Tag: Lord Storey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-03-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many former unaccompanied children who have exhausted their appeal rights have been served with removal directions in each of the last five years, and to date in 2014.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach

For the purpose of answering this question, ‘unaccompanied children’ has been interpreted as unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

The following table gives data on the number of removal directions (RD) set for formerunaccompanied asylum seeking children who have exhausted their appeal rights from 2009 to 2013.

Year Removal Direction was set	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total
Individuals with Removal Direction set	29	82	188	146	158	603

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-03-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 20 March, whether they will now detail which specific and itemised duties were performed by each former Prime Minister in each year that the Public Duty Costs Allowance was awarded to them.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The Public Duty Cost Allowance exists as a reimbursement of incurred expenses for necessary office costs and secretarial costs arising from their special position in public life. The allowance is not paid to support private or parliamentary duties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-03-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to fill vacant school governor positions.

Lord Nash

Responsibility for filling a vacancy on a governing body rests with the relevant appointing body for that vacancy. This will vary depending on the category of school and the category of governor.

Governing bodies should review their membership and size on a regular basis and ensure that appointments are made in an efficient and timely manner. The Governors’ Handbook recommends that for every vacancy, governing bodies should conduct a skills audit to identify any gaps in the skills, knowledge and experience of existing governors. Governing bodies should also set out the specific skills and experience that the school needs for the relevant appointing body or electorate.

The Department for Education has committed funding to School Governors’ One-Stop Shop (SGOSS), the governor recruitment charity, to March 2015. SGOSS provides a free service, matching high quality candidates that want to become governors with schools that have governor vacancies, according to the skills the schools need. In addition we are working with employers to encourage them to promote volunteering as a governor to their staff. This can potentially provide schools with an important source of highly skilled governors and is also an excellent learning and development opportunity for the employees concerned, carrying benefits back to their employer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-03-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether youth offending teams are given access to students’ special needs statements as of right.

Lord Faulks

Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) can request access to special needs statements from the education services arm of local authorities who hold them, but they have no access to these as of right. Under the Education (Special Educational Needs) (England) (Consolidation) Regulations 2001, local authority education services are not permitted to share these statements, without the student’s consent, with external parties including YOTs, except for prescribed reasons which include where the local authority in question judges it necessary to do so in the interests of the child, on the order of a court or for the purpose of any criminal proceedings.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, YOTs and local authorities will be required to co-operate in the exercise of the authority’s functions relating to children and young people with special educational needs, for example in the assessment for and preparation of Education and Health Care plans in relation to young people known to the YOT.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-03-28.

To ask the Chairman of Committees whether there are plans to sell or give away the tiles currently being replaced in the Palace of Westminster.

Lord Sewel

The Encaustic Tile Programme is a seven year conservation programme to replace and repair the encaustic tiles throughout the Palace of Westminster. As part of the programme, tiles which are in good condition are either left in place or re-used elsewhere whenever possible.

In some cases, the tiles cannot be re-used elsewhere, and the Administration and Works Committee in the Lords and the Administration Committee in the Commons have agreed that, in these cases, some tiles should be kept for archival purposes, some tiles should be donated to museums or related institutions, and a limited number of tiles should be sold.

The Committees in both Houses are currently discussing the details of this proposal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-04-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stowell of Beeston on 13 March (WA 404), what stipulations, if any, they have placed upon (1) Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, (2) the North East Leadership Board, (3) Sheffield City Region Combined Authority, and (4) West Yorkshire Combined Authority in terms of (a) the membership of those bodies, (b) remuneration for their members, and (c) how meetings will be (i) chaired, and (ii) recorded.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Orders establishing each Combined Authority specify the membership of the body; and require the election of a chairman and vice-chairman at the first meeting of the Combined Authority and thereafter at its annual meeting. Each member has one vote and there is no casting vote. The Orders also make provision that no remuneration is to be payable to members except for allowances for travel and subsistence in accordance with a scheme drawn up by the Combined Authority. All of the councils concerned consented to these provisions, which were based on proposals originally made by the councils.

The statutory provisions for the conduct of council meetings apply equally to the conduct of meetings of a Combined Authority, including provisions about the taking and publication of inutes. The Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency applies to combined authorities and the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014, if approved by Parliament, will also apply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-04-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent comments by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, regarding who should lead the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, what consideration they have given to the consequences should the leader of one constituent authority decide to withdraw from the combined authority.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

This Government has helped these councils set up a combined authority, something that all the local leaders asked for. I understand that they are now working together to make it work.

As I explained during the recent debates in Grand Committee on the draft Orders providing for the establishment of the combined authorities, if in the future councils decide that changes to a combined authority are in the area’s best interest – perhaps another council joining, or one leaving – and the statutory conditions have been met, the Government would seek Parliamentary approval to a new draft Order providing for the changes to take place.

The Order allows for any local authority to change their representative member on the Combined Authority.