The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whose responsibility it is to collect data on the number of home-educated pupils.
Lord Nash
Some local authorities maintain voluntary registers of children educated at home but as they have no statutory basis, they cannot be regarded as an authoritative source of data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates they have made of the likely benefits of providing the quadrivalent HPV vaccine to all adolescents in the UK on a gender-neutral basis.
Lord Prior of Brampton
In 2008 when forming its recommendation for vaccination against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) in the United Kingdom, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) did not recommend vaccination of boys because the evidence indicated vaccinating boys was unlikely to be cost-effective.
The JCVI keeps the eligibility criteria of all vaccination programmes under review. In October 2013 the JCVI recommended a HPV sub-committee be formed to consider a number of issues including the potential extension of the programme to include adolescent boys, because of new and emerging evidence on the association of HPV vaccine types with non-cervical cancers.
The JCVI subsequently requested that modelling be undertaken by Public Health England (PHE) to re-examine the impact and cost-effectiveness of extending the HPV vaccination programme to adolescent boys. It is anticipated that PHE will submit this work to the JCVI by early 2017 which will include an assessment of the likely benefits of providing the quadrivalent HPV vaccine to all adolescents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they ensure that schools comply with their admission policies, and what action they take when a school is found to be admitting pupils in contravention of their admission policy.
Lord Nash
All state funded schools are required to comply with the statutory School Admissions Code when setting and applying their admission arrangements. Once admission arrangements have been determined, anyone who believes they are unfair or unlawful may make an objection to the Schools Adjudicator.
When allocating places, admission authorities must ensure they do so strictly in accordance with their published admissions criteria.
Any parent who is refused a place at a school for which they have applied has the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. If the panel finds that the school’s admission arrangements were unlawful and had not been applied properly in the individual’s case, the appeal must be upheld and the admission authority must admit the child.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to limiting the proportion of places that schools can allocate using religious admissions criteria, in line with the cap that currently exists for free schools.
Lord Nash
The Government greatly values the contribution that existing church and faith schools play in our education system, including those of free schools, and we have no plans to change their admission arrangements since they are providing places for the communities they serve.
Not all faith schools choose to allocate places by faith. It is for the admission authority of the school to decide whether or not to include faith-based priorities within their oversubscription criteria.
When constructing faith-based oversubscription criteria, including deciding how membership or practice of the faith will be determined, admission authorities must have regard to the guidance of their relevant religious authority and their arrangements must comply with the statutory School Admissions Code.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of those individuals who previously claimed a motability allowance under the Disability Living Allowance and have lost that allowance after being reassessed for Personal Independence Payments, have (1) appealed that decision, and (2) succeeded at appeal.
Lord Faulks
The First-tier Tribunal – Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service hears appeals against decisions by the Department for Work and Pensions on a range of benefits including Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Information about the number and success rates of SSCS appeals by benefit type, including PIP, is published in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly. The most recent report can be located on the government website.
The specific information requested is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individuals who previously claimed a motability allowance under the Disability Living Allowance have (1) lost that allowance after being reassessed for Personal Independence Payments, and (2) kept that allowance after being reassessed for Personal Independence Payments.
Baroness Altmann
There is not a motability allowance in Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The information requested is, therefore, not available.
Both DLA and PIP have a mobility component which can be paid at one of two rates and access to the Motability Scheme is through receipt of the higher rate mobility component of DLA or the enhanced rate mobility component of PIP.
The latest available data on PIP claims in payment, registrations, clearances and awards for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of DLA) are published on Gov.UK. In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards can be found using the Stat Xplore tool on Gov.UK
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case of Asia Bibi, currently sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office remains concerned about the case of Ms Bibi and continues to follow her appeal process closely. The Supreme Court suspended the death sentence to allow for appeal in July 2015, but she does not yet have a hearing date.
The Government regularly makes known to the Pakistani government at a senior level our concerns about the misuse of blasphemy laws against both Muslims and religious minorities in Pakistan. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), personally raised the abuse of these laws with the Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK in October 2015. Both the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), have made clear to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif our concerns about the blasphemy laws.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the situation of children living in Eritrea, and of the effects of the Danish report on asylum determination, published in 2014, which has been criticised for failing to reflect the balance of views expressed by the UN.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The British Government wants to see better conditions for children in Eritrea. Some of the issues of concern are: a lack of education; limited access to health services; and the prospect of extended National Service. Each of these can act as a driver for migration, pushing minors to undertake dangerous journeys to Europe. Though the Government of Eritrea has made some progress, including improving health services and increasing the net national enrolment in education, more needs to be done. Through the Department for International Development, the UK is supporting UN Children’s Emergency Fund programs that help improve the lives of children in Eritrea.
The Home Office’s Country Information and Guidance on handling Eritrean asylum and human rights claims is based on an objective assessment of the situation in Eritrea. It uses evidence from a range of sources, including the Danish Immigration Service’s fact finding report of December 2014. The Home Office carefully considered the criticisms of the Danish report when preparing the guidance, as well as other published material. Each asylum case is carefully considered on its individual merits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the maximum period is for which a back payment can be made on universal credit.
Priti Patel
The maximum period by which a claim can be backdated is one calendar month from the date of claim. Backdating is only possible in exceptional circumstances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people found to be committing benefit fraud and not prosecuted in court in each of the last two years (a) have repaid monies due in full, (b) are actively making repayments, (c) are in arrears with their repayments and (d) have since been prosecuted for breaching their agreement to pay.
Justin Tomlinson
Information in the form requested for questions a, b and c is not readily available and could only be compiled at disproportionate cost.
In answer to question d, the Department does not hold this information.