Written questions by Stephenson.

With reference to the national flood risk assessment data, published on 25 March 2025, whether she has written to schools with buildings in flood zones (a) two and (b) three.

The department’s Schools Water Strategy team works with delivery partners such as the Environment Agency, water companies and lead local flood authorities to deliver flood prevention measures in schools through a number of workstreams.The Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in schools project collaborates with industry experts to jointly fund SuDS’ installation in schools at risk of surface water, reducing their flood risk.The Environment Agency Partnership contributes funding to enable large-scale community flood schemes to be delivered.The Property Flood Resilience assesses and implements property flood resilience and recovery measures across the school estate, targeting schools in high-risk areas and schools that have suffered repeated disruption.Awareness and Education signposts or provides schools with appropriate information and tools to manage their water-related climate risks, as well as educational materials to support this and necessary behavioural changesThe department has invested in measures to reduce risk to flooding at 573 schools to the end of 2024/25 through the Schools Water Strategy, and will continue to invest in flood prevention in schools at risk of flooding in line with the published Sustainability and Climate Change strategy.All education settings are expected to have a climate action plan to prepare for the effects of climate change, of which flooding is one. Taking a whole-school approach to climate change includes consideration towards climate adaptation and mitigation, supporting carbon reduction and nature recovery and increasing resilience to climate-related impacts such as flooding. The department has commissioned the Sustainability Support for Education hub to help settings start or continue with their sustainability journey, as well as funding the Climate Ambassador programme, which provides access to tailored support from experts from industry to develop and implement their climate action plans. Details about the hub can be found here: https://www.sustainabilitysupportforeducation.org.uk/. Details about the programme are available here: https://climateambassadors.org.uk/.

With reference to the national flood risk assessment data, published on 25 March 2025, whether her Department plans to improve the flood defences of schools in flood zones (a) two and (b) three.

The department’s Schools Water Strategy team works with delivery partners such as the Environment Agency, water companies and lead local flood authorities to deliver flood prevention measures in schools through a number of workstreams.The Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in schools project collaborates with industry experts to jointly fund SuDS’ installation in schools at risk of surface water, reducing their flood risk.The Environment Agency Partnership contributes funding to enable large-scale community flood schemes to be delivered.The Property Flood Resilience assesses and implements property flood resilience and recovery measures across the school estate, targeting schools in high-risk areas and schools that have suffered repeated disruption.Awareness and Education signposts or provides schools with appropriate information and tools to manage their water-related climate risks, as well as educational materials to support this and necessary behavioural changes.The department has invested in measures to reduce risk to flooding at 573 schools to the end of 2024/25 through the Schools Water Strategy and will continue to invest in flood prevention in schools at risk of flooding in line with the published Sustainability and Climate Change strategy.

What steps he is taking to support the beer and pub sector.

Pubs and the beer sector are central to our communities and vital to economic growth. I regularly meet with sector representatives. To understand their challenges. We are also supporting initiatives like Pub is The Hub to encourage local investment. Additionally, we have launched a licensing taskforce to cut red tape and remove barriers to business growth.We also plan to introduce permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with a rateable value under £500,000 and are reducing alcohol duty on qualifying draught products, saving the sector over £85 million annually.

What recent estimate he has made of the potential impact of making the power grid net zero by 2030 on energy bills.

Our clean power target means transitioning to an electricity system that produces at least 95% of Great Britain’s generation from clean sources. NESO's analysis confirmed delivering clean power by 2030 is deliverable, more secure, and could see a lower cost of electricity, and lower bills. The Department accepts NESO's modelling that clean power by 2030 can be delivered without increasing costs to consumers, with scope for lower bills. Over this Parliament the government will be working relentlessly to translate the much cheaper wholesale costs of clean power into lower bills for consumers.

What steps he is taking to ensure the resilience of the electricity grid, in the context of fluctuating levels of power within the grid.

Great Britain has a highly resilient energy network with diverse sources of supply and maintaining the security of electricity supply is a key priority for Government. We are working with the energy industry, regulators and other stakeholders to continually improve and maintain the resilience and security of energy infrastructure. We work to reduce the vulnerability of networks and assets, taking into account a range of threats and future system changes. The National Energy System Operator has well-established tools to balance the system in a wide range of scenarios, including in the event of voltage and frequency fluctuations.

With reference to the oral contribution by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury of 3 March 2025, Official Report, column 40WH, on what evidential basis she estimated that 100 additional private schools would close over three years.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government published the following Policy Paper Private school fees — VAT measure - GOV.UK . The basis for the estimate of school closures is set out in this paper under the heading ‘Impact on business including civil society organisations’. Further explanation of the methodology behind the estimate of the demand reduction referred to in the above Paper is set out in the Annex to the Government_Response_to_the_Technical_Note_on_Applying_VAT_to_Private_School_Fees_and_Removing_the_Business_Rates_Charitable_Rate_Relief.pdf, under the heading ‘Demand’. This was also published at the Autumn Budget.

What recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of making the power grid net zero by 2030 on jobs.

The Government’s initial assessment of the challenges of building the skilled workforce to deliver the Clean Energy Superpower Mission has been outlined in the Clean Power Action Plan. The Plan includes an Evidence Annex which provides a basis for government to better understand the 2030 workforce requirements and support targeted skills planning. DESNZ will publish our Clean Energy Workforce Strategy this summer. It will set out how we intend to grow and support the talent pipeline for Clean Power 2030 and net zero by 2050.The wider transition to net zero is expected to support hundreds of thousands of jobs, with Clean Power 2030 playing a key part in stimulating a wealth of new jobs and economic opportunities across the country.

What steps he is taking to help reduce employment costs for the automotive industry.

Jobs will be at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy, which will focus on tackling barriers to growth, creating the right conditions for increased investment, high-quality jobs and ensuring tangible impact in communities right across the UK. The strategy will build on existing support for the sector, including the Budget commitment of over £2 billion of funding to 2030 for zero emission vehicle manufacturing.We have also made significant changes to the ZEV Mandate to help drive investment and support the transition. Additionally, we speak regularly to all major UK automotive stakeholders to understand the health of the sector and factors that impact competitiveness.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Air Passenger Duty exemption for children under 16 years old to include those travelling in (a) Premium Economy and (b) any other cabin class.

Children under 16 years old on the date of the flight, and in the lowest class of travel, are exempt from Air Passenger Duty (APD). If children under 16 years old are travelling in any other class (such as premium economy) or in business jets, they are not exempt. Children under 2 years old without a seat are exempt from Air Passenger Duty for all classes of travel. Airline operators declare the number of chargeable passengers by destination band and by rate. They do not break down chargeable passengers by age, and therefore this is not information that HMRC collects. The government has published annual statistics and analysis on airline passenger numbers and Air Passenger Duty (APD) receipts in the UK which are administered by HM Revenue and Customs. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-passenger-duty-bulletin.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the press release entitled Children embrace the future with humanoid school project, published on 14 April 2025, how much (a) time and (b) money the Government has spent developing this project.

The humanoid robots school outreach project was part of the Government Office for Science's work to build scientific and technical literacy across the Government and the UK. It was part of a wider project developing advice for government assessing recent developments in humanoid robotics and the potential implications which took place between May 2024 and March 2025. The outreach elements including in depth evaluation - delivered in partnership with the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres – with a total contribution of under £12,000.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate on employment in the automotive industry in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) the UK.

In 2024, 132,000 people were employed in automotive manufacturing in the UK, and 3,570 businesses were operating across the sector. While the government does not hold data on how the Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandate has affected automotive employment in Bedfordshire or the UK more widely, we speak regularly to all the major UK automotive stakeholders to understand the health of the sector and factors impacting competitiveness. Government is committed to ensuring the transition to zero emissions works for industry. That is why we introduced significant changes to the Mandate, allowing for greater flexibility in meeting ZEV targets and extending the sale of hybrid vehicles.

Whether she plans to allocate a multi-year funding settlement for (a) revenue and (b) capital to Great British Railways.

The recent consultation on reforming our railways proposed that the Secretary of State will be required to issue a High-Level Output Specification (HLOS) and Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) for GBR’s Infrastructure Operations, Maintenance and Renewals. GBR would be required to create a business plan in response to the HLOS and SoFA, setting out its proposed activity over the next 5 years. Passenger services and enhancements would continue to be funded through the spending review process when these occur. The consultation has now closed, and Government will publish a response in due course.

Whether she has made a comparative assessment of the Standard Rate of Air Passenger Duty in (a) the UK, (b) Germany, (c) France, (d) Italy and (e) Spain.

Air Passenger Duty (APD) applies to airlines and is the principal tax on the aviation sector. For a given distance-based band, the standard rate applies to travel in any non-economy class of travel or where the seat pitch is more than 1.016 metres (40 inches). This includes premium economy, as well as first class and business class. The Government is clear that APD is an appropriate tax that ensures airlines make a fair contribution to the public finances, particularly given that tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. Other countries also have different forms of aviation taxes.

With reference to the press release entitled Multi-billion pound investment secured as Universal theme park and resort set to be built in Bedford, published on 9 April 2025, if she will request that East West Rail add an additional station to their consolidated plan on the Marston Vale line.

East West Rail Company consulted on options for stations and services along the Marston Vale Line as part of its 2024 non-statutory consultation. It is now considering feedback to this as well as the recent Government announcement of a new Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire. Further details on serving Universal’s site will be presented at a future statutory consultation on East West Rail.

With reference to the press release entitled Government steps in to back British business in changing world, published on 14 April 2025, whether any of the funding is additional to funding provided at the Spring Statement 2025.

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses as the world enters a new era of global trade. The government has increased the capacity of UK Export Finance (UKEF) to provide support for exporters by £20 billion and has expanded the British Business Bank (BBB) Growth Guarantee Scheme. UKEF operates at no net cost to the taxpayer and increasing its limits does not have a fiscal cost. BBB support is funded within the overall spending plans set out at Spring Statement 2025.

What estimate she has made of total revenue generated by Air Passenger Duty from children aged under 16 years old who travelled in Premium Economy in each of the last three years.

Children under 16 years old on the date of the flight, and in the lowest class of travel, are exempt from Air Passenger Duty (APD). If children under 16 years old are travelling in any other class (such as premium economy) or in business jets, they are not exempt. Children under 2 years old without a seat are exempt from Air Passenger Duty for all classes of travel. Airline operators declare the number of chargeable passengers by destination band and by rate. They do not break down chargeable passengers by age, and therefore this is not information that HMRC collects. The government has published annual statistics and analysis on airline passenger numbers and Air Passenger Duty (APD) receipts in the UK which are administered by HM Revenue and Customs. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-passenger-duty-bulletin.

If she will make an estimate of the average impact of judicial reviews on the cost of road infrastructure projects between 2015 and 2025.

The impact of judicial reviews on the cost of road infrastructure projects will vary by scheme. National Highways has calculated that the increase in costs to its schemes, caused by legal challenges, is between £66 million and £121 million per scheme.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the UK’s target to protect at least 30 per cent of its land and sea for nature by 2030.

The Departmernt published an Impact Assessment (IA) for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on 6 May 2025. It can be found here. The IA received a ‘Green’ rating from the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC), indicating that it is ‘fit for purpose’.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential disruption to the education sector of introducing the VAT levy on independent school fees in the middle of the academic year.

The Government carefully considered the timing of implementation of VAT on private school fees and decided to apply VATfrom January 2025, in order to raise the funding needed to help deliver its education priorities. As a result of the January start date, the VAT policy is forecast to raise £460 million in 2024/25. Schools and parents had five months to prepare for these changes, and HMRC put in place measures to support schools, including bespoke guidance, updated registration systems, and additional resources to process applications.

What estimate she has made of the amount of new rolling stock required to be purchased to deliver East West Rail services.

Work is ongoing to establish demand levels and the optimal Train Service Specification (TSS) between Oxford & Cambridge, this details the frequency and stopping pattern of the proposed services and rolling stock requirements. These factors continue to evolve and develop as East West Rail Company refines the proposals for the scheme which will be set out in a Statutory Consultation