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Written Question
Veterinary Medicine: Labour Turnover
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help increase staff retention in the veterinary sector.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is aware of the challenges facing the veterinary sector, including retention of qualified veterinary surgeons. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, as the regulator for the veterinary profession, published its Workforce Action Plan in 2022 to progress issues of recruitment, retention and return. Defra works closely with the RCVS on issues concerning the veterinary profession and continues to keep reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act, where amendments might support increases in recruitment and retention, under review.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Labour Turnover and Recruitment
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of armed forces recruitment and retention.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).


Written Question
Prison and Probation Service: Labour Turnover
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to help increase the retention rate of staff in HM Prison and Probation Service.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Safe, decent, rehabilitative prisons require excellent and experienced staff, as does supervising offenders in the community to keep the public safe.

We want them to stay in the Prison Service and to support retention, we have:

  • Accepted every penny of the Prisons Service PRB pay recommendations for 2023/24.

  • Injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year since 2021 to support Probation staff to deliver more robust supervision.

  • Rolled out BWV to every officer, to help protect staff by defusing volatile situations.

  • Introduced a New Colleague Mentor scheme to help new recruits feel supported in their early weeks and months.

Retention for prison officers is improving, with the staff resignation rate dropping from around 10.7% to around 8.3% over the last year to December 2023.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Labour Turnover and Recruitment
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of recruitment and retention strategies for armed forces personnel in (a) the UK and (B) other NATO countries.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).


Written Question
General Practitioners: Labour Turnover
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding NHS England plans to allocate to Integrated Care Boards for local GP retention schemes for 2024-25; and through what mechanism that funding will be allocated following the closure of the General Practice Fellowship and the Supporting Mentors schemes.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.


Written Question
General Practitioners: Labour Turnover
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve levels of GP retention.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, published by NHS England in May 2023, sets out actions to cut bureaucracy and workload, which includes reducing demands of general practice (GP) time from unnecessary or low-value asks, improving the interface between primary and secondary care, and significantly streamlining the Impact and Investment Fund by reducing the number of indicators from 36 to five in 2023/24.

We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. NHS England has made available a number of recruitment and retention schemes to boost the GP workforce. This includes the National GP Induction and Refresher scheme, the Return to Practice programme, and the International Induction Programme.

Through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), Primary Care Networks and practices have recruited over 36,000 additional staff including nursing associates, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social prescribing link workers, hitting the Government's target to recruit 26,000 a year, ahead of the March 2024 deadline. The expanded primary care teams funded through the ARRS not only add extra clinical capacity, helping to reduce the burden on GPs, but also form the basis for multi-disciplinary teams to work on improving the care offered to patients.


Written Question
Teachers: Labour Turnover and Recruitment
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of school building conditions on trends in the level of teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

There are now record numbers of full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, totalling over 468,000, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010.

The department appreciates that there is more to do, particularly in disadvantaged areas. 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. For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax.

This is on top of the 6.5% pay award that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received for 2023/24, which was the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years, delivered on our manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country. This, combined with the increase in the LUP, means a new maths teacher in Blackpool could be receiving the equivalent of £38,570 starting salary next year, before accounting for the 2024/25 pay award.

To further support recruitment to high-priority subjects, the department also provides financial incentives worth up to £196 million, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

To help retention, the department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department has convened a workload reduction taskforce to explore how it can further support trust and school leaders to minimise workload for teachers.

Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department. Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well-maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided bodies. The department supports them by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.

The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 to keep schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. The department’s School Rebuilding Programme will transform buildings in poor condition at over 500 schools. New buildings are already being delivered across the country with modern designs that are designed to be net zero carbon in operation.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Labour Turnover
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of engineers in the (a) British Army, (b) Royal Air Force and (c) Royal Navy have left their roles in each year since 2010.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.


Written Question
International Corruption Unit: Labour Turnover
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the (a) number and proportion of permanent staff in the National Crime Agency's International Corruption Unit who were in the unit for more than 12 months and (b) staff attrition rate from that unit in the last two financial years.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The International Corruption Unit (ICU) is the dedicated team within the NCA that investigates serious criminal allegations of bribery and corruption.

We are unable to disclose the number of staff employed in the ICU as that information is operationally sensitive. However, in 2022/23, 86% of staff had been in the unit for more than 12 months. In 2021/22 it was 84% of staff.

The ICU staff annual attrition rate was recorded at 5.5% in both 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Due to complexities on deriving the figure, the NCA is unable to provide the average years of staff service.


Written Question
Research: Labour Turnover and Recruitment
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment her Department has made of the ability of public sector research establishments to recruit and retain talent.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Public sector research establishments are diverse organisations that deliver science and research for public good, often playing a vital role in critical infrastructure and public safety. Around 50 public sector research establishments are sponsored by Government Departments, employing over 50,000 FTE, including more than 17,000 scientists and technologists. The Government’s response to the Independent Review of the UK's Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Organisational Landscape, published in November 2023, acknowledged the challenges faced by public sector research establishments to recruit and retain talent and committed to improving the evidence base of the workforce challenges across public sector RDI organisations.