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  • Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans he has to make changes to mandatory green energy charges on consumer bills; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    We have recently consulted on proposed changes to the Energy Company Obligation and expect to announce our response shortly. These proposed changes form part of the package of measures announced in December last year that has led to reductions this year of around £50 on the average household bill. We have no plans to make further changes.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that (a) young people in custody and (b) other difficult-to-reach young people are able to access a digital-by-default careers service.

    Matthew Hancock

    Local authorities retain their legal responsibility, under section 68 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, to make available to young people aged 13-19 and to those up to the age of 25 with a Learning Difficulty Assessment or Education, Health and Care Plan, support that will encourage, enable or assist them to participate in education or training. Local authorities are expected to pay particular attention to young people who are not in education, employment or training or whose current activity is not known. This includes agreeing how these young people can access intensive support, drawn from the range of education and training support services available locally.

    It is for local authorities to determine what support is necessary to fulfil their statutory responsibilities and consider whether additional services are needed, including wto complement those available from young offender institutions. Local authorities should provide strategic leadership in their areas to support participation, agreeing ways of working with other partners such as voluntary and community sector organisations, young offender institutions and probation services.

    The National Careers Service complements the support available to young people, offering information and advice on education, training and employment options. We are reshaping the service from October 2014 to respond to the changing needs of the economy with a focus on local leadership and providing inspiring careers advice for customers, including a new brokerage service to facilitate relationships between schools and employers. Young people can continue to access support through a range of channels including a telephone helpline and website.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to ensure that young people without access to the necessary computer equipment have access to a digital-by-default careers service.

    Matthew Hancock

    Local authorities retain their legal responsibility, under section 68 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, to make available to young people aged 13-19 and to those up to the age of 25 with a Learning Difficulty Assessment or Education, Health and Care Plan, support that will encourage, enable or assist them to participate in education or training. Local authorities are expected to pay particular attention to young people who are not in education, employment or training or whose current activity is not known. This includes agreeing how these young people can access intensive support, drawn from the range of education and training support services available locally.

    It is for local authorities to determine what support is necessary to fulfil their statutory responsibilities and consider whether additional services are needed, including wto complement those available from young offender institutions. Local authorities should provide strategic leadership in their areas to support participation, agreeing ways of working with other partners such as voluntary and community sector organisations, young offender institutions and probation services.

    The National Careers Service complements the support available to young people, offering information and advice on education, training and employment options. We are reshaping the service from October 2014 to respond to the changing needs of the economy with a focus on local leadership and providing inspiring careers advice for customers, including a new brokerage service to facilitate relationships between schools and employers. Young people can continue to access support through a range of channels including a telephone helpline and website.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of potential changes in the number of jobs at the National Careers Service arising from the Government’s digital-by-default policy.

    Matthew Hancock

    The new National Careers Service has been designed to respond to the changing needs of the economy with a focus on local leadership and providing inspiring careers advice for customers, including a new brokerage role to facilitate relationships between schools and employers.

    As part of the re-procurement process organisations were assessed on their capacity and capability to deliver the service through face to face services and a range of media that meet customers’ specific needs and preferences. It is a matter for the new contractors how they achieve outcomes for customers including how they deploy their staff resource to deliver the service.

  • Andrew Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Jones on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school places have been created in (i) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber and (iii) the North of England since May 2010.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of available school places (school capacity) in state-funded primary and secondary schools (except special schools) through an annual survey. The most recent data available relates to the position at May 2013 and can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2012-to-2013

    Statistics for May 2010 can be found in table 1 of the SFR main tables:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2010-to-2011

    “

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to make e-books available from public libraries.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    I have been asked to answer this question on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport have changed the law so that the Public Lending Right (PLR) is now extended to e-books for on-site lending. This legislation came into force on 1 July. Due to current EU copyright law it is not possible to extend PLR to remote lending at this time, however the Government will revisit the issue as part of a continuous review of e-lending, and are in contact with the EU Commission on this matter.

    The Society of Chief Librarians and the Publishers Association are currently conducting a 12 month pilot into e-lending in public libraries, working closely with four local authorities in England to carry out research into the impact of e-book lending in public libraries on authors, publishers and the library service, in order to identify a suitable and sustainable model for all stakeholders. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport are in contact with the major stakeholders of this pilot, and will follow up with its findings, which are due in March 2015.

  • David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to record cases of bullying as reported by victims in schools by counts of cyber-bullying and similar sub-categories.

    Elizabeth Truss

    There is no legal requirement on schools to record and report incidents of bullying and we have no plans to introduce one. Schools are free to develop their own approaches to monitoring bullying and exercise their own judgement as to what will work best for their pupils. For some schools, this will involve formal recording of incidents so that they can monitor bullying and identify where it is recurring between the same pupils. Alternatively, some schools may prefer to take a different approach, such as surveying their pupils anonymously to identify trends in bullying, including how safe young people feel at school.

    Schools are held clearly to account by Ofsted for pupil behaviour and safety which includes how they tackle bullying. Inspectors consider the types, rates and patterns of bullying and the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and harassment, including cyberbullying.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much local authorities have spent on external contractors employed to deliver childcare services, excluding fostering and adoption in (a) 2014 to date and (b) each of the last three years.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Through its Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme, the Government is supporting local authorities to take new approaches to maximise the capacity and skills brought to bear in improving services for the most vulnerable children. Part of that work involves giving local authorities greater freedom to test new delivery models and harness external ideas and expertise by allowing them to delegate children’s social care functions to external providers.

    In November 2013 we gave all local authorities the power to operate in this manner. So far five providers have registered with Ofsted as performing these functions on behalf of local authorities.

    Local authorities also make widespread use of contractors in the provision of children’s services such as residential care and foster care.

    The Government does not collect data on local authority spend on external contracts.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has contributed funds to assist local authorities in the payment of external contractors to deliver childcare services excluding fostering and adoption.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Through its Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme, the Government is supporting local authorities to take new approaches to maximise the capacity and skills brought to bear in improving services for the most vulnerable children. Part of that work involves giving local authorities greater freedom to test new delivery models and harness external ideas and expertise by allowing them to delegate children’s social care functions to external providers.

    In November 2013 we gave all local authorities the power to operate in this manner. So far five providers have registered with Ofsted as performing these functions on behalf of local authorities.

    Local authorities also make widespread use of contractors in the provision of children’s services such as residential care and foster care.

    The Government does not collect data on local authority spend on external contracts.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings Ministers in his Department have had on the outsourcing of local authority children’s services since May 2010.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Through its Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme the Government is supporting local authorities to take new approaches to maximise the capacity and skills brought to bear in improving services for the most vulnerable children. Part of that work involves giving local authorities greater freedom to test new delivery models and harness external ideas and expertise by allowing them to delegate children’s social care functions to external providers.

    Ministers have regular internal and external meetings to discuss this policy in particular and approaches to delivering children’s social care more widely.