Tag: Lord Storey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal requirements for auditing school budgets in local authority schools.

Lord Nash

The Scheme for Financing Schools statutory guidance requires local authorities to set out the financial relationship between them and the schools they maintain. The scheme contains a provision which places schools within an internal audit regime determined by the authority, and the authority’s external audit regime.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what regulations are in place to prevent schools installing vending machines on their premises which allow children to buy sugary drinks.

Lord Nash

As a cornerstone of the government’s commitment to healthy eating in schools, new school food standards came into force from January 2015. These standards regulate the food and drink provided both at lunchtime and at other times of the school day, including food and drink provided in vending machines.

The standards ensure that children are eating nutritious food at school by setting out clear, easy to follow guidance based on food groups and by giving school cooks the flexibility to create their own meals. The standards severely restrict foods high in fat, salt, and sugar, including high sugar drinks. The regulations permit only healthy drinks with an emphasis on water, milk and fruit juice (with 5% or less added sugars).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many academy sponsors are waiting for approval.

Lord Nash

As of 29 January 2016, there are currently 66 sponsor applications being assessed by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park on 26 January (HL5024), what is the timeframe of the discussions about the legality of essay mills between the Consumer and Markets Authority and the Quality Assurance Agency.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

The Quality Assurance Agency have now met with the Competition and Markets Authority and are considering further how to take this forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the average growth in Gross Value Added for (1) the English Core Cities, and (2) Liverpool, from 2009 to 2014.

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 Storey on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, other than voluntarily registering for self-assessment, what tools are available to ensure that tax is paid by locally employed staff working in foreign embassies.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Letters are issued annually on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Diplomatic Missions in the UK (Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates) requesting staff lists providing details of all locally engaged staff and private servants.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a specialist team (the Embassy team) in place to deal with enquiries from locally engaged staff employed at Diplomatic Missions and International Organisations in the UK as detailed in ‘The London Diplomatic List’. In December 2015 HMRC wrote to all these bodies to ensure they held full and up-to-date contact information for the team.

Locally engaged employees and private servants are expected to contact the Embassy team to notify their employment as soon as they are engaged.

The Embassy team determines the employee’s liability to Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. The team also carries out risk assessment activity and where it identifies individuals who have not notified their employment to HMRC, it takes action to ensure they pay the tax that is due.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-05-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the annual cost of providing assessment and testing materials in primary schools in England in each of the last five years.

Lord Nash

The comprehensive net expenditure of the Standards and Testing Agency in each of the last five years was as follows:

Year ending	Cost
Year ending March 2015	£46.2m
Year ending March 2014	£45.9m
Year ending March 2013	£38.7m
Year ending March 2012	£28.8m
Year ending March 2011	£40.3m

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the difference between the academic performance of adopted children and that of their peers in (1) GCSEs, and (2) A-levels, over the last five years.

Lord Nash

Estimates of GCSE attainment of former looked after children who have been adopted were published for the first time this year. The statistics were published as experimental statistics because we estimate that they are based on around 30% of all children adopted from care[1]. The estimates show that 22.8% of former looked after children who have been adopted achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSEs or equivalent, including English and mathematics in 2015. This information is published on GOV.UK in the statistical first release “Outcomes for looked after children by local authorities in England: 31 March 2015”[2].

Nationally, 57.1% of children in state funded schools achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSEs or equivalent, including English and mathematics in 2015. These figures are published on GOV.UK in the statistical first release “Revised GCSE and equivalent results in England, 2014 to 2015”[3].

Information on attainment at Key Stage 5 for former looked after children who have been adopted is not available.

[1] These figures were based on children who are identified as adopted (requiring declaration by the parents) in the school census, matched to key stage 4 data

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/outcomes-for-children-looked-after-by-las-31-march-2015

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/revised-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2014-to-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies are in place to ensure that newly arrived asylum seekers placed in Home Office initial accommodation have immediate access to the education system.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The issue of education provision for children seeking asylum is an important one and the Home Office makes every effort to ensure that families with children who claim asylum support have access to education at the earliest opportunity.

To enable access to education, internal checks are in place to triage applications involving children of school age for priority dispersal from initial accommodation facilities into permanent accommodation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-10-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what regulatory requirements are currently applicable to digital radio stations.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

There are extensive regulatory requirements covering digital radio.