Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to give the Health and Safety Executive the powers to be more proactive in investigating suspected dangerous buildings, to prevent rather than react to incidents.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Building Safety Act 2022 requires the Building Safety Regulator to keep the safety and standards of all buildings under review.
For buildings defined as higher risk under the Building Safety Act 2022, essentially multi-residential buildings at least 18m in height or with seven storeys or more, those responsible are required to take proportionate and effective steps to manage fire and structural safety risks. Where this is not demonstrated, the Regulator will be able to use its enforcement powers to require improvements to prevent incidents before they take place.
For buildings not in scope of the new higher-risk buildings regime, local authorities and fire and rescue services have powers to investigate dangerous buildings and compel building owners to address safety risks under the Housing Act 2004, Building Act 1984, and Fire Safety Order 2005. These powers also continue to apply in respect of higher-risk buildings. Local authorities and fire and rescue services have also been granted new powers in the form of remediation orders under the Building Safety Act.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage Ofqual to adopt the stance of Dr Matthew Glanville, Head of Assessment Principles and Practice at the International Baccalaureate, that the use of artificial intelligence by pupils should be "embraced" as "an extraordinary opportunity".
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications and assessments for England and is accountable to Parliament and not to Ministers. Ofqual has statutory objectives to maintain standards and promote public confidence in qualifications.
As part of this remit, we know Ofqual is working closely with awarding organisations to consider the implications of pupils’ use of artificial intelligence (AI), including the opportunities and risks it may bring. We will continue to work closely with them on this going forward.
The International Baccalaureate Organisation has confirmed it will not allow pupils to pass off AI-generated work as their own in their assessments. Ofqual’s rules, to which they are subject, require that grades must accurately reflect pupils’ attainment.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with local authorities about any revenue generated from Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, and any plans they may have for using that revenue to improve cycling infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport has not had any such discussions. Vehicle access restrictions used to create a Local Traffic Neighbourhoods are implemented and enforced using existing prescribed traffic signs. These are enforceable in the same way and with the same penalties as when used on any other part of the road network.
The use of any surplus revenue is strictly ring-fenced in legislation towards covering enforcement costs, specified local authority-funded local transport schemes, or road improvement and environmental measures.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to bring back a student loan forgiveness scheme for teachers, similar to that trialled between 2002 and 2004, in which 10 per cent of a new teacher’s total student loan was paid off each year that they stayed in the profession.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Department has piloted two schemes in recent years which were designed to attract and retain teachers by repaying their student loans. The Repayment of Teachers’ Loans (RTL) scheme was trialled in the mid-2000s and an evaluation was completed by University of Durham in 2004. This indicated that RTL influenced 11% of participating teachers’ decisions to stay in teaching.
In 2017, the Department introduced the Teacher Student Loan Reimbursement (TSLR) scheme for science and languages teachers in 26 Local Authorities, which allows these teachers to claim back the student loan repayments they have made. The evaluation by CFE Research was published in January 2023, and found that TSLR exerts some influence on both retaining teachers and the areas where they choose to teach.
Both the RTL and TSLR evaluations found that offering bursaries for trainee teachers exerts the strongest influence on teacher recruitment. This is why the Department is offering increased bursaries worth £27,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Barran on 19 January (HL Deb col 1920), what were the outcome of talks with Ofqual about the use of AI in secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ofqual has confirmed that exam boards are aware of the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence (AI) to qualifications, and work is ongoing in this area, including with the devolved regulators.
There are already strict rules in place, set by exam boards, to ensure pupils’ work, including non-exam assessment, is their own. Sanctions for cheating are serious and include being disqualified from a qualification, if necessary.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of (1) public, and (2) private, homebuilding, over the next 10 years they expect will be designated for key workers; and what plans they have to ensure that they remain occupied by key workers.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government is committed to providing the affordable housing the country needs and has introduced a range of measures intended to make it easier for people to enter the housing market.
The First Homes programme is designed to help local first-time buyers on to the property ladder, by offering homes at a discount of at least 30% of the market price. The discount is passed on to all future purchasers in perpetuity, meaning these homes will continue to benefit first-time buyers for generations to come.
Local authorities are able to prioritise certain groups in their local area, which can include key workers or those with a local connection.
Additionally, we are investing £11.5 billion to provide tens of thousands of new homes across the country, a significant number of which will be for Affordable and Social rent, to help those most in need.