receive the vaccine. This will be at the end of the substantive school offer period.
Parents are also able to book a appointment via the National Booking Service or 119 which offers flexibility and an increasing number of vaccinations sites for 12 to 15 year olds. Parents and guardians will be advised to book an appointment to attend vaccine sites with their children and consent will be sought during the appointment.
Information on the proportion of 12 to 15 year olds who have had their COVID-19 vaccination administered in England as of 9 December 2021 is not available in the specific format requested. However, the UK Health Security Agency’s weekly COVID-19 and flu surveillance report for the week ending 5 December 2021 showed that the vaccine uptake rate in 12 to 15 year olds with at least one dose was 43.5%.
Information on the proportion of 12 to 15-year olds in West Sussex who have been vaccinated as of 9 December 2021 is not currently available. While vaccination data by Lower Tier Local Authority is published daily on the UK COVID-19 Dashboard, this data is updated daily. Daily vaccination data for Arun District Council and West Sussex is available at the following links:
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations?areaType=utla&areaName=West%20Sussex
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations?areaType=ltla&areaName=Arun
Information on the proportion of those aged 12 to 15 years old in Bognor who have been vaccinated is not held in the format requested.
Information on the number of booster doses administered in England as of 9 December 2021 is not available in the format requested. However, the UK Health Security Agency’s weekly COVID-19 and flu surveillance report for the week ending 5 December 2021 showed that vaccine uptake rate among adults aged 18 years old and over with at least three doses in England was 34.4% or 17,207,793.
Information on the number and proportion of adults in West Sussex who have received at least three doses as of 9 December 2021 is not currently available. While vaccination data by Lower Tier Local Authority is published on the UK COVID-19 Dashboard, this data is updated daily as booster doses are formally recorded over time. Daily vaccination data for West Sussex is available at the following link:
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations?areaType=utla&areaName=West%20Sussex
Information on the number and proportion of adults in Bognor who have received a third dose is not held in the specific format requested.
Vulnerable settings continue to be offered regular asymptomatic testing for staff and for service users, particularly those who are at high risk of severe illness if they were infected with COVID-19. This includes health and social care settings and prisons. Workplace testing has also continued for those who work in operational roles at the United Kingdom border and in education. We have no plans to resume provision of free tests to other types of workplaces. However, employees can continue to access free tests through Pharmacy Collect, online ordering or 119.
In 2020/2021 there were 23,733 National Health Service dentists in England and 527 in West Sussex. Data is not held for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.
The following table shows the number and proportion of eligible adults aged 18 years old and over who have received a third or booster dose in the areas requested, as at 16 January 2022.
England | 30,383,259 | 81% |
West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group | 537,590 | 87% |
Bognor Regis and Littlehampton | 65,119 | 86% |
As of 25 November, in England, 1,165,483 or 40.5% of 12 to 15 year olds and 19,615 or 46.7% of 12 to 15 year olds in West Sussex have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Data is not available for the number of vaccinations given to those aged 12 to 15 years old in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.
There is no national recommendation for the number of general practitioners required in the general practice workforce therefore no specific assessment has been made. Each general practice is required to provide services to meet the reasonable needs of their registered population, including the range of health professionals available.
The Government continually monitors a range of economic indicators and developments to consider the impact of these on businesses and households.
Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England and this includes decisions on Bank Rate and the assets held in the Asset Purchase Facility (APF). The separation of fiscal and monetary policy is a key feature of the UK’s economic framework, and essential for the effective delivery of monetary policy, so the Government does not comment on the conduct or effectiveness of monetary policy.
The Home Office does not hold this information.
Teleperformance have been responding to a formal rectification plan, and the service has significantly improved in response. In August, 98.73% of calls were answered within 30 seconds, exceeding the required service level of 80%.
The Passport Adviceline continues to be an integral part of the wider passport service, helping to ensure that customer queries are resolved as quickly as possible. Between January and August this year, approximately 3 million calls were answered by the Passport Adviceline.
His Majesty’s Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance to improve waiting times for callers to the Passport Adviceline. In August, the average wait time for a caller was 6 seconds.
The response to the unprecedented demand for passports in 2022 has had no impact upon the processing times for UK visas.
Teleperformance, who operate the Passport Adviceline, carry out a full training programme for all call agents. The training materials used are subject to review and approval by His Majesty’s Passport Office.