Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the levelling up premium payments for school teachers on recruitment of teachers in shortage subjects.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing secondary school teachers in the first five years of their career who work in eligible schools have been able to claim Levelling Up Premium (LUP) payments of up to £3,000 after tax since September 2022. For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the LUP payments to eligible school teachers to up to £6,000 per year after tax and extending the offer to key science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical subject teachers in all further education colleges for the first time.
A new school teacher receiving a £6,000 LUP will have an income equivalent of at least a £38,570 starting salary next year, even before accounting for the next pay award.
The number of teachers that have received LUP payments by region are below:
| Sum of claims by academic year | |
Region | 2022/23 | 2023/2024 |
East of England | 337 | 371 |
East Midlands | 421 | 401 |
London | 1112 | 1170 |
North East | 238 | 251 |
North West | 762 | 790 |
South East | 304 | 314 |
South West | 241 | 246 |
West Midlands | 603 | 594 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 597 | 603 |
Total | 4615 | 4740 |
The number of teachers that have received LUP payments by subject are below:
| Sum of claims by academic year | |
Subject | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Mathematics | 2518 | 2609 |
Physics | 459 | 456 |
Chemistry | 1044 | 1101 |
Computing | 595 | 574 |
Total | 4615 | 4740 |
The LUP is primarily designed to incentivise the retention of specialist teachers in the disadvantaged schools it targets, but it may also support recruitment by encouraging teachers to take up posts in these schools.
It is too early to fully evaluate the impact of the LUP, but it is possible to draw on evidence from the predecessor pilots which informed it. For example, a University College London (UCL) evaluation of the Mathematics and Physics Teacher Retention Payments pilot found that teachers who received these £2,000 after tax payments were 23% less likely to leave teaching. Furthermore, an evaluation of Early Career Payments assessed they reduced the likelihood of teachers leaving by 37% for the £5,000 payments, and 58% for the £7,500 payments.
Mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing trainees starting school initial teacher teaching (ITT) in the 2024/25 academic year can already benefit from tax free bursaries worth £28,000 and scholarships worth £30,000. These ITT incentives are a national offer and are not differentiated sub-nationally. This is because teachers often teach in a different school or area to that they trained in. The Levelling Up Premium is paid to school teachers once they are qualified and is therefore targeted sub-nationally to incentivise them to work in the schools most in need.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of teachers who have received levelling up premium payments for school teachers since May 2022 by (a) region and (b) subject.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing secondary school teachers in the first five years of their career who work in eligible schools have been able to claim Levelling Up Premium (LUP) payments of up to £3,000 after tax since September 2022. For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the LUP payments to eligible school teachers to up to £6,000 per year after tax and extending the offer to key science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical subject teachers in all further education colleges for the first time.
A new school teacher receiving a £6,000 LUP will have an income equivalent of at least a £38,570 starting salary next year, even before accounting for the next pay award.
The number of teachers that have received LUP payments by region are below:
| Sum of claims by academic year | |
Region | 2022/23 | 2023/2024 |
East of England | 337 | 371 |
East Midlands | 421 | 401 |
London | 1112 | 1170 |
North East | 238 | 251 |
North West | 762 | 790 |
South East | 304 | 314 |
South West | 241 | 246 |
West Midlands | 603 | 594 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 597 | 603 |
Total | 4615 | 4740 |
The number of teachers that have received LUP payments by subject are below:
| Sum of claims by academic year | |
Subject | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Mathematics | 2518 | 2609 |
Physics | 459 | 456 |
Chemistry | 1044 | 1101 |
Computing | 595 | 574 |
Total | 4615 | 4740 |
The LUP is primarily designed to incentivise the retention of specialist teachers in the disadvantaged schools it targets, but it may also support recruitment by encouraging teachers to take up posts in these schools.
It is too early to fully evaluate the impact of the LUP, but it is possible to draw on evidence from the predecessor pilots which informed it. For example, a University College London (UCL) evaluation of the Mathematics and Physics Teacher Retention Payments pilot found that teachers who received these £2,000 after tax payments were 23% less likely to leave teaching. Furthermore, an evaluation of Early Career Payments assessed they reduced the likelihood of teachers leaving by 37% for the £5,000 payments, and 58% for the £7,500 payments.
Mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing trainees starting school initial teacher teaching (ITT) in the 2024/25 academic year can already benefit from tax free bursaries worth £28,000 and scholarships worth £30,000. These ITT incentives are a national offer and are not differentiated sub-nationally. This is because teachers often teach in a different school or area to that they trained in. The Levelling Up Premium is paid to school teachers once they are qualified and is therefore targeted sub-nationally to incentivise them to work in the schools most in need.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending levelling up premium payments to teachers in training with initial teacher training providers in disadvantaged communities.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing secondary school teachers in the first five years of their career who work in eligible schools have been able to claim Levelling Up Premium (LUP) payments of up to £3,000 after tax since September 2022. For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the LUP payments to eligible school teachers to up to £6,000 per year after tax and extending the offer to key science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical subject teachers in all further education colleges for the first time.
A new school teacher receiving a £6,000 LUP will have an income equivalent of at least a £38,570 starting salary next year, even before accounting for the next pay award.
The number of teachers that have received LUP payments by region are below:
| Sum of claims by academic year | |
Region | 2022/23 | 2023/2024 |
East of England | 337 | 371 |
East Midlands | 421 | 401 |
London | 1112 | 1170 |
North East | 238 | 251 |
North West | 762 | 790 |
South East | 304 | 314 |
South West | 241 | 246 |
West Midlands | 603 | 594 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 597 | 603 |
Total | 4615 | 4740 |
The number of teachers that have received LUP payments by subject are below:
| Sum of claims by academic year | |
Subject | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Mathematics | 2518 | 2609 |
Physics | 459 | 456 |
Chemistry | 1044 | 1101 |
Computing | 595 | 574 |
Total | 4615 | 4740 |
The LUP is primarily designed to incentivise the retention of specialist teachers in the disadvantaged schools it targets, but it may also support recruitment by encouraging teachers to take up posts in these schools.
It is too early to fully evaluate the impact of the LUP, but it is possible to draw on evidence from the predecessor pilots which informed it. For example, a University College London (UCL) evaluation of the Mathematics and Physics Teacher Retention Payments pilot found that teachers who received these £2,000 after tax payments were 23% less likely to leave teaching. Furthermore, an evaluation of Early Career Payments assessed they reduced the likelihood of teachers leaving by 37% for the £5,000 payments, and 58% for the £7,500 payments.
Mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing trainees starting school initial teacher teaching (ITT) in the 2024/25 academic year can already benefit from tax free bursaries worth £28,000 and scholarships worth £30,000. These ITT incentives are a national offer and are not differentiated sub-nationally. This is because teachers often teach in a different school or area to that they trained in. The Levelling Up Premium is paid to school teachers once they are qualified and is therefore targeted sub-nationally to incentivise them to work in the schools most in need.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2024 to Question 21868 on Buses: Carbon Emissions, how many and what proportion of the buses allocated funding under the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme 1 (a) are on the road in each local transport authority and (b) (i) have been and (ii) will be manufactured in the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government has invested £410m into the Zero Emission Bus programmes since 2020, which has funded over 2,200 buses across England.
The Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) 1 programme was launched in 2021 and awarded £270m funding to 16 local transport authorities (LTAs) in England (outside of London).
ZEBs produced and sold in the UK are supported by a global supply chain; the below table outlines bus manufacturer’s location. The numbers in this table are not official statistics: they are based on the latest information available and are therefore indicative and subject to change.
ZEBRA 1 | ||
Local Transport Authority | Number of buses on the road | Bus manufacturer & Location |
Blackpool Council | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority | 30 | Volvo (Sweden) |
City of York Council | 53 | Wrightbus (UK) |
Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 0 | Volvo (Sweden) |
Hertfordshire County Council | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
Kent County Council | 0 | Volvo (Sweden) |
Leicester City Council | 116 | 110 – Wrightbus (UK) |
Norfolk County Council | 68 | Wrightbus (UK) |
North Yorkshire County Council | 0 | EvoBus/Mercedes (Germany) Alexander Dennis Ltd (UK) |
Nottingham City Council | 24 | Pelican/Yutong (UK/China) |
Oxfordshire County Council | 56 | Wrightbus (UK) |
Portsmouth City Council & Hampshire County Council | 62 | Wrightbus (UK) |
South Yorkshire Combined Authority | 27 | 4 – Alexander Dennis Ltd (UK) |
Warrington Borough Council | 105 | Volvo (Sweden) |
West Midlands Combined Authority | 124 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
West Yorkshire Combined Authority | 146 | 131 – Wrightbus (UK) |
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual running costs were for NHS (a) Arden and GEM, (b) Midlands and Lancashire, (c) North of England and (d) South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information requested. Commissioning Support Units (CSUs) form part of one service provided to Clinical Commissioning Groups and integrated care boards by NHS England. CSUs are not separate legal entities, and spending forms part of NHS England’s parent accounts.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England who have unmet care needs; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure those care needs are met.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authorities in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014.
We recognise that some people still experience challenges in accessing the care and support they need, when they need it. That is why ensuring that people find adult social care fair and accessible is one of the three main objectives of our 10-year reform vision for adult social care. To achieve this vision, we are supporting local authorities to address workforce pressures, drive improvements in their local area, and better streamline their assessment processes.
To support this, the Government has made available up to £8.6 billion in additional funding over the financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25, to support adult social care and discharge. This includes up to £1.5 billion of additional grant funding for adult social care for 2024/25, compared to 2023/24, alongside a 2% increase to the adult social care precept for local authorities with social care responsibilities, uptake of which will generate a further £609 million in 2024/25. In addition, the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund, worth almost £2 billion over two years, is designed to support increased adult social care capacity, improve market sustainability, and enable local authorities to make improvements to adult social care services.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England (i) receive the basic state pension, (ii) receive pension credit and (iii) are eligible for pension credit but do not claim it; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all pensioners receive their full entitlement to pension credit.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Caseload statistics are routinely published and made publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. The figures below show the Pension Credit and Basic State Pension caseloads in each area:
| Pension Credit | Basic State Pension |
Coventry North East Constituency | 2,873 | 10,083 |
Coventry | 7,168 | 33,981 |
North West | 131,692 | 773,219 |
England | 1,160,826 | 7,190,718 |
The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas.
We continue to promote Pension Credit through our national awareness campaign, which has been ongoing since April 2022 and has included advertising on national TV, newspapers, broadcast radio, on social media and via internet search engines as well as on screens in Post Offices and GP surgeries.
At the start of 2024 - as in previous years - the DWP wrote to over 11 million pensioners as part of the annual State Pension up-rating exercise. The accompanying leaflet included prominent messaging promoting Pension Credit using the 'call to action' messaging from the communication campaign, including how Pension Credit opens the door to other financial help such as housing costs, Council Tax and heating bills.
There is a strong indication that the campaign has had a positive impact. The latest available figures covering the 3 months to November 2023 show that there were over 28 thousand more households in receipt the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit than in May 2022.
Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of people who will financially benefit from the National Insurance reduction announced in the Spring Budget 2024 and (b) average (i) financial gain from that reduction and (ii) cumulative financial gain from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024, by region.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated number of people who financially benefited from the National insurance reduction in the Autumn Statement and Spring Budget and the associated financial gain for an average employee on £35,404 can be seen in Table 1 below:
Table 1: gain for an average employee on £35,404 from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts | Autumn Statement only | Spring Budget only | Cumulative Spring Budget and Autumn Statement |
Number of people who financially benefitted from the NICs reduction, 1000s | 29,300 | 29,500 | 29,500 |
Gain for average employee with mean employee salary of £35,404 | £457 | £457 | £913 |
The estimated average financial gain among those benefitting from both the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction, by region, can be seen in the Table 2 below:
Table 2: average financial gain and cumulative gain from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024, by region
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts by region | Number of gainers, 1000s | Average gain, Spring Budget only | Average cumulative gain, Autumn Statement and Spring Budget |
North East | 1,060 | £316 | £632 |
North West and Merseyside | 3,140 | £321 | £644 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 2,330 | £313 | £628 |
East Midlands | 2,110 | £322 | £645 |
West Midlands | 2,500 | £322 | £645 |
East of England | 2,830 | £360 | £720 |
London | 4,350 | £381 | £763 |
South East | 4,120 | £369 | £738 |
South West | 2,420 | £327 | £655 |
Northern Ireland | 807 | £308 | £618 |
Scotland | 2,430 | £338 | £677 |
Wales | 1,240 | £320 | £642 |
Total | 29,500 | £341 | £683 |
These are the modelled average impacts rather than the impacts for an average full time employee (on a given salary), for example the £900 gain previously published for the cumulative impacts.
The Autumn Statement 2023 National insurance reduction estimates are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities November 2023 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction estimates and cumulative estimates of both policies are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities March 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of people who financially benefited from the National Insurance reduction announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and (b) average financial gain from that reduction.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated number of people who financially benefited from the National insurance reduction in the Autumn Statement and Spring Budget and the associated financial gain for an average employee on £35,404 can be seen in Table 1 below:
Table 1: gain for an average employee on £35,404 from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts | Autumn Statement only | Spring Budget only | Cumulative Spring Budget and Autumn Statement |
Number of people who financially benefitted from the NICs reduction, 1000s | 29,300 | 29,500 | 29,500 |
Gain for average employee with mean employee salary of £35,404 | £457 | £457 | £913 |
The estimated average financial gain among those benefitting from both the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction, by region, can be seen in the Table 2 below:
Table 2: average financial gain and cumulative gain from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024, by region
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts by region | Number of gainers, 1000s | Average gain, Spring Budget only | Average cumulative gain, Autumn Statement and Spring Budget |
North East | 1,060 | £316 | £632 |
North West and Merseyside | 3,140 | £321 | £644 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 2,330 | £313 | £628 |
East Midlands | 2,110 | £322 | £645 |
West Midlands | 2,500 | £322 | £645 |
East of England | 2,830 | £360 | £720 |
London | 4,350 | £381 | £763 |
South East | 4,120 | £369 | £738 |
South West | 2,420 | £327 | £655 |
Northern Ireland | 807 | £308 | £618 |
Scotland | 2,430 | £338 | £677 |
Wales | 1,240 | £320 | £642 |
Total | 29,500 | £341 | £683 |
These are the modelled average impacts rather than the impacts for an average full time employee (on a given salary), for example the £900 gain previously published for the cumulative impacts.
The Autumn Statement 2023 National insurance reduction estimates are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities November 2023 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction estimates and cumulative estimates of both policies are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities March 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help simplify the rail ticketing system.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Plan for Rail proposes the biggest shake-up of rail in a generation. We have already made progress on fares and ticketing reforms, for example introducing flexible season tickets, expanding single leg pricing to most of London North Eastern Railway’s (LNER) network and committing to Pay As You Go (PAYG) in urban areas across the country.
In February we announced that PAYG pilots in both Manchester and the West Midlands are due to be launched in 2025, expanding pay as you go to an additional 92 rail stations. We will also be extending contactless PAYG ticketing to 53 additional stations in the South East.
In addition, on 16 January this year, LNER began selling tickets for its two year long “Simpler Fares” pilot, for travel from 5 February. This pilot involves removing the old off-peak which led to some very quiet “peak” and very busy “off-peak” services, simplifying the fares and ticketing system to smooth out demand and reduce crowding, making travel more comfortable for passengers.