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 question first answered answering member label attachment file name file name title title
tabling member	label

Search

1083403

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Homelessness: Asylum
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 Bourne of Aberystwyth on 5 March (HL13836), why they do not hold specific breakdowns on the number of (1) homeless asylum seekers, and (2) rough sleepers who are asylum seekers and refugees; whether the number of households accepted as statutorily homeless and granted refugee status in England equates with the number of individuals concerned; and if not, how many individual refugees were homeless in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016, and (e) 2017.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14286
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2019 answer text <p>Asylum seekers are not eligible for homelessness assistance. We record the number of ineligible applicants, but do not break this down by reason for ineligibility. The Home Office provides asylum seekers with accommodation and support to meet their essential living needs if they would otherwise be destitute.</p><p>Rough sleeping statistics are collected through a single night snapshot. The purpose is to estimate the number of people sleeping rough across local authorities in England on a single night, and assess change over time. Since 2016, where possible, we have collected the demographics of people found or thought to be sleeping rough via the snapshot, to give an indication of the representation of particular groups among people who sleep rough. This includes gender, age and nationality. However, it can be difficult to collect even this basic demographic information from people sleeping rough on a single night, and often people are not willing to share this information, so it is regularly recorded as unknown.</p><p>The number of households that have refugee status does not equate to the number of individuals. A household can be made up of one or more individuals. The department only holds this information at household level.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 19/03/2019 15:35:24 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1083404

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Pedlars Act 1871
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 Henley on 5 March (HL14087), when consideration was last given to reforming the Pedlars' Act 1871; and what the outcome of that consideration was.
tabling member printed	Lord Bradshaw
uin	HL14287
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>Her Majesty’s Government reviewed the Pedlars’ Act 1871 as part of its work on ‘Street Trading and Pedlars laws: compliance with the Services Directive’ consultation. The Government’s Response was published on 16 October 2014 and a copy is attached.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 14/03/2019 17:48:17 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley attachment 1 file name bis-14-776-street-trading-and-pedlary-legislation-compliance-with-the-eu-services-directive.pdf title 2014 Govt Response - Consultation, Pedlars Act
tabling member	2483 label Biography information for Lord Bradshaw

1083405

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Stronger Towns Fund
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what factors will be taken into account by the relevant Secretary of State in considering the applications for the £1.6 billion Stronger Towns Fund announced on 5 March.
tabling member printed	Baroness Byford
uin	HL14288
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2019 answer text <p>The Stronger Towns Fund prospectus will be published before Summer recess. This will set out how local partners can bid in to the fund as well as detailing the role of local partners, relevant definitions and eligibility criteria.</p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 18/03/2019 16:10:29 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
tabling member	3343 label Biography information for Baroness Byford

1083406

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Apprentices: Taxation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there has been a underspend of the apprenticeship levies in each of the last three years; if so, by how much; and what consideration they have give to allowing any such underspends to be allocated to training schemes for the upgrade of skills.
tabling member printed	Baroness Byford
uin	HL14289
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>Spending on the apprenticeship programme is demand-led. Employers choose the type, quantity and level of apprenticeships that they offer in order to meet their current and future skills needs.</p><p>Employers pay the apprenticeship levy to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Employers in England can then set up accounts on the apprenticeship service, allowing them to direct funds to cover the costs of training and assessment for their apprentices. Employers who pay the levy have up to 24 months to spend their levy funds in their accounts. We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all of the funds in their accounts, but they are able to do this if they wish.</p><p>There is a difference between what employers see in their levy accounts and the department’s annual apprenticeship budget set by Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT). Levy accounts include up to 24 months of levy funds. The department’s annual apprenticeship budget must fund the whole apprenticeship programme, including apprenticeships with smaller employers who do not pay the levy and apprenticeships that started before the levy was introduced.</p><p>In total, in the 2017-18 financial year, the department spent £1.6 billion (of a £2 billion budget) to fulfil employers’ demand for apprenticeships. Lower than anticipated demand from employers led to an underspend of approximately £400 million. HMT made available a portion of the department's 2017-18 underspend, including the underspend from apprenticeships, for programmes in future financial years. We will publish the expenditure from this financial year in our 2018-19 annual report and accounts after the end of this financial year.</p><p>A review of the levy is underway in order to consider, amongst other points, how it can be used most effectively.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 20/03/2019 17:57:43 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	3343 label Biography information for Baroness Byford

1083407

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Agriculture: Education
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to increasing the funding available for agricultural courses where they contain significant STEM elements.
tabling member printed	Baroness Byford
uin	HL14290
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>The government already provides funding via the Office for Students to support subjects where the costs of teaching exceed the income that providers receive through tuition fees. This includes agricultural courses with elements of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Current rates of high-cost funding are included in the ‘Office for Students: Guide to funding 2018-19’, attached.</p><p>Future funding for higher education will be announced in the forthcoming Spending Review following the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding, which is currently underway.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 20/03/2019 17:55:02 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie attachment 1 file name HL14290_OfS_Guide_to_Funding_2018_to_2019.pdf title HL14290_OfS_Guide_to_Funding_2018_2019
tabling member	3343 label Biography information for Baroness Byford

1083408

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Distance Learning: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to increase the availability of distance learning in rural areas where transport availability is difficult.
tabling member printed	Baroness Byford
uin	HL14291
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>Distance learning offers excellent possibilities to open up choice and opportunity to people from a diverse range of backgrounds, including those from rural areas, and the government believes it should be widely available at a range of educational levels. Student support for tuition at higher education (HE) level is available for students who want to study on a part-time basis or by distance learning.</p><p> </p><p>The National Retraining Scheme (NRS) is an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult retraining. It will help individuals to respond to the changing labour market, redirect their careers and secure better, more secure jobs of the future.</p><p> </p><p>To inform the design of the scheme, the Flexible Learning Fund is supporting 31 pilot projects across England with a total value of £11.4 million. The projects are designing and testing innovative, flexible learning that is easy to access. The pilots are aimed at adults who are working, or who are returning to work, with either low or intermediate skills. A range of delivery methods are being tested; most of the projects will make use of on-line technologies to a degree, as well as ‘blended learning’ that combines online and face-to-face learning.</p><p>My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has previously announced that Educational Technology (Edtech) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be a key feature of the NRS. Technological innovation and development, including in AI, will play an important part in improving the learning experience, design and effectiveness of online training.</p><p> </p><p>The government has committed up to £30 million of funding. Working closely with the technology industry we will look to innovate, test and develop ways in which technological solutions can directly answer the specific needs of NRS users alongside all learners. Details of the funding will be announced in spring 2019.</p><p> </p><p>It is only right that HE providers offer a range of options which suit all students, and that students have a real choice about where and how to study. The Review of Post-18 Education and Funding will consider how we can encourage and support more learning that is flexible, like part-time and distance learning, and enable more people to study close to where they live. The review will report later this year.</p><p> </p><p>The regulatory system is also a means of opening up HE to a more diverse range of provision and therefore to a wider range of students. The Higher Education and Research Act, which came into law in 2017, placed a duty on the Office for Students to consider other modes of study when promoting choice and opportunity in the provision of HE.</p><p> </p><p>Through recent HE reforms, we are working to support and encourage high quality new and innovative provision that has a strong offer for students, helping providers to navigate the regulatory system and we will continue to work with new providers to tackle any barriers that might arise.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 20/03/2019 17:57:19 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	3343 label Biography information for Baroness Byford

1083409

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Languages: 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 the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages and the British Council, A national recovery programme for languages, published on 4 March.
tabling member printed	Baroness Coussins
uin	HL14292
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>The government welcomes the All Party Parliamentary Group’s report. Languages are increasingly important to ensure future competitiveness in the global market.</p><p>The department’s strategy for languages includes the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure, which has seen the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state-funded schools in a modern foreign language (MFL) increase from 40% in 2010 to 46% in 2018. The reformed national curriculum makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in key stage 2.</p><p>Our £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot commenced in December 2018. It is managed by the newly appointed MFL Centre for Excellence and is run through 9 school-led hubs, to improve uptake and attainment in languages at key stages 3 and 4. The department has launched a pilot project in MFL undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils to drive up participation in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.</p><p>Recruiting MFL teachers is also a priority. Generous financial incentives are offered for languages teaching, including scholarships in MFLs worth £28,000, and tax-free bursaries, typically worth up to £26,000. The government is working in partnership with Spain’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to deliver Spain’s Visiting Teachers Programme to provide schools with access to a pool of qualified teachers from Spain who are able to teach MFLs. For the 2019/20 academic year. This programme will be open to secondary schools and also (as a pilot) to primary schools. In addition to this, the Teacher Subject Specialism Training programme aims to improve the subject knowledge of non-specialist teachers and returning teachers in MFLs and increase the number of hours taught.</p><p>The department has also recently launched the new Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, which will attract new teachers to all subjects, including MFLs.</p><p>The department continues to promote the value of language qualifications to students who are choosing their GCSEs and to their parents. A guidance leaflet for parents was recently published, and can be found attached, which explains why studying a language, as part of the EBacc, broadens opportunities in both education and employment. In February, the department drew attention to the benefits of studying a language among 13-14 year olds through a social media campaign.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 20/03/2019 17:52:30 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	3829 label Biography information for Baroness Coussins

1083410

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Staff
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 the Education Policy Institute The early years workforce in England, published on 17 January; and what steps they intend to take in response to that report in particular the need to ensure increased (1) skills, (2) diversity, and (3) pay levels in the early education workforce.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
uin	HL14293
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>We have noted the findings of the report published by the Education Policy Institute. We are already working with the sector on a number of the issues highlighted in their report. In March 2017, we published the attached early years workforce strategy, the government's plans to support employers to attract, retain and develop early years staff to deliver high quality provision: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy</a>. As a result of the strategy, we have worked with sector stakeholders to develop criteria for new more robust level 2 qualifications, considered how the gender diversity of the workforce can be improved, as well as developing new career pathways information to support careers advice, recruitment and staff development: <a href="https://www.cache.org.uk/media/1417/dfe-career-pathway-map-v17.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.cache.org.uk/media/1417/dfe-career-pathway-map-v17.pdf</a>. The career pathways map is attached.</p><p> </p><p>We are supporting employer trailblazer groups to develop new apprenticeship standards for the early years workforce and have announced a £20 million investment in professional development and training for early years practitioners in pre-reception settings in disadvantaged areas.</p><p> </p><p>Employers in the early years sector are responsible for setting the pay and conditions for their employees, within the statutory requirements set by government (for example, national minimum wage).</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton attachment 1 file name HL14293_Early_years_workforce_strategy.pdf title HL14293_Early_years_workforce_strategy 2 file name HL14293_Early_years_career_progression_map.pdf title HL14293_Early_years_career_progression_map question first answered 20/03/2019 11:50:03 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

1083411

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Northern Ireland Office
answering dept id	21
answering dept short name	Northern Ireland
answering dept sort name	Northern Ireland
hansard heading	Terrorism: Northern Ireland
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 Duncan of Springbank on 5 March (HL13923), whether the remarks by that Minister on 30 October 2018 (HL Deb, col 1311) about the early provision of pensions for those who were severely physically injured in the Northern Ireland Troubles still stand, namely "That is not to put it into the long grass or put it away, but to recognise that it must be progressed" and "We will guarantee within six months. So, yes, we will be able to do it within six months and I hope that that will therefore give some comfort to noble Lords that we take this matter with the utmost seriousness and we will move it forward"; and from when the guarantee of “within six months” will apply.
tabling member printed	Lord Hain
uin	HL14294
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>The Noble Lord will recall that this answer was given in response to questions from Baroness O’Loan and Lord Cormack about how long the Victims Commissioner would take to produce her advice. The Victims Commissioner has indicated that she is on track to give us full advice by the end of March. As I have previously stated, the scope of that advice includes “a proposal for, or options for, the type of pension which should be provided including consideration of a two-phased approach to delivery with a physical injury pension being rolled out first followed by psychological (and any risks of this approach)”. As the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has indicated, the UK Government’s priority in Northern Ireland continues to be the restoration of the NI Executive. If, despite best efforts, the NI Executive has not been restored by the time updated advice on a pension has been provided by the Victims Commissioner, the Northern Ireland Office will consider how this matter can be progressed in the absence of NI Executive Ministers.</p> answering member printed Lord Duncan of Springbank question first answered 20/03/2019 13:50:52 answering member 4686 label Biography information for Lord Duncan of Springbank
tabling member	567 label Biography information for Lord Hain

1083412

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Citizenship
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their response to the report of the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement (Cm9629), published on 28 June 2018 and the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 30 January (HL12923), whether they intend to appoint a single lead minister on all matters relating to citizenship and civic engagement; and if so, when.
tabling member printed	Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts
uin	HL14295
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2019 answer text <p>I refer the Noble Lord to my previous answer for written question HL12923.</p> answering member printed Lord Young of Cookham question first answered 12/03/2019 13:18:18 answering member 57 label Biography information for Lord Young of Cookham
tabling member	1651 label Biography information for Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts