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173576

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	English Language: Education
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the attention paid to vocabulary building within literacy syllabuses in the national curriculum from pre-school onwards.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL4136
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out that literacy development during the early years involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Both the reading and writing literacy goals in the Statutory Framework set out the skills that most children should meet by the end of the foundation stage. Children must also be given access to a wide range of reading materials to ignite their interest.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The importance of vocabulary development is emphasised and integrated throughout the National Curriculum framework. This covers both general vocabulary development and the subject-specific language that pupils need to be able to use to progress in, for example, mathematics and science. Both the reading and writing domains of the English programmes of study emphasise the importance of building pupils’ vocabulary, so they understand and can use a wide range of words.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The approach to developing vocabulary is first through securing word reading and comprehension and secondly through pupils developing an understanding of how words and meaning can be created using prefixes and suffixes. Morphology and etymology are emphasised at key stage 2 to further develop pupils’ capacity for understanding and developing vocabulary. This is brought together in the appendix to the English programmes of study covering vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, which also sets out the terminology that pupils should be taught to use to discuss their writing.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 20/01/2015 16:49:49 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

173577

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Disadvantaged
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans the Department for Education have to increase funding for summer schools.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL4137
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Since 2012, the Department for Education has provided funding to enable secondary schools to run a summer school for their new pupils who are classed as disadvantaged. These events provide an excellent opportunity for secondary schools to help disadvantaged pupils understand what and how they will be studying in key stage 3, and also to help those who are behind in key areas such as literacy and numeracy to catch up with their peers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The 2015 summer schools programme opened for registrations on Monday 19 January 2015. As in previous years, schools will receive £250 (if running a one-week summer school) or £500 (if running a two-week summer school) for every eligible pupil who confirms they want to attend the summer school.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Any decision on the future of the summer schools programme would be made as part of the next Spending Review.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 20/01/2015 14:16:53 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

173578

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	ICT: Education
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to encourage the teaching of computer coding in schools.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL4138
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>The new national curriculum in computing is now being taught in maintained schools. It is a compulsory subject in all key stages and the programmes of study include coding from key stage 1. Primary school pupils will be taught about algorithms and how to design and write programs, while at secondary school pupils will be taught to use at least two programming languages. The Government has made £3.5 million available to provide training and support to existing teachers to ensure they are fully prepared to teach computing and have the skills to engage and enthuse their pupils.</p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 20/01/2015 16:43:26 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

173590

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	East Coast Main Line
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the infrastructure of the East Coast Main Line has sufficient capacity to enable the Virgin/Stagecoach consortium to deliver both faster and more frequent trains under the InterCity East Coast franchise.
tabling member printed	Lord Bradshaw
uin	HL4150
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>The enhanced infrastructure, provided by Government’s Rail Investment Strategy for Control Period 5 (2014-2019) and as part of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP), and new trains, provided by IEP, will allow Virgin Trains East Coast to deliver improvements to the East Coast train service. In addition to this any decision on the allocation of further capacity made available by these enhancements will be taken by the Office of Rail Regulation.</p> answering member printed Baroness Kramer question first answered 20/01/2015 11:58:34 answering member 1557 label Biography information for Baroness Kramer
tabling member	2483 label Biography information for Lord Bradshaw

173592

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	East Coast Main Line
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government why, in the light of the demand for track access exceeding the availability of train paths on the East Coast Main Line, open access operators are paying discounted variable track access charges.
tabling member printed	Lord Bradshaw
uin	HL4152
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Existing Open Access Operators are charged the same Variable Track Access charges as franchised operators with the exception of the Capacity Charge. This is because implementing the full Control Period 5 (CP5) rates would equate to a real term average increase of 450% in the Capacity Charge from which Open Access Operators have no protection. In light of the Office of Rail Regulation’s statutory duties to promote the use of the railway network, protect the interests of users of railway services and to promote competition in the provision of railway services, they deemed it appropriate to hold Capacity Charge at CP4 rates for both existing services and any new entrant Open Access Operator in line with European law and their statutory duties. Any additional services introduced by existing Open Access Operators will be charged at CP5 rates.</p> answering member printed Baroness Kramer question first answered 20/01/2015 11:55:28 answering member 1557 label Biography information for Baroness Kramer
tabling member	2483 label Biography information for Lord Bradshaw

173598

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions: Fees and Charges
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the charges, fees and commissions paid by consumers in relation to private pensions are transparent.
tabling member printed	Lord McFall of Alcluith
uin	HL4158
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The Government is committed to improving the transparency of costs and charges in workplace pension schemes. The Government’s Command Papers ‘Better Workplace Pensions: Further measures for savers’ and ‘Better Workplace Pensions: Putting savers interests first’ published in March and October 2014 set out a range of measures including a cap on charges in default fund arrangements, a ban on inappropriate charges and proposals to introduce minimum governance standards and improve transparency across workplace defined contribution schemes.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government has recently consulted on draft legislation which, subject to parliamentary approval, will introduce new requirements on trustees to improve the transparency of costs and charges in occupational schemes from April 2015. Under these new requirements, trustees will be required to annually report on costs and charges for the first time. Similar rules are to be introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority to require the newly formed Independent Governance Committees to report on costs and charges in workplace personal pension schemes.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Later this year we will consult on ways to build on this first phase of enhanced transparency, to meet our duties under the Pensions Act 2014 requiring information about transaction costs to be disclosed to members of workplace pension schemes, and the publication of costs and charges information. The FCA also intends to consult on amending its rules to with a view to introducing equivalent enhanced transparency provisions for workplace personal pension schemes during 2015.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 20/01/2015 15:03:14 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4148 label Biography information for Lord McFall of Alcluith

173599

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to promote (1) increased competition, and (2) the levying of fair fees and commissions, in the private pensions industry.
tabling member printed	Lord McFall of Alcluith
uin	HL4159
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The Government and regulators have introduced a package of measures, including establishing Independent Governance Committees to improve governance in contract based pension schemes, improved governance standards for trust based schemes and the introduction of a 0.75 per cent cap on charges in the default funds of schemes used for automatic enrolment. Subject to Parliamentary approval, these changes will come into effect from April.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also banning a number of charges which are no longer appropriate in the context of automatic enrolment into workplace pensions. From April 2015, we will extend the existing ban on consultancy charging to all contract-based schemes used for automatic enrolment. Likewise, adviser commission and Active Member Discounts, which penalise those who stop contributing or leave their employer and move jobs, will be banned in all schemes used for automatic enrolment from April 2016. We are also introducing measures to improve transparency throughout the value chain in the workplace pensions market and expect that this will lead to increased competition on costs and charges to the benefit of the consumer.</p><p> </p><p>The recent pensions flexibility reforms are also an opportunity for the retirement income industry to develop new products that meet the evolving needs of consumers. The new flexibility will help consumers choosing to select an annuity or another option to access their pension savings to get a better deal in a more competitive market place. The shape of the market will now be driven by the choices consumers make, placing power back into the hands of savers.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, as of the end of December, over 5.1 million workers have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. This is having a significant impact on the private pensions market and by 2020, we estimate that automatic enrolment will have generated an additional £8 to £12 billion a year in workplace pension saving. The growth in this market is supporting strong competition between providers and schemes.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 20/01/2015 15:58:49 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4148 label Biography information for Lord McFall of Alcluith

173672

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Funerals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219706, what estimate he has made of the number of people who went into debt in order to pay for a funeral in the last period for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
tabling member printed	Mr Roger Godsiff
uin	220814
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>My department does not collect this information.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 20/01/2015 12:21:40 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	304 label Biography information for Mr Roger Godsiff

173684

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Drugs: Licensing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, persuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 218547, if he will adapt the Early Access to Medicines Scheme to better accommodate off-patent indications of drugs, by creating incentives for pharmaceutical companies to submit applications to the scheme.
tabling member constituency	Belfast East
tabling member printed	Naomi Long
uin	220673
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Since the launch of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme in April 2014, three Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) designations have already been granted. By 9 January 2015 there had been 428 downloads of the PIM designation form and 187 downloads of the scientific opinion form, which indicates the high level of interest in the scheme.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Early Access to Medicines Scheme already has a number of incentives for pharmaceutical companies. The PIM designation provides an early indication that a product may be a possible candidate for the Early Access to Medicines Scheme and is of particular value to smaller companies because it will act as a signal to potential investors. At the next stage of scientific review, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will consider the evidence and can issue an Early Access to Medicines scientific opinion. This opinion will support the prescriber to make a decision with the patient on using this medicine, when still unlicensed or used off-label. Earlier clinical use of new innovative medicines will also provide valuable real world data to companies for use in subsequent health technology appraisal processes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We committed to review the Early Access to Medicines Scheme when we launched the scheme in April 2014. Through the Innovative Medicine and Medical Technologies Review we will also be taking forward a major review over the coming months to make recommendations to Government on opportunities to accelerate access for National Health Service patients to innovative medicines, devices and diagnostics.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Mid Norfolk answering member printed George Freeman question first answered 20/01/2015 14:53:16 answering member 4020 label Biography information for George Freeman
tabling member	3920 label Biography information for Naomi Long

173687

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Livestock
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to publish figures for pre-slaughter mortality of animals in the food industry.
tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
tabling member printed	Toby Perkins
uin	220726
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Defra does not hold this information centrally. Mortality data is recorded at an individual farm level. The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 requires all farmed animals to be inspected at least once a day. The number of mortalities found at each inspection has to be recorded and that information must be made available to an inspector on request.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 20/01/2015 16:49:01 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins