The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they maintain data on the number of primary-school pupils who are (1) bilingual, and (2) trilingual.
Lord Nash
The Department only collects data on pupils’ first language spoken which is not an indicator of proficiency in English or other languages. The Department does not hold information on the number of pupils who are bilingual or trilingual.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the study by the Universities of Bristol and Central Lancashire which found that 22 per cent of boys aged 14 to 17 have perpetrated acts of sexual coercion or abuse, what sex education initiatives they have in place that are specifically aimed at boys within that age group.
Lord Nash
Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate. Schools have the freedom to decide which topics are most relevant to their pupils to ensure they develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015. We strongly welcome this guidance, which will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helped educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the progression figures for students in receipt of publicly-funded bursaries studying at the Greenwich School of Management for degrees validated by Plymouth University for the academic years 2014–15 and 2015–16.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Information on the proportion of students attending examinations at Higher Education Providers is not held centrally.
Progression rates are not produced separately for those students receiving student support.
Published statistics in respect of Alternatives Providers, including the Greenwich School of Management, are available in the Experimental Statistical First Release ‘Higher education student enrolments and qualifications obtained on undergraduate designated courses at alternative providers in England 2014/15’. This can be found at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/15-06-2016/sfr235-alternative-providers
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-11-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current level of per capita funding for students in (1) school sixth forms in schools, (2) sixth form colleges, and (3) further education colleges.
Lord Nash
Funding for all 16-19 institutions comes from the same national funding formula. The national base rate for 16-19 year olds in full time education is £4,000 per student. Weightings related to disadvantage, programme costs and area costs are added to the base rate funding, to reflect additional costs faced by different institutions.
The overall average units of funding for the 2015/16 academic year are:
|
Schools and Academy Sixth Forms |
£4,567 |
|
Sixth Form Colleges |
£4,670 |
|
General Further Education and Specialist Colleges |
£4,973 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) which UK terrestrial broadcasters produce annual original homemade content for children, and (2) how much those broadcasters spend annually on such content.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Ofcom’s 2015 report into the future of public service broadcasting included an assessment of the amount of UK originated Children’s television programming by the public service broadcasting channels.
In 2014, the BBC spent £84 million on children’s television programming. The combined spend of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 was £3 million.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the legal requirements that apply to daily acts of collective worship in school assemblies.
Lord Nash
The Government does not plan to change the requirements for a daily act of collective worship. It is for schools to tailor their provision to suit the needs of their pupils, and parents can choose to withdraw their children from all or any part of collective worship.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative, what are their policies for the decentralisation of civil servants.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The Civil Service has a significant presence across the UK and we are considering how new government hubs, in strategic locations across the country, will help to make sure that we have an efficient and effective Civil Service at the same time as we consolidate the government estate.
Any proposed relocation is done based on the operational needs of Departments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park on 26 January (HL5024), what assessment they have made of whether the specialist software Turnitin is able to detect whether a whole essay was not written by the person submitting, such as if that essay had been paid for from an essay mill.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Government has made no such assessment. The selection of particular types of software is an academic matter for individual institutions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to limiting the proportion of places that schools can allocate using religious admissions criteria, in line with the cap that currently exists for free schools.
Lord Nash
The Government greatly values the contribution that existing church and faith schools play in our education system, including those of free schools, and we have no plans to change their admission arrangements since they are providing places for the communities they serve.
Not all faith schools choose to allocate places by faith. It is for the admission authority of the school to decide whether or not to include faith-based priorities within their oversubscription criteria.
When constructing faith-based oversubscription criteria, including deciding how membership or practice of the faith will be determined, admission authorities must have regard to the guidance of their relevant religious authority and their arrangements must comply with the statutory School Admissions Code.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the on-costs on teachers’ salaries for the last three years.
Lord Nash
The on-costs on teachers’ salaries consist of employer pension contributions and employer National Insurance (NI) contributions. In 2015/16, the total on-costs for a teacher with an average salary are approximately 25.4% of their gross salary.
Employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme are the same rate for all teachers regardless of salary and in 2015/16 they increased from 14.1% of teachers’ gross salary to 16.5%.
The table below sets out the on-costs on teachers’ salaries for the last three years:
|
Employer contributions |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
2015/16 |
|
Teachers’ Pension |
14.1% |
14.1% |
16.5% |
|
National Insurance |
7.9% |
7.9% |
8.9% |
|
Total On-Costs |
22.0% |
22.0% |
25.4% |