Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish an update to the calculation of the resource accounting and budgeting charge for student finance; and whether they propose to make any changes to the basis for calculation used at the time it was last updated.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the 2022/23 financial year, the Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge was £5.5 billion, or 27% of the £20.0 billion of loans issued that financial year. The RAB charge for 2023/24 will be published in the department’s 2023/24 Annual Report and Accounts this summer.
Of student loans issued in the 2023/24 financial year, the government is expected to subsidise:
These forecasts are subject to change. The final RAB forecasts for 2023/24 will be available as part of the annual student finance statistical publication, released in June 2024.
The RAB charge, the government subsidy anticipated on student loans issued in any particular financial year, is calculated as the present value of student loan outlay less expected future repayments, in accordance with relevant International Financial Reporting Standards and guidance from HMT’s Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM).
The FReM requires future repayments of student loans to be discounted at the higher of the intrinsic rate and HMT’s discount rate, based on analysis of real yields on UK index linked Gilts and are specifically appropriate to central government.
The FReM is kept under constant review. It is updated to reflect developments in relevant standards and best practice.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current value of the resource accounting and budgeting charge for student finance.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the 2022/23 financial year, the Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge was £5.5 billion, or 27% of the £20.0 billion of loans issued that financial year. The RAB charge for 2023/24 will be published in the department’s 2023/24 Annual Report and Accounts this summer.
Of student loans issued in the 2023/24 financial year, the government is expected to subsidise:
These forecasts are subject to change. The final RAB forecasts for 2023/24 will be available as part of the annual student finance statistical publication, released in June 2024.
The RAB charge, the government subsidy anticipated on student loans issued in any particular financial year, is calculated as the present value of student loan outlay less expected future repayments, in accordance with relevant International Financial Reporting Standards and guidance from HMT’s Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM).
The FReM requires future repayments of student loans to be discounted at the higher of the intrinsic rate and HMT’s discount rate, based on analysis of real yields on UK index linked Gilts and are specifically appropriate to central government.
The FReM is kept under constant review. It is updated to reflect developments in relevant standards and best practice.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to deposit in the Library of the House all tender documents for modular classrooms since July 2023 under the Offsite Constructions Agreement (Framework Agreement RM6184).
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It is not our intention to deposit the tender documentation into the Library of the House. It is the responsibility of individual customer authorities to publish contracting information on Contracts Finder and/or other transparency platforms.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the email from the Secretary of State for Education to school leaders and others on 20 July entitled 'Thank you for your work this year', (1) how many people were sent that email, (2) what proportion of recipients were sent it by virtue of (a) having signed up to receive it, (b) being school leaders, or (c) both, (3) what were the open rates for that email in respect of each of the categories above, and (4) what codes of guidance around the political nature of emails govern the (i) tone, and (ii) content, sent to headteachers by the Secretary of State.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The end of term email from the Secretary of State was sent to 45,418 email addresses. Of those recipients:
The email has a 45% unique open rate. It was opened 60,245 times as of 26 July 2023, indicating that it had been forwarded beyond the original contact list. The open rate cannot be broken down by categories of school leaders versus subscribers.
As with all departmental communications, Civil Service advice is provided on tone and content, along with factual accuracy checks to ensure it meets the needs of the audience it is intended for.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Education records the academic proprietor in respect of complaints they receive about (1) academy schools, and (2) multi-academy trusts; and whether they will publish a table of the number of complaints received in respect of each trust in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not intend to publish a table of the information requested. The department’s remit is to consider whether the academy school or multi-academy trust has a complaints procedure that is compliant with Part 7 of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, and that they have allowed their own complaints procedure to be completed, when handling complaints received. The department does not consider the subject of the complaint, as academies are autonomous bodies and they are responsible for handling complaints raised against them.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the damage to the marine environment caused by the disposal of single use vapes.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have not made an assessment of the environmental impacts of disposable vapes. However, as part of the review of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations, we will consult on policies aimed at driving up levels of separate collection of electric and electronic waste, including vaping devices, later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban the sale of single use vapes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no immediate plans to introduce a ban on disposable vaping devices.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money they have spent on the Continuity of Education Allowance programme in respect of the families of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office staff in each of the last 10 years; and how many children have benefitted from that programme.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The details of the number of children, and how much the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have spent in each of the last 10 financial years on the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) policy are in the table below:
| Academic Year | Total Spend | Total Number of Children |
| 2012/13 | £12,640,489.05 | 684 |
| 2013/14 | £14,651,331.96 | 637 |
| 2014/15 | £14,322,691.28 | 628 |
| 2015/16 | £13,440,797.70 | 616 |
| 2016/17 | £13,870,134.56 | 604 |
| 2017/18 | £13,531,420.70 | 518 |
| 2018/19 | £14,060,063.38 | 511 |
| 2019/20 | £14,916,298.06 | 525 |
| 2020/21 | £14,951,945.41 | 514 |
| 2021/22 | £14,410,903.45 | 531 |
*Figures may differ from previously published figures due to process changes/financial systems over the last 10 years
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money they have spent on the Continuity of Education Allowance programme in respect of the families of Ministry of Defence employed staff in each of the last 10 years; and how many children have benefitted from that programme.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The below table details the number of children supported and the amount spent on the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) by the Ministry of Defence in the last ten financial years.
Financial Year | Number of Children | Number of Service Personnel | Total Spend |
2012-13 | 7,357 | 4,951 | £98.82 million |
2013-14 | 6,310 | 4,300 | £89.25 million |
2014-15 | 5,803 | 3,880 | £84.51 million |
2015-16 | 5,516 | 3,671 | £80.86 million |
2016-17 | 5,273 | 3,486 | £103.45 million |
2017-18 | 4,550 | 3,075 | £79.79 million |
2018-19 | 4,609 | 3,048 | £80.22 million |
2019-20 | 4,430 | 2,982 | £83.23 million |
2020-21 | 4,307 | 2,901 | £79.58 million |
2021-22 | 4,324 | 2,897 | £83.25 million |
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money they have spent on the Continuity of Education Allowance programme in each of the last 10 years; and how many children of those families have benefitted from that programme.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The below table details the number of children supported and the amount spent on the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) by the Ministry of Defence in the last ten financial years.
Financial Year | Number of Children | Number of Service Personnel | Total Spend |
2012-13 | 7,357 | 4,951 | £98.82 million |
2013-14 | 6,310 | 4,300 | £89.25 million |
2014-15 | 5,803 | 3,880 | £84.51 million |
2015-16 | 5,516 | 3,671 | £80.86 million |
2016-17 | 5,273 | 3,486 | £103.45 million |
2017-18 | 4,550 | 3,075 | £79.79 million |
2018-19 | 4,609 | 3,048 | £80.22 million |
2019-20 | 4,430 | 2,982 | £83.23 million |
2020-21 | 4,307 | 2,901 | £79.58 million |
2021-22 | 4,324 | 2,897 | £83.25 million |