Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to remove all government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK; and what estimate they have made of the number of such institutes that will be receiving government funding by the beginning of September 2023.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is taking action to review funding arrangements, but does not currently directly or indirectly fund Confucius Institutes, nor is the department planning to enter financial arrangements in the future with any Confucius Institute.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of Confucius Institutes in the UK that received government funding in the period between the beginning of January and the end of March.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not currently directly or indirectly fund Confucius Institutes, nor are we planning to enter financial arrangements in the future with any Confucius Institute.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made, if any, in reducing the number of Confucius Institutes that are in receipt of government funding.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not currently directly or indirectly fund Confucius Institutes, nor are we planning to enter financial arrangements in the future with any Confucius Institute.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their policy in relation to competing with the educational publishing sector in the provision of curriculum content; and whether they plan for the Oak National Academy to be sold or broken up in the near future.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government has allocated up to £43 million for the Oak National Academy over the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years. This figure relates specifically to direct funding to Oak as an Arm’s Length Body. This figure does not include grant funding in previous years to the Reach Foundation, which incubated Oak. A significant proportion of Oak’s funding will go to schools, publishers and other organisations for the creation of resources.
Value for money was an important factor in the appraisal of options in the creation of Oak as an Arm’s Length Body, and in the design of Oak’s lean operating model, as set out in the published full business case, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-business-case.
Oak will provide value for money, benefitting schools and pupils by tackling teacher workload, improving curriculum expertise and increasing standards of education.
The Department knows that teachers in the UK benefit from a diverse commercial market of educational resources. Oak aims to complement and stimulate this market, not to displace it. In a recent survey, none of Oak’s surveyed users said they were using Oak resources exclusively. Oak will provide teachers with access to high quality, evidence based resources that are free, optional and adaptable. This will give teachers more choice in deciding what’s right for their pupils, thereby stimulating teacher demand for high quality digital resources.
There is no plan for Oak to be sold or broken up.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much taxpayers’ money has been spent on Oak National Academy; and whether any assessments have been made of the value for money delivered to taxpayers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government has allocated up to £43 million for the Oak National Academy over the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years. This figure relates specifically to direct funding to Oak as an Arm’s Length Body. This figure does not include grant funding in previous years to the Reach Foundation, which incubated Oak. A significant proportion of Oak’s funding will go to schools, publishers and other organisations for the creation of resources.
Value for money was an important factor in the appraisal of options in the creation of Oak as an Arm’s Length Body, and in the design of Oak’s lean operating model, as set out in the published full business case, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-business-case.
Oak will provide value for money, benefitting schools and pupils by tackling teacher workload, improving curriculum expertise and increasing standards of education.
The Department knows that teachers in the UK benefit from a diverse commercial market of educational resources. Oak aims to complement and stimulate this market, not to displace it. In a recent survey, none of Oak’s surveyed users said they were using Oak resources exclusively. Oak will provide teachers with access to high quality, evidence based resources that are free, optional and adaptable. This will give teachers more choice in deciding what’s right for their pupils, thereby stimulating teacher demand for high quality digital resources.
There is no plan for Oak to be sold or broken up.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address Chinese interference in wider UK affairs following violence that occurred at protests outside the Chinese Consulate in Manchester in October 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously. Any attempts by foreign Governments to coerce, intimidate, harass, or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable.
As the Security Minister stated to the House on 1 November, the Home Office works closely with departments across Whitehall and with devolved administrations to ensure that our national security is protected and that, in particular, those who have chosen to settle here are free to engage in our democratic society without fear of the regimes that they have tried to leave behind.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the reliance by UK universities on tuition fees from students from China.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is proud that the UK is a world leading destination for international students.
As set out in the Government’s International Education Strategy, higher education (HE) providers must ensure they are not overly reliant on a single source of funding, whether this is from an organisation or nation, and that they must look to diversify their intake of international students to prevent over-reliance.
The most recent data published by the Higher Education Statistics Authority for the 2021/22 academic year, shows the proportion of Chinese students has fallen, whilst there has been an increase in a wide range of other international student markets, including a 50% increase in students from India, a 107% increase in students from Nigeria and a 78% increase in students from Pakistan, demonstrating the HE sector’s positive approach to diversifying their international student intake.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the potential influence of Confucius Institutes on UK universities since their pledge in November 2022 to disband those operating in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government continuously assesses threats posed to the UK. As a matter of longstanding policy, the department is unable to release information regarding threat assessments on the grounds of national security.
The government is clear that any challenges to our core values, whatever their origin, will not be tolerated. The department has introduced a series of measures which will continue to tackle threats to higher education, including through the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill and National Security Bill, currently in Parliament.
The department’s Integrated Review Refresh is launching a new and comprehensive review of legislative and other provisions, designed to protect our academic sector and to identify what more we could or should be doing.
With regards to Confucius Institutes, like all similar bodies they should operate transparently, and with a full commitment to our values of openness and freedom of expression. Universities have a responsibility to ensure that any partnership with a Confucius Institute is managed appropriately, and the right due diligence is in place. The government encourages any providers with concerns to contact the government.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they have allocated for supporting access to English language provision for British National (Overseas) visa holders in (1) 2021/22, and (2) so far in 2022/23; and how much of this was accessed by BNO visa holders in each of those years.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In 2021/22, 941 Hong Kong BN(O)s were supported to access English language provision at a total cost of £811,000. In 2022/23, 4694 Hong Kong BN(O)s were supported at a cost of £3 million.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of vandalism and disorder that took place outside the High Commission of India in London on 19 March; and what steps they are taking to ensure the safety and security of diplomatic missions.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government takes the protective security of the Indian High Commission extremely seriously. The Government remains committed to protecting the security of missions throughout the UK, including preventing and rapidly and robustly responding to incidents such as this.
The criminal damage and assaults on staff from the India High Commission at the incident on the weekend of the 18th March was unacceptable. The police have powers to deal with such acts. However, the use of these powers is an operational matter for the police, and decisions on possible criminal proceedings will be made in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service.
It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on diplomatic security arrangements. To do so could compromise the integrity of those arrangements and affect the security of the individuals and locations concerned.