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

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial support is available for children whose parents choose for their child to be tutored at home.

    Lord Nash

    When parents elect to educate children at home, they assume financial responsibility for their children’s education. Local authorities are not funded specifically to provide financial support to those parents who educate at home.

    If a child has special needs, financial assistance may well be appropriate. If the child has a statement of special educational needs or an Education and Health Care (EHC) Plan which specifies home education, or one which specifies a school but the parents have chosen to educate their child at home, then financial support to the parents may help discharge the authority’s duty to ensure that the child’s needs are met.

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

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to prevent children either never going to school or going missing from school.

    Lord Nash

    The law provides a number of safeguards to ensure that all children receive a suitable full-time education. These are set out in Chapters I and II of Part VI of the Education Act 1996, and include:

    • a duty on local authorities to make arrangements to establish, as far as it is possible to do so, the identities of children of compulsory school age in their area who are not receiving suitable education (Section 436A);

    • a duty on local authorities to arrange suitable education for all children of compulsory school age who may not for any period receive it, unless such arrangements are made for them (Section 19);

    • a duty on parents to ensure that their child of compulsory school age is receiving suitable full-time education, either at school or otherwise (Section 7);

    • provision for a local authority to issue a School Attendance Order to a parent where it is not satisfied that a child of compulsory age is receiving a suitable education (Section 437); and

    • provision for the prosecution of a parent who has failed to secure their child’s regular attendance at school (Section 444).

    Statutory guidance requires local authorities to have robust procedures and policies in place to enable them to carry out their duty to identify children of compulsory school age in their area who are not receiving suitable education (Children Missing Education, 2015).

    Under the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, schools have a duty to inform their local authority, at agreed intervals, of the details of pupils who are regularly absent from school or have missed 10 school days or more without permission. Schools must also notify the authority if a pupil is to be deleted from the admission register in certain circumstances.

    We are taking steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people, while at the same time safeguarding the rights of parents to determine how and where to educate their children. The Department for Education is currently consulting on proposals to strengthen further the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 in order to require schools to inform local authorities under all grounds when a child’s name is deleted from a school register.

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

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 20 January (HL5274), whether it is still a legal requirement to have a daily act of collective worship in academies, free schools and maintained schools.

    Lord Nash

    All state schools, including academies and free schools, must provide a daily act of collective worship for all registered pupils up to the age of 18. Parents have the right to withdraw their children from all or any part of collective worship, and sixth-form pupils have the right to withdraw themselves from collective worship.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have guidelines for local authorities about charging for responses to Freedom of Information requests.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Government has not published guidance for local authorities about charging for Freedom of Information requests.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative, what are their policies for the decentralisation of civil servants.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Civil Service has a significant presence across the UK and we are considering how new government hubs, in strategic locations across the country, will help to make sure that we have an efficient and effective Civil Service at the same time as we consolidate the government estate.

    Any proposed relocation is done based on the operational needs of Departments.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 27 November 2015 (HL3723), what difference, if any, there is between people in Northern Ireland and people of Northern Ireland in the application of their policies.

    Lord Dunlop

    In this context there is no difference between people ‘in’ Northern Ireland and people ‘of’ Northern Ireland.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether membership of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe requires them to regard all citizens in the UK to be equal and thus requiring equal treatment by law.

    Lord Dunlop

    In the UK, The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.

    The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has many commitments that recall that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place the minutes of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference since 1998 in the Library of the House.

    Lord Dunlop

    The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference met on one occasion during 2007, 26 February in Dundalk. This was the last time that the body met.

    Details of Ministerial attendees and the topics discussed were published in a Joint Communiqué between the two Governments. A copy of this has been placed in the Library (along with copies of all other Joint Communiques published since 1998).

    Although a range of issues were discussed, no formal actions were listed. The focus however at the time was the drive towards devolution and the Conference urged all political leaders to act with courage and determination in order to attain this. Assembly elections subsequently took place in May 2007.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Corston review in 2007, how many women’s centres there are in the UK; where those centres are located; to what extent those centres support women on remand or serving community sentences; and what plans they have to establish additional centres.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    We do not collate information centrally about the numbers and locations of women’s centres across the UK or the services that they offer.

    The Government believes that future funding for women’s centres should lie at the local level, as local experts know what works in their community and how best to deliver services. We are encouraging and supporting areas to bring together local agencies in the criminal justice, statutory and third sectors to develop a joined-up, multi-agency approach to address the often complex needs of female offenders.

  • Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions in the last 12 months and from which airfields aircraft of the Quick Reaction Alert have been scrambled, and for what purpose on every occasion.

    Earl Howe

    Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby launched to intercept aircraft on 12 days in 2015.

    I am withholding further details as deterrence is a principal function of QRA and QRA is in turn an integral part of the air defence of the UK. The disclosure of information that might compromise the QRA deterrent capability would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.