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

    Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Addington on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the minimum required number of trained special educational needs support staff within a school.

    Lord Nash

    In order to be awarded qualified teacher status (QTS), all teacher trainees must satisfy the Teachers’ Standards, which include a requirement that they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEN, and are able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

    Schools are responsible for deciding what external support to seek and for setting their own priorities for the continuous professional development of their staff. The SEN and Disability code of practice makes it clear that high quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN. Schools should review, and, where necessary, improve teachers’ understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable pupils and their knowledge of the SEN more frequently encountered.

    The SEN and disability local offer, published by each local authority, must include arrangements in schools for securing expertise among teachers and other professionals to support pupils with SEN or disabilities. This should include professional development to secure that expertise.

    All mainstream schools, including Academies and free schools, and mainstream nursery schools are required to designate a member of staff, a SENCO, to co-ordinate provision for pupils with special educational needs. That person must be a qualified teacher. If that person has been a SENCO for less than twelve months, he or she must achieve a National Award in Special Educational Needs Co-ordination within three years of appointment.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations are responsible for enforcing security of aircraft against incidents with drones, and what means they have to disable such drones and identify the owners.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Working alongside other agencies in the intelligence and law enforcement communities, the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority are responsible for assessing and managing the risks to and from civil aviation, including remotely piloted aircraft systems. There are regulations in place that require users to maintain direct, unaided visual contact with their drone and to not recklessly or negligently allow a drone to endanger any person or property; these regulations have recently led to successful prosecutions for misuse. Work is ongoing to identify appropriate and effective mitigations from point of sale to incident resolution.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions in each of the last three years the Ambassador of Burundi to the UK has been (1) called to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to discuss events in Burundi, and (2) met a minister.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Mr Deo Sindayihebura became the first Burundian Ambassador to the UK in May 2014. Until then the position was based in Paris. The most recent meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), and the Burundian Ambassador was on Wednesday 3 February.

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers have regular contact with Ambassadors and High Commissioners during their normal diplomatic duties. We do not hold central records of all such meetings.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many full-time accredited diplomatic staff are employed in the British Embassy Liaison Office in Bujumbura; and of those, how many are not locally engaged, and what are their civil service grades.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Our Embassy Liaison Office in Bujumbura is a subordinate post, covered by our High Commission in Kigali. It has three full time locally engaged staff. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is seeking to appoint a full time accredited diplomatic officer to be based in Bujumbura. Our High Commissioner to Rwanda is accredited as the British Ambassador to Burundi while the Department for International Development Head of Office in Rwanda also covers Burundi. Full-time accredited diplomatic staff at our High Commission in Kigali and elsewhere in the region support political engagement with Burundian actors and visit Burundi regularly.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the level of representation facilitated by the British Embassy Liaison Office in Bujumbura in the light of recent events in Burundi; and what consideration they have given, if any, to the upgrading of its status to that of a full diplomatic post.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The current security situation in Burundi has made it difficult for our locally engaged staff to provide the level of political representation that they have done in the past. We have responded by increasing the frequency of visits by diplomatic staff, within the security constraints. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), considered upgrading the level of diplomatic representation in December 2015, and he decided to recruit a full time Burundi coordinator based at our Embassy Liaison Office in Bujumbura. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is in the process of appointing this officer.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions in each of the last three years the Ambassador of the UK to Burundi (1) visited Bujumbura, and (2) met the President of Burundi.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    In 2014 our Ambassador visited Bujumbura on eight occasions and met with President Nkurunziza on three occasions.

    In 2015 our Ambassador visited Bujumbura on seven occasions and met with President Nkurunziza on two occasions.

    In 2016 our Ambassador has visited Bujumbura on one occasion so far.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the balance of trade between Burundi and the UK.

    Lord Maude of Horsham

    In 2015 the UK had a trade in goods surplus with Burundi of £1.7 million (Source: HM Revenue and Customs’ Overseas Trade Statistics database).

    It is not possible to estimate the trade in services balance between the UK and Burundi as data on UK trade in services with Burundi are not published by the Office for National Statistics.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of UK investment in Burundi and its contribution to gainful employment in that country.

    Lord Maude of Horsham

    There is no official data available on the level of UK investment in Burundi as data on UK trade with Burundi is not published by the Office for National Statistics.

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their technical or legal definition of a rogue landlord”.”

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The term "rogue landlord" is widely understood in the lettings industry to describe a landlord who knowingly flouts their obligations by renting out unsafe and substandard accommodation to tenants, many of whom may be vulnerable. The Housing and Planning Bill contains a number of measures to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords and force them to either improve or leave the sector.

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether it is legal to cause a driverless vehicle to be operated on a public highway, and if not, what legislation would be necessary to allow that to happen in the future.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    In February 2015, the Government published “The Pathway to Driverless Cars”: a detailed review of the regulation around the use of driverless cars on UK roads. It was followed by the Code of Practice for testing which was published in July 2015 – a light-touch non-regulatory approach that established the UK as among the best places in the world to test driverless cars.