Tag: Lord Storey

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Ariel Trust’s recent pilot scheme to teach every primary school pupil how to tackle cyberbullying within Liverpool, what plans they have to tackle cyberbullying in schools across England.

Lord Nash

The Government believes that schools, internet providers and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.

All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying, including cyberbullying, and they are held closely to account by Ofsted. The Department for Education has issued advice to schools on preventing and tackling bullying and on supporting bullied children which includes cyberbullying. We have also recently issued advice aimed at parents on how to keep children safe online, spot the signs that a child may be being cyberbullied and what to do if it happens.

In addition, e-safety is being taught at all four key stages of the curriculum and covers responsible, respectful and secure use of technology. Pupils are also taught age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.

The Department is also providing around £4 million in funding to various anti-bullying organisations, such as the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), who work in schools to combat bullying, including cyberbullying. The NCB has produced a guide for schools on preventing and tackling cyberbullying of children with a special educational need or disability who are especially vulnerable to this form of bullying.

Furthermore, we are currently considering bids through a £25 million voluntary and community sector grant programme to extend the work being done by anti-bullying charities in schools. A £2 million grant is being offered in conjunction with the Government Equalities Office to support projects which tackle specifically homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools.

More widely, the Government continues to work to protect children online through the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which brings together representatives from government, industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what future plans they have to increase the provisions for free training linked to the Employer Skills Fund to eligible small and medium-sized businesses.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Employer Skills Fund is a project run in the Liverpool City Region under a consortium led by Wirral Metropolitan College co-funded by the Skills Funding Agency and the European Social Fund. Support will come to an end on 31 July 2015 when the current European Structural and Innovation Funds programme expires.

The new European Structural and Innovation Funds programme which will run to 2020 is currently being finalised. The Skills Funding Agency is working with Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership to determine whether any programmes similar to the Employer Skills Fund will be established depending on local priorities.

More generally, we are reforming the skills system so that it is increasingly responsive to local communities and businesses. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), through initiatives such as City Deals and Local Growth Deals, have increasing influence over the delivery of skills that support the priorities described in their Strategic Economic Plans. This includes LEPs taking the lead role in determining the use of European Social Fund allocations in the next round (2014-2020).

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the fact that the average United Kingdom graduate starting salary ranges from £18,000 to £24,000, what assessment they have made of the impact of policy that allows international students to stay in the United Kingdom upon the condition that they find a graduate-level job paying £24,000 a year.

Lord Bates

The Government recognises that there should be opportunities for the brightest and best international students to undertake skilled work in the UK after their studies. International students who graduate in the UK may switch into skilled work providing they have an offer of graduate-level job from a sponsoring employer, paying at least £20,500 per year or the appropriate salary for the particular occupation, whichever is higher.

The Government closed the previous Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) route in April 2012. This route granted free access to the UK labour market for two years after graduation in the UK. Too many individuals in the route were unemployed or competing with resident workers for low-skilled jobs, and too many were using the student route merely as a means to work in the UK, without any real intention of study. We also saw a large number of fraudulent applications. This undermined our work routes and damaged the reputation of our education system.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action has been taken to ensure that the proposed Royal College of Teaching does not alienate some teachers with expensive annual membership fees.

Lord Nash

The Government welcomes the proposed establishment of a new, independent College of Teaching as a positive step towards raising standards and championing the professional status of teaching. However, a key determinant of such a body’s future success will be its independence from Government. For that reason any question of membership costs would be wholly for the new organisation itself to determine. It is clearly important, however, that a new body has broad appeal for teachers and is able to establish a strong membership.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 3 February (HL4358), what assessment they have made of the placement of defibrillators in schools in Liverpool; and whether there are plans to increase the number of defibrillators in schools across the country.

Lord Nash

The Department for Education is encouraging schools to purchase automated external defibrillators (AEDs) as part of their first aid equipment. To help them do this, on 26 November 2014, we announced new arrangements to allow schools to purchase AEDs at a competitive price. This is the result of a unique agreement between the Department for Education and the Department of Health, enabling NHS Supply Chain to purchase devices in batches from approved framework suppliers via a reverse auction process. The discount achieved on each batch is then passed on to schools through a reduced unit price.

The Department for Education does not collect information about the placement of defibrillators in schools but is able to provide details of which schools have purchased an AED under the arrangements described above.

To help schools in considering whether to purchase a defibrillator, the Department has also published advice on installing and maintaining AEDs on school premises. This has been developed drawing on the expertise of NHS ambulance services and voluntary and community sector organisations.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that consent and emotional safety in relationships are given enough emphasis with sexual and relationship education.

Lord Nash

Education has an important role to play in encouraging young people to build healthy relationships, and to identify those relationships which are unhealthy. The statutory sex and relationships education (SRE) guidance, which schools must have regard to when teaching SRE, makes clear that teaching should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour. This is particularly relevant to sexual consent and the guidance makes clear that all young people should understand how the law applies to sexual relationships.

We have commissioned the PSHE Association to produce guidance for teachers on teaching about consent, which will be published shortly.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made in the last six months of Sustainable Mode of Travel to School strategies; how well they consider that they are being implemented; and when they last reviewed them.

Lord Nash

The duty to promote the use of sustainable modes of travel to school and to develop a strategy for sustainable local travel is a statutory duty for the local authority (LA). LAs are best placed to address the needs of children and young people in their area and local walking, cycling and bus strategies should inform their approach. The Department for Education does not monitor or review these plans.

Guidance issued by the Department advises LAs of their duties and makes it clear that it is for the LA to monitor the implementation of their strategies and revise these as they feel necessary. LAs are also required to publish their Sustainable Modes of Travel Strategy on their website by 31 August each year. The guidance issued by the Department is published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance

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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.