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  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 13 January (HL4703 and HL4074), by what means they give public access to the grounds for retention linked to retention instruments in order to explain which official records are being withheld from transfer to the National Archives and why.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    I refer the noble Lord to the responses to HL4703 and HL4704. The attached Access to Public Records Manual is published by The National Archives and sets out the grounds for retention.

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 30 December 2015 (HL4621), whether they consider the four prisoners, including Jason Rezaian, recently released by Iran to the US each had dual citizenship, and whether they will use those cases as precedents in their approach to the case of Kamal Foroughi.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We welcome the release of US prisoners held in Iran. The agreement between the US and Iran was a bilateral one, and has not changed Iran’s policy of not recognising dual nationality. We continue to raise our own consular cases, including Mr Foroughi, with the Iranians at the highest levels and to urge for their release.

  • Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been charged under section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 by each police force in England and Wales in each year since 2012.

    Lord Bates

    This information is not held by the Home Office. The Home Office receives data from police forces in England and Wales which show offences recorded by the police that resulted in one or more people being charged or summonsed. It is not possible to determine either the number of people charged for each offence or what section of an act someone was charged under for each offence or what specific section of an act somebody was charged under for some offences.

    The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales.

  • Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been (1) arrested, (2) charged, and (3) convicted, under section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in each year since the provision came into force, and what penalty was imposed in cases of conviction.

    Lord Faulks

    The attached table shows, for the years 2010-2014, the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts and the number of offenders found guilty and sentenced at all courts, with sentencing outcomes, for offences relating to paying or promising to pay a person to provide sexual services, where that person is subject to exploitative conduct to induce or encourage them to provide those services.

    Court proceeding data for calendar year 2015 is planned for publication in May 2016.

    The Home Office collects data on arrests at offence group level (for example, “sexual offences”), but the data is unavailable in relation to more specific offences, such as those under section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

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

    Lord Northbourne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Northbourne on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage or require maintained secondary schools to prepare young people, whilst they are still at school, for their probable future role as parents.

    Lord Nash

    This Government believes that schools are best placed to make decisions about the education of their pupils. Teachers can cover parenting skills in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education lessons. The non-statutory programme of study for PSHE includes the roles and responsibilities of parents, parenting skills, the value of family relationships, and the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what help and advice is available to Muslim students who wish to progress to higher education but for whom an interest-bearing student loan would be a violation of their religious principles, and where that help and advice can be accessed.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government is aware that some students, whose religious beliefs may prevent the taking out of a loan that bears interest, may feel unable to take advantage of student loans. In April 2014 BIS conducted a consultation on an alternative finance product for undergraduate students. Upon review of consultation responses, the Government supported the introduction of a Takaful Alternative Finance product available to everyone. This work is ongoing and subject to Parliamentary approval, the Government hopes to introduce the system through new legislation.

    All students can access advice and guidance on the financial support available to them from Student Finance England on the link below:

    https://www.gov.uk/contact-student-finance-england

    “

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of Muslim students who have been unable to progress to higher education because their religious principles do not permit them to take out an interest-bearing student loan.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government consulted in April 2014 on an Alternative Finance product that could be offered to students alongside traditional loans. 20,000 responses were received with 94 per cent believing there is a demand for Alternative Finance.

    The Government is working on the development of a Takaful Alternative Finance product and as part of this will be working with the Muslim community and others to understand the likely take-up of the product.

  • Lord Stevenson of Balmacara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Stevenson of Balmacara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevenson of Balmacara on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to take forward the consultation on the legal framework for debt administration proposed by the 2015 Farnish Review of the Money Advice Service, and if so, when.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government is committed to exploring whether some form of “breathing space” would be a useful and viable addition to the range of formal and informal debt solutions available to consumers and creditors. Officials in HM Treasury and the Insolvency Service have been asked to discuss this issue with stakeholders with a view to identifying possible options and have begun work on this review.

  • 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 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the planned process and timetable for consideration of a national funding formula for schools in England.

    Lord Nash

    We are committed to ending the unfair funding system that means children with the same needs attract different amounts of money simply because of where they live. As we announced at the Spending Review, we intend to do that by introducing a fair national funding formula in 2017. This would be a significant reform, and we will carry out a full formal consultation later this year.

  • 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 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the financial advantages of a school converting to academy status.

    Lord Nash

    Academies and free schools receive per-pupil funding on an equivalent basis to all other maintained schools. A fundamental principle of the programme is that no school should be financially advantaged or disadvantaged in converting to academy status. Academies have greater freedom than maintained schools to determine the use of the money they receive.

    Academies also currently receive funding through the Education Services Grant in respect of services that local authorities provide for maintained schools and which academies provide for their own pupils. Academies and local authorities receive the education services grant on the same basis, according to a national per-pupil rate.

    Academies can form or join multi-academy trusts, allowing them to achieve efficiencies through economies of scale and shared procurement. By coming together in a formal joint-governance structure, multi-academy trusts give schools the ability to maximise the potential benefits from collaboration.