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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safety and background checks are carried out on people renewing taxi driver licences or applying for new taxi driver licences in the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government is responsible for setting the regulatory structure within which local licensing authorities in England and Wales license taxi drivers. Regulation of taxi drivers in Scotland and Northern Ireland is devolved to the Scottish Government and Northern Irish Assembly respectively.

Local licensing authorities in England and Wales have a duty to ensure that any person to whom they grant a taxi driver’s licence is a fit and proper person to hold such a licence.

Although the term ‘fit and proper’ is not defined in legislation, the procedure for assessing a driver’s fitness will typically involve a criminal record check, a medical check, a local topographical knowledge test and possibly a special driving test. The inclusion of any or all of these elements and the stringency thereof is a matter for the licensing authority. However, the Department for Transport publishes Best Practice Guidance to assist licensing authorities when setting standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the overall performance of the National Crime Agency during its first year of total operation in Northern Ireland.

Lord Bates

Since 20 May 2015, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has been operating with full powers in Northern Ireland. As the NCA recently reported to the Northern Ireland Policing Board on 16 December 2015, from 01 April 2015 up to 30 September 2015, the NCA has recorded 29 disruptions against organised crime groups and high priority threats operating in Northern Ireland. The scope of the NCA’s crime-fighting capability within the jurisdiction has expanded. The NCA has worked in partnership with the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the support that the NCA provides law enforcement partners, particularly the PSNI has been enhanced.

The Crime and Courts Act 2013 (National Crime Agency and Proceeds of Crime) (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 requires the Northern Ireland Policing Board to monitor the exercise of the functions of the National Crime Agency in Northern Ireland. The interim Memorandum of Understanding between the National Crime Agency and the Northern Ireland Policing Board states the Board is required, not later than six months after the end of each financial year, to issue a report relating to the policing of Northern Ireland for the next financial year. The report will include an assessment of the exercise of the functions of the NCA in Northern Ireland.

The NCA is committed to playing its role in tackling serious and organised crime in Northern Ireland. Hence, the NCA will be fully engaged in delivering the commitment outlined in the ‘A Fresh Start: The Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan’ to a concerted and enhanced effort to combat serious and organised and cross border crime.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what resources and schemes are being targeted at those who lack the basic levels of literacy and numeracy.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

This Government understands the importance of English and maths and makes these subjects a priority for support within the adult skills system. Adults who improve their literacy and numeracy are more likely to experience better health and well-being, increase their chances of employment and progress to better jobs.

We fully fund, through a statutory entitlement, all adults to achieve their first English and maths GCSE at grade C or above as well as other qualifications which help them get to that level. The total funding for English and maths for academic year 2013/14 (including for apprenticeships, English for Speakers of Other Languages and prisoners) was £563,961,000. Of this £142m was spent on English and maths in apprenticeships. (905,600 learners participated in English and maths courses in 2013/14)

We fund a wide range of learners to study English and maths including:
• Prisoners, through the Offender Learning and Skills Service
• Learners in the community, including through Family English, Maths and Language
• People who need English for Speakers of Other Languages
• Trainees as part of their traineeship
• Apprentices as part of their apprenticeship
• Jobseekers

We have increased our expectations of what learners should achieve in order to increase the standard of literacy and numeracy. To do this we have embedded English and maths at the heart of all our major programmes. This means:
• Learners who did not achieve a good GCSE pass in English and/ or maths by the age of 16 are now required to continue to study those subjects post-16;
• Since 2014/15, the English and maths requirement for Intermediate Apprenticeships has been stronger, with all apprentices who have already achieved level 1 English and maths having to work towards level 2;
• Since 2014/15, young people undertaking a traineeship have been required to study English and maths unless they already have level 2 qualifications in these subjects;
• In August 2014, we introduced mandatory assessment of maths and English for all newly-received prisoners to ensure that all offenders, not just those that go into learning, receive a learning assessment (focused around English and maths, but also covering learning difficulties and disabilities)

We have reformed GCSEs to ensure they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy and numeracy than the old GCSEs. We also recognise that some people are not ready to take GCSE so we are also improving the rigour and relevance of English and maths Functional Skills qualifications, which are taken by many students and apprentices aged 16 and over. We have commissioned the Education and Training Foundation to revise the National Literacy and Numeracy Standards and reform Functional Skills. The foundation has launched a consultation which will run until April and which will involve employers, teacher and subject experts.

We recognise the need to improve the quality of English and maths teaching in further education. We have invested over £30m over the past 3 years to fund a range of measures to improve the workforce in areas such as leadership, governance, teaching and learning, with a particular focus on maths and English. This has resulted in over 1,000 bursaries to attract graduates to teach in further education and over 3,800 teachers have benefited from training to improve the quality of their English and maths courses.
We are undertaking a range of research to best understand where Government investment in English and maths has the greatest impact and delivers value for money. This includes:
• Using behavioural insights to identify how to motivate adults to improve their English and maths and encourage learners to keep studying once enrolled on a course; ;
• Longitudinal research into skills gain and skills atrophy of adult English and maths learners
• Comparing the impact of blended and more traditional classroom learning.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people from other EU countries have been admitted to (1) work, and (2) live, in Northern Ireland in each year since 2010.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many extra days or weeks imprisonment have been given to prisoners for assaults committed on (1) fellow prisoners, and (2) prison staff, in each of the last five years.

Lord Faulks

The table attached shows the numbers of awards of additional days in prison establishments as a result of adjudications in each year since 2011, for breach of prison discipline involving violence, including the number of adjudications where awards of added days were as a result of an assault against (1) another prisoner or (2) a member of prison staff.

Violence in prison has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of new psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to improving safety in prisons but we are making progress.

We are trialling the use of body worn cameras and training sniffer dogs to detect New Psychoactive Substances. We have made it an offence to smuggle New Psychoactive Substances into prison, but ultimately the only way to reduce violence in prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to reform and rehabilitate offenders more effectively.

Data for 2015 – 2016 is not yet available.