Tag: Lord Storey

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training teachers preparing to work in prisons receive beyond their teaching qualification.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

In the majority of adult prisons in England education is delivered by Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) providers. Individuals wishing to be employed by OLASS providers to teach in prisons should meet the same standards as those preparing to teach SFA funded provision in the learning and skills sector in England.

In addition, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills grant funds the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) to deliver a specific programme of work to support teaching and learning in prisons, this includes activity to support the professional development of OLASS teachers. In 2016-17 we made available £0.6m to the ETF.

Training such as in health and safety is the responsibility of the Prison Governor and is arranged locally for OLASS staff by individual prisons.

There are also a number of privately managed prisons where the operator is responsible for providing education under their contract with the National Offender Management Service. The Directors of those prisons ensure that, beyond their teaching qualifications, teachers will attend a training course varying between three days and one week, depending on which prison they work at. This training is aimed at preparing them to work in the prison environment. A number of these prisons operate a further period where the new starter will observe and shadow existing staff, usually lasting two weeks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation took place (1) before the introduction of the English Baccalaureate in 2010, and (2) before the decision in 2015 to make the measure mandatory; and whether the results of those consultations will be published.

Lord Nash

The 2010 schools white paper, The Importance of Teaching, set out that the proportion of pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) would be published in the school performance tables.

The Government’s consultation on implementing the EBacc ran between 3 November 2015 and 29 January 2016. The Government response to the consultation will be published in due course.

Both papers can be found on GOV.UK and have been attached to this answer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-10-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what regulatory provision the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education makes to ensure that private higher education providers maintain minimum admission standards for undergraduate degrees and provide value for money.

Viscount Younger of Leckie

The UK Quality Code, which the Quality Assurance Agency’s Higher Education Review (Alternative Providers) uses to assess private providers, sets out the following expectations about recruitment, selection and admission to higher education:

“Recruitment, selection, and admission policies and procedures adhere to the principles of fair admission. They are transparent, reliable, valid, inclusive and underpinned by appropriate organisational structures and processes. They support higher education providers in the selection of students who are able to complete their programme.”

It is a condition of designation for student support that private providers maintain successful outcomes from these QAA reviews and annual monitoring. QAA’s Concerns Scheme investigates specific concerns about the management of academic quality and standards, including recruitment, selection and admissions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many local authority schools have opened in the last five years.

Lord Nash

On 1 February 2011 the Education Act 2011 amended the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to change the arrangements for establishing new schools. Most new schools are now established via the academy/free school presumption.

182 local authority maintained schools have opened since 01 January 2011.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Leader of the House when revising the process for prayers was last considered, and what consideration has been given to including an opportunity for additional prayers following a national or international tragedy or disaster.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The process for prayers was last considered by the Procedure Committee in December 2012 (3rd Report, Session 2012-13, HL Paper 81). Any change to the present arrangements would be a matter for the Procedure Committee, in consultation with the Lords Spiritual.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authority has taken the longest amount of time to assess and decide on an Education, Health and Care plan.

Lord Nash

Information on statements of special educational needs and statutory Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans maintained by local authorities is collected in the annual SEN2 data return from local authorities in January each year. The latest available data shows there were 4,205 statutory EHC plans maintained by local authorities, as of January 2015.

The Department does not collect information on which local authority has taken the longest amount of time to assess and decide on an EHC plan. Data is collected in the annual SEN2 return on the number of EHC plans which were issued within the 20 weeks set out in regulations.

Of the new EHC plans issued in 2014, 64.3% were within the 20 weeks when excluding exception cases. Including exception cases; 61.5% were issued within the 20 weeks. However, these figures cover EHC plans issued in the first four months of the transitional period where local authorities are beginning to implement the new reforms within 20 weeks.

This information was published in the statistical first release ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England 2015’, in May 2015. Data for January 2016 is expected to be published in May 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to prevent children either never going to school or going missing from school.

Lord Nash

The law provides a number of safeguards to ensure that all children receive a suitable full-time education. These are set out in Chapters I and II of Part VI of the Education Act 1996, and include:

• a duty on local authorities to make arrangements to establish, as far as it is possible to do so, the identities of children of compulsory school age in their area who are not receiving suitable education (Section 436A);

• a duty on local authorities to arrange suitable education for all children of compulsory school age who may not for any period receive it, unless such arrangements are made for them (Section 19);

• a duty on parents to ensure that their child of compulsory school age is receiving suitable full-time education, either at school or otherwise (Section 7);

• provision for a local authority to issue a School Attendance Order to a parent where it is not satisfied that a child of compulsory age is receiving a suitable education (Section 437); and

• provision for the prosecution of a parent who has failed to secure their child’s regular attendance at school (Section 444).

Statutory guidance requires local authorities to have robust procedures and policies in place to enable them to carry out their duty to identify children of compulsory school age in their area who are not receiving suitable education (Children Missing Education, 2015).

Under the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, schools have a duty to inform their local authority, at agreed intervals, of the details of pupils who are regularly absent from school or have missed 10 school days or more without permission. Schools must also notify the authority if a pupil is to be deleted from the admission register in certain circumstances.

We are taking steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people, while at the same time safeguarding the rights of parents to determine how and where to educate their children. The Department for Education is currently consulting on proposals to strengthen further the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 in order to require schools to inform local authorities under all grounds when a child’s name is deleted from a school register.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to produce a strategy for careers education in schools.

Lord Nash

Helping all young people, regardless of background, to get the inspiration and guidance they need for success in working life is a key part of this Government’s commitment to delivering real social justice.

Later this year, the Department for Education will publish a comprehensive careers strategy, outlining this Government’s plans for improving careers provision by 2020.

The work of The Careers & Enterprise Company, an initiative by the Department, is vital in transforming careers and enterprise provision in schools and colleges. The Company has launched its £5 million Careers and Enterprise Fund to scale good ideas and fill gaps in provision as well as rolling out its Enterprise Adviser Network; a programme connecting employees from firms of all sizes to schools through a network of enterprise advisers drawn from business volunteers

Over the course of this Parliament, we are committing a total of £70m to our strategy to continue to transform the quality of the careers education, advice and guidance offered to young people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost of building the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, and whether it was built under a private finance initiative scheme.

Lord Prior of Brampton

This information is not available centrally. This information may be obtained from the Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust. We have written to Robert Clarke, Chair of the Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust informing him of the noble Lord’s enquiry. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total cost, including legal fees, of converting a school to an academy.

Lord Nash

The costs of becoming an academy vary from school to school. Schools that become academies each receive a standard pre-opening grant relative to their particular circumstances.

Currently, these tariffed grants contribute towards the costs of conversion incurred by schools in establishing the academy. These may include legal fees, as well as costs associated with transfer of land, transfer of software licences, Human Resources and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations advice, setting up an Academy Trust and paying for school improvement capacity.