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 current level of per capita funding for students in (1) school sixth forms in schools, (2) sixth form colleges, and (3) further education colleges.

Lord Nash

Funding for all 16-19 institutions comes from the same national funding formula. The national base rate for 16-19 year olds in full time education is £4,000 per student. Weightings related to disadvantage, programme costs and area costs are added to the base rate funding, to reflect additional costs faced by different institutions.

The overall average units of funding for the 2015/16 academic year are:

Schools and Academy Sixth Forms	£4,567
Sixth Form Colleges	£4,670
General Further Education and Specialist Colleges	£4,973

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) which UK terrestrial broadcasters produce annual original homemade content for children, and (2) how much those broadcasters spend annually on such content.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Ofcom’s 2015 report into the future of public service broadcasting included an assessment of the amount of UK originated Children’s television programming by the public service broadcasting channels.

In 2014, the BBC spent £84 million on children’s television programming. The combined spend of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 was £3 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the legal requirements that apply to daily acts of collective worship in school assemblies.

Lord Nash

The Government does not plan to change the requirements for a daily act of collective worship. It is for schools to tailor their provision to suit the needs of their pupils, and parents can choose to withdraw their children from all or any part of collective worship.

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.

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 assessment they have made of whether the specialist software Turnitin is able to detect whether a whole essay was not written by the person submitting, such as if that essay had been paid for from an essay mill.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

The Government has made no such assessment. The selection of particular types of software is an academic matter for individual institutions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to limiting the proportion of places that schools can allocate using religious admissions criteria, in line with the cap that currently exists for free schools.

Lord Nash

The Government greatly values the contribution that existing church and faith schools play in our education system, including those of free schools, and we have no plans to change their admission arrangements since they are providing places for the communities they serve.

Not all faith schools choose to allocate places by faith. It is for the admission authority of the school to decide whether or not to include faith-based priorities within their oversubscription criteria.

When constructing faith-based oversubscription criteria, including deciding how membership or practice of the faith will be determined, admission authorities must have regard to the guidance of their relevant religious authority and their arrangements must comply with the statutory School Admissions Code.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the on-costs on teachers’ salaries for the last three years.

Lord Nash

The on-costs on teachers’ salaries consist of employer pension contributions and employer National Insurance (NI) contributions. In 2015/16, the total on-costs for a teacher with an average salary are approximately 25.4% of their gross salary.

Employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme are the same rate for all teachers regardless of salary and in 2015/16 they increased from 14.1% of teachers’ gross salary to 16.5%.

The table below sets out the on-costs on teachers’ salaries for the last three years:

Employer contributions	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Teachers’ Pension	14.1%	14.1%	16.5%
National Insurance	7.9%	7.9%	8.9%
Total On-Costs	22.0%	22.0%	25.4%

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the drivers of rickshaws that carry paying passengers have to have a Disclosure and Barring Service check in line with the requirements for other taxi service providers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The legislation covering rickshaws, or pedicabs, is different across England.

In London they are classified as stage coaches, and therefore are exempted from taxi licensing and do not need a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. The Government however is looking to bring forward legislation to regulate pedicabs in London.

Outside London they fall under taxi licensing, and drivers must therefore pass the ‘fit and proper person’ test mandated by whichever local authority they are licensed in.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the net expenditure of the Standards and Testing Agency in the year ending March 2012 was over 25 per cent lower than the average yearly net expenditure for the period April 2010 to March 2015.

Lord Nash

The year ending March 2012 was the period when the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency closed and the Standards and Testing Agency opened. The reduction in expenditure can partly be explained by the transfer of functions between the two organisations. In addition, there was no whole cohort external marking of the Key Stage 2 writing test that year.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve teenage literacy, in the light of the 2016 OECD report Building skills for all: A review of England, which stated that the UK has the lowest literacy rates among 16 to 19 year-olds out of 23 developed countries.

Lord Nash

We are pleased that the OECD recognises in their review the changes we have made in recent years to ensure that all young people leave full-time education with a high standard of English.

The primary National Curriculum emphasises the teaching of early reading through systematic phonics and the importance of accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar. At secondary school pupils are expected to read a wide range of texts fluently and with good understanding.

We have reformed GCSEs to ensure they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy than the old GCSE. We are also taking action to improve the rigour and relevance of English Functional Skills qualifications, which are taken by many students and apprentices aged 16 and over.

To ensure all young people have every opportunity to secure proficiency in English, since 2014 we have required every 16-19 year old not holding a good pass in GCSE English and mathematics to continue to study these subjects as part of their 16-19 study programme. We have also embedded English and mathematics into our work-based training programmes such as apprenticeships and traineeships.

Last summer’s GCSE results show that over 4,000 more students aged 17 and over secured GCSE English at grades A*-C than the previous year.