Written questions by O'Brien.

What data her Department holds on local authority spending on successful asylum claimants in (a) 2023 and (b) 2024.

The information requested is not held by the Home Office.

How many foreign national offenders of each nationality were living in the community in the most recent year for which data is available.

Any foreign national offender (FNO) convicted of a crime who receives a custodial sentence in the UK is considered for deportation consideration following sentencing. The latest published information shows that at the end of Q3 2024 there were 18,069 FNOs living in the community having completed their custodial sentences and subject to deportation, a number that increased substantially during the previous government, and is more than three times the level recorded in the same quarter in 2017 (5,933). The breakdown of the nationality of these FNOs in the community is not available from published data. The published information can be found at: Immigration Enforcement data: Q3 2024 - GOV.UK. We will continue to pursue deportation action against individuals living in the community rigorously, actively monitoring and managing cases through the legal process and working hard to overcome any barriers to removal.

How many (a) workers and (b) temporary workers each of the sponsors on the register of licensed sponsors sponsored in each year for which data is available.

The Home Office does not routinely publish data on sponsorship numbers broken down by each individual sponsor.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 December 2024 to Question 20254 on Asylum: Housing, what difference each of the Contract Change Notices made to the contract.

The information sought on costs and changes related to the Contract Change Notices referenced in Question 20254 has been identified as being of operational and commercial sensitivity and cannot therefore be disclosed.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 December 2024 to Question 20254 on Asylum: Housing, what the cost was of each of the Contract Change Notices.

The information sought on costs and changes related to the Contract Change Notices referenced in Question 20254 has been identified as being of operational and commercial sensitivity and cannot therefore be disclosed.

Whether there will be future intakes for the development programme for CEOs of multi-academy trusts run with the National Institute of Teaching.

The department has a contract in place with the National Institute of Teaching to deliver the multi-academy trusts CEO development programme to two cohorts of leaders that started their training in February and September 2024 respectively. The current contract runs to March 2026. The government is committed to supporting the development of school leaders and has announced a review of the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), which will consider the support needed to meet the current and emerging training needs of leaders. NPQs provide training grounded in the best evidence and practice in education at every leadership level, including for executive leaders.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of academy schools' facilities to comply with the duty in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to follow the national curriculum.

Every child deserves a cutting-edge curriculum taught by expert, qualified teachers, which sets them up with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve throughout life. The Bill will require all state schools to teach the reformed national curriculum, giving parents certainty of the high quality education their children will receive.Many academies already choose to follow the national curriculum and have the facilities they need to deliver it. The department will not commence the new requirement until a reformed national curriculum is introduced following the advice of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review. This will give all teachers and all schools, including academies, sufficient time to plan and prepare for the changes, including developing their facilities as needed.

How many schools will have to change their uniform policy to comply with the provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

School uniforms can play a valuable role in creating a sense of common identity among pupils and reducing visible inequalities. However, too many schools require high numbers of branded uniform items costing families hundreds of pounds. That is why the department has introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities.The department does not routinely collect school-level data on uniform requirements. However, based on the department’s 2023 Cost of School Uniforms Survey of parents, we estimate that one third of primary schools and seven in ten secondary schools will have to remove compulsory branded items from their uniforms to comply with the new limit. Many schools will only have to remove one or two items, although those with excessive numbers of branded items will have to remove more.This research report can be accessed at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66e2b4df6cc3c902a6e6fbcc/DfE_Cost_of_School_Uniform_Survey_Report.pdf.

What estimate she has made of the number of academy schools that do not currently comply with the duty in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to follow the national curriculum.

I refer the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston to the answer of 29 July 2024 to Question 1038.

What estimate she has made of the number of schools that will be impacted by the extension of statutory pay and conditions arrangements to Academy teachers in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

There are currently 11,245 academies in England that would be in scope of the measure in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

What the value of penalties issued in illegal working civil penalties was in each quarter for which data is available; and how many and what proportion of the penalties issued in each quarter have been paid.

Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Transparency Data and can be found at Immigration Enforcement data: Q3 2024 - GOV.UK on tab CPO2.Please note the figures are for penalties levied at the initial decision stage which may be reduced, cancelled or increased at the objection or appeal stage, or whose collection may be affected by any subsequent decision by business in question to cease operations or declare bankruptcy as a result of the enforcement action taken against them. We do not hold cohort data on how many and what proportion of the penalties issued in each quarter have been paid.

Whether pupils on the choir schools scholarship scheme will be exempt from increases in VAT in (a) this academic year and (b) subsequent financial years.

Performing arts schools that offer full-time education to children of compulsory school age and/or 16-19 year olds for a charge are in scope of the application of VAT to private school fees. This is to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools that provide education services and vocational training for a charge. It is the government’s position, therefore, that carving these schools out of the policy would be unfair to other private schools. The Department for Education provides means-tested bursaries for eligible families as part of the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) if their child has a place at any one of eight MDS performing arts private schools. For this academic year 2024/25, lower income families will receive additional support to ensure the total cost of their parental contributions do not rise from January 2025 as a result of the VAT change. This means that almost half of eligible families will be receiving further support in addition to the bursary already provided. As part of the MDS, the Department also provides a grant to the Choir Schools Association (CSA) for their Choir Schools Scholarship Scheme. This scheme provides means-tested support to choristers attending CSA member schools. Whether member schools charge VAT from 1 January 2025 on their education fee will vary, depending on whether schools are private or state-funded.

Whether pupils enrolled on courses covered by the Music and Dance scheme will be exempt from VAT increases in the next financial year.

Performing arts schools that offer full-time education to children of compulsory school age and/or 16-19 year olds for a charge are in scope of the application of VAT to private school fees. This is to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools that provide education services and vocational training for a charge. It is the government’s position, therefore, that carving these schools out of the policy would be unfair to other private schools. The Department for Education provides means-tested bursaries for eligible families as part of the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) if their child has a place at any one of eight MDS performing arts private schools. For this academic year 2024/25, lower income families will receive additional support to ensure the total cost of their parental contributions do not rise from January 2025 as a result of the VAT change. This means that almost half of eligible families will be receiving further support in addition to the bursary already provided. As part of the MDS, the Department also provides a grant to the Choir Schools Association (CSA) for their Choir Schools Scholarship Scheme. This scheme provides means-tested support to choristers attending CSA member schools. Whether member schools charge VAT from 1 January 2025 on their education fee will vary, depending on whether schools are private or state-funded.

Whether compensation for schools and colleges from changes to employer National Insurance contributions will be paid via a grant or the detailed schools grant.

The department will receive compensation in recognition of the increase in National Insurance Contributions paid by state-funded schools and colleges. That compensation will be additional to the £2.3 billion increase for schools announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. Due to timing constraints, it will be provided as a separate grant for schools, outside the dedicated schools grant in the 2025/26 financial year.

Whether pupils receiving dance and drama award funding will be exempt from increases in VAT in (a) this academic year and (b) subsequent financial years.

Performing arts schools that offer full-time education to children of compulsory school age and/or 16-19 year olds for a charge are in scope of the application of VAT to private school fees. This is to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools that provide education services and vocational training for a charge. It is the government’s position, therefore, that carving these schools out of the policy would be unfair to other private schools. The Department for Education provides means-tested bursaries for eligible families as part of the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) if their child has a place at any one of eight MDS performing arts private schools. For this academic year 2024/25, lower income families will receive additional support to ensure the total cost of their parental contributions do not rise from January 2025 as a result of the VAT change. This means that almost half of eligible families will be receiving further support in addition to the bursary already provided. As part of the MDS, the Department also provides a grant to the Choir Schools Association (CSA) for their Choir Schools Scholarship Scheme. This scheme provides means-tested support to choristers attending CSA member schools. Whether member schools charge VAT from 1 January 2025 on their education fee will vary, depending on whether schools are private or state-funded.

When she plans to reply to the consultation on Guidance for Schools and Colleges: Gender Questioning Children.

The department is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children, in addition to draft guidance on relationships and sex education and health education.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance and, as such, the government is looking carefully at the consultation responses, discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review which has since been published, before setting out next steps.We expect the results of the consultation and our response to be published on GOV.UK in 2025.

If she will list each open sponsored academy with (a) its date of conversion to sponsored status, (b) its Unique Reference Number, and (c) the Unique Reference Number of its predecessor school.

As of 1 November 2024, there are 2,753 open sponsored academies. Their names, unique reference numbers, open dates and unique reference numbers of predecessor schools, where applicable, is detailed in the attached spreadsheet.

If she will list each open converter academy with its (a) date of conversion to academy status, (b) Unique Reference Number, and (c) previous Unique Reference Number where different.

As of 1 November 2024, there are 7,671 open converter academies. Their names, unique reference numbers, open dates and unique reference numbers of predecessor schools, where applicable, is detailed in the attached spreadsheet.

Communities and Local Government, what the evidential basis is for the expectation that reformed local authorities should generally have a population of 500,000 or more.

The overall case for local government reorganisation is set out the English Devolution White Paper. New unitary councils must be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. For most areas this will mean creating councils with a population of 500,000 or more, but there may be exceptions to ensure new structures make sense for an area, including for devolution, and decisions will be on a case-by-case basis.

What information her Department holds on research projects undertaken by the Institute of Fiscal Studies on behalf of her Department on labour market returns by degree subject in each year since 2022.

Since 2022, the department has commissioned one research project, undertaken by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), that includes evidence about labour market returns to undergraduate degrees by degree subject. This is described below.In 2023, the department put out to open tender a research project called, ‘Developing an earnings metric to assess the quality of higher education (HE) provision’. The IFS bid for and were awarded this project. This project included modelling of graduate earnings by degree subject and HE provider. Its purpose was to produce a report advising on options for how graduate earnings could be used by the Office for Students as part of their regulatory activity. This work began in November 2023 and the report was delivered to the department in September 2024. The report has not yet been published but will be in the future.