Tag: Lord Storey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the age profile of the total number of apprentices in 2013–14 and 2014–15.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

In the 2013/14 academic year there were 851,500 government funded apprentices. Of these, 185,800 were aged under 19, 308,900 were aged 19-24 and 356,900 were aged over 25.

Over the 2014/15 academic year there were 871,800 government funded apprentices. Of these, 194,100 were aged under 19, 315,000 were aged 19-24 and 362,600 were aged over 25.

Information on Apprenticeship participation by age in 2013/14 and 2014/15 is published as part of a Statistical First Release:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether governors of maintained schools are allowed to agree a budget deficit.

Lord Nash

Governors are responsible for agreeing the budget of a school under the arrangements set out in their Local Authority’s Scheme for Financing Schools, which may preclude any planning for deficits; or it may allow schools to plan for deficits only in certain approved circumstances.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the requirements for a city which decides to return from a mayoral form of governance to a Leader of the Council model, when the decision to have a mayor was made by the council itself and not through a referendum.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Where a council has established mayoral governance following a council resolution but without a referendum, it may change that governance model once 5 years has elapsed from the initial resolution.

A referendum on whether to move away from the mayoral governance model may be held at any time after this point, if the council resolves to hold such a referendum or if it is petitioned by 5% or more of the local electorate. The council must meet the cost of the referendum.

If the referendum takes place within the five years following the council resolution, but a second mayoral term of office has begun during those five years, the governance change will take place on the third day after the next ordinary election of a mayor.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial support is available for post-16 students in rural areas who have to travel long distances to attend the nearest further education or sixth form college.

Lord Nash

The statutory responsibility for financial and other support regarding transport to education and training for 16 to 19 year olds rests with local authorities, enabling them to make decisions which best match local needs and circumstances. Local authorities are expected to make reasonable decisions based on the needs of their population, the local transport infrastructure, and the resources they have available.

Most young people, including those in rural areas, have access to discounts or concessions from their local authority or transport providers. Some young people are also supported by the 16-19 Bursary Fund, and some schools or colleges provide free or subsidised transport directly.

The government also supports local bus travel, including in rural areas, through the Bus Service Operators Grant.

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), whether the Quality Assurance Agency requests data from higher education institutions regarding the number of cases of plagiarism and how those cases were handled each year.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

There is no centrally held set of data on the number of recorded plagiarism cases in higher education. This is an institutional matter and cases are handled by individual institutions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to increase the budget of the Heritage Schools programme.

Lord Nash

The funding for Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme in 2016-17 has not yet been confirmed. A decision will be made once the Department’s business planning process has concluded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal requirements for home-educated pupils to sit SATs.

Lord Nash

Legislation which requires the administration of the tests at the end of key stages 1 and 2 only applies to state-funded schools.

Independent schools and home-educated pupils can choose to participate in the national curriculum tests if they wish. Home-educated pupils can only do so by registering with a maintained school, academy or other independent school that is participating in the tests.

Parents are entitled to educate their children at home; when they do so they opt out of state education. The education provided must comply with the duty in section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to cause the child to receive efficient full-time education suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs the child may have.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 12 May (HL8031), how many times in (1) 2014, and (2) 2015, HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) specialist embassy team carried out risk assessment activities and identified individuals who had not notified their employment to HMRC, and subsequently took action to ensure they paid the tax that was due.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The Embassy team in 2014 and 2015 didn’t undertake any specific risk assessment activities with regards to individuals who had not notified their employment. However the team arranged for one of our Central Compliance Teams to undertake a project to review the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) position of various embassies employees using our Risk Profiling system. We reviewed 697 cases and opened checks into 258 of these. Of these 150 were found to be compliant. The checks covered the tax years 2009/10 to 2014/15.

In the current year we are expecting to open further checks in relation to both tax and NICs on a number of employees.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they maintain data on the number of primary-school pupils who are (1) bilingual, and (2) trilingual.

Lord Nash

The Department only collects data on pupils’ first language spoken which is not an indicator of proficiency in English or other languages. The Department does not hold information on the number of pupils who are bilingual or trilingual.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the study by the Universities of Bristol and Central Lancashire which found that 22 per cent of boys aged 14 to 17 have perpetrated acts of sexual coercion or abuse, what sex education initiatives they have in place that are specifically aimed at boys within that age group.

Lord Nash

Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate. Schools have the freedom to decide which topics are most relevant to their pupils to ensure they develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015. We strongly welcome this guidance, which will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helped educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.