Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are offering to people from Hong Kong who have come to the UK under the British National Overseas (BNO) visa to help them take up teaching positions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
From 1 February 2023, teachers who are already qualified and recognised as teachers in Hong Kong are able to apply to have their qualification recognised with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England, without additional training. This means that they can apply for teaching roles that require QTS.
For those looking to train to teach in physics and languages, bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 are available, including to those with a British National (Overseas) visa.
For those who are considering coming to England, we have introduced an international relocation payment worth up to £10,000 to help overseas physics and language teachers and trainees, including those from Hong Kong, to relocate.
Schools looking to complete safeguarding checks in order to employ teachers from Hong Kong can currently provide assistance to these individuals with a letter which can be used to apply for a Certificate of No Criminal Conviction from the Hong Kong authorities. Our statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education, also sets out alternative safeguarding processes that schools can follow. This can be found attached.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the barriers faced by people from Hong Kong who have come to the UK under the British National Overseas (BNO) visa taking up employment that requires a Disclosure and Barring Service check.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In April 2021, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched a new UK-wide Welcome Programme to support BN(O) status holders. In November 2022, DLUHC published a letter to BN(O)s and prospective employers on Certificates of No Criminal Conviction (CNCC) from the Hong Kong Police. The letter outlines a revised guidance on how to obtain a CNCC and gives sectoral examples on alternative methods when one cannot be obtained. This letter is available in English and Cantonese and is available on the GOV.UK landing page. We are working closely with FCDO officials to keep the guidance under review to help BN(O)s overcome the barriers they face when seeking employment.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that business shareholder and pension investments are made in ways that support the environment; and what plans they have to amend section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 to set requirements in this regard.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In October 2021, the Government published the Greening Finance Roadmap, which set out its intention to deliver new Sustainability Disclosures Requirements for companies, pension schemes and the financial services industry. These requirements will ensure that investment decisions take better account of sustainability matters. Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 already requires directors to have regard to the environment (among other matters), and directors of large companies must make an annual statement on how they are meeting their Section 172 duty.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether HM Treasury has fully implemented the Mutual Recognition of Funds (MRF) between the UK and Hong Kong.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Mutual Recognition of Funds arrangement between the UK and Hong Kong is the responsibility of financial regulators in each jurisdiction. The Government is therefore not involved in its implementation.
Specifically in 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Recognition of Funds (MoU), which allows eligible Hong Kong public funds and United Kingdom retail funds to be distributed in each other’s market through a streamlined process.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost of merging the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy with the Department for International Trade; and whether the budget for the new Department of Business and Trade has been settled.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The creation of the Department for Business and Trade from the Business groups of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for International Trade is being implemented through Machinery of Government changes. High-level indicative budgets for the Department for Business and Trade can be found in the published Spring Budget and officials continue to work closely with HM Treasury to finalise these as soon as possible.
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 allocated for destitution support 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)
The UK-wide Hong Kong Welcome Programme was launched in April 2021, providing a comprehensive support package with an easily accessible universal offer as its foundation, progressing to targeted support for those most in need.
£30.7 million was provisionally allocated in 2021/22 as funding for local authorities in England that provided British National (Overseas) visa holders with support to improve their English language or because they were destitute or at risk of destitution. The funding is demand-led with claims being made by local authorities on a retrospective basis after the support has been provided. No local authorities submitted claims in 2021/22 for support to BN(O)s who were destitute or at risk of destitution.
Funding for 2022/23 has continued to be available on a demand-led basis for local authorities that provide BN(O) visa holders on the same basis as 2021/22. The amount of funding accessed to date in 2022/23 to support Hong Kong BN(O)s who were destitute or at risk of destitution is so small that disclosing this information could lead to individuals being identified.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to tackle fraud in public sector contracts; and what estimate they have made of how much money was lost to fraud in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA), established in August 2022, works with government departments to help public bodies understand and reduce the impact of fraud and error against the public sector. The support provided includes monitoring compliance against the Government Counter Fraud Functional Standards GovS013. These standards are referenced within the Government Commercial Functional Standards GovS008 to signpost counter fraud best practices to commercial colleagues across government. The Procurement Bill will strengthen the counter fraud response in procurement and contracts by extending the grounds for exclusion and establishing a debarment list.
In 2021/2022 government departments detected c£224m in fraud related to public procurement and contracts (outside of tax and welfare). This figure is an increase on previous years (£169m in 2019/20 and £125m in 2020/21).
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to support small and medium-sized enterprises bidding for public contracts.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the UK economy. That is why we are making sure the power of Government spending supports this vital sector.
We are increasing opportunities for SMEs in a variety of ways - from transparently publishing contract pipelines to simplifying bidding processes and strengthening prompt payment measures.
We are also introducing a duty for contracting authorities to have regard to reducing and removing barriers to SME participation in procurement, and removing unnecessary obstacles relating to audited accounts and insurance in the conditions of participation.
The new procurement regime we are putting in place will create a simpler and significantly more transparent system that will further open up public procurement to SMEs so that they can compete for and win more public contracts.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many external management consultants have been contracted by departments since 2019; and how many senior civil servants have taken early retirement since 2019.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Information on how many external management consultants have been contracted by departments since 2019 is not held centrally.
The pension scheme administrator (MyCSP) is unable to provide the requested information as there are no markers or indicators on member records which signifies that a member is classed as a ‘Senior Civil Servant’.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made to close Chinese Confucius Institutes in the UK, if any; and what estimate they have made of how much of the spending on Mandarin teaching at schools has been channelled through Confucius Institutes.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to ensuring the UK education sector engages with China in a way that reflects the UK's national security and values and takes account of concerns.
Like all similar bodies, Confucius Institutes should operate transparently and with a full commitment to our values of openness and freedom of expression. As with any international collaboration, education providers have a responsibility to ensure their partnerships with countries overseas are managed appropriately, ensuring the right due diligence is in place. This includes partnerships with Confucius Institutes. The department would encourage any providers with concerns to contact the government.
The government’s flagship Mandarin Excellence Programme for teaching Mandarin in state-funded schools in England is delivered by the University College London Institute of Education. Since 2016, when the programme first launched, approximately £20.4 million, excluding VAT, has been spent on the Mandarin Excellence Programme. Over 75% of this funding has gone directly to schools participating in the programme. The department does not currently monitor the level of funding spent on Mandarin teaching in schools through Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms.
The government continues to keep these arrangements under review.