Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made any assessment of whether potential apprentices can afford the cost of the tools they require for their apprenticeships; and whether they have any plans to provide loans or financial support for the purchase of equipment necessary for apprenticeships.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeships are jobs and the department expects employers to provide apprentices with the support, tools and resources they need for a high-quality experience.
The department provides additional financial support to employers and providers to encourage more apprenticeship opportunities and to help meet additional costs associated with apprenticeships. The department makes payments of £1,000 to employers and providers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and up to 24 for apprentices with an Education, Health and Care plan, which can be used to support costs such as work equipment, uniforms, or travel. Furthermore, the department has increased the care leavers’ bursary from £1,000 to £3,000, helping even more young people to access and complete apprenticeships.
The department wants to make sure that apprentice pay supports talented individuals to start and stay in apprenticeships. From April 2024, the apprentice minimum wage will increase by 21.2% to £6.40, from £5.28 per hour. This is a cash increase of £1.12 and will benefit an estimated 40,000 apprentices. This boost to the hourly wage will benefit young apprentices under 19, and those in their first year of an apprenticeship. Many employers pay their apprentices more than the minimum. Latest data shows that the median gross hourly pay for apprentices in 2021 was £9.98 an hour.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the national supply disruption problems of the most used ADHD medications have been resolved, and if not, what are the causes and when they expect the supply to return to acceptable levels.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, which should resolve by April 2024.
We have well-established processes to manage supply issues and continue to work with the respective manufacturers and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the supply disruptions are resolved as soon as possible.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues with ADHD medicine supply in the United Kingdom as soon as possible and to help ensure patients are able to access these medicines in the short and long term.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government which local authorities require residents to sort their rubbish into seven different bins.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We do not require local authorities to submit this information to central Government as a standard requirement. Local authorities vary their collection arrangements in line with local decisions. Information on the number of bins or containers offered to residents for recycling collections is publicly available on each local authority website.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what grounds the Prime Minister has decided not to attend the UN General Assembly this month.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government delegation to the UN General Assembly High Level Week on 18-22 September will be led by the Deputy Prime Minister, accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, myself Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon as Minister of State for the UN, Minister Mitchell as Minister for Development and Minister Stuart as Minister for Net Zero. Building on the significant announcements made by the PM at the G20 in New Delhi, the UK delegation will show how these, and other UK priorities can be advanced through multilateralism as we work alongside a wide range of countries, ahead of major Artificial Intelligence and food security summits in the UK later this year.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that unaccompanied child asylum seekers arriving in the UK are not placed in adult prisons.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Determining the age of a young person is a difficult task and therefore, the age assessment process for immigration purposes contains safeguards.
Where a new arrival does not have genuine documentary evidence of their age and their claimed age is doubted, an initial age decision is conducted as a first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or minor from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure that new arrivals are routed into the correct accommodation and processes for assessing their asylum or immigration claim. The lawfulness of the initial decision on age process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.
Where doubt remains and an individual cannot be assessed to be significantly over 18, they will be treated as a minor for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age by a local authority.
The Home Office initial decision on age is not binding on the courts, and where the Court has doubt whether the individual is a minor or not, the courts will take a decision on the age of an individual before them based on the available evidence. This decision would then determine the type of detention estate someone is sent to if given a custodial sentence or remanded in custody. If an individual is sent to an adult prison and is later found to be a child, they can be moved to the youth custody estate if there continues to be a need to detain them.
The recent legislative reforms introduced by this government will improve the accuracy of the scientific age assessment outcomes, minimising the risk that a person will be incorrectly treated as either an adult or a minor and ensure that age-appropriate services and care are reserved for genuine minors.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied child asylum seekers have been placed in HMP Elmley in Kent; and how many are still held there.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of age dispute cases that have arisen in adult prisons and is unable to confirm the statistics referenced in the Guardian article, which are derived from local authority responses to an FOI request. Our published data on age assessment can be accessed here. Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Furthermore, the Home Office published data on age disputes aggregates the age disputes resolved by including the outcomes of initial age decisions by the Home Office taken at the point of first contact, comprehensive Merton compliant age assessments conducted by social workers and any subsequent legal challenge into one category.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect police officers following a security breach of an IT supplier to the Metropolitan Police.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Digital ID, an IT supplier to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) advised them on 26 August 2023 that they had been subject to a ransomware attack, potentially putting at risk data for officers and staff.
The MPS immediately put in place appropriate security measures following the incident and reported the incident to the National Crime Agency and the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The Home Office, along with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre is engaged with both the MPS and Digital ID to investigate and provide support.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many schools have not returned a reinforced autoclave aerated concrete survey; and what actions they are taking to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils in schools where the safety of buildings is not yet known.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department takes immediate action.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day-to-day basis, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.
The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department issued comprehensive guidance in 2018, and subsequent years, to all responsible bodies highlighting the potential risks associated with RAAC and supporting them to identify this within their buildings, as well as to take appropriate steps in meeting their obligations to keep buildings safe. The most recent guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-estates-guidance.
There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected. A significant proportion of the estate was built outside the period where RAAC was used, with around one third of the estate built since 2001, therefore, the Department has focused efforts on buildings built in the post-war decades.
The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era, of which there are 14,900. We are pressing all remaining schools to get checks completed, to determine which schools require surveys.
The Department is contacting responsible bodies to help them respond to this request and to advise on what needs to be done, so that they can establish whether they believe they have RAAC. This work will continue until we have a response for all target era schools.
Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already told us they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.
All schools where RAAC is confirmed are provided with a dedicated caseworker to support them and help implement a mitigation plan and minimise the disruption to children’s learning.
Across Government, Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out. The Department for Education published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September, and committed to providing further updates.
Schools will contact parents where RAAC is identified and inform them of any impacts on their child. The vast majority of schools are unaffected. Any parents that are unsure if their child’s school is affected should contact their school directly.
While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to pupil learning and ensure that pupils continue to receive face-to-face teaching. Where there is any disturbance to face-to-face education, schools will prioritise attendance for vulnerable children and young people and children of key workers. The guidance published by the Department in August also includes guidance on provision for pupils with SEND and sets out expectations that schools continue to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.
The Department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, the department will provide that support for all reasonable requests. The Department will also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.
All previously confirmed School Rebuilding Programme projects announced in 2021 and 2022 will continue to go ahead. A full list of confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Further information on RAAC in education settings is available on the Education Hub: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to control the import of faulty or dangerous products containing large batteries, such as e-bikes, and (2) to educate the public on safety guidance for such products; and what plans they have to require third-party approval or certification of such products prior to sale; and if they have any such plans, what is their timetable for implementing them.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is prioritising work to understand and tackle the risks presented by e-bikes and e-scooters and has commissioned research into the safety of lithium-ion batteries.
OPSS and Local Authority Trading Standards Services have powers to remove unsafe products from sale and are using data and intelligence to target unsafe products at the border, including those containing large batteries.
In terms of safety awareness, in addition to the required information supplied with the products, the Home Office has published new guidance for consumers on safe battery charging practices in the home.
The Government launched its Product Safety Review consultation on 2 August which explores the future of the UK’s product safety framework including consideration of third party conformity assessment requirements.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cause of the delay in agreeing a deal for the UK’s return to the EU’s Horizon science research programme; and when a resolution is expected.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 7th September, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would associate to Horizon Europe. The Government has negotiated a bespoke deal in the UK’s national interest and UK scientists can participate confidently in Horizon Europe, the world’s largest programme of research cooperation.