Tag: Lord Browne of Belmont

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 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the average change in annual household energy consumption after the installation of a smart meter.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Our central estimate of energy savings to domestic consumers as a result of smart metering is 2.8% for electricity (prepayment and credit) and 2% for gas (credit) and 0.5% for gas (prepayment).

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 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) arrests, and (2) convictions, for diesel laundering there were in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not break down statistics for oils convictions to separate out those arising from diesel laundering. Total arrests and convictions for oils offences in Northern Ireland for the last complete three years for which figures are available were as follows:

	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Arrests	8	0	13
Convictions	9	9	5

The figures for arrests and convictions in any particular year do not correspond as investigations and prosecutions do not always reach conclusion in the year that they commence.

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 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the average cost to the public purse of a parliamentary by-election since 2010.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The average (mean) cost to the public purse of a Parliamentary by-election since 2010 is £228,964. This comprises two main elements: the costs incurred by Returning Officers in running the poll; and the cost of delivering election mailings produced by candidates. The costs of running the three most recent by-elections, for which the Returning Officer’s expenses have not yet been settled, have not been factored into this average figure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether a record is kept of persons employed in Northern Ireland whose primary addresses are in the Republic of Ireland, and what steps they have taken to ensure that such data are collected and updated regularly.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Salaries, wages and other similar remuneration from an employment is normally taxed in the country where it is earned, so the primary address of an employee is not relevant. As such the information is not held in the format requested.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the ratio of front-line medical staff to administrators in the NHS.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The ratio of medical staff to administrators in the National Health Service is 1:1.05. The number of medical staff includes only doctors and does not include roles such as nurses, midwives and other non-medical clinicians. Administrative staff are managers, senior managers and central functions staff who perform administrative and clerical duties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what specific steps they are taking to help SMEs to move online.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

As part of our wider support for small businesses, Government has provided funding to Local Enterprise Partnerships to extend the reach of their digital support for small firms. We are also increasing the number of Digital Trade Advisors working around the country to help small businesses expand into new overseas markets.

Government supports the extensive range of private sector-led activity to help small businesses improve their digital skills. We particularly welcome the work that Go ON UK does to encourage and join up this activity.

In addition to this, Government’s Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme allowed businesses to apply for grants of up to £3,000 to help them move to a faster digital market and connect to superfast broadband. The initiative has now allocated all of the £40m available funding since April 2015, with more than 55,000 small businesses across the UK taking up the offer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to improve support for children and young people with mental health problems.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Children and young people’s mental health is a priority area for this Government and it is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in Mind, the report published jointly by the Department and NHS England in March 2015. This is supported by an additional investment of £1.4 billion over the course of this Parliament. A copy of Future in Mind is attached.

Progress has been made on many of the key ambitions set out in Future in Mind. One significant development being that Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing have been produced covering the full spectrum of mental health issues, from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems. LTPs also address the full spectrum of need, for every clinical commissioning group (CCG) in the country. The Local Government Association have produced a spreadsheet giving details of LTPs. A copy of this spreadsheet is attached.

Work is in progress to strengthen the capacity and capability of the workforce and to improve data and information in order to deliver the vision set out in Future in Mind by 2020. In addition, the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme is continuing to be rolled out across the country.

Progress has also been made on making help and support to children and young people available online through the launch of an online hub for children and young people on the NHS Choices website and further investment made into a campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination as proposed in Future in Mind.

All CCGs, working closely with their partners, have developed and submitted LTPs to transform their local offer for children and young people’s mental health. Plans cover the whole spectrum of services from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems and address the full spectrum of need.