Written questions by Tice.

What steps his Department is taking to prioritise the use of agrivoltaics in approved solar farms on agricultural land classified as best and most versatile.

Solar energy can be an important way for farmers to increase their revenue from land less suited to higher-value crop production. For example, a number of solar farms have combined solar with livestock grazing. The emerging science of agrivoltaics is developing innovative ways for solar to be integrated with arable farming. The Solar Taskforce has been looking at the use of innovative technologies, and findings will be published in the Solar Roadmap soon.

Communities and Local Government, if her Department will take steps to increase the use of swift bricks to provide cavity nesting habitat for birds reliant on buildings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 22080 on 15 January 2025.

What assessment he has made of the reasons for delays in emergency service response times in Boston and Skegness constituency; and what steps are being taken to improve response times.

Ambulance services in Boston and Skegness are provided by the East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, with responsibility for commissioning the services a matter for the local Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board. Any assessment of the specific local actions needed to improve response times should be undertaken and agreed locally by National Health Service organisations in the best interests of the local population and patients.At a national level, the Government and NHS England are committed to improving ambulance response times. The NHS 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance sets national priorities, which include improving accident and emergency waiting times and ambulance response times compared to 2024/25.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with (a) local authority officers and (b) local authority elected representatives on the cancellation of the local elections in the Isle of Wight; and if she will publish those discussions.

The Secretary of State has not had discussions with these local authorities on the cancellation of the local elections. Discussions on the applications to the Devolution Priority Programme have been had with all upper tier and unitary councils in the preparation of the programme, and those discussions covered all matters related to the timetable and process by both officials and ministers, as you would expect.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with (a) local authority officers and (b) local authority elected representatives on the cancellation of the local elections in Surrey; and if she will publish those conversations.

The Secretary of State has not had discussions with these local authorities on the cancellation of the local elections. Discussions on the applications to the Devolution Priority Programme have been had with all upper tier and unitary councils in the preparation of the programme, and those discussions covered all matters related to the timetable and process by both officials and ministers, as you would expect.

What steps her Department is taking to improve teacher retention in (a) Boston and Skegness constituency and (b) the UK.

The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.​​The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for the 2024/25 academic year. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in some shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ and the further education teacher recruitment campaign ‘Share your Skills’.A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a Targeted Retention Incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools. There are seven schools in the Boston and Skegness constituency where teachers are eligible for Targeted Retention Incentives.The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve the experience of teaching, including a more comprehensive school report card in place of Ofsted’s single headline grades, providing a clearer picture of schools’ strengths and weaknesses for parents, and more proportionate accountability for staff. We are also making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.The department is funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working, whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time. Lapal School of Hales Valley Trust is the flexible working ambassador school providing local, tailored peer support for Boston and Skegness schools.High-quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. The department has established 87 Teaching School Hubs across the country, providing approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. These Hubs play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the early career framework and national professional qualifications. L.E.A.D. Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Boston, Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Holland, South Kesteven, East Lindsey and West Lindsey.

Whether a review has been undertaken of the Metropolitan Police’s involvement in the case of Ali Kololo.

The Home Office has not undertaken a review of the Metropolitan Police’s involvement in the case of Ali Kololo.

With reference to paragraph 28 of Schedule 7 of the Pensions Act 2004, if she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners who have accrued pensionable service before 6 April 1997 for which they do not receive annual increases in periodic compensation from the Pension Protection Fund in (a) Boston and Skegness constituency and (b) the UK.

The rules around PPF indexation are generally in line with the legal requirements for defined benefit pension schemes. I recognise this matter has been the subject of much discussion and am aware of the concerns of pensions scheme members affected by this issue. The estimate, as of 31 March 2024, for members of the Pension Protection Fund with accrued pensionable service prior to 6 April 1997, who do not receive annual increases in periodic compensation are: Around 650 pensioners in the PPF who live in the Boston and Skegness constituency.Around 172,000 pensioners who live in the UK.

How many staff are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests related to police forces in England and Wales; and if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Home Office does not centrally hold this information.Each police force is a separate public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act and is responsible for processing and responding to requests they receive.However, we agree with the Hon Member that the burden of responding to FOI requests is not one that we wish to see increasing unnecessarily on police forces at a time we are seeking to maximise the resources devoted to neighbourhood policing.

What the total installed capacity is of combined-cycle gas turbine power stations in the UK; how much of that capacity is from plants commissioned in the last (a) five and (b) 20 years; and what the projected total capacity requirement is expected to be by 2029.

Data on combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power stations are published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics. Modelling analysis from the National Energy System Operator, which covers Great Britain, suggests around 35GW of unabated gas capacity, which includes CCGTs as well as other types of gas generators, will need to be available by 2030 to maintain security of supply.

How many staff in her Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

A team of 22.6 full time equivalent (FTE) staff are responsible for processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received by the Department. They do this alongside other duties including managing requests for personal data.Responses to FOIA requests are drafted by the teams in the Department and its agencies that hold the requested information.The Department’s annual reports and accounts include information on departmental expenditure and can be found via the following link: Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 - GOV.UK.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff in his Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if he will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) does not track the costs or total staff numbers required to respond to Freedom of Information (FOIs) as the work is devolved across the department and depends on the complexity and sensitivities involved in each individual request. FOI requests submitted to the FCDO, are handled by officers from the relevant department depending on the: issue, policy or country the request relates to, with input and professional advice concerning the application of the FOI Act from the FOI team within IRU (Information Rights Unit).As such it is not possible to give an accurate number of staff working on FOIs or the total costs involved. Complex cases may also involve legal counsel from both within and without the department with associated costs.The FOI team in the IRU consists of 22 staff and deals with FOIs, Internal Reviews, ICO complaints and Tribunals.

How many staff in her Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Department does not keep this information centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. This is because, whilst all Freedom of Information (FOI) requests are cleared by a central team, depending on the nature of the request, any member of the Department’s staff could potentially be involved in: processing; locating information for; or drafting, a response to a FOI request. DWP Departmental spend is published here: DWP: departmental spending over £25,000 - GOV.UK

How many staff in his Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if he will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does not have a specific number of staff tasked with processing and responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. On receipt, FOI requests are allocated to officials in the area of the Department relevant to the subject of the request, who then provide the response. The Department’s Information Rights Team (IRT) provides advice and assistance to staff on the application of information rights legislation. The IRT consists of seven members of staff. FOI requests vary considerably from case-to-case in terms of complexity and effort required to provide a response. It is not possible to estimate the annual cost of responding to all the FOI requests the department receives.

How many staff in his Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if he will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD), due to its size and complexity, does not operate a central team responsible for answering all Freedom of Information (FOI) requests received by the Department nor is there a central budget for handling FOI requests. Every business area within MOD plays a part in managing FOI requests who wholly or in part contribute to the processing of FOI requests, including Departmental Secretariats who also have responsibility for Parliamentary correspondence. Given this, annual costs are not held and are subsumed into each Defence organisations business operating budgets and it would not be possible to make an estimate of the annual cost of this work.

How many staff in her Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

Answering requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is part of the day-to-day work of all the department’s officials. The costs of officials’ time are not held in such a way that time spent on processing and responding to Freedom of Information requests can be estimated.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in his Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if he will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

Each team within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) that holds information relevant to a request is responsible for providing responses in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs). These teams receive guidance on the application of the legislation from Defra’s Information Rights Team, which is responsible for processing such requests. The Information Rights Team consists of six staff members. Defra does not maintain a cost accounting system to track staff time spent responding to information requests; therefore, no annual cost figure is available.

How many staff in his Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if he will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Department has a central team with a headcount of 13.8 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff who are responsible for managing Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and related appeals work. FOIs can be requested for any part of the Department's work. As such, various members of staff in the Department may at some point be involved with responding to an FOI request.Most of these staff will carry out such work as part of their overall responsibilities. As such it is not feasible to determine, for the purposes of answering this question, precisely how many staff are responsible for processing and responding to FOI requests across the entire Department, or to provide estimates of the resulting costs.Information on FOI volume and performance by department is published by the Cabinet Office, and is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

How many staff in her Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Home Office has a central team consisting of 13.7 FTEs managing FOI requests and related appeals work. The annual salaries paid to this group of staff were approximately £663K in the year ending September 2024.To determine precisely how many staff are responsible for processing and responding to FOI requests across the entire department and to provide an estimate of the resulting costs, is not feasible for the purposes of answering this question, in particular because the majority of these staff will carry out such work as part of their overall responsibilities.However, if we consider that the Home Office dealt with 6115 resolvable FOI requests in the year ending September 2024 (the most recent data available) and that each resolvable request cost a maximum of £600 to process (the current FOI cost limit), then we can conclude that the cost of processing FOI requests over that twelve month period was a maximum of £3,669,000.

If she will take steps to (a) support the private education sector and (b) encourage its expansion (i) domestically and (ii) internationally.

The department encourages private schools to be high quality and is seeking to further improve regulation of the sector through measures outlined in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Amongst other things, the Bill seeks to ensure that all pupils receive both a safe and suitable education and to strengthen and improve the regulatory regime for private schools.Capacity to expand domestically, within individual school settings, is a matter for private schools themselves. Where they do wish to expand, the department seeks to effectively consider the required material change application. Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will make these requirements clearer.The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) provides support for UK private schools that wish to expand internationally. They do this in a number of ways by:Arranging outward missions with delegations of UK schools, an example of which is one that went to Vietnam and resulted in the signing of agreements with six UK schools to open campuses in that country, one alone which was for seven campuses.Involving them with inward delegations from overseas and other events.DBT has a dedicated schools specialist embedded within its International Education team who works closely with UK private schools.Supporting UK school expansion overseas is a major strand of the education sector wide International Education Strategy (IES). This strategy is currently being reviewed and will be refreshed, taking into account DBT’s discussions with the whole education sector, including those with UK private schools and their membership organisations.The department works positively with DBT to help them engage with private schools where appropriate.