The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether governors of maintained schools are allowed to agree a budget deficit.
Lord Nash
Governors are responsible for agreeing the budget of a school under the arrangements set out in their Local Authority’s Scheme for Financing Schools, which may preclude any planning for deficits; or it may allow schools to plan for deficits only in certain approved circumstances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps an academy school is legally required to take if it has a budget deficit.
Lord Nash
An academy trust is required by its funding agreement with the Secretary of State to balance its budget from each academy financial year to the next. Where the board of trustees of an academy is formally proposing to set a deficit budget for the current financial year, which it is unable to address after unspent funds from previous years are taken into account, it must notify the Education Funding Agency (EFA) within 14 days.
The EFA may issue a trust with a Financial Notice to Improve (FNtI) in cases of a deficit or projected deficit, setting out the actions it requires the trust to take. The trust must comply with all the terms of the FNtI which would include a requirement to implement a recovery plan to secure financial stability.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role local authorities and school governors have in agreeing annual school budgets.
Lord Nash
Maintained schools receive a delegated budget from their local authority. Local authorities are required to maintain a scheme for financing schools that sets out the framework for the financial relationship between them and the schools they maintain. This requires that the school’s formal annual budget plan must be approved by the governors. This approval is undertaken on the basis that the budget is being used for the purposes of the school.
Under the scheme for financing schools, a local authority’s responsibilities are to review schools’ budget plans; to carry out high level monitoring of school budgets; to agree a deficit reduction programme with schools in deficit; to challenge excess surplus balances held by schools without good reason; to intervene in schools for which there are financial concerns.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal requirements for auditing school budgets in local authority schools.
Lord Nash
The Scheme for Financing Schools statutory guidance requires local authorities to set out the financial relationship between them and the schools they maintain. The scheme contains a provision which places schools within an internal audit regime determined by the authority, and the authority’s external audit regime.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Mental Health Taskforce report on a new five-year national strategy for mental health will be published.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Mental Health Taskforce is finalising its recommendations and supporting analysis to ensure these are robust. Their report is due to be published by NHS England in the New Year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 7 December (HL4065), whether they are in the process of submitting evidence of genocide against Yazidis and Assyrian Christians to international courts, and if so, which ones; when the international courts last declared a genocide to have taken place; and when the international courts last initiated a trial for genocide, and against whom.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are not submitting any evidence of possible genocide against Yezidis and Christians to international courts, nor have we been asked to.
The most recent occasion on which an international court found genocide to have occurred was on 10 June 2010, when the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted several of the accused in the Prosecutor v. Popović et al. case for either committing, conspiracy to commit, or aiding and abetting, genocide in and around Srebrenica and Žepa in 1995. These convictions were subsequently upheld by the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY on 30 January 2015.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) initiated a trial against Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, two former Khmer Republic senior officials, which remains ongoing, and includes charges of genocide against the Cham and Vietnamese people. Evidence relating to the genocide charges began being heard on 7 September 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris White on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to increase the number of apprentices.
Nick Boles
We are committed to reaching 3 million apprenticeship starts in 2020. In the 2014/15 Academic Year, there were 499,900 apprenticeship starts.
Our 2020 Vision for English Apprenticeships sets out how we will increase the number of apprentices and put employers in the driving seat. We are introducing new targets for public sector bodies and extending the successful Apprenticeship Grant for Employers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will ensure that the Green Investment Bank continues to pursue its principal objectives after its privatisation.
Anna Soubry
The Government is seeking to sell the Green Investment Bank (GIB) so it can grow and increase its impact in green sectors, free of the restrictions of being in the public sector.
GIB has over £2bn in existing and successful green investments, and employs seventy green sector specialists. This unique green specialism is what will attract investment from investors
As a key part of any sale discussions, the Government will be asking potential investors to confirm their commitment to GIB’s green values and investment principles and to set out how they propose to protect them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent progress he has made on reducing the proportion of 16 to 24 year olds not in education, employment or training.
Nick Boles
Figures for those not in education, employment or training (NEET) have fallen to a record low. The proportion of 16 to 24 year olds NEET in England between July and September has fallen compared to the same period last year. These figures show the excellent progress that is being made in providing opportunities for young people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to encourage business start-ups and entrepreneurship.
Anna Soubry
The Start-Up Loans scheme supports people wanting to start a business and has provided over 33,500 loans worth over £180 million. The Government is providing further funding to Growth Hubs to help businesses at the local level, as well as cutting taxes on small businesses, extending rate relief and increasing the Employment Allowance.
The latest stats from the ONS show that the number of UK start-ups has reached record levels with some 351,000 new businesses launched in 2014.