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  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of sponsored academies that were rated inadequate by Ofsted on conversion remained inadequate at their next inspection, and what percentage of maintained schools that were rated inadequate by Ofsted at their previous inspection, but remained maintained, remained inadequate at their latest inspection.

    Earl of Courtown

    This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of (1) all multi-academy trusts, and (2) multi-academy trusts with at least five schools, achieve above average value added.

    Earl of Courtown

    Value added scores are routinely published for individual schools as part of the department’s performance tables, which include the functionality to filter results by an academy sponsor.

    The department does not publish a summary of value added scores for each academy chain or multi-academy trust. Simple aggregations of performance measures can lead to misleading conclusions about performance within a chain since they will often reflect the type of schools that have entered into the chain relationship.

    Earlier this year, the department published a statistical working paper to consider how these issues may be addressed and invited comments from users. This can be found in the attachment to this answer.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of pupils in (1) sponsored academies, and (2) maintained schools, take a GCSE in (a) a qualifying language, and (b) a qualifying humanities subject.

    Earl of Courtown

    The percentage of pupils who took a GCSE in a qualifying language or humanities subject in 2013/14 is given below:

    Percentage of pupils taking a qualifying subject in:

    Languages

    Humanities

    Sponsored academies

    38.9

    54.1

    LA maintained mainstream schools

    49.4

    64.5

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of pupils take a full EBacc range of subjects in (1) sponsored academies, and (2) maintained schools.

    Earl of Courtown

    Provisional figures for 2014/15 show that 27.8 per cent of pupils in sponsored academies and 37.5 per cent of pupils in local authority maintained mainstream schools were entered for all components of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

    This information is published in the Statistical First Release “Provisional GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2014 to 2015”.[1]

    A list of qualifications which count towards the English Baccalaureate is available on the school performance tables’ website.[2]

    [1] 2014/15 provisional table can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/467605/SFR37_2015_National_Tables.xlsx. (Years: 2014/15 Table 3a)

    [2] A list of qualifications which count towards the English Baccalaureate can be found at: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/secondary_14/English_Baccalaureate_list_of_qualifications_July_2015.xls.

  • Lord Birt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Birt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of road vehicles in the UK they expect to be wholly electrically powered by 2030.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government has a commitment that nearly every car and van will be zero emission by 2050. Already over 1% of new cars are ultra low emission and we expect uptake to continue to rise over time consistent with this goal. We do not provide interim forecasts or targets as this market is now moving so rapidly. We will spend over £600m 2015-16 and 2020-21 to put the UK on track to meet our ambitious long term target.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the rate of allegations against a spouse of domestic violence or rape by women who have entered the UK on a spousal visa in each of the last five years.

    Lord Bates

    Allegations of rape or domestic violence are a matter for individual police forces and not recorded in statistics relating to immigration control.

    Information on grants of settlement due to domestic violence after leave to remain granted as a spouse, is given in the link below, table se_04, Immigration Statistics July-September 2015) and are available from the library of the House: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015/list-of-tables#settlement

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18555, whether he is consulting on what exemptions should apply to the cap on housing benefit for single under-35 claimants in social housing; and whether changes to the applications of that cap will be implemented through new regulations.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The existing exemptions that already apply to private rented sector tenants aged less than 35 will be carefully considered prior to implementing the Local Housing Allowance rate for similar tenants living in the social rented sector. Consultation forms a part of the policy development.

    This change will require legislative amendments.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 18747, whether people are made aware of advance Universal Credit payments being made available to them at the initial work search interview.

    Priti Patel

    To be eligible for a Universal Credit (UC) Advance payment, the claimant has to have an underlying entitlement to UC, be in financial need, and be able to afford to repay the Advance. These criteria are contained within the Social Security (Payments on Account of Benefit) Regulations 2013.

    If during the initial work search interview, a work coach identifies a claimant is in financial need, or cannot manage until they receive their first UC payment, they will advise them about advance payments.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 1.123 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what assessment he has made of the effect of uprating the individual threshold in the minimum income floor for self-employed people on the household income of a tax credit claimant family with two children and one self-employed earner under the age of 25 earning £12,194 over the course of a year.

    Priti Patel

    There is no Minimum Income Floor (MIF) in the tax credit system.

    In Universal Credit the MIF is designed to address issues in the current system which enable self-employed claimants to receive full State support while declaring low or zero earnings indefinitely.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 18747, if he will publish the eligibility criteria for advance universal credit payments.

    Priti Patel

    To be eligible for a Universal Credit (UC) Advance payment, the claimant has to have an underlying entitlement to UC, be in financial need, and be able to afford to repay the Advance. These criteria are contained within the Social Security (Payments on Account of Benefit) Regulations 2013.

    If during the initial work search interview, a work coach identifies a claimant is in financial need, or cannot manage until they receive their first UC payment, they will advise them about advance payments.