Tag: Lord Storey

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to complete the training review, publication and roll-out of training programmes on the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, for training delivered (1) in the UK to military officers from overseas, and (2) to foreign military forces.

Earl Howe

Our Armed Forces already undertake high quality training on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) but a training needs analysis (TNA), which will report shortly, is assessing the level of future WPS/PSVI training required for UK and overseas militaries. Every year around 150 military officers from more than 50 countries attend UK Defence Academy courses that include lectures on WPS; and students on the Advanced Command and Staff Course are offered an additional two week ‘elective’ on "Gender, War, and Armed Forces", which some of the overseas officers choose to attend.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is also delivering WPS and PSVI in-country training to foreign militaries through the deployment of short term training teams and deployable experts, and via our overseas training establishments. The MOD is developing a standardised core syllabus for the training on WPS and PSVI delivered to foreign forces, which is expected to be finalised in January 2017. Building on the core syllabus, the training is then theatre-specific and tailored to the needs of troops being deployed, based on the level of training they have already received.

The MOD does not routinely publish its training materials but, as part of an accreditation process, it will share course materials with allies in NATO, the European Union, and the United Nations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many illegal schools have been closed down, and how many people have been prosecuted for running an illegal school, in each of the last five years.

Lord Nash

We are determined to keep children safe in and out of school and have made it very clear that it is an offence to operate an unregistered independent school. We announced in January funding for Ofsted to establish a dedicated team of specialist inspectors to investigate such settings. Since that time, there’s been a significant escalation in Ofsted investigations of settings, which has resulted in the closure of many.

However, the numbers of unregistered schools, including closures fluctuates all the time as new ones come to our attention, existing ones are closed down, or are confirmed as not operating as schools. Such settings also proceed to go through the registration process and may be operating in some capacity, but on a part-time basis which is not an offence.

No prosecutions have yet been taken but we are working closely with Ofsted and the Crown Prosecution Service on taking forward prosecutions of individuals running them, where appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Tier 4 licences for non-EU students are audited annually.

Lord Bates

The number of Tier 4 licensed sponsors audited from 1 January to 30 September 2015 was 286. In the calendar year 2014 there were 383 .

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how children in small rural primary schools can fully access the National Curriculum.

Lord Nash

The government believes that all children should have an excellent education, regardless of where they live. Maintained schools are required to teach the national curriculum as part of their duty to provide pupils with a broad and balanced school curriculum.

The government’s view is that schools, including small rural schools, are best placed to decide how best children are taught the curriculum, and which resources meet their needs and to secure these accordingly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the financial advantages of a school converting to academy status.

Lord Nash

Academies and free schools receive per-pupil funding on an equivalent basis to all other maintained schools. A fundamental principle of the programme is that no school should be financially advantaged or disadvantaged in converting to academy status. Academies have greater freedom than maintained schools to determine the use of the money they receive.

Academies also currently receive funding through the Education Services Grant in respect of services that local authorities provide for maintained schools and which academies provide for their own pupils. Academies and local authorities receive the education services grant on the same basis, according to a national per-pupil rate.

Academies can form or join multi-academy trusts, allowing them to achieve efficiencies through economies of scale and shared procurement. By coming together in a formal joint-governance structure, multi-academy trusts give schools the ability to maximise the potential benefits from collaboration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the announced closure of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Sheffield office and their proposal to establish six new business centres across the country, where those proposed new centres will be located.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

As part of the Department’s change programme, BIS2020, we anticipate reducing the number of our locations from more than 80 to approximately 7 centres plus a regional footprint. Beyond the announcement made about our Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place on 28 January, we do not yet know exactly which sites will be retained or closed over the course of the Parliament. By 2020 the majority of employees in BIS and its Partner Organisations will continue to be based outside London through a number of centres – such as in Birmingham, Glasgow, and Swindon – as well as a regional footprint for the provision of local services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which schools will no longer receive the extra £2,300 per school per year to help provide hot meals.

Lord Nash

In 2015-16, each maintained school in England with 150 pupils or fewer received temporary funding to help with the transition to universal infant free school meals (UIFSM). The full list of schools who received this funding in 2015-16 is attached alongside this response. Full details of 2015-16 funding allocations for UIFSM can be found on GOV.UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding they have put in place to ensure that the parents of special needs students do not feel that home-schooling is their only option.

Lord Nash

The Government’s intention is to make sure that the education system offers every child or young person with special educational needs the support they need to achieve their full potential. The department allocates funding to meet the special educational needs of children and young people through the dedicated schools grant to local authorities, and equivalent funding to academies. Most of this funding goes to mainstream schools and academies: each local authority’s school funding formula takes into account the characteristics of the schools’ students, enabling schools to provide appropriate support to those who have special educational needs. Additional funding (£5.3 billion in 2016-17) is made available to enable local authorities to meet their responsibilities to secure suitable provision for children and young people with high needs. Most of this funding is allocated to mainstream and special schools.

In addition, the department has invested heavily in practical and financial support for implementation of the reforms introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014, including an extra £80 million which is being made available in 2016-17. This includes support to help parents with the new arrangements, to make sure that they know what options are available to them, and can be involved in the assessment of their children’s needs and decisions about the provision to meet those needs. To ensure these new arrangements are working, from May 2016, all local areas (both local authorities and health providers) will be subject to inspection on support and provision for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disaibility by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-05-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are guidelines for local consultations in the Education Funding Agency site selection process, and if so, what those guidelines are.

Lord Nash

The Education Funding Agency makes a value for money assessment of each site identified for a new free school. This takes into account factors such as the demand for places in the area and the suitability of the site, including any concerns from local residents.

Local consultations should take place during the selection of the site and the views of residents are factored in at several stages of the process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 13 June (HL433), when they expect the quality assurance of the Home Office’s Case Information Database data relating to sexuality-based asylum claims to be completed, and whether they plan routinely to record asylum claims based on, or relating to, gender identity issues in a way that can be easily aggregated.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The process of quality assuring the data held on the Home Office’s Case Information Database relating to sexuality based asylum claims continues to be undertaken by the Home Office. We are currently looking at ways to expedite this process. There are no current plans to record information where the detail of the asylum claim basis relates to gender identity issues on Home Office databases.