Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much (a) private sector investment and (b) public sector funding there has been for (i) onshore wind, (ii) offshore wind and (iii) solar power in each financial year since 2009-10.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Based on data from BloombergNEF, total investment into UK offshore wind, onshore wind and solar PV was £143bn over 2009-2023 (converted to real 2023 prices, nearest £bn). For these technologies, a record £19bn was in 2023, helping the renewable share of total UK electricity generation increase from 7% in 2010 to nearly 50% in 2023.
In the UK, renewables receive levy-funded support through legacy schemes (Renewables Obligation [RO] and Feed-in Tariffs [FiTs]), and our Contracts for Difference (CfD) mechanism. The OBR regularly publish estimates of levy spend for the prior financial year across the RO and CfD schemes, and Ofgem publishes estimates for FiTs, aggregated for all renewables. For the CfD scheme only, the LCCC publish data at a technology and plant level.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information her Department holds on the year in which the highest level of private sector investment into renewable sources of power generation was recorded.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Based on data from BloombergNEF, total investment into UK offshore wind, onshore wind and solar PV was £143bn over 2009-2023 (converted to real 2023 prices, nearest £bn). For these technologies, a record £19bn was in 2023, helping the renewable share of total UK electricity generation increase from 7% in 2010 to nearly 50% in 2023.
In the UK, renewables receive levy-funded support through legacy schemes (Renewables Obligation [RO] and Feed-in Tariffs [FiTs]), and our Contracts for Difference (CfD) mechanism. The OBR regularly publish estimates of levy spend for the prior financial year across the RO and CfD schemes, and Ofgem publishes estimates for FiTs, aggregated for all renewables. For the CfD scheme only, the LCCC publish data at a technology and plant level.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department are taking to encourage businesses to invest in skills training.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to delivering a world-leading skills system which is employer-focused, high-quality, and fit for the future. The department’s reforms are backed with an investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this Parliament to strengthen higher and further education to help more people get good jobs, upskill and retrain throughout their lives and to improve national productivity.
Over 5,000 employers have been involved in the development of nearly 700 high-quality apprenticeships to meet their industry skills needs. To support employers of all sizes offer apprenticeships, the government has increased investment in apprenticeships to over £2.7 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. This includes investing a further £60 million to meet overall increased employer demand for apprenticeships and encourage small-medium enterprises (SMEs) to take on young apprentices.
From April, the department pays 100% of training costs when SMEs take on new apprentices aged 16-21. Additionally, larger employers can now transfer more of their levy funds (50% increased from 25%) to support businesses of all sizes, which will help more employers to invest in apprenticeship training.
Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the chance to build sector-specific skills with an offer of a job interview on completion. Training providers work with employers to ensure training is designed to teach the skills employers need. To date, over 1000 employers have been involved in Skills Bootcamps. Employers play a range of roles from supporting the design and delivery of the training, to recruiting learners that complete training into a job, or an apprenticeship. Employers can also use Skills Bootcamps to upskill their existing employees, subject to a 10% contribution for SMEs and 30% contribution for large employers.
Institutes of Technology bring education and business closer together, creating unique collaborations between colleges, universities and industry which deliver higher-level technical education with a clear route to high skilled employment. The department has provided £300 million of capital funding for infrastructure and industry standard equipment to increase capacity to deliver level 4/5 technical skills. In addition, employer partners were encouraged to provide additional support (monetary and in kind) which for the wave 2 competition was set at 35% of value of capital expenditure.
In October 2023, the department launched a new website called Skills for Careers that provides a single digital front door to information about skills training options and careers. A link to Skills for Careers can be found here: https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/skills-for-life. From Skills for Careers, users are guided through government’s skills offer from apprenticeships to Skills Bootcamps, A levels to Multiply. The website provides an overview of each option along with information about writing job applications and CVs.
Across all areas of England, employer-led Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) have helped engage thousands of local businesses and have brought them together with local providers and stakeholders to collaboratively agree and deliver actions to address local skills needs. By giving employers a more strategic role in the skills system, LSIPs are helping to drive greater employer investment in skills and ensure businesses are more actively involved in the planning, design and delivery of skills provision.
Departmental officials are also working with the Office for Investment and Department for Business and Trade to provide support for investors to navigate the skills system at a national and local level and encourage take-up of government funded skills programmes and employer investment in skills, as well as build strategic partnerships with local education and training providers. Whilst it is not a core part of their role, some of the designated employer representative bodies leading the LSIPs have engaged with inward investors as part of developing and implementing their LSIPs.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department (a) has made an assessment of trends in the number of cyber-security roles off-shored to overseas contractors and (b) holds data on the (i) number of roles affected and (ii) financial value of that market.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK cyber security sector is worth £10.5 billion, up 3% since last year, and employs over 58,000 people, having generated an additional 5,300 jobs in the past year. The government's annual cyber security sectoral analysis shows employment in the UK cyber security sector has risen each year since the government began publishing the data in 2018.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 12 March (HL Deb col 1904), what were the specific grounds for approval of the legal expenses of the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
In line with the established practice under multiple administrations of all political colours, Ministers are provided with legal support and representation where matters relate to their conduct and responsibilities as a Minister.
As set out in Chapter 6 of the Cabinet Manual, Ministers are indemnified by the Crown for any actions taken against them for things done or decisions made in the course of their ministerial duties. The indemnity covers the cost of defending any proceedings, as well as costs or damages awarded against the minister. Decisions about whether to provide legal support are made by the relevant department’s Accounting Officer, as happened in this case.
This reflects an important principle that Ministers should be able to carry out their official duties, supported by official advice, in a way which they see fit, without the risk of personal liability constraining their ability to take those official actions. Of course, Ministers remain accountable to Parliament and the wider public for their actions as a Minister.
It would have a chilling effect on public life if Ministers faced the prospect of personal financial harm from those seeking to pressure the Government through vexatious or hostile litigation (or the threat thereof).
More broadly, the principle of legal support from the public purse for official duties is not confined to government. I would observe that there is insurance available to members of the House of Commons, provided by that House at taxpayers’ expense, designed to protect those members when carrying out parliamentary and constituency duties. This includes professional indemnity insurance that covers defamation. I also note that the House of Lords Commission recently agreed in principle to provide professional indemnity insurance to members of this House.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding her Department plans to provide to UK Research and Innovation in the next three financial years.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT is responsible for the majority of the Government’s spending on R&D, including UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) budget of £25.1 billion across the current Spending Review (FY2022/23 – 2024/25). This includes an allocation of over £8.8 billion in financial year 2024/25.
As outlined by the Chancellor at Spring Budget 2024, the next Spending Review to set future financial year budgets will be held after the General Election.
DSIT has budgets and plans in place until at least April 2025. Government will agree departmental budgets for financial years following this as part of the usual budget setting process.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase investment in skills training to meet the needs of more 150,000 additional students seeking higher education by 2030 in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is important that the department has a sustainable higher education (HE) funding system that responds to the needs of the economy and that is fair to students and to taxpayers. The government keeps the HE funding system under continuous review to ensure that this remains the case, and to provide many different opportunities for learners to acquire vital skills.
The government is committed to creating a world-leading skills system, backed with an additional investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this Parliament to strengthen HE and further education (FE). This includes increasing opportunities for people to develop higher technical skills through T Levels, Apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, or Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). From 2025, the Lifelong Learning Entitlement will transform access to FE and HE, offering all adults the equivalent of four years’ worth of student loans to use flexibly on quality education training over their lifetime.
Through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), the department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period to the 2024/25 financial year to support high-quality teaching and facilities, the majority of which goes to supporting the provision of courses in high-cost subjects including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade. The recurrent SPG budget is £1,456 million for the 2024/25 financial year. This includes an £18 million increase in support for strategically important high-cost subjects.
The department is also providing £40 million over two years through the SPG to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision. The department has seen year-on-year growth in degree level apprenticeships (Level 6 and 7) with almost 230,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. The government has increased investment in the apprenticeships system in England to over £2.7 billion this financial year, to support employers of all sizes access high-quality apprenticeships at all levels.
The department’s Higher Technical Education reforms are growing skills at Level 4 and 5. The department has introduced new HTQs, which will increase the prestige and uptake of level 4 and 5 qualifications. To date, 172 qualifications have been approved as HTQs across seven occupational routes and are being taught at FE Colleges, Institutes of Technology, Universities, and Independent Training Providers. The department has provided up to £115 million in funding to providers to help grow provision across the country, on top of up to £300 million to create a network of 21 Institutes of Technology.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's consultation outcome entitled A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation: Government response, CP 1019, updated on 6 February 2024, how much of the £10m to jumpstart regulator’s AI capabilities has been allocated.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is moving at pace to design the mechanism for allocating the £10m funding to jumpstart regulator capabilities. The Government is actively engaging with regulators to ensure this is delivered in a way that best supports their needs. The Government expects to launch the fund this summer and will allocate the funding during the course of this financial year and 25/26.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of funding for subject knowledge enhancement programmes for (a) primary maths, (b) design and technology, (c) English, (d) biology and (e) religious education on the future recruitment of student teachers in those subjects.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department reviews all policies, including subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses, on a regular basis to adapt its approach to attracting new teachers where needed and to ensure that interventions are focused where they will have the most positive impact for children and young people.
When reviewing the SKE package for the remainder of the 2023/24 academic year, factors including teacher supply needs, the volume of SKE participants associated with each subject and the relative recruitment to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) were all taken into account to ensure that the department is targeting funding where it is needed most.
The department remains committed to recruiting the teachers it needs. The ITT financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle. Tax free ITT bursaries continue to be available in design and technology, English, biology and religious education for ITT 2024. The department will continue to review the SKE programme on a regular basis to ensure that its funding is targeted as effectively as possible.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department and its predecessor Department have taken to reduce the costs of error in the last three financial years.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) was established on 7th February 2023. Prior to this date the portfolio for DSIT sat within the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The published BEIS Annual Report & Accounts provide a summary of counter fraud activity and respective costs related to fraud. The Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report 2022 highlights the latest available data relating to fraud and error across government.
The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. We have established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
Due to the Machinery of Government changes, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology have not yet produced fraud and error estimates, but this will be published in the 23/24 annual report and accounts.