Tag: Lord Storey

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 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the powers, duties and responsibilities of 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 what safeguards are in place to prevent students using paid-for commercial essay-writing services advertised on the internet.

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.

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.