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1186714

	registered interest
	date	19/03/2020
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Schools: Coronavirus
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with insurance companies about whether independent schools, particularly small independent schools, are able to obtain compensation for business interruption as a result of the COVID-19 emergency measures.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL2779
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/03/2020 answer text <p>The Government is in continual dialogue with the insurance sector about its contribution to handling this unprecedented situation. It is also working closely with these educational institutions to understand the financial implications of COVID-19 and to provide financial support where it is needed and is appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>For those businesses and charities which have an appropriate policy that covers pandemics and unspecified notifiable diseases, including independent schools, the Government’s social distancing advice of both 16 and 20 March is sufficient to allow them to make a claim against their insurance, provided the other terms and conditions in their policy are met.</p><p> </p><p>The FCA’s rules require insurers to handle claims fairly and promptly; provide reasonable guidance to help a policyholder make a claim, and appropriate information on its progress; not reject a claim unreasonably; and settle claims promptly once settlement terms are agreed.</p><p> </p><p>Insurance policies differ significantly, so businesses are encouraged to check the terms and conditions of their specific policy and contact their providers. However, most businesses and charities have not purchased insurance that covers losses from COVID-19.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises that businesses and charities who do not have appropriate insurance cover will require support from elsewhere. As such, they should explore the full package of support set out by the Chancellor in the Budget, on 17 March, and on 20 March.</p><p> </p><p>As the Chancellor announced on Tuesday 17 March, the Government will do whatever it takes to get our nation through the impacts of COVID-19.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 30/03/2020 10:21:08 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1217209

	registered interest
	date	23/06/2020
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Audiobooks: VAT
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to remove the application of VAT to sales of audiobooks.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL6075
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2020 answer text <p>An extension of the zero rate of VAT has been introduced to provide consistency in approach between certain physical and digital publications.</p><p>Audiobooks are already taxed consistently at the standard rate in both physical and digital format.</p><p>There are no current plans to extend the VAT zero rate to audiobooks. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 01/07/2020 15:51:36 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1014653

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Pensions
	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 ability of maintained and independent schools to afford the increase in the employer’s contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme announced in October.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL11789
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>In the schools sector, the department currently proposes to cover the costs of maintained schools, academies, independent special schools and non-maintained special schools. The department will be consulting shortly to form an assessment on the impact these costs will impose on the sector.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 10/12/2018 12:01:22 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1014654

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received representations from the Independent Schools Council about the forthcoming increase in the employer’s contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme; and if so, what reply they have given.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL11790
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>The government has received a number of representations from employer representatives including the Independent Schools Council, to both the Department for Education (DfE) and to Her Majesty’s Treasury (HM Treasury), about the proposed increase in employer contributions and the impact this would have on their schools. HM Treasury and the DfE will be responding imminently.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 10/12/2018 11:51:40 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1014655

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what were their reasons for increasing the employer’s contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL11791
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>A number of factors determine the cost of providing pensions, most significantly by the Superannuation Contributions Adjusted for Past Experience (SCAPE) rate. The SCAPE discount rate is the central measure of the affordability of public service pension schemes; it is based on the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts for long-term Growth Domestic Product growth. In light of the material change to the OBR forecast compared to the forecast at Budget 2016, and based on the methodology for setting the SCAPE rate as agreed in 2011, <br> HM Treasury took the decision to set the SCAPE discount rate at 2.4% plus Consumer Price Index from 1 April 2019. This reduction in the SCAPE rate has resulted in an increase to employer contributions in the Teachers Pension Scheme of 7.2 percentage points.[1]</p><p> </p><p>[1] based on an implementation date of 1 September 2019.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 10/12/2018 12:02:10 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1014656

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Appeals
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 22 November (HL Deb, cols 325–8), whether they will conduct an inquiry into reports that local councils spent £100 million in four years to prevent parents obtaining support for children with special needs, losing nine out of ten cases.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL11792
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>The government does not have any plans to conduct such an inquiry.</p><p> </p><p>The government has made fundamental changes to the way the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support system works for families. The system is now more person-centred with significant direction given to local authorities, and other bodies, to engage effectively with families.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities should respond appropriately to any SEND Tribunal appeal. In doing so, they will inevitably incur costs. When families make appeals, the local authority will need to judge how to respond to them and in doing so, must put the interests of the child or young person first.</p><p> </p><p>The government are investing £20 million until March 2020 to improve the quality of local information, advice and support services available to families, and to provide guidance and training to local authorities to help improve the quality of education, health and care (EHC) plans.</p><p> </p><p>Parents have the right to ask that an independent school, approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act (2014) and published in a list available to all parents and young people, be named on their EHC plan.</p><p> </p><p>The local authority must, after consultation with the school, name the requested school unless specific criteria apply. These conditions are that the school would be unsuitable for the young person’s needs, incompatible with the efficient education of others or an inefficient use of the local authority’s resources.</p><p> </p><p>Parents may also make representations for a place at an independent school that is not on the Section 41 list and the local authority must consider their request. While not under the same conditional duty to name the provider, the local authority must have regard to the general principle that children should be educated in accordance with their parents’ wishes if this is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and does not cause unreasonable public expenditure.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton grouped question UIN HL11793 question first answered 10/12/2018 12:00:34 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1014657

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Private Education
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 22 November (HL Deb, cols 325–8), whether they will ensure that all local councils respect the right of parents of children with special needs to nominate a local independent school on an education health and care plan.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL11793
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>The government does not have any plans to conduct such an inquiry.</p><p> </p><p>The government has made fundamental changes to the way the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support system works for families. The system is now more person-centred with significant direction given to local authorities, and other bodies, to engage effectively with families.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities should respond appropriately to any SEND Tribunal appeal. In doing so, they will inevitably incur costs. When families make appeals, the local authority will need to judge how to respond to them and in doing so, must put the interests of the child or young person first.</p><p> </p><p>The government are investing £20 million until March 2020 to improve the quality of local information, advice and support services available to families, and to provide guidance and training to local authorities to help improve the quality of education, health and care (EHC) plans.</p><p> </p><p>Parents have the right to ask that an independent school, approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act (2014) and published in a list available to all parents and young people, be named on their EHC plan.</p><p> </p><p>The local authority must, after consultation with the school, name the requested school unless specific criteria apply. These conditions are that the school would be unsuitable for the young person’s needs, incompatible with the efficient education of others or an inefficient use of the local authority’s resources.</p><p> </p><p>Parents may also make representations for a place at an independent school that is not on the Section 41 list and the local authority must consider their request. While not under the same conditional duty to name the provider, the local authority must have regard to the general principle that children should be educated in accordance with their parents’ wishes if this is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and does not cause unreasonable public expenditure.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton grouped question UIN HL11792 question first answered 10/12/2018 12:00:34 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1131463

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Maintained Schools: Private Education
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether collaboration between maintained and independent schools will increase as a result of the Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, announced on 6 June
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL16257
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>The new partnerships grant funding announced on 7 June at the Schools Together Group annual conference, aims to raise the ambition for what schools can achieve together, and to remove a key financial barrier to new partnerships forming. It is designed to attract bids from both new partnerships who may benefit from seed funding, as well as existing partnerships looking to deepen and expand their collaborations. We will publish further details and invite schools to submit bids in the autumn.</p><p>As part of this programme, the department also plans to conduct evaluation on the success of this grant in increasing the quality and impact of partnerships. This will be published in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 19/06/2019 11:24:04 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1131896

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Education: Refugees
	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 report by Refugee Action Turning Words into Action: why the Government must invest now to let refugees learn, published in June.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL16314
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019. The strategy will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision and it will include addressing the needs of refugees. We will explore what needs to be done to enable good local solutions and to support greater access to English language provision. We will consider the ‘Turning Words into Action’ report, attached, as we develop the strategy.</p><p>The department funds ESOL through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which is allocated to providers on an annual basis. Colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their AEB allocation to meet the needs of their communities. This includes planning, with local partners, the ESOL courses that they will deliver locally. The Home Office and the Department for Education have provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.</p><p>From the start of the 2019/20 academic year approximately 50% of the AEB will be devolved to 6 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and to the Mayor of London through the Greater London Authority (GLA). The MCAs and GLA will be responsible for commissioning and funding AEB provision, including ESOL, for learners resident in their areas.</p><p>We know that there are many examples of good practice to overcome barriers for learners with childcare needs. Through the ESOL strategy, we will explore what else needs to be done to enable good local solutions and to support greater access to English language provision.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 26/06/2019 15:56:01 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton attachment 1 file name HL16314_Turning_Words_into_Action_report.pdf title HL16314_report
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

1135731

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Chartered College of Teaching
	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 work of the Chartered College of Teaching.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL16824
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>In January 2017, The Chartered College of Teaching (CCT) became a new, independent, professional teaching body and now has more than 24,000 members. Their membership offer includes a peer-reviewed and award-winning journal; an online platform for members to share and engage with research; the Chartered Teacher programme to recognise excellence in teaching; and access to teacher networks, conferences and workshops.</p><p>CCT has contributed their expertise to the department; for example, in the development of the Early Career Framework and Recruitment and Retention Strategy, published in January 2019. The department is continuing to work with CCT about their plans to increase membership and support the teaching profession in the future.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 11/07/2019 16:38:18 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden