Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

227426

registered interest
date	16/03/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children in Care: Boarding Schools
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what encouragement and assistance they are providing to local authorities and charities to enable more children in care suited to a boarding education to find places in boarding schools.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL5747
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education published guidance in November 2014, entitled <em>Boarding schools: an opportunity to improve outcomes for vulnerable children</em>. This is available online at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/boarding-schools-improving-outcomes-for-vulnerable-children" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/boarding-schools-improving-outcomes-for-vulnerable-children</a>. The Department also held a conference to support local authorities in improving outcomes for children in care.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The guidance aims to encourage local authorities, virtual school head teachers, social workers and other professionals to consider whether a boarding place could be a beneficial option for some vulnerable children, including children who are in, and on the edge of, care. The decision should always focus on what provision would be in the best interests of the child, taking into account both their social and educational needs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition, statutory guidance on promoting the educational achievement of looked after children states: “where a looked-after child would benefit from attending a boarding school, either in the state or independent sector, virtual school heads and social workers should be proactive in considering this option”<em>.</em></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 25/03/2015 16:46:05 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

223866

registered interest
date	26/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Private Education: Vetting
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements they are making to ensure that independent schools are in a position to comply with their statutory responsibilities to check that staff are not prohibited from involvement in the management of an independent school.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL5245
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education is in discussion with the Disclosure and Barring Service about ways in which schools can do this with the minimum additional burden, and it is hoped that a process will be in place soon. At present no barring directions have been made under the regulations made in 2014 under section 128 of the Education and Skills Act 2008.</p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 04/03/2015 14:07:39 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

223868

registered interest
date	26/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Vetting
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 both teachers and other members of staff in early and later years provision are not adversely affected by the current childcare disqualification regime which originally covered only child minders and day care providers.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL5246
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2015 answer text <p>On 26 February we published ‘Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006’ statutory guidance for schools: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disqualification-under-the-childcare-act-2006" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disqualification-under-the-childcare-act-2006</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This new guidance clarifies the circumstances in which the provisions of the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2009 apply to school staff. It also supports schools to take appropriate action to ensure that school staff do not work in circumstances that are in breach of those Regulations. It makes clear that where staff are disqualified schools may redeploy them or make changes to their duties. This discretion allows many of those staff affected by the Regulations to continue to work in schools while an application is made to Ofsted for a waiver of disqualification.</p><p> </p><p>The childcare disqualification arrangements are not new and have never applied exclusively to child-minders and day care providers. They apply to all staff providing childcare, including in schools. These arrangements help to ensure that children in the most vulnerable age groups, those who are potentially at greatest risk, are protected regardless of the setting in which childcare is provided.</p><p>In schools they prevent staff who have been cautioned or convicted for certain serious offences, from providing childcare:</p><p> </p><ul><li><p>for children up to the age of five years before, during, or after school hours; and</p></li><li><p>for children aged up to eight years of age before and after school hours.</p><p> </p><p>School staff are also prevented from providing childcare if they reside in a household where another person who has been cautioned or convicted for such an offence lives or is employed.</p><p> </p></li></ul><p> </p><p>The new statutory guidance replaces the Department’s earlier advice on this subject, published in October 2014 as a supplement to ‘Keeping children safe in education’, and is a direct response to requests for additional information to help schools make appropriate and robust decisions should these matters arise.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The guidance has been developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders who have expertise and experience in child safeguarding matters, including children’s safeguarding organisations, employer representative bodies, trade unions and local authorities.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 11/03/2015 16:51:39 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

223869

registered interest
date	26/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Private Education: Vetting
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 independent schools are not found to be in breach of statutory regulations as a result of the introduction of retrospective prohibition checks on teaching staff.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL5247
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p>From 5 January 2015, the independent school standards require that schools check both existing and new teaching staff to determine whether a prohibition order or interim prohibition made by the Secretary of State exists for any member of their teaching staff.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The checks are only retrospective in the sense that schools must confirm that existing staff, as well as new appointments, are not subject to a prohibition order. The prohibition order regime began in April 2012, and the standard does not distinguish between staff appointed before or after 5 January 2015, so existing staff should be checked too. We believe that this is entirely justified. The teacher standards which form the basis of the prohibition regime apply to independent schools, and it would be invidious if a school was able to continue employing a prohibited member of staff simply because he or she was appointed before 2015. When a school is inspected, it should be able to demonstrate that it has either completed these checks (which can be done through the National College’s Easy Access system) or is well on the way to completion. If a school cannot do so, regulatory action is likely to follow.</p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 04/03/2015 14:09:15 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

223412

registered interest
date	24/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Classics: Education
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 changes to examination qualifications now under discussion do not set back the expansion of classics teaching in maintained schools.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL5165
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/03/2015 answer text <p>Our reform programme for GCSE and A levels is intended to ensure they are demanding and more rigorous. We have taken account of a wide range of concerns in ensuring that the final content for ancient language GCSEs provides a suitable preparation for further study. The published content for A and AS levels has been designed to allow the development of new stand-alone AS qualifications, including for ancient languages, that can be co-taught with the A level. We are supporting secondary schools by funding £500,000 of training for non-specialist teachers of Latin in state schools, which will to help them get to grips with the GCSE standard.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 02/03/2015 17:01:31 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

222766

registered interest
date	23/02/2015
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government
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 and champion England’s traditional counties.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL5107
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/03/2015 answer text <p>England’s traditional counties date back over a thousand years of English history, but many of the counties have been sidelined by Whitehall in recent decades, whether by the bland municipal restructuring of Edward Heath’s Government in 1972, or by the imposition of artificial regional structures by the last Labour Government based on the EU’s Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (the appropriately-named “NUTS” Regulations).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Yet the tapestry of England’s counties binds our nation together, and is interwoven with our cultural fabric – from our cricket to our ales. So this Government has taken a series of steps to champion our traditional counties:</p><p> </p><p>• We have amended planning regulations to allow local and county flags to be flown without planning permission, and published a plain English guide to flying flags. Previously, flying a county flag on an existing flag pole required a princely sum of £335 to be paid to the council.</p><p>• We have supported the Flag Institute in publishing a new guide for would-be vexillologists to encourage a new wave of county and other local flags to be designed and flown. http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/british-flags/creating-local-and-community-flags/</p><p>• My Department has flown a range of county flags in Whitehall to mark different county days, including Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Westmorland and Middlesex. We have also flown flags to celebrate other historic localities such as those of the Ridings of Yorkshire and of Wessex – the kingdom which gave birth to the united English nation.</p><p>• We are changing highways regulations to allow traditional county names to appear on boundary road signs. The previous rules prevented unitary councils like Blackpool from having a road sign saying ‘Lancashire’, or Poole saying ‘Dorset’ – since they were not considered to be part of the ‘administrative county’.</p><p>• We have a new online interactive map of England’s different county boundaries. http://communities.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Compare/storytelling_compare/index.html?appid=7b0e661ef66b4a7aacb5a9acf55108ac</p><p>• Ordnance Survey, the Government’s National Mapping Agency, now provides a dataset of current, ceremonial counties (counties retained for the purposes of representing Her Majesty by Lord Lieutenants and High Sheriffs). http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and-government/help-and-support/products/boundary-line.html</p><p>• I can also announce to the House today that from May a dataset of the traditional, historic counties based on 19th Century boundaries will be available on the OS OpenData portal. These datasets are compatible with the OS Boundary-Line product which is available to all free of charge. Ordnance Survey is also going to provide a viewing map window on their website showing both the historic and ceremonial County boundaries on top of a base map.</p><p>• Later in the year, Ordnance Survey is hoping to publish a paper map of the Historic Counties of England, Scotland and Wales (as defined in the Local Government Act 1888 for England and Wales and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 for Scotland), which will be available to the general public to purchase and proudly display.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We are stronger as a nation when we cherish and champion our local and traditional ties. This Government is proud to wave the flag of St George and Union flag alongside our county flags. Whatever one’s class, colour or creed, we should have pride in our English identity within the United Kingdom’s Union that binds us all together.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 10/03/2015 15:07:14 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

174841

registered interest
date	20/01/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Cadets
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to encourage more maintained schools to work with independent schools in establishing new cadet units.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL4268
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2015 answer text <p>Many of our most respected independent schools and some state schools have for over 100 years looked to military themed activities to give their pupils a sense of discipline, adventure and achievement.</p><p> </p><p>Partnership with an existing cadet unit provides many benefits to state funded schools wanting to set up new units under our Cadet Expansion Programme. Partnership helps to share good practice and transfer skills, especially into schools with no prior military experience. There are many established independent school cadet units willing to partner with state schools.</p><p> </p><p>To date 23 of the 65 schools approved to establish a cadet unit under the Cadet Expansion Programme are benefiting from such a partnership. While we strongly encourage partnership to help schools establish a new unit, we also encourage them to develop their aspirations to establish a stand-alone unit that is able to deliver the cadet experience to many more of their pupils.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 23/01/2015 13:59:16 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

173001

registered interest
date	12/01/2015
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Honours
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to publish the results of their inquiry into the premature disclosure of certain honours included in the New Year's honours list; and if so, when.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL4073
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>As is the practice of previous Governments, we do not normally comment on such inquiries.</p><p> </p><p>The honours committees have adopted the following indicative guidelines as to the criteria for assessing the award of MBEs and BEMs:</p><p> </p><p>Member of the British Empire (MBE)</p><p> </p><p>Achievement or service in and to the community which is outstanding in its field and has delivered sustained and real impact which stands out as an example to others.</p><p> </p><p>British Empire Medal (BEM)</p><p> </p><p>Achievement or contribution of a very “hands-on” service to the community in a local geographical area. This might take the form of sustained commitment in support of very local charitable and/or voluntary activity; or innovative work that has delivered real impact but that is relatively short (three to four years) in duration.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire grouped question UIN HL4075 question first answered 20/01/2015 11:54:26 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

173002

registered interest
date	12/01/2015
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Privy Council
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total size of the Privy Council on (1) 1 May 1997, (2) 1 May 2010, and (3) 1 January 2015.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL4074
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2015 answer text <p><strong>The information is set out in the table below. </strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Privy Counsellors</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>1st May 1997</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>423</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>1st May 2010</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>554</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>1st January 2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>639</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire question first answered 15/01/2015 15:25:46 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

173003

registered interest
date	12/01/2015
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Honours
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria are used to determine (1) appointment as MBE, and (2) award of the British Empire Medal.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL4075
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>As is the practice of previous Governments, we do not normally comment on such inquiries.</p><p> </p><p>The honours committees have adopted the following indicative guidelines as to the criteria for assessing the award of MBEs and BEMs:</p><p> </p><p>Member of the British Empire (MBE)</p><p> </p><p>Achievement or service in and to the community which is outstanding in its field and has delivered sustained and real impact which stands out as an example to others.</p><p> </p><p>British Empire Medal (BEM)</p><p> </p><p>Achievement or contribution of a very “hands-on” service to the community in a local geographical area. This might take the form of sustained commitment in support of very local charitable and/or voluntary activity; or innovative work that has delivered real impact but that is relatively short (three to four years) in duration.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire grouped question UIN HL4073 question first answered 20/01/2015 11:54:27 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden