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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies are in place to ensure that refugees face no barriers to assimilation within the education system.

Lord Nash

The government is wholly committed to ensuring that refugees who are resettled in the UK receive appropriate support and have a positive experience while they remain in the UK. Children with refugee or humanitarian protection status have access to the education system in the same way as citizen children.

A key factor in the successful integration of children from overseas into UK schools is their access to English language provision. Local authorities can include an ‘English as an additional language’ (EAL) factor in their funding formulae. Funding allocated through this factor forms part of the school’s core budget and it is for school leaders to determine how best to use their whole budget so that all children can reach their full potential.

Schools will need to demonstrate to Ofsted that any special educational needs of refugee children, as with all other children, are addressed satisfactorily.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies are in place to ensure that newly arrived asylum seekers placed in Home Office initial accommodation have immediate access to the education system.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The issue of education provision for children seeking asylum is an important one and the Home Office makes every effort to ensure that families with children who claim asylum support have access to education at the earliest opportunity.

To enable access to education, internal checks are in place to triage applications involving children of school age for priority dispersal from initial accommodation facilities into permanent accommodation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding (1) the National Youth Theatre, (2) the National Youth Orchestra, (3) the National Youth Dance Company, and (4) the Youth Music Theatre UK, receive from (a) the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and (b) the Department for Education.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

Government funding between 2014/15 and 2015/16 to the National Youth Theatre Great Britain, the National Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Dance Company, and the Youth Music Theatre UK is set out in the table. Youth Music Theatre UK and the National Youth Orchestra receive funding as National Youth Music Organisations, which is jointly funded through the Department for Education and Arts Council England lottery money.

These figures include total funding provided through Grant in Aid and Lottery funding.

	DFE	DCMS
Organisation	Grant in Aid 2014/15 – 2015/16	Grant in Aid 2014/15 – 2015/16	Lottery Funding 2014/15 – 2015/16	*Grants for the Arts 2014/15 – 2015/16
National Youth Theatre of Great Britain	£611,538
National Youth Orchestra**	£500,000		£44,441
Sadler’s Wells Trust Ltd. (National Youth Dance Company specific)***	£650,000	£200,000
Youth Music Theatre UK**	£300,000			£37,250

* Grants for the arts is the Arts Council’s Lottery-funded grant programme for individuals, arts organisations and other people who use the arts in their work. Grants are available for activities carried out over a set period and which engage people in England in arts activities and help artists and arts organisations in England carry out their work

**National Youth Music Organisation funding

*** The funding is paid to Sadler’s Wells as the grant recipient for use specifically for National Youth Dance Company activities

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what additional qualifications are required to teach Careers Education in schools.

Lord Nash

We want schools to build the skills and expertise required to plan strategically for the provision of careers education and guidance, embedding careers and employability skills in the curriculum and engaging external partners in the delivery of high quality, inspirational support. The careers strategy, to be published later this year, will set out further details of how we will support schools to achieve this. The strategy has been developed in consultation with key partners across the education and careers sectors.

Pupils can gain confidence and motivation from the opportunity to explore career ideas through individual, face-to-face discussions with a range of people. The careers statutory guidance sets out the main qualifications for careers professionals: the Qualification in Career Guidance (QCG) (which replaced the earlier Diploma in Careers Guidance) and the Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development. The statutory guidance also provides information about the register of careers professionals, developed by the Career Development Institute, which schools can use to search for a career development professional who can deliver a particular service or activity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the study by the Universities of Bristol and Central Lancashire which found that 22 per cent of boys aged 14 to 17 have perpetrated acts of sexual coercion or abuse, what sex education initiatives they have in place that are specifically aimed at boys within that age group.

Lord Nash

Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate. Schools have the freedom to decide which topics are most relevant to their pupils to ensure they develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015. We strongly welcome this guidance, which will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helped educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve teenage literacy, in the light of the 2016 OECD report Building skills for all: A review of England, which stated that the UK has the lowest literacy rates among 16 to 19 year-olds out of 23 developed countries.

Lord Nash

We are pleased that the OECD recognises in their review the changes we have made in recent years to ensure that all young people leave full-time education with a high standard of English.

The primary National Curriculum emphasises the teaching of early reading through systematic phonics and the importance of accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar. At secondary school pupils are expected to read a wide range of texts fluently and with good understanding.

We have reformed GCSEs to ensure they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy than the old GCSE. We are also taking action to improve the rigour and relevance of English Functional Skills qualifications, which are taken by many students and apprentices aged 16 and over.

To ensure all young people have every opportunity to secure proficiency in English, since 2014 we have required every 16-19 year old not holding a good pass in GCSE English and mathematics to continue to study these subjects as part of their 16-19 study programme. We have also embedded English and mathematics into our work-based training programmes such as apprenticeships and traineeships.

Last summer’s GCSE results show that over 4,000 more students aged 17 and over secured GCSE English at grades A*-C than the previous year.