Pupil Referral Units form part of the Alternative Provision (AP) education sector and are maintained by local authorities. All local authorities have a duty under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to provide suitable education and sufficient places for children of compulsory school age who cannot attend school. As at October 2019, there are 209 Pupil Referral Units in England, along with 95 AP Academies and 47 AP Free Schools, with a further 7 AP Free Schools planned to open over the next three years.

The department is currently looking closely at what is needed to ensure the sector has the capacity and capability to provide high quality education and support to all children and young people in alternative provision.

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

The Gender Pay Gap among all employees in the UK continues to decline, currently at a record low of 17.3%.

This year, mandatory reporting regulations have seen over 10,000 employers report their gender pay gap for the second time, with around half of all employers in-scope of the regulations publishing action plans.

To close the gap entirely we need a much wider cultural change, which can’t be imposed from above. We strongly encourage all employers to publish action plans, prompting discussions about the drivers of the pay gap in their organisations. To support employers, we have published advice on how to diagnose their gaps and develop an effective action plan, alongside evidence-based guidance on practical actions they can take to close the gap. We actively disseminate this guidance to employers throughout the year to ensure they have the information they need to create an action plan.

This position is kept under review. If we do not think that employers are making enough progress, we will act.

The Withdrawal Agreement agreed with the EU ensures that we leave the EU in a smooth and orderly way, and will provide certainty for businesses and the economy. Leaving the Customs Union and Single Market allows the UK to pursue an ambitious FTA with the EU as sovereign equals, as well as striking trade deals with other international partners.

The specifics of our future trading relationship with the EU will be the subject of the next phase of the negotiations. We will keep Parliament updated throughout the next phase of the negotiations and provide analysis at appropriate points.

The OBR will, of course, continue to take Government policy – including the UK’s future relationship with the EU – as the basis for its economic and fiscal forecasts, and will provide its usual comprehensive analysis as part of these.

The Government accepts, in principle, all the recommendations made of central Government in Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry’s Phase One report and will work at pace to take these forward. This may include bringing forward legislation ahead of the Bill on building safety standards announced in the Queen’s Speech if that would mean the Inquiry’s recommendations can be implemented sooner.

We are currently analysing responses to our Call for Evidence on the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and intend to publish a formal response after the General Election.

The Office for Students (OfS) is responsible for assessing and monitoring the financial sustainability of registered higher education (HE) providers in England. The English HE sector overall remains in reasonable financial health, according to the OfS, in its report published on 4 April 2019. The OfS has currently registered 388 HE providers. This means that it has assessed that each of those providers has met a registration condition of being financially sustainable looking out for a period of five years. The OfS will continually monitor providers’ compliance with this registration condition, as with all registration conditions, in a way that is appropriate to the circumstances of individual providers.

Ministers and officials in the Department for Education regularly discuss a wide range of issues relating to HE with the OfS. Similarly, Ministers and officials frequently meet representatives of individual HE providers and sector representative bodies.

Education is a devolved matter. The Department for Education is responsible for HE in England only. The OfS is the regulator for HE in England only.

At the juxtaposed controls and at ports around the country, Border Force officers use some of the most advanced detection technology available to find and stop migrants attempting to reach the UK illegally. We have also invested tens of millions of pounds in new infrastructure to enhance border security. All freight vehicles entering the UK through the juxtaposed controls are screened for people being smuggled into the UK using a range of techniques. This includes using carbon dioxide detectors and motion sensors as well as sniffer dogs to detect clandestine on-board lorries.

We will continue to monitor closely displacement of the threat to other ports and routes into the UK and are prepared to shift more resources to UK ports, whilst working proactively with European law enforcement, including partners in France, Belgium and Holland, to target the organised crime networks behind people trafficking and illegal migration.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Government recognises that healthy wet peatlands have many positive environmental benefits, including flood mitigation, terrestrial carbon storage for mitigating climate change, providing habitat for rare wildlife and water purification and regulation.

The BEIS Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands, published in April this year, estimates that annual greenhouse gas emissions from degraded (including drained) peatlands in England are approximately 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e).

Border Force deploys a range of detection equipment across the UK border to detect incidents of human trafficking but, for national security reasons, does not comment on the specific technology used.

Border Force are continually seeking to develop and invest in new capability.

The Government recognises the importance of tackling plastic pollution and addressing the sustainability of the fashion industry, and our Resources and Waste Strategy sets out how we will do this. The Government has not made an assessment of the environmental impact of introducing a 5p charge for plastic clothes hangers, however our reforms set out in the Strategy will help address the issues that they pose. When sold in conjunction with clothing, plastic clothes hangers are classified as packaging items, meaning that they are subject to the current producer responsibility system for packaging waste. This requires obligated businesses to acquire evidence to demonstrate that tonnages equivalent to their individual targets have been recovered and recycled each year. Earlier this year the Government consulted on proposals to reform the current packaging producer responsibility system and intends to bring forward its final proposals for consultation in 2020.

It is for individual schools to decide whether to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils. The vast majority of head teachers recognise the important role school libraries play in improving literacy and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure and ensure that suitable library facilities are provided. The national curriculum requires teachers in maintained schools to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. It also emphasises the importance of listening to, discussing and – as their fluency increases – reading for themselves a wide range of stories, poems, plays and information books. Ofsted’s school inspection framework has a significant focus on reading as part of the quality of education judgement, with reading being prioritised to allow pupils to access the full curriculum offer.

The last Progress in International Reading Literacy Study indicated in 2011 that 92% of pupils in Year 5 in England were attending a school where there was a library. This was above the international average of 86%.

We do not collect data on school library provision or the impact it has on children’s educational attainment.

It is for individual schools to decide whether to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils. The vast majority of head teachers recognise the important role school libraries play in improving literacy and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure and ensure that suitable library facilities are provided. The national curriculum requires teachers in maintained schools to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. It also emphasises the importance of listening to, discussing and – as their fluency increases – reading for themselves a wide range of stories, poems, plays and information books. Ofsted’s school inspection framework has a significant focus on reading as part of the quality of education judgement, with reading being prioritised to allow pupils to access the full curriculum offer.

The last Progress in International Reading Literacy Study indicated in 2011 that 92% of pupils in Year 5 in England were attending a school where there was a library. This was above the international average of 86%.

We do not collect data on school library provision or the impact it has on children’s educational attainment.

The Government is committed to create a policy and regulatory environment which will ensure the most efficient use of radio spectrum (or airwaves), including setting the right conditions for the development and deployment of 5G networks while protecting important satellite services and applications.

Government departments and agencies have been actively involved in the work of international telecoms groups, ITU (International Telecommunications Union) and CEPT (European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations), to study the necessary technical conditions for 5G, to ensure that they meet internationally agreed protection criteria for satellite communication and scientific satellites, including Copernicus.

These technical conditions must balance the needs of the 5G industry and the science community. Such conditions have already been agreed within Europe. The UK has proposed, via European coordination (i.e. the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, a pan-European body including 48 countries), that these technical conditions should be adopted at global level at WRC-19 (World Radiocommunication Conference), which meets until 22nd November.

The Government is committed to our Net Zero target. As part of our forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan we will be working with industry and local communities around the country to develop plans to achieve this. Those conversations will of course include the Mayor of London and Transport for London.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the independent body responsible for regulating aviation in the UK. The CAA established an Innovation Hub this year, which is engaging with innovative aviation companies, including those seeking to gain permission to operate Electric ‘Air taxis’ in the UK.

In August, the Prime Minister announced a £300 million joint investment, from the Government and industry, through the Future Flight Challenge, which will support the development of innovative aviation systems and the infrastructure and regulations needed to support them.

We want every child to have the best start in life, which is why we are spending around £3.5 billion on early education entitlements this year and plan to spend over £3.6 billion on these offers next year.

We are aware of the Information Commissioner Office’s decision and are considering our response.

Qatar has made significant progress to improve the situation for its workers, including migrant workers since it won the right to host the World Cup. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) opened an office in Doha in 2018 to work with Qatar on improving workers’ rights. We welcome the steps Qatar has taken to date to improve the treatment of workers in Qatar including its most recent announcements on labour reform to abolish the Kafala system by early 2020. We continue to encourage Qatar on making further reforms recommended by the ILO and stand ready to support.

It is the intention of the National Health Service, as set out in its Long Term Plan commitment, to reduce the use of traditional inhalers with higher levels of fluorinated gases. There are devices available which use significantly less fluorinated gases and dry powder devices, which do not use fluorinated gases, unlike traditional metered dose devices.

This year, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence has published a Patient Decision Aid to help people with asthma, alongside health professionals, to identify which inhalers could meet their needs and control their symptoms. Where several inhalers could be viable options, the decision aid helps clinicians and patients choose the more environmentally friendly option, with a lower carbon footprint. The British Thoracic Society have included device carbon impacts in their recently published asthma guidelines.

Racial harassment is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities.

Higher education providers have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, to investigate and swiftly address incidents reported to them.

The government will continue to work closely with partners, including Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS), to drive progress on matters of racial harassment and hatred in higher education. Department for Education officials meet with UUK and OfS at least quarterly to discuss progress on this area, drive momentum and communicate the government’s priorities.

The Government is committed to making the UK a global science superpower and a magnet for brilliant people and businesses from across the world - building on our position of existing global excellence. That is why we have affirmed our commitment to increasing R&D investment to at least 2.4% of GDP and will be setting out plans to reach this later this Autumn, providing long-term certainty to the scientific community. We have also recently announced that we intend to launch a comprehensive UK Space Strategy, introduce a fast-track immigration scheme for top scientists and researchers and develop proposals for a new funding agency.

The Government has committed to guarantee funding for all successful eligible UK bids to Horizon 2020 that are submitted before the end of 2020, for the lifetime of projects. We have also guaranteed funding for participation in all Horizon 2020 projects open to third countries after exit, which are collaborative projects. The Science Minister has written to his counterparts across the EU to set this out.

In a no deal Exit scenario, the guarantee would cover funding for all successful competitive UK bids to Horizon 2020 submitted before the UK leaves the EU, even if they are notified of their success after exit. The guarantee would apply for the lifetime of projects. Again, in a no deal scenario, the extension to the guarantee would cover funding for all successful competitive UK bids to Horizon 2020 calls open to third country participants submitted from the date of exit until the end of 2020. Like the guarantee, the extension would apply for the lifetime of projects.

In addition to the Government’s no deal guarantee and extension funding commitments, we have committed to ensuring that all UK bids to mono-beneficiary ERC, MSCA and SMEi (now known as European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator) calls that are submitted to Horizon 2020 before Exit are evaluated in all scenarios. This means researchers and innovators can continue to submit proposals to Horizon 2020 with confidence, right up to the point of exit, knowing that the best proposals will be funded – regardless of how we leave the EU.