Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2023 to Question 181258 on Ageing, what assessment his Department have made of the adequacy of cross-government preparedness for an increase in the older population.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK’s changing demographic profile, of which our ageing population is a part, is a significant long-term challenge facing the UK.
Work to protect our older population is cross-cutting and stretches across the whole of Government. Individual departments take responsibility for the delivery of relevant policies in their jurisdiction. For example, policies that relate to the physical and mental health of older generations are delivered through the Department of Health and Social Care. In the Cabinet Office, the Equalities Hub leads on the Equality Act 2010 which provides strong protection from age discrimination across a variety of settings.
I also refer the Hon lady to PQ HL8000, which discusses the work occurring across the government, and my response to PQ 181258 that refers to the ‘The Future of an Ageing Population’ report from 2016.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken with media stakeholders to help ensure that the FIFA Women's World Cup will be show on television.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Last summer we witnessed a major success in women’s sport as our very own Lionesses beat Germany at Wembley to lift the UEFA European Championship trophy. The Women’s World Cup this summer will again shine a light on women’s football and we want to make the most of this opportunity.
The Secretary of State made clear the need for a solution to FIFA and a statement was also published in May signed by the Governments of the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy urging both parties to reach an agreement. I welcome the announcement made on 14 June that all 64 matches in this summer's women's World Cup will be broadcast live on the BBC and ITV so our nation can cheer on their heroes as they take on the world at the Women's World Cup this summer and continue to inspire future generations.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to promote (a) viable, (b) long-term and (c) year-round careers in the heritage and tourism sector to (i) young people and (ii) lifelong learners.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The diverse range of jobs in the heritage and tourism sectors can bring fulfilment and enjoyment to those who perform them as well as helping to share our rich heritage and fantastic destinations with the widest possible audience, and preserve them for the benefit of future generations.
The Government’s arm’s-length bodies play a valuable role in delivering initiatives and projects to promote and develop sustainable careers in tourism and heritage to both young people and life-long learners.
Since 1994, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested in a range of projects to develop training and career opportunities in the heritage sector for people of all backgrounds.
Historic England’s approach to skills and employability in heritage is a tiered set of initiatives for both young people and lifelong learners. Programmes delivered across these tiers include the Heritage Schools programme, work experience and and T-Level industry placements, and specialist skills development programmes, including developing future leadership capacity within the heritage sector.
The Tourism Recovery Plan sets out our ambition for a more productive, innovative, and resilient industry, employing more UK nationals in year-round quality jobs. As part of this, the Government is investing £2.5 billion in the National Skills Fund until 2025 to help people gain skills to improve their job prospects, including in sectors such as hospitality.
The Hospitality & Tourism Skills Board will continue to pursue an employer-led, coordinated and proactive approach towards recruitment, retention and upskilling.
Asked by: Lord Selkirk of Douglas (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the case (1) for preserving the historic fabric of RAF Scampton, (2) for commemorating (a) the 53 RAF personnel who died on the Dambusters Raid, and (b) the 55,573 who died in total during operations with RAF Bomber Command, and (3) for providing necessities for any refugees to be accommodated there.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Ministrt of Defence (MOD) has had to make some difficult decisions to dispose of sites, including the former RAF Scampton, that have become surplus to military requirements in accordance with HM Treasury guidance on the management of surplus Government land. As part of the disposal process, full consideration is always given to the history and heritage of a site. Leading up to the disposal of the former RAF Scampton, a number of heritage assets were relocated to other either RAF stations, returned to their private owners or donated to the local Scampton Heritage Group in order to preserve them for future generations.
The MOD is extremely proud of its personnel and those that gave their lives in the defence of the United Kingdom. The sacrifices made by these heroic individuals are remembered through the various memorials that are open to the public with the Dambusters squadron crew that lost their lives being represented by the memorial at Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, and with the 55,573 Bomber Command crew that lost their lives being represented by the Bomber Command memorial located within The Green Park, London.
Questions on provision of necessities for any asylum seekers housed at the former RAF base in the future are a matter for the Home Office.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to (a) support people affected by and (b) protect future generations against the impacts of asbestosis.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There is no cure for asbestosis, as the damage to the lungs is irreversible. The National Health Service may recommend pulmonary rehabilitation for people with asbestosis or, for more severe cases, oxygen therapy if they have low levels of oxygen in their blood. People with chronic respiratory diseases, such as asbestosis, are one of the groups offered vaccinations under the national influenza vaccination programme.
In Great Britain the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 are in place to protect workers from asbestos exposure. These regulations require duty holders to assess whether asbestos is present in their buildings, the condition it is in and to draw up a plan to manage the risk associated with asbestos including removal if it cannot be safely managed in place.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Viscount Camrose on 5 April (HL6987, HL6988, HL6989 and HL6990), how future-proofed the Digital Voice solutions will be in terms of (1) future mobile technology, and (2) the range of successive generations.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Communication Providers, including BT, have a range of solutions available for Digital Voice customers, particularly those who require extra support. For most customers with additional needs who live in an area with 4G mobile coverage, mobile remains the best way of making calls in the event of a power loss. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is working with industry to extend mobile coverage through projects such as the Shared Rural Network, and also to improve resilience of the mobile network.
Customers who do not have, or do not want, a mobile phone can request a hybrid phone with a built-in battery that switches automatically to the mobile network in the event of a power outage. This device looks and feels like a normal landline handset. For Digital Voice customers who live in an area without mobile signal and are identified as vulnerable, BT will provide a battery back-up unit free of charge. For customers without a fixed broadband connection, BT are also looking at developing a device which functions in the same way as the landline but uses the mobile network instead.
Ofcom estimates that less than 1% of BT landline customers have insufficient 4G mobile coverage in their area to make an emergency call. This number will drop as BT provides further investment to continue expanding its network – since March 2020 EE, part of BT Group, has improved 4G coverage in over 1,500 locations across the UK and expects to improve coverage in hundreds of further locations by June 2024.
We encourage customers who have questions about their power supply to contact their energy provider as Communications Providers do not provide a solution for customers without access to mains power.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to provide above-inflation pay increases for teachers and school support staff.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recognises teachers’ invaluable work in shaping future generations. This is why last year teachers were given the highest pay award in 30 years, up to 8.9% for new teachers, alongside a 5% award for experienced teachers and headteachers.
Looking to the next academic year, pay rises for teachers in 2023/24 must strike a careful balance between recruiting and retaining the best teachers and recognising their vital importance, alongside considering both affordability for schools and the wider economic context. On 21 February 2023, the Department published its written evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, giving its views and inputs to help them form their recommendations for teachers’ pay this year.
The Government provided funding for both mainstream schools and high needs, including the additional funding announced at the Autumn Statement 2022, which is £3.5 billion higher in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. This will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25, the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. The Government provided these increases to school revenue budgets so that schools can cover cost increases in the year ahead, including teacher pay.
The Department knows challenges to recruitment and retention vary from subject to subject based on the demand in each area. Therefore, in addition to pay, there are several measures in place to tackle this, including: bursaries worth up to £27,000; scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage talented trainees to apply to train in key subjects such as chemistry, computing, mathematics, and physics; £20,000 tax-free bursary for biology trainees in 2023/24; reintroduction of a £15,000 tax-free bursary for English trainees in 2023/24 and a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools.
The Government’s education reforms gave schools freedom to make their own decisions about budgets. For most staff, including teaching assistants, schools have the freedom to recruit according to their own circumstances and set pay and conditions.
Many schools pay teaching assistants according to Local Government pay scales. These are set through negotiations between the Local Government Association, which represents the employer, and Local Government trade unions (UNISON, Unite, and the GMB), which represent the employee. Central Government does not have any formal role in these matters.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of transferring RAF Scampton to the Home Department on the preservation of defence heritage.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The MInistry of Defence has had to make some difficult decisions to dispose of sites that have become surplus to military requirements in accordance with HM Treasury guidance on the management of surplus government land. Full consideration was given to the history and heritage of the site ahead of the decision to dispose, and plans to protect the heritage for future generations were put in place ahead of closure. These included relocating a number of heritage assets where appropriate, and ensuring the future owners are aware of their responsibilities in the preservation of all listed assets as is standard for all disposals. The responsibility of Scampton has now been officially transferred from the RAF to the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, where the final processes will be completed before the site ownership is transferred to the Home Office, where it has been selected to temporarily house asylum seekers.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support people working in the heritage sector.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The workforce and volunteers in our cherished heritage sector are critical to preserving our rich heritage for the benefit of future generations, and sharing it with the widest audience.
In November 2022, Historic England convened a cross-sector Heritage Skills Forum to provide a collective view of the skills challenges facing the sector, and to prioritise action to tackle them. Focusing on the longer term, DCMS public bodies are nurturing a skills pipeline to help preserve vital skills in the sector through training and apprenticeships programmes. For instance, a £4.3 million grant from The Hamish Ogston Foundation is generously helping to fund a heritage apprenticeship programme across the North of England delivered by Historic England.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a unique challenge to the sector, with many heritage professionals unable to work. To support people and organisations in the face of this challenge, HM Government delivered the unprecedented £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund. This included the Heritage Stimulus Fund, which supported over 700 historic sites, allowing them to restart vital construction and maintenance projects and to preserve heritage visitor attractions. The Heritage Stimulus Fund also helped to establish a pipeline for skilled craftspeople and heritage construction.
Recent and ongoing challenges such as the rising cost of living and energy prices have created additional pressures for many heritage organisations. The Government has provided support through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme and with additional support to Energy and Trade Intensive Industries. This support will ensure that various sector employers are protected from the impact of higher energy bills and are able to remain operational and financially resilient, providing greater security to the workers they employ.
Ministers regularly engage with people working across the sector to show our appreciation for the work they do, and to hear how else we can support them.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to develop an ageing population strategy to help support adaptation for ageing populations.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Office for Science produced a report in 2016, entitled ‘The Future of an Ageing Population’, which gathered the best available evidence to understand what the ageing of the UK population means both now and in the future.
Work to protect our older generations goes across the whole of Government. Individual departments take responsibility for the delivery of relevant policies within their jurisdictions. For example, the policies to promote the maintenance of the physical and mental wellbeing of our older generations are delivered through the Department for Health and Social Care.