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93684

registered interest
date	15/10/2014
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 steps they plan to take to co-ordinate good leadership with local authorities to improve the attainment levels of disadvantaged pupils.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL2113
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Education expects local authorities to provide strategic leadership to improve the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in their maintained schools. This was set out in the recently revised guidance to local authorities on <em>Schools Causing Concern</em>, which was published in May 2014. Since May 2013, Ofsted has inspected local authority school improvement arrangements which relate to their duty to ensure that, ‘their education functions are exercised with a view to promote high standards and fulfilment of potential’ (Education Act 1996, s13a).</p><p>My Rt. hon. Friend the Minister of State for Schools, has met leaders from the nine local authorities that have failed these inspections to date. These discussions have focused on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. In addition, in his role as Pupil Premium Champion, Sir John Dunford has worked closely with school leaders in 25 local authority areas with the poorest results for disadvantaged pupils during the 2013/14 school year. This work continues.</p><p>Peer-to-peer support for school leaders is a highly effective way to tackle poor school performance. The Department is therefore increasing the number of National Leaders of Education (NLEs) and the number of teaching schools. The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) has designated over 900 NLEs and establish 602 teaching schools to date, and some local authorities use local teaching school alliances and national leaders to provide school improvement.</p><p>The Talented Leaders programme and School-to-School Support Fund, both launched on 10 September 2014 by the Minister of State for Schools, will also help drive school improvement through better leadership. The Talented Leaders programme will recruit one hundred talented school leaders and deploy them to take on headship positions in challenging schools, working with local authorities who sign up to the programme. The £13m School-to-School Support Fund will support NLEs and teaching schools to undertake deployment in under-performing maintained schools and academies.</p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 24/10/2014 11:32:32 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

93685

registered interest
date	15/10/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Regional Schools Commissioners
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the total set-up costs of the school commissioner network; and what are the total running costs.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL2114
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2014 answer text <p>The first year set-up and running costs of the Regional Schools Commissioners and their offices are estimated to be approximately £4.5 million. This is not new additional funding: it will be met from within the Department for Education’s existing budget envelope.</p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 21/10/2014 14:26:45 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

93686

registered interest
date	15/10/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Care Leavers
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Action For Children’s recent report <i>Too Much, Too Young </i>on the recognition of the emotional needs of young care leavers; and what steps they are taking to improve the emotional well-being of young care leavers.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL2115
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p>Improving the lives of care leavers has always been a priority for this Government, and the Department for Education has significantly improved the support on offer to this vulnerable group. The Department published the first cross-Government care leavers’ strategy in 2013, and will shortly produce a ‘one year on’ report setting out how those commitments have been met. We have tightened the rules so that fewer young people leave care before they are ready. We have also provided an additional £40 million to local authorities, backed by a change in the law, so that looked-after children can remain with their former foster carers until they are 21 years old.</p><p>The Action for Children report highlights the importance of mental health and emotional wellbeing.[1] We recognise that there is more to be done, and the Government has established the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Task Force to make recommendations on improving mental health commissioning for young people. This will include a particular focus on the needs of vulnerable groups. The Government recently published a National Prospectus setting out the key activities it wishes to fund at a national level though organisations working with children, young people and families in 2015-16. One of the policy areas we wish to fund through this programme relates to improving the identification of children and young people’s mental health issues (including care leavers’), prevention, improved commissioning of support and more effective collaboration between agencies and services.</p><p>[1] <a href="http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/policy-research/policy-priorities/too-much-too-young" target="_blank">www.actionforchildren.org.uk/policy-research/policy-priorities/too-much-too-young</a></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 24/10/2014 13:51:07 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

79801

registered interest
date	30/07/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Albania
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what agreements have been signed, to which the United Kingdom and Albania are both parties, for the period 1 March 2013 to the present; and whether they will place copies of any such agreements in the Library of the House and on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office database.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL1690
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/08/2014 answer text <p>The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) treaty database records all bilateral and multilateral treaties involving the United Kingdom signed since 1834. The FCO does not maintain a comprehensive central record or hold copies of the texts of memoranda of understanding concluded between Government Departments and other states or organizations.</p><p>Legally-binding agreements to which both the UK and Albania have become parties since 1 March 2013 are as follows:</p><p>Bilateral:</p><p>1. The Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital was signed on 26 March 2014 and was published as UK Treaty Series No. 3, 2014.</p><p>Multilateral:</p><p>2. The Arms Trade Treaty was signed by Albania on 3 June 2013 and by the United Kingdom on 3 June 2013. This was published as UK Miscellaneous Series No. 3, 2013.</p><p>3. Protocol No.15 amending the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [CETS No.213] was signed by Albania on 11 February 2014 and by the United Kingdom on 24 June 2014. The text to this treaty is published on the Council of Europe website.</p><p>All treaties, including those amending previous treaties, that are subject to ratification, accession, approval or completion of procedures are laid before both Houses of Parliament as a Command Paper for twenty-one sitting days in accordance with Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Those treaties which enter into force on signature do not have to be laid before Parliament for twenty-one sitting days but are laid before both Houses of Parliament as a Command Paper in the UK Treaty Series once they have entered into force.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 18/08/2014 09:57:26 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

79802

registered interest
date	30/07/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 30 June (WA 226) stating that they "do not hold a central record of all new schools built by local authorities to provide these places since 2010", why they do not hold such a record; and, of the academy schools created and converted since 2010, (1) how many, and (2) what proportion, were identified for creation or conversion by local authorities.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL1691
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/08/2014 answer text <p>Prior to 2010 the Department for Education’s central records of new establishments do not allow us to determine if schools are new provision or whether they replace existing schools (i.e. due to an amalgamation or move from three tier to two tier education).</p><p>Since then the number of schools that have applied to become academies is as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Academic Year</p></td><td><p>Number of Converter Academies<sup>i</sup></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>796</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>860</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>684</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14 (to date)</p></td><td><p>522</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><sup>i </sup>Schools which have converted to academy status are not identified for conversion by the local authority. It is up to individual schools to apply to convert to become academies unless they are underperforming, in which case the department will look to match them with a sponsor.</p><p>Between 2010 and 2012, local authorities held 41 competitions under section 7 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, as amended by the Education Act 2011, to create new schools. The numbers opening per academic year are:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Academic Year</p></td><td><p>Number of Academies</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>16</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>12</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>6</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In addition, the department also records all new academies created under local authorities’ duties to secure sufficient schools (section 14 of the Education Act 1996) since the academy presumption was established in February 2012. Ninety-two new academies have been created, or are in the process of being created, through this route (75 in agreement, 17 in the pipeline).</p><p>These are broken down into academic years as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Academic Year</p></td><td><p>Number of Academies<sup> ii</sup></p></td><td><p>Number in pipeline (of the total number)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>23</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>50</p></td><td><p>13</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><sup>ii </sup>40 of these new academies were funded through the Government’s Targeted Basic Need Programme (8 due to open in September 2014, 32 due to open in September 2015).</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 11/08/2014 11:56:21 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

79616

registered interest
date	24/07/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Higher and Further Education: Admissions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take to increase the number of students enrolling in further and higher education; and how they intend to fund any growth in student numbers in 2015–16, in the light of the announcement on 20 July that the student loan book will not be sold.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL1512
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/08/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Further and Higher Education Institutions are responsible for attracting students.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government has implemented a reform programme enabling FE colleges to use their freedoms and flexibilities to provide the high quality skills their learners, local economy and businesses need. There is an increased drive for employer ownership of skills funding, a continuing growth, and reform of, the Apprenticeships programme and an opportunity for individuals aged 24 and over studying at Level 3 and 4 to have access to Loans to help meet up-front course fees.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government will raise the cap on HE student numbers to fund up to 30,000 additional places in 2014/15 and remove this cap altogether in 2015/16, except for high risk providers. Funding for this expansion is already agreed with HMT over the Spending Review period.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Student numbers are not contingent on the sale and all departments’ budget provision beyond 2015-2016 will be agreed as part of the next Spending Review.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire question first answered 11/08/2014 12:51:46 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

79617

registered interest
date	24/07/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Inspections
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 Civitas entitled <i>Playing the Game: The enduring influence of the preferred Ofsted teaching style</i>, and in particular the claim that teachers change their lessons plans during Ofsted inspections.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL1513
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/07/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Education has read the report and is aware of the issues and concerns raised.</p><p> </p><p>Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has repeatedly made clear that Ofsted does not have a preferred teaching style. It is up to the classroom teacher to determine how they should teach. Ofsted’s judgements on teaching are predicated on whether children are learning, progressing and achieving good outcomes.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the importance of Ofsted delivering a consistently good service across a broad remit. Sir Michael has taken a keen interest in the quality and consistency of inspections and has announced that Ofsted's inspections of schools will be brought in-house from September 2015 to enable direct control over the selection and training of additional inspectors, and more control over quality assurance.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 30/07/2014 11:31:38 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

79618

registered interest
date	24/07/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Higher Education: Ethnic Groups
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support universities to address the problems highlighted in the recent report published by the Nuffield Foundation and the London School of Economics entitled <i>Black and Minority Ethnic Access To Higher Education: A Reassessment</i>.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL1514
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/08/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government is committed to access to Higher Education (HE) based on talent and potential, irrespective of background. Promoting equal opportunities is taken very seriously and we have put in place a strong legal framework which protects the rights of people not to be discriminated against, through the Equality Act 2010.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Whilst universities are independent and autonomous organisations, responsible for their own admissions decisions, the Equality Act places clear duties and responsibilities on them to ensure that students with protected characteristics do not face discrimination or less favourable treatment whilst applying to, and studying in, higher education.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire question first answered 11/08/2014 12:26:30 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

79619

registered interest
date	24/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Albania
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information and personal data are provided to the Albanian authorities on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from Albania making asylum claims in the United Kingdom; and whether such children are informed or asked to consent to the transfer of such information and personal data before they are transferred.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL1515
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/08/2014 answer text <p>The Government has a legal duty to endeavour to trace the families of unaccompanied asylum seeking children and to take into account their best interests. In response to safeguarding concerns arising from reports that Albanian adults were falsely claiming to be children, and in order to facilitate the family tracing process, the Home Office piloted a process in late 2013 whereby information relevant to family tracing and confirming identity was obtained from the Albanian authorities in respect of 215 individuals. In all of these cases, the asylum claims had been refused and the Albanian authorities had not been the alleged actor of persecution. The piloted process became business as usual with effect from 29 January 2014. Checks are only conducted under this process if such a step will not jeopardise the safety of the child and their family. The Albanian authorities are provided with the names, dates of birth, identity numbers, places of birth, addresses and contact numbers for the child and their parents. Published Home Office guidance stipulates that the child should be informed shortly after point of claim for asylum that the Home Office will take appropriate steps to endeavour to trace their families.</p> answering member printed Lord Taylor of Holbeach question first answered 04/08/2014 11:24:04 answering member 3787 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Holbeach
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

79620

registered interest
date	24/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Albania
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in respect of how many Albanian asylum seekers claiming to be children, information was sought from the Albanian authorities leading to the identification of 23 individuals who were suspected of providing incorrect information about their age and the establishment of Operation Coldspell in December 2013.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL1516
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/08/2014 answer text <p>The Government has a legal duty to endeavour to trace the families of unaccompanied asylum seeking children and to take into account their best interests. In response to safeguarding concerns arising from reports that Albanian adults were falsely claiming to be children, and in order to facilitate the family tracing process, the Home Office piloted a process in late 2013 whereby information relevant to family tracing and confirming identity was obtained from the Albanian authorities in respect of 215 individuals. In all of these cases, the asylum claims had been refused and the Albanian authorities had not been the alleged actor of persecution. The piloted process became business as usual with effect from 29 January 2014. Checks are only conducted under this process if such a step will not jeopardise the safety of the child and their family. The Albanian authorities are provided with the names, dates of birth, identity numbers, places of birth, addresses and contact numbers for the child and their parents. Published Home Office guidance stipulates that the child should be informed shortly after point of claim for asylum that the Home Office will take appropriate steps to endeavour to trace their families.</p> answering member printed Lord Taylor of Holbeach question first answered 04/08/2014 10:35:21 answering member 3787 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Holbeach
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey