Tag: Lord Storey

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.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many schools were placed in special measures in (1) 2013–14, and (2) 2014–15.

Lord Nash

This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House of Commons.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what protocols should be followed when a pupil is interviewed by the police on school premises.

Lord Bates

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Codes of Practice set out the procedures that the police must follow in the exercise of their powers. The interviewing of suspects and witnesses is covered in paragraphs 11 and 12 of PACE Code C. In relation to interviewing pupils on school premises, I would refer you to paragraph 11.16 and Note for Guidance 11D:

11.16 Juveniles may only be interviewed at their place of education in exceptional circumstances and only when the principal or their nominee agrees. Every effort should be made to notify the parent(s) or other person responsible for the juvenile’s welfare and the appropriate adult, if this is a different person, that the police want to interview the juvenile and reasonable time should be allowed to enable the appropriate adult to be present at the interview.

If awaiting the appropriate adult would cause unreasonable delay, and unless the juvenile is suspected of an offence against the educational establishment, the principal or their nominee can act as the appropriate adult for the purposes of the interview. Note: Paragraph 1.5A extends the requirement in this paragraph to 17-year-old suspects. 11D Juveniles should not be arrested at their place of education unless this is unavoidable. When a juvenile is arrested at their place of education, the principal or their nominee must be informed. Paragraph 1.5A extends this Note to 17-year-old suspects.

In addition, Note for Guidance 2A in PACE Code G specifically relates to the investigation of the use of force by school staff. PACE Codes of Practice must be followed by all police officers in England and Wales. At a local level, police forces may provide their officers with additional guidance to that contained within the PACE codes. This guidance could relate to the protocols to be followed when interviewing pupils on school premises. Such guidance is not held centrally.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made on the Law Commission review of taxi and private hire cars, and rickshaws.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Law Commission has proposed extensive reform to the legislation around taxi and private regulation which requires careful consideration before recommending a way forward. We will share this the outcome of this consideration once it is completed.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the personal taxation requirements when a local authority pays the legal costs of an industrial tribunal or court case for an individual councillor.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The payment of a councillor’s legal costs by a local authority are subject to the same tax rules as the payment of such fees by any employer for an employee or office-holder. The tax treatment that applies will depend on the particular facts of the case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-10-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 22 July (HL1498), whether they plan to bring forward regulations regarding rickshaws in London in order to protect tourists from excessive charges.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government is continuing to consider the Law Commission’s recommendations for reforming taxi and private hire legislation, including the proposal that rickshaws in London are brought within the regulatory regime for taxis and private hire vehicles.

We are already engaged with the Mayor of London in discussing the implementation of the recommendations from the Law Commission.

The Government will formally respond to the Law Commission and announce its intentions once this scrutiny is completed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that young people whose 18th birthdays fall on or before the voter registration application deadline know that they can register to vote before they turn 18.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The Government recently announced that organisations that work with people who are underrepresented on the electoral register will share some £2.5 million of funding to ensure they register to vote. This includes UK Youth and British Youth Council who will target young people.

In addition, £6.8 million has been shared across every Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in Great Britain. EROs are best placed to determine the type of activity they deliver through this funding to maximise registration levels in their area according to local circumstances. This could include specific activity aimed at registering attainers or a write out to all households to prompt those missing to register.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-06-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the charitable status of fee-charging educational foundations with more than 75 per cent of pupils from outside the United Kingdom.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission’s Head of Policy to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-01-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the attention paid to vocabulary building within literacy syllabuses in the national curriculum from pre-school onwards.

Lord Nash

The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out that literacy development during the early years involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Both the reading and writing literacy goals in the Statutory Framework set out the skills that most children should meet by the end of the foundation stage. Children must also be given access to a wide range of reading materials to ignite their interest.

The importance of vocabulary development is emphasised and integrated throughout the National Curriculum framework. This covers both general vocabulary development and the subject-specific language that pupils need to be able to use to progress in, for example, mathematics and science. Both the reading and writing domains of the English programmes of study emphasise the importance of building pupils’ vocabulary, so they understand and can use a wide range of words.

The approach to developing vocabulary is first through securing word reading and comprehension and secondly through pupils developing an understanding of how words and meaning can be created using prefixes and suffixes. Morphology and etymology are emphasised at key stage 2 to further develop pupils’ capacity for understanding and developing vocabulary. This is brought together in the appendix to the English programmes of study covering vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, which also sets out the terminology that pupils should be taught to use to discuss their writing.