Tag: Lord Storey

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal responsibilities of those parents who choose to teach their children at home.

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 what assessment they have made of which national sporting events are listed for terrestrial broadcasting, and whether they plan to take steps to help expand that list to enable those who cannot afford or access cable or satellite television to view them.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Our recently published Sports Strategy made clear that the Government doesn’t propose to reopen discussion on the Ofcom Code on Listed Events. It is for national governing bodies and other rights holders to strike the right balance between reaching a wide audience and generating revenue. However, we encourage as many national govering bodies and other rights holders as possible to sign up to the accessibility principle of the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Broadcasting of Major Sporting Events.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of pupils sat GCSE and A Level Music in 2014–15.

Lord Nash

In 2014/15, 7 per cent of students[1] were entered for GCSE[2] Music as published in the latest “Revised GCSE and equivalents results in England” statistical first release (SFR)[3]. In 2009/10, the percentage of students who were entered for GCSE Music was 7 per cent.

The percentage of students[4] who were entered for A level[5] Music was 2.5 per cent which can be calculated from data published on entries in A Level Music in the latest “A level and other Level 3 results” SFR[6].

[1] Pupils at the end of key stage 4.

[2] GCSE only.

[3] Revised GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2014 to 2015.

[4] Based on total number of entries in A level music divided by the number of students entered for at least one A level or applied single/double award A level – so could be an overestimate if a student has entered A level music more than once.

[5] A level only.

[6] A level and other level 3 results: 2014 to 2015 (revised).

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of identified violations of the School Admissions Code since 2012 related to failure to make clear how children with statements of special educational needs were admitted.

Lord Nash

Since 2012, there have been no objections upheld by the Schools Adjudicator against admission arrangements relating to the provisions in the School Admissions Code concerning children with statements of special educational needs.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the health and safety requirements for operators of rickshaws.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

In England and Wales, excluding London, rickshaws (in the form of pedal-powered vehicles for carrying passengers, often also referred to as pedicabs) are regulated as taxis. They are therefore required to meet a local licensing authority’s taxi licensing conditions and any applicable byelaws. Under the different legislation that applies to London, they fall outside the scope of taxi regulation. The police have some limited powers to address inappropriate behaviour such as obstructing footways or driving in a reckless manner. The Government has recently announced its intention to introduce legislation to enable Transport for London to regulate pedicabs in London.

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 Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 June (HL342), what regulations are in place to ensure the health and safety of paying passengers outside London; and who is responsible for that function.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

As rickshaws (pedicabs) outside London are regulated as taxis (Hackney Carriages), it is down to each local authority to set the licensing conditions, standards and by-laws for both driver and vehicle. This includes ensuring the health and safety of all travelling passengers, for instance through policies on vehicle type and safety features.

This function is the responsibility of the local licensing authority.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of teachers in state schools have (1) masters degrees, and (2) doctorates.

Lord Nash

The information requested is not available in the format requested.

The Department publishes statistics showing the highest post A-level qualifications held by teachers in state funded schools in England. This information does not show those with masters degrees and doctorates separately.

The latest statistics for November 2015, which were published on 30 June 2016, are provided in Table 10 of the statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2015’, which is attached and available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2015

The statistics show that 97.3% of teachers have a degree or higher level qualification. This is an increase on the previous year when 96.6% of teachers had a degree or higher level qualification.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of teachers left that profession (1) less than one year from starting teaching, and (2) within five years of starting teaching, between 2011 and 2016.

Lord Nash

We recognise that it is vital for schools to be able to retain good teachers – that is why we have made policy interventions in the areas that teachers tell us matter most such as improving pupil behaviour and reducing unnecessary workload.

The Department publishes statistics showing the percentage of qualified teachers who enter teaching within a year of completing their training and who remain in service each year afterwards. This information is available in Table 8 of the ‘School Workforce in England: November 2015’ statistical release which was published on June 30^th 2016.

The latest statistics show that 87% of qualified teachers that entered service during 2014 were still in post one year later. The following table shows the one-year retention rate has remained within one percentage point of this level during the last five years.

Year qualified	Recorded in service by	Still in post after one year
2010	November 2010	87%
2011	November 2011	88%
2012	November 2012	88%
2013	November 2013	87%
2014	November 2014	87%

The latest available statistics also show that 70% of qualified teachers that entered service during 2010 were still in post five years later.

Year qualified	Recorded in service by	Still in post after five years
2006	March 2007	73%
2007	March 2008	74%
2008	March 2009	74%
2009	March 2010	72%
2010	November 2010	70%

Over the longer-term five year retention rate has remained stable, of the cohort of newly qualified teachers who entered teaching in 1996, 71% were still teaching in the state-funded sector five-years later.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Chairman of Committees how many consultants have been employed in the House of Lords in the last three years; and what has been the cost of each firm or independent consultant.

Lord Laming

Payments for the last three financial years are as follows:

Firm	2012-13 £	2013-14 £	2014-15 £	Work undertaken
Beamans Ltd	–	–	31,050	Costs related to a pay and grading review
BHBi Consultancy Ltd	14,800	–	–	Audit of an ongoing capital project
Bostock Marketing Group	23,025	–	20,238	Costs of the independently-managed Member and staff surveys
Capita Business Services	–	6,913	–	Support for an equal pay audit
Catering Consultancy Bureau	–	6,128	13,662	Branding project for Catering and Retail Services (CRS) outlets and delivery of communications workshops
Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply	–	23,118	–	Support for a review of procurement services
Government Actuary’s Department	5,400	5,000	7,500	Annual accounting valuation of the House of Lords staff pension scheme
Helena Bayler	275	–	825	Design and amendment of specialist forms
Information Accreditor	2,125	13,770	24,735	Proportion of costs to provide the two Houses with assurance on the security of new IT systems
JM HR Solutions Limited	15,000	7,750	–	Human resource review support
Panache Consultancy Limited	2,952	–	–	Review of staffing requirements for certain CRS outlets
Sage Food Design and Development	–	10,761	8,269	CRS consultancy regarding food covering: menus, kitchen production, kitchen organisations and structure
Stern Consultancy	–	3,468	–	Income generation project support
The Litmus Partnership Limited	–	7,982	18,400	CRS smarter procurement support and related services including supplier price challenge
The Mystery Dining Company	–	555	395	Mystery shopping of catering venues
Turpin Smale	–	4,400	–	CRS outlet-specific consultancy to support the Change Programme
University of Portsmouth Ltd	4,157	–	–	Specialist support to develop a facility to search for records from the Parliament Archives online catalogue by place
TOTAL	68,775	90,720	125,074	N/A

The House seeks only to engage external consultant support when it is more economical to engage specialist services on a fixed term basis than to embed capacity in-House, when specific external advice is beneficial, or when capacity issues necessitate it.

Most of the spending on consultancy in Catering and Retail Services has been to support an ambitious Change Programme which is seeking to deliver a step change in food quality and service by empowering individuals in order to provide better value for money to both the Member and the taxpayer. This investment should help the House reduce the cost of catering provision.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the costs set initially for the regional schools commissioners, and what are the budgeted running costs.

Lord Nash

The first financial year set up and running costs of the Regional Schools Commissioners (RSC) and their offices were approximately £4.5 million. This includes the election of head teacher boards and their expenses. This was not new additional funding, but was met from within the Department for Education’s existing budget envelope.

The budgeted running costs for 2015-16 are approximately £6 million. These costs have been provided from the department’s allocated funding, following a robust business planning exercise.