Asked by: Baroness Quin (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their consultation last year, whether they plan to introduce legislation to protect hedgerows this spring and during the bird breeding season.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following overwhelming support to our consultation last summer, which received almost 9,000 responses, on 16 April the Government laid before Parliament new regulations that will place management practices for hedgerows on agricultural land into legislation. These practices include a cutting ban between 1 March and 31 August to protect nesting birds during this period, and a 2m buffer strip around a hedge where green cover must be established and maintained to protect the health of the hedge and the wildlife that use it.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish the evidence base used to underpin the decision, announced by Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in March in its Boiler Upgrade Scheme Consultation Response, that future grant applicants' compliance with Energy Performance Certificate recommendations will be optional.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government response to the consultation on amendments to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme sets out the responses received by industry stakeholders, including evidence to support the removal of the legal requirement to have no outstanding recommendations for cavity and loft insulation which was determined a barrier to access the scheme.
Asked by: George Eustice (Conservative - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 10078 on Horticulture: Peat, what (a) legal and (b) other advice he has received on the suitability of powers provided by section 53 and schedule 7 of the Environment Act 2021 in providing an appropriate legislative vehicle for restricting the sale of horticultural peat.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the reply previously given on 2 February 2024, PQ 10078.
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: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many defence firms attended a trade mission that was supported by UK Defence and Security Exports in each year since 2019.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
UK Defence and Security Exports has supported a number of trade missions since 2019. However, it has not consistently recorded this information because trade missions are not part of the main published UKDSE events programme.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what trade missions UK Defence and Security Exports has supported in each year since 2019.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
UK Defence and Security Exports has supported a number of trade missions since 2019. However, it has not consistently recorded this information because trade missions are not part of the main published UKDSE events programme.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many trade missions UK Defence and Security Exports has supported each year since 2019.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
UK Defence and Security Exports has supported a number of trade missions since 2019. However, it has not consistently recorded this information because trade missions are not part of the main published UKDSE events programme.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, on how many occasions officials in her Department attended (a) domestic and (b) overseas trade shows which were supported by UK Defence and Security Exports in each year since 2019.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
This information is not recorded with respect to the whole Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his expected timetable is for publishing his Department's roadmap on household water efficiency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We published our ‘Roadmap on water efficiency in new developments and retrofits’ in the Environmental Improvement Plan in 2023. This sets out 10 actions to achieve our statutory target to reduce water demand by 20% by 2038. Within this we committed to implementing a Mandatory Water Efficiency label by 2025, to enable consumers to identify water efficient products. In October 2023, the Government publicly committed to a spring consultation to fulfil the roadmap action to Review the Building Regulations 2010, and the water efficiency, water recycling and drainage standards (regulation 36 and Part G2, H1, H2, H3 of Schedule 1), considering industry competence and skills.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with water companies to help tackle leaks.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reducing losses through leakage is an important part of maintaining secure supplies of water for customers now and in the future. Government is committed to reducing leakage and has set a statutory water demand target to reduce water demand per person by 20% by 2038. This includes reducing leakage by 37% by 2038, on a trajectory to a 50% reduction in leakage by 2050. Ofwat set out a £51 billion five-year investment package in the Price Review 2019, including requirements for water companies to cut leaks by 16% and reduce mains bursts by 12% between 2020-2025. Ofwat will hold water companies to account for delivering leakage reduction targets, with financial penalties if they fail to meet them.