Written questions by Reynolds.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the limits on enquiries for free legal advice provided by the Leasehold Advisory Service.

The government-funded Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) provides free initial legal advice and information in respect of leasehold, building safety, commonhold and park home issues for consumers. In 2024, LEASE limited the number of enquiries per user to 10 over a 12-month period. This has enabled LEASE advisers to deal with more complex cases.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure leaseholders have access to the full terms of their lease before completing a property transaction.

On 6 October, my Department published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling. They can be found on gov.uk here and here. The consultations included proposals to require sellers and estate agents to provide upfront property information. This might include information relating to leasehold terms, property condition, and purchasing chains. In the consultations in question we also made clear our intention to switch on measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to speed up the provision of information for leaseholders and homeowners on private or mixed tenure estates who wish to sell their property. We are now reviewing the feedback received and will set out details of next steps later this year.

Whether a dedicated teacher retention strategy will be informed by evidence on teacher mental health and workplace wellbeing.

A well supported, high-quality education workforce is critical to our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for children and young people, which is why recruiting and retaining our expert teachers is at the heart of the government’s Plan for Change. Detailed plans on how we will recruit and retain more teachers in our 6,500 additional teachers delivery plan are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-achieving-and-thriving.We will promote best practice in workload and wellbeing management, including flexible working opportunities, and tackle the external pressures where schools are filling the gaps.We will invest in a new programme that provides training, resources and peer support to help schools learn from each other, to normalise flexible working and manageable workloads. We will also invest £1 million additional funding each year for wellbeing support, providing up to 2,500 leaders annually with a safe and confidential space to develop new strategies to manage their resilience and capacity to thrive in their role. .

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their Department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

Please find the information requested below:Number of Directors with responsibility for human resources (HR)Number of Directors delivering non-HR technical activity e.g. Shared ServicesNumber of Directors with CIPD membership6The numbers concerned would relate to five individuals or fewer. We therefore cannot provide details in such cases as the individuals concerned could be identifiable. This is standard statistical reporting.6The information included in this response also includes those directors working in Government People Group, which is the strategic and functional centre for the cross Government People Function and human resources (HR) for the whole Civil Service.

How many officials in her Department hold a professional accountancy qualification.

53 officials in the department hold a professional accountancy qualification.

What steps he is taking to help ensure that the Fuel Finder scheme will addresses regional disparities in fuel pricing.

Fuel Finder requires all petrol filling stations in the UK to publish prices in a consistent, open format. By increasing price transparency, this increases pressure on fuel retailers to compete strongly to attract consumers by lowering their prices or improving their services at the forecourt, including in areas where competition has historically been weaker, such as rural areas. The Competition and Markets Authority will continue to monitor and scrutinise fuel prices to assess how well competition is working.

What assessment she has made of the balance between online safety measures and the development of digital literacy skills in young people aged 12 to 18.

As set out in the department’s Schools White Paper, it is vital that children are supported to become digitally literate and confident users of technology. We must strike a healthy balance between preparing young people for a technologically enabled world, whilst not compromising on safety.We have updated our generative AI safety standards, introducing measures that safeguard children’s cognitive and social-emotional development, protect their mental health, and guard against manipulation. We will also establish new sovereign education benchmarks to provide a trusted framework for evaluating how well AI models meet stringent safety standards and prevent harmful content.Following the recommendations of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, we are strengthening digital education through clarifying digital literacy content within the revised computing curriculum and working with experts to consider incorporating digital content in other subjects. Alongside this, updated relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance, required from September 2026, includes strengthened online safety content, including deepfakes.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of limiting the number of branded school uniform items on the overall cost of school uniforms for families.

I refer the hon. Member for Maidenhead to the answer of 09 March 2025 to Question 114997.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

My Department does not employ any HR Directors; However, my Department’s Chief People Officer has responsibility for overseeing Human Resources and holds professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

The Department for Transport has one SCS 2 Director with responsibility for Group Human Resources. The post holder is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

As the number of individuals is five or fewer, the Ministry of Justice is unable to disclose the figure. This is to protect against the risk that individuals could be identified, in line with our obligations under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

There are three civil servants in the role of HR Director operating across the Ministry of Defence, including Arm’s-Length Bodies. All these hold qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

There is one Director with responsibility for Human Resources who is the Northern Ireland Office’s Chief Operating Officer. This Director does not hold professional HR qualifications.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed in her Department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

Across HMT Treasury and its agencies there are two directors with responsibility for human resources, and they are both Chartered Fellows of CIPD.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across her Department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

Information on which directors within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and its executive agencies hold professional HR qualifications, including CIPD or equivalent, is not held centrally. Identifying this would require requests across numerous overseas posts and agencies and could only be compiled at disproportionate cost.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

The Scotland Office has no Directors with responsibility for human resources.It may be helpful to explain that the Scotland Office does not employ any staff directly. All staff that join, do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other government departments, principally the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government. They remain the employers and provide HR services to their employees working in the Scotland Office.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

As the number of individuals is five or fewer, across the AGO and the Law Officer Departments, I am unable to disclose the figure. This is to protect against the risk that individuals could be identified, in line with our obligations under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

The Department and its executive agencies currently employ three people at director-level with responsibility for human resources (HR). All three hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

Number of Directors with responsibility for HR across DWP and its Executive AgenciesNumber of these who have a CIPD qualification or equivalent55

Media and Sport, how many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

We cannot provide the number of HR Directors or details of their professional qualifications. Disclosing this information would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual staff members because the data concerns five or fewer employees and relates to individuals other than the data subjects. We do not hold data on the qualifications held by employees of DCMS Arms Length Bodies.