To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 12
February (HL5280), what were the circumstances that led to the UK voluntarily adopting
International Accounting Standards (IAS) for separate, company-only, accounts by invoking
the option under Article 5 of the IAS Regulation 2001; and whether, prior to the UK
invoking that option, the Financial Reporting Council or Department for Trade and
Industry had anticipated the difficulties that this option would create for the use
of separate accounts for capital maintenance purposes.
<p>The Department for Trade and Industry consulted on the adoption of “International
Accounting Standards” in 2002 (URN 2002/1158). The consultation considered whether
the UK should exercise the Member State option under Article 5 of the IAS Regulation
and, in particular, whether to extend the application of the Regulation to the individual
accounts of publicly traded companies.</p><p> </p><p>The consultation stated that:</p><p>
</p><p>“There may be good reasons to exercise this option in order to help internal
consistency and comparability of accounts within the same group and assist in preparation
of consolidated accounts. There is the additional advantage that the current practice
of presenting entity financial statements of the parent with the group accounts as
one package could continue. With no extension the practice would probably have to
change, as it would be cumbersome and confusing to have to explain two different bases
of preparation. We estimate that this would affect around 2700 companies.”</p><p>
</p><p>The Government considered the responses to the consultation and conducted a
full assessment of the costs and benefits of the various approaches to implement the
IAS Regulation. Following this consideration the Government concluded that it would
implement the option in the regulation, including to extend the application of the
Regulation to the individual accounts of publicly traded companies.</p><p> </p><p>The
Companies Act 1985 (International Accounting Standards and Other Accounting Amendments)
Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 / 2947) provided for the application of the International
Accounting Standards Regulation. The impact assessment accompanying the regulations
sets out the Government’s assessment of the costs and benefits. It concluded that
the Governments resulting policy on taking up the option in Article 5 overall had
the following benefits:</p><p> </p><p>“Parent companies and building societies and
subsidiaries in groups will be able to prepare their accounts to one framework of
accounting standards. Companies and building societies that do business or seek capital
across borders would be able to prepare their accounts to adopted IAS for ease of
comparison. Comparability of accounts will assist, shareholders, analysts and other
users of accounts.”</p>
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether he will ensure that an open competition will
be held for the contract to administer future hereditary peers’ by-elections.
<p>The House has engaged Electoral Reform Services (ERS) to assist with each hereditary
peers’ by-election since they were first held in 2003. When the need for a by-election
arises ERS are engaged to administer and supervise the by-election and to provide
assurance that it conforms to good electoral practice. This arrangement has applied
each time a by-election is held. A fee is paid for ERS’ services for each by-election;
there is no standing contract under which fees are paid to ERS.</p><p> </p><p>The
table below shows the amounts paid to Electoral Reform Services in respect of hereditary
peers’ by-elections in each calendar year since 2012.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Amount
paid to Electoral Reform Services</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>Nil</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>£3,550</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>£3,245</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>£5,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>£1,200</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017
(to date)</p></td><td><p>Nil</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Amounts are exclusive
of VAT.</p><p> </p><p>The House authorities are currently reviewing the procurement
arrangements under which services for hereditary peers’ by-elections are provided.</p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which body or bodies establishes the final criteria
for qualified teacher status; what are those criteria; and where they are made available.
<p>The National College for Teaching and Leadership publishes the Initial Teacher
Training (ITT) criteria. These set out entry, training, management and quality assurance
criteria with which all accredited providers of ITT must comply with.</p><p> </p><p>The
Teachers’ Standards were published in 2011 and apply to all teachers regardless of
their career stage. They define the minimum level of practice expected of teachers.
For the purpose of the award of qualified teacher status (QTS), they constitute the
‘specified standards’ within the meaning given to the phrase in Schedule 2 of The
Education (School Teachers’ Qualifications) (England) Regulations. As such, they are
used by accredited providers of ITT to assess trainee progress and attainment during,
and the end of, a training programme.</p><p> </p><p>The ITT criteria and Teachers’
Standards have been attached to this answer.</p>
<p>Single academies and multi-academy chains retain any surplus they make within the
legal entity of the academy trust. Under charity law academy trustees must act in
the best interests of the trust and ensure all funds are properly managed and applied
to the trust’s charitable objects.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Academy trusts must
use all of their assets, including their cash reserves, in accordance with their charitable
objects as set out in their articles of association. This includes the advancement
of education and provision of recreation facilities.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Cash
reserves are disclosed in academy trusts’ annual accounts which EFA requires trusts
to publish on their websites. These accounts are also published by the Department
on its school performance tables webpage and are filed at Companies House.</p><p>
</p>
