Tag: Lord Warner

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the finding of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association last year An Unholy Mess that a significant number of religiously selective schools are asking parents for information they do not need, and are not allowed to ask for, such as whether they are UK nationals or speak English as an additional language.

Lord Nash

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.

Where an objection is made to the Schools Adjudicator, if the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant without undue delay. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.

We continue to keep the Code under review, and, where we consider any changes are necessary to make the admissions system work more effectively for parents, these will be subject to a full public consultation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance has been issued by the Department for Education to local authorities about the transfer of children’s social care services to an arms-length trust; and what role the Department and its Ministers play in advising or approving local authority decisions to make such transfers, including provision of financial support.

Lord Nash

The Department for Education has not issued guidance to local authorities about the transfer of children’s social care services to a trust. The Prime Minister announced in December 2015 that, where Ofsted find persistent or systematic failure in a council’s children’s social care services, we will appoint a commissioner to review, within three months, whether services should be removed from council control. There is now a presumption that services will be placed outside of the Council’s control in these cases, unless the Commissioner identifies good reasons not to do so.

Decisions to transfer local authority children’s social care services to other organisations are subject to ministerial approval only where a local authority is in intervention following an inadequate Ofsted judgement. Other high-performing local authorities are also considering innovative delivery models, such as trusts, for their services. Financial support may be provided on a case-by-case basis.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 6 January (HL3867), whether they will publish the list of non-exhaustive indicators of unacceptable behaviours that could lead to the exclusion of a foreign national from the United Kingdom.

Lord Bates

The list of unacceptable behaviours is indicative rather than exhaustive. It covers any non-UK national whether in the UK or abroad who uses any means or medium including:

• writing, producing, publishing or distributing material;

• public speaking including preaching

• running a website; or

• using a position of responsibility such as teacher, community or youth leader

To express views which:

• foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs;

• seek to provoke others to terrorist acts;

• foment other serious criminal activity or seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts or;

• foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK

The list was finalised in August 2005 following a consultation.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 6 January (HL3868), whether evidence that an individual persistently undertook, permitted or financed illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories triggers consideration as to whether that individual’s conduct is not conducive to the public good.

Lord Bates

All foreign nationals seeking entry to the UK must satisfy either an entry clearance officer overseas, or an immigration officer at the port of arrival, that they fully meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules in the category of entry sought and that, by their own actions, they have not brought themselves within scope of the general grounds for refusal set out in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules.

The Government takes a range of measures to prevent foreign nationals from coming to, or remaining in, the UK where their presence is not conducive to the public good. An individual may be refused entry to the UK under the Immigration Rules and the Home Secretary also has the power to exclude foreign nationals from the UK. The power to exclude is broad but may include circumstances involving national security, unacceptable behaviour, extremism, international relations or foreign policy, and serious organised crime. These decisions are made according to the individual circumstances of each case taking into a consideration a range of factors.