Tag: Lord Storey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what responsibilities local authorities have to ensure that home tuition is carried out within legal requirements.

Lord Nash

Parents of a child of compulsory school age 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, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. They can meet this duty by electing to educate at home, which is referred to in the Act as education ‘otherwise than at school’.

Local authorities do not have a general responsibility to monitor the education provided by parents, for the purposes of ensuring that parents are meeting their responsibilities. An authority has a duty under s.436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to establish the identities of children who are not receiving a suitable education. However, the fact that a child is educated at home does not necessarily mean that the child is not receiving a suitable education.

Should it appear that the child is not receiving suitable education, the local authority has a duty under s.437(1) of the Education Act 1996 to serve a notice requiring the parent to satisfy the authority that the child is indeed receiving a suitable education. If the parent is unable to satisfy the authority, and the authority considers it expedient for the child to attend school, then the local authority must issue a school attendance order.

These matters are set out in guidance issued by the Department for Education to local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any future plans to make all secondary schools academies.

Lord Nash

The government’s ambition is for every school to have the opportunity to become an academy. Over 60 per cent of secondary schools have already become academies and we want to encourage more schools to do this. The Education and Adoption Bill, currently going through Parliament, will enable us to intervene more quickly to turn underperforming schools into academies.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any research has been carried out into the reasons for teachers leaving the profession, in the light of the cost to the public purse of training teachers.

Lord Nash

Teachers may choose to leave the profession for a variety of reasons. The Teacher Supply Model estimates the number of recruits required based on factors such as teachers leaving the profession. The Department is actively tackling issues that most often lead teachers to consider leaving, such as workload and poor pupil behaviour.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the finding of the Chief Schools Adjudicator concerning the clarity of schools’ admission arrangements, and what steps they intend to take as a result.

Lord Nash

The Department is giving careful consideration to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator’s annual report for 2014-2015 as part of our current review of the School Admissions Code. We will be conducting a full public consultation in due course.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to publish a strategic plan and five-year road map for the implementation of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, and if so, when.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Government is considering the recommendation in the House of Lords Select Committee Report on Sexual Violence that it develops a strategic plan and roadmap. The Government will respond in full to the Select Committee Report on 13 June. The Government will continue to update Parliament on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s annual Human Rights Report. The Government also plans to provide regular briefings and updates to the recently formed All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual Violence in Conflict. In addition, the Government keeps all those interested in this important work up-to-date on progress via social and other forms of media.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 7 June (HL272), what are the National Planning Policy Framework guidelines about what constitutes an exceptional circumstance that necessitates building on Green Belt land.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Green belts are created and protected by local authorities in line with national policy set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). A Green Belt boundary can only be altered where there are exceptional circumstances and only by means of the Local Plan process of public consultation and independent examination.

We do not define exceptional circumstances as these can vary from instance to instance. The NPPF however does outline that exceptions in regards to the construction of new buildings in the Green Belt may include:

• buildings for agriculture and forestry;
• provision of appropriate facilities for outdoor sport and recreation and for cemeteries as long as it preserves the openness of the Green Belt and does not conflict with the purposes of including land within it;
• the extension or alteration of a building provided that it does not result in disproportionate additions over and above the size of the original building;
• limited infilling in villages, and limited affordable housing for local community needs under policies set out in the Local Plan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many clinical negligence legal cases there have been in the last five years; and how many of those were settled by way of a payment for damages within six months of the trial date.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHS LA) has provided the following data.

In the five financial years 2010/11 to 2014/15, the NHS received a total of 51,369 new clinical negligence claims. Many of these were resolved without the commencement of legal proceedings.

This figure relates to England only and does not include claims dealt with by insurers or Medical Defence Organisations, which between them handle the vast majority of claims involving private treatment and general practitioners.

Data on the payment of damages within six months of a trial date is not held.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions they have in place to ensure that those studying in academies receive adequate sex and relationships education.

Lord Nash

The government believes that all children should have the opportunity to receive a high quality and appropriate sex and relationship education (SRE). SRE is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools, and many primary schools also teach it in an age-appropriate way.

Academies do not have to teach SRE but many choose to do so as part of their statutory duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. When academies do teach SRE they are required through their funding agreement to have regard to the Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance.

The guidance makes clear that all SRE should be age-appropriate and helps young people to develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the appointment process for Regional School Commissioners.

Lord Nash

The eight Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) take decisions in the name of the Secretary of State in relation to schools and academies (including free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools). The RSCs were appointed through open competition, with successful candidates being appointed for their outstanding leadership skills and track record. The process was overseen by the Civil Service Commissioner. RSCs are line managed by the national Schools Commissioner.

The responsibilities of RSCs include:

a) monitoring the performance of the academies, free schools, UTCs and studio schools in their area;

b) taking action when an academy, free school, UTC or studio school is underperforming;

c) approving the conversion of maintained schools to academies and making the decision on the sponsor for new academies in areas where the local authority has identified a need for additional school places;

d) making recommendations to ministers about free school applications and advising on whether approved free school projects are ready to open;

e) encouraging organisations to become academy sponsors or to establish free schools, approving applications to become sponsors and helping to build the capacity and capability of existing sponsors within their area;

f) approving changes to open academies, for example: changes to age ranges, mergers between academies, and changes to MAT arrangements;

g) addressing underperformance in local authority maintained schools through sponsored academy arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether universities keep and make available statistics regarding the number of students who are caught having someone else write their work for them, broken down by academic year.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

The Government strongly condemns any form of cheating. All publicly funded providers of higher education courses are expected to comply with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, published by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). One of the requirements of the Code is to ensure that students do not obtain awards through any form of unacceptable academic practice relating to assessment, including plagiarism.

There is no centrally held set of data on the number of recorded plagiarism cases in UK Higher Education – responsibility for tackling plagiarism lies with the HE providers themselves, as autonomous organisations.

Institutions have a variety of mechanisms to address cheating by both international and EEA/UK students, including strong policies and specialist software. Between 2012 and 2015, the QAA carried out approximately 650 reviews of institutions. Of these, it only had to make recommendations to 30 individual universities and colleges on the need to improve systems and information related to plagiarism.

The QAA are discussing the legality of essay mills with the Consumer and Markets Authority.