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  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 13 June (HL566), what assessment they have made of why the UK has claimed £49,736,125 from EEA countries and Switzerland for the cost of the NHS providing treatment to people for whom they are responsible under EU law, but has reimbursed EEA countries and Switzerland £674,418,036 for the cost of providing treatment to people for whom the UK is responsible under EU law in 2014–15.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Because of European Union healthcare rules, millions of United Kingdom citizens who work, visit or retire to other European countries can receive the free or reduced cost healthcare they need. That is what we are paying the £674 million for.

    Some 80% of this (over £500 million) is for our pensioners who chose to retire to Europe.

    Many more of our pensioners choose to retire to other European Economic Area countries than pensioners from those countries retiring to the UK, it is therefore inevitable that we will pay more to cover healthcare costs of our pensioners.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the net expenditure of the Standards and Testing Agency in the year ending March 2012 was over 25 per cent lower than the average yearly net expenditure for the period April 2010 to March 2015.

    Lord Nash

    The year ending March 2012 was the period when the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency closed and the Standards and Testing Agency opened. The reduction in expenditure can partly be explained by the transfer of functions between the two organisations. In addition, there was no whole cohort external marking of the Key Stage 2 writing test that year.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to cover any shortfall in university research funding as a result of the UK leaving the EU if a satisfactory negotiated alternative cannot be achieved.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The future of UK access to European research and innovation funding will be a matter for the new Prime Minister and government to discuss. The government is determined to ensure that the UK continues to play a leading role in European and international research and innovation.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether there was a significant disparity between the (1) GCSE, and (2) A-level, results of students living in rural areas and those in urban areas over the last five years.

    Lord Nash

    Our assessment of the total number of GCSE and A level results of students by degree of rurality is available in the file attached. This is published as part of the “GCSE and equivalent results in England” and the “A level and other level 3 results” statistical first releases.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training teachers preparing to work in prisons receive beyond their teaching qualification.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    In the majority of adult prisons in England education is delivered by Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) providers. Individuals wishing to be employed by OLASS providers to teach in prisons should meet the same standards as those preparing to teach SFA funded provision in the learning and skills sector in England.

    In addition, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills grant funds the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) to deliver a specific programme of work to support teaching and learning in prisons, this includes activity to support the professional development of OLASS teachers. In 2016-17 we made available £0.6m to the ETF.

    Training such as in health and safety is the responsibility of the Prison Governor and is arranged locally for OLASS staff by individual prisons.

    There are also a number of privately managed prisons where the operator is responsible for providing education under their contract with the National Offender Management Service. The Directors of those prisons ensure that, beyond their teaching qualifications, teachers will attend a training course varying between three days and one week, depending on which prison they work at. This training is aimed at preparing them to work in the prison environment. A number of these prisons operate a further period where the new starter will observe and shadow existing staff, usually lasting two weeks.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the re-offending rates of prisoners who have completed (1) GCSEs, and (2) A-levels, while in prison.

    Lord Faulks

    Re-offending rates are not currently available broken down by different levels of education attainment.

    We want to improve education so prisoners are less likely to commit crime on release. That is why we are investing in a modern prison estate, where governors are empowered to run prisons in the way they think best, and prisoners are given a chance to work or learn. It is only through more effective rehabilitation that we will reduce reoffending, cut crime and improve public safety.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of teachers in state schools have (1) masters degrees, and (2) doctorates.

    Lord Nash

    The information requested is not available in the format requested.

    The Department publishes statistics showing the highest post A-level qualifications held by teachers in state funded schools in England. This information does not show those with masters degrees and doctorates separately.

    The latest statistics for November 2015, which were published on 30 June 2016, are provided in Table 10 of the statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2015’, which is attached and available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2015

    The statistics show that 97.3% of teachers have a degree or higher level qualification. This is an increase on the previous year when 96.6% of teachers had a degree or higher level qualification.

  • Baroness Hollins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Baroness Hollins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hollins on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 16 June (HL576), whether the trial of Mazher Mahmood is among those cases she refers to as connected to the subject of the Leveson Inquiry and which must conclude before they will consider Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry, and which other criminal proceedings are also in that category.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    There are a number of on-going cases captured by the Leveson criteria, which were laid down to avoid the risk of prejudice to the right to fair trials in the criminal courts. The trial of Mazher Mahmood is one of these.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of the Global Fund in the fight against Malaria.

    Baroness Verma

    The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has played a critical role in the fight against malaria. To date, it has invested $7 billion to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease. Between 2002 and 2015, this support has helped distribute approximately 600 million mosquito nets and treated over 515 million cases of malaria. Given that the Global Fund contributes 58% of all international finance for malaria, it has played an important role in helping reduce deaths from the disease by 48% between 2000-2014.

    With 1 in 10 child deaths in Africa still caused by malaria, the UK recognises that more needs to be done to tackle this deadly, but preventable disease. That is why earlier this year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State committed that the UK would spend £500 million a year to help tackle malaria. This support will contribute towards reducing the death rate from malaria by 90% by 2030.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of resourcing from the international community needs to be applied to meet the Global Fund’s target of saving an additional eight million people at risk of dying from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

    Baroness Verma

    The investment case for the Fifth Replenishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) projects that a successful replenishment of $13bn will enable the Global Fund to save 8 million lives and avert up to 300 million new infections over the period 2017-2019.