The UK works closely with international partners and key organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to promote the development and uptake of animal replacement technologies. There are currently no plans to host a summit on the matter.

The Government, via UK Research & Innovation, funds the development of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research through the National Centre for 3Rs (NC3Rs). The NC3Rs encourages researchers’ to use non-animal methods (NAMs) in a number of ways, including supporting the skills base by funding PhD students to work only on the development of NAMs, and dedicated funding allowing researchers to test methods alongside existing animal studies. NC3Rs recently launched a network to bring researchers from academia, industry and regulatory authorities together to share knowledge on the use of NAMs methods for safety testing.

Raising standards is at the heart of this government’s agenda and, since 2010, the number of schools rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ has risen to 90% from 68%. The Progress in International Reading Study (PIRLS) 2021 showed that English primary school children are the best in the western world and were ranked 4^th out of 43 comparable countries. While the pandemic affected the study, the Programme for International School Assessment 2022 also showed that 15 year old pupils in England performed above the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD) average and are now 11^th in maths and 13^th in reading and science. This was up from 27^th in maths, 25^th in reading and 16^th in science in 2009.

The department has invested significantly to provide a world class education system, ensuring an excellent teacher for every child, high standards of curriculum attendance and behaviour, targeted support for every child that needs it and a stronger and fairer schools system. The overall core schools budget, including the recently announced additional pensions funding, will total £60.7 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. This means school funding will have risen by £11 billion by 2024/25 compared to 2021/22.

The funding breakdown requested since 2019/20 is included below. Figures for the 2023/24 financial year are subject to ongoing data collection and reconciliation and therefore we have not included this year in the table. The department reviews Initial Teacher Training (ITT) bursaries each year to determine the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, the department takes into account a number of factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions and teacher supply need in each subject. The department focuses its funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses in its highest priority subjects with the greatest sufficiency challenges.

In addition to the funding outlined in the table below, the department also offers national professional qualifications (NPQs), including specialist NPQs in leading literacy and leading primary mathematics. Details on scholarship funding available for autumn 2024 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-national-professional-qualifications-npqs.

The quality of teaching is the single most important, in-school factor for improving pupil outcomes and it is particularly important for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The department is creating a world-class teacher development system, which builds from ITT, through to early career support, specialisation and onto school leadership.

1. Due to the way the department allocated funding, it does not have historic data on SKE spending by subject. This total includes all SKE funding, regardless of subject

2. Oak was incubated by The Reach Foundation and predominantly funded through a department grant until 31 August 2022. The 2023/24 financial year is Oak’s arm’s length body allocated budget as 2023/24 actuals are not yet available. The funding for Oak National Academy covers the creation of curriculum resources across all national curriculum subjects for Key Stages 1 to 4

3. Where subject hubs are part of a contract with a supplier, we have included all contract costs, including those not directly for subject hubs but for other Career Progress Development (CPD) or central programme management. The department changed the way Maths Hubs were funded in the 2021/22 academic year, resulting in a visual drop by financial year but not across the academic years. The department also has subject hubs in computing and languages which are not shown in these figures but are included in total subject hub figures set out in WPQ 20499

4. ITT bursaries are paid and assured by academic year rather than financial year. The figures provided for each financial year have been calculated by prorating the total spend for the relevant academic years that the financial year spans. Academic years 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 are subject to ongoing data collection and reconciliation and the figures provided may therefore be subject to change

5. Trainees on general science ITT courses are not eligible for bursaries. However, bursaries are available for biology, chemistry, and physics specialism courses. The figures provided for science are the total spend across the three individual sciences.

The Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon receives reports on the Western Sahara. Officials regularly meet and consult with international partners to discuss the issue of Western Sahara, including those from the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the UN, NGOs, Civil Society Organisations, and the broader international community.

The UK Government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Morocco and Western Sahara, and we raise human rights issues with the Moroccan Government accordingly. We also engage on these issues at the UN and have consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara.

Morocco is not listed as the administering Power of Western Sahara on the United Nations' list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

There were 19 pharmacies in Worthing West constituency on 31 December 2023. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, three pharmacies closed and no new pharmacies opened in Worthing West.

Access to pharmaceutical services remains good. 99 percent of the population in Worthing West live within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. In addition, residents of Worthing West can access distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.

It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.

There were 19 pharmacies in Worthing West constituency on 31 December 2023. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, three pharmacies closed and no new pharmacies opened in Worthing West.

Access to pharmaceutical services remains good. 99 percent of the population in Worthing West live within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. In addition, residents of Worthing West can access distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.

It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.

Teachers are the foundation of the education system; there are no great schools without great teachers. The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor for improving pupil outcomes. This is particularly important for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The department is creating a world class teacher development system, which builds from Initial Teacher Training (ITT), through to early career support, specialisation, and onto school leadership. The funding breakdown requested over the last five years is included in the attached table. The department is providing support across a range of subjects via a network of hubs that help build teacher capability and pupil access to subjects. This focuses on support for teachers in schools and extends to sixth form provision in some schools.

In addition to this funding, in 2021, as part of the government’s long term recovery plan, £184 million of new funding was allocated to enable teachers employed at state-funded organisations to access fully funded training scholarships for National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for three years until the end of the 2023/24 academic year. This includes two specialist NPQs in Leading Literacy (NPQLL) and the NPQ in Leading Primary Mathematics (NPQLPM). In March 2024, the government announced scholarship funding for NPQs for the October 2024 cohort. This includes a guarantee that the NPQLPM will be fully funded until October 2025 to further expand teaching of mathematics mastery approaches through primary education.

Religious education (RE) is an important part of a school’s curriculum and can contribute to a young person’s personal, social, and academic development. When done well, it can develop children’s knowledge of British values and traditions, help them better understand those of other countries, and refine pupils’ ability to construct well-informed, balanced, and structured arguments. This is why RE remains a compulsory subject in all state-funded schools in England for each pupil up to the age of 18.

The department has no plans to publish additional non-statutory guidance on RE syllabus content in schools. The department’s policy is to allow RE curricula to be designed at a local level, whether this is through a locally agreed syllabus conference or by individual schools and academy trusts developing their own curricula. The department feels this is the most appropriate way for local demographics to be accounted for.

The department does however welcome the work that the Religious Education Council has done to assist curriculum developers by publishing its National Content Standard for RE in England.

Ensuring the electricity system is reliable, as well as net zero consistent, means variable renewables, such as wind and solar, need to be complemented by technologies which can provide dispatchable or baseload power.

Biomass electricity generation can provide this flexibility and plays a key role in delivering a more secure, clean energy sector in Britain.

Parliamentary approval was granted for the updated energy National Policy Statements on 17 January 2024. This covers the use of biomass in electricity generation at the scale of Nationally Significant Infrastructure under the Planning Act (which applies to projects in England and Wales).

Counsel for the Secretary of State correctly drew the Select Committee’s attention to the role of the late Asa Bruno in designing the Holocaust Memorial. Mr Bruno’s evidence to the planning inquiry summarised the position as follows:

“I am co-founder and Director of Ron Arad Architects Ltd, the architectural practice acting as Memorial Architect for the project, and I am leading the role of Memorial Architect on behalf of the practice.”

Ministers work closely across government to support children, including those going through parental separation or divorce.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is responsible for private family law, which includes child arrangements upon separation, marriage and divorce. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the MoJ responsible for this is Lord Bellamy KC.

David Johnston MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing at the Department for Education, works closely with Lord Bellamy KC at the MoJ, including through jointly chairing the national Family Justice Board, which is focused on providing the best possible outcomes for the children and families that come into contact with the family justice system.

Government is currently consulting on potential arrangements to help facilitate the transition of large-scale biomass generation to power bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Responses to the consultation will help to inform government policy on this matter. As set out in the consultation, a potential support mechanism is expected to require secondary legislation which would be brought to Parliament as part of the legislative process.

The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission L-category vehicles was open to responses from 14 July to 21 September 2022 and supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement, which is ongoing. The Department is now analysing the responses, including points raised on the use cases of these vehicles, and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.

There have been no officials meetings with ministers from this department. Officials last met on 21 February 2023.

There have been no officials meetings with ministers from this department. Officials last met on 21 February 2023.