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1145211

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Students: Rents
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rents levied by developers of student accommodation.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL17738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Higher education providers are autonomous bodies, independent from the government. The department plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> <ins class="ministerial">The department assesses student accommodation rent levels through the Student Income and Expenditure Surveys that have been undertaken at regular intervals since the mid-1980s. Information on student rents is also reported in the Accommodation Costs Surveys published jointly by the National Union of Students and the student housing charity, Unipol.</ins></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> <ins class="ministerial">The report published by the independent panel supporting the Post-18 Review of Education and Funding recommends that the Office for Students:</ins></ins></p><blockquote><p><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial"> <ins class="ministerial">examines the costs of student accommodation; and</ins></ins></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial">works with students and providers to improve data about costs, rents, profits and quality.</ins></ins></ins></ins></p></blockquote><p><ins class="ministerial">The department has not yet taken decisions on these recommendations but will consider the panel’s proposals in due course.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 09/09/2019 16:46:52 question first ministerially corrected 03/10/2019 16:40:06 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge previous answer version 134418 answering member printed Baroness Berridge answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1227971

	registered interest
	date	27/07/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the availability of childcare provision; and what steps they propose to take to mitigate that impact on service providers and those dependent on such provision.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL7320
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/08/2020 answer text <p>In order to control the spread of COVID-19, early years settings were asked to only open for children of critical workers and vulnerable children from 20 March. An Ipsos MORI survey showed that three-quarters of critical workers with young children could access childcare during the coronavirus lockdown. The survey is available at:<br> <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/parents-0-4-year-olds-and-childcare-1st-june-2020" target="_blank">https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/parents-0-4-year-olds-and-childcare-1st-june-2020</a>.</p><p>To ensure provision was available for all who needed it, local authorities have been able to redistribute free early years entitlement funding in exceptional cases to ensure childcare places are available for vulnerable and critical worker children.</p><p>Early years providers have been able to open to all children from 1 June. The latest attendance data shows that on 30 July, an estimated 285,000 children were attending an early years setting. The latest data, published on 4 August, is available at:<br><a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/2020-week-31" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/2020-week-31</a>.</p><p>Since 20 July, early years settings have been able to return to their normal group sizes, paving the way for more children to transition back to their early education and supporting parents to return to work.</p><p>On 20 July, we announced our commitment to continue paying local authorities for the childcare places they usually fund throughout the autumn term. This means that even if providers are open but caring for fewer children, they can continue to be funded as if the COVID-19 outbreak were not happening.</p><p>Local authorities should also continue to fund providers which have been advised to close, or left with no option but to close, for public health reasons. That gives another term of secure income to nurseries and childminders who are open for the children who need them. Until the start of the 2020 autumn term, it remains the case that free early years entitlement funding can be used differently and redistributed in exceptional cases to ensure childcare places are available for vulnerable and critical worker children.</p><p>The childcare sector has also been able to access a wider package of government support in the form of a business rates holiday, business interruption loans and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Full details of the support available is available at:<br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding</a>.</p><p>For school-aged children, holiday clubs and other out-of-school settings have been able to open since 4 July, helping parents to meet their childcare needs during the school summer holidays.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 13/08/2020 15:23:24 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1351667

	registered interest
	date	18/08/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Care Homes: Fees and Charges
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they plan to take following reports that some private care providers are charging local authorities up to £10,000 a week to look after one child in care.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL2333
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/08/2021 answer text <p>Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there are sufficient places to meet the needs of looked after children in their area, including commissioning places from private or voluntary sector providers as required. They are responsible for agreeing prices with providers accordingly.</p><p>The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a market study that will examine the lack of availability and increasing costs in children’s social care provision. The CMA is examining concerns around high prices paid by local authorities, specifically prices charged by providers and variation between prices paid for similar types of placements.</p><p>The government has also committed to undertaking a widescale review of children’s social care, taking a fundamental look at the needs, experiences and outcomes of the children it supports, and what is needed to make a real difference. The review will be bold, broad, and independently led, taking a fundamental look across children’s social care, with the aim of better supporting, protecting, and improving the outcomes of vulnerable children and young people. The review will be evidenced based and bring together a broad range of expertise.</p><p>The government will study the findings and recommendations of both reviews carefully when they report next year.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 31/08/2021 09:06:34 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1255124

	registered interest
	date	24/11/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Home Education
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of children in England being educated at home; whether they are taking steps they to reduce that number; if not, why not; and what additional support they intend to provide to local authority children services to assist with the costs of home education.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL10664
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/12/2020 answer text <p>The information you requested is not held centrally by this department. The department does not currently collect data on numbers of home educated children.</p><p>Parents are not required to register if they are home educating their children and, therefore, there is not a robust basis on which the department can reliably collect statistics on home education.</p><p>In relation to the COVID-19 outbreak, the department is working closely with local authorities to encourage a return to full attendance in school and is monitoring the situation. Initial conversations with local authorities indicate that the majority have noticed an increase in enquiries from parents about home education. Where parents are anxious about the safety of their children returning to school, local authorities and school leaders are reinforcing that it is in the best interests of pupils to return to school.</p><p>Over March and April 2020, the government provided £3.2 billion of emergency grant funding and over £5 billion of cashflow support to assist local authorities through the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>On 22 October 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced allocations of a further £919 million of un-ringfenced funding to respond to spending pressures. This is part of a package of further support for councils, worth over £1 billion.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 08/12/2020 15:28:54 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham