Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Health on 27 October 2021 (59085), what are the (1) aims, and (2) scope, of the Pathway Redesign Programme.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Pathway Redesign Programme aims to improve services and patient health outcomes and create additional capacity for elective care. This will release appointment times which can be used for urgent and new referrals and reduce waiting lists.
The programme will focus on redesigning some of the highest volume care pathways, such as optical care, cardiac and musculoskeletal services. Regional teams and integrated care systems will standardise ways of delivering care and adopt best practice, working with the Getting It Right First Time programmes and reduce any unwarranted variation.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the changes to the annual allowance for pensions in terms of (1) clinical hours worked, and (2) early retirement of senior doctors, over the past 10 years.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Since an individual may choose to reduce their working hours or take early retirement for a range of reasons it is not possible to isolate the impact of any single factor such as pension tax. We continue to monitor retirement patterns and hours worked by senior doctors.
The available evidence does not suggest any substantial change in consultant working hours. NHS Digital’s workforce statistics show the participation rate or average contracted hours per person has been stable for several years. Data from the NHS Business Services Authority, which administers the NHS Pension Scheme, shows that the number of consultants taking voluntary early retirement as a proportion of all consultant retirements has increased since 2012, although it has not changed significantly in more recent years.
The NHS Pension Scheme and well-remunerated careers mean that some senior doctors will amass a pension in excess of their allowances for tax-free pension saving. In 2020, the Government increased thresholds by £90,000 to remove all staff with threshold income below £200,000 from scope of the tapered annual allowance. An estimated 96% of general practitioners and 98% of consultants are out of scope of the taper based on their National Health Service earnings.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the benefits of introducing a Digital Deposit Return Scheme, through which consumers could recycle drinks containers via kerbside collections using unique barcodes to reclaim deposits, and (2) the potential for incorporating a digital element into their existing proposals for a deposit return scheme.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We consulted last year on how a deposit return scheme (DRS) might operate. The consultation set out information on a return to retailer model similar to those used successfully in other countries and we also asked for information on digital systems that could be used for a DRS.
The technology for a digital DRS is not yet available at the scale required for full implementation but we are aware of trials and research in the digital field. As these progress, we hope to be able to access more information concerning the practicalities and feasibility of using this technology, most notably in ensuring the scheme continues to deliver on its objectives, particularly with regard to improving the quality of material collected. While a return to retailer model forms our main proposal for a DRS at this stage, we remain interested to see and encourage innovation in DRS.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which 50 schools had the highest average Progress 8 scores for (1) boys, and (2) girls, in the summer of 2019; and for those schools, what were the percentage of White British (a) boys, and (b) girls, who received Free School Meals; and for each of these groups, what was their average Progress 8 score.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The attached file contains the top 50 schools with the highest average progress 8 scores for boys and girls in the 2019 academic year. Each of these lists is populated with the closest information currently available. Amongst other variables, each list of schools contains the following information: the adjusted progress 8 score, the adjusted progress 8 score for boys and girls, and the adjusted progress 8 score of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils.
Disadvantaged status considers whether the pupil has received free school meals in the last six years or were looked after for one day or more.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which schools in England had more than 40 per cent of pupils who (1) identified as White British, and (2) were in receipt of Free School Meals, in the summer of 2019.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes annual statistics on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) and identifying as different ethnicities. The figures are based on January school census data and included in the statistical release ‘Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics’. We do not routinely publish summer term FSM figures and we do not collect ethnicity as part of the summer census. Therefore, figures derived from the spring census 2019 have been provided. Figures for January 2019 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2019.
The attached tables show schools which had more than 40% of pupils identifying as white British and schools that had more than 40% of pupils eligible for FSM in January 2019.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the practice of chest binding; and whether there are any restrictions on the advertising of chest binders.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No formal assessment has been made. The Advertising Standards Authority are responsible for the regulation of advertising in the United Kingdom. Their codes outline the standards which advertisers must adhere to when producing marketing or advertising content. Currently there are no formal restrictions for the restrictions on advertising of chest binding or products associated with chest binding.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the (1) capacity, and (2) capability, of Local Enterprise Partnerships are not undermined before a view has been formed on their future role; and what plans they have to ensure that their accumulated (a) expertise, and (b) relationships, contribute to the levelling up agenda.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is hugely grateful for the work of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) over the last ten years to support their local economies and is determined to ensure businesses continue to have clear representation and support as we drive the post-COVID-19 recovery.
The Government is also grateful to LEPs for their patience on the matter of core funding. Since initiating the review into their role, LEPs have been provided with six months of core funding for the first half of 2021-22. A decision will be made shortly on releasing the second tranche of core funding for 2021/22.
The Government has been engaging extensively with LEPs and local partners, including business organisations, HE/FE representatives, and senior officials from local authorities across England and MCA Chief Executives.
The future role of LEPs is being considered within the context of the Government’s landmark Levelling Up White Paper, alongside the commitment to extending devolution and strong local leadership in County areas.
The outcome of the review will be set out shortly.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what regulations regarding the provision of toilets apply to (1) maintained schools, (2) academy schools, and (3) independent schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 states that, in relation to toilets, a room is a space that, “can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time”. This is the standard which is applied to school buildings.
The regulations relating to the provision of toilets for mainstream schools are in the School Premises (England) Regulation 2012. The regulations for independents schools and academies are held in the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Independent School Standards Regulation 23A in the Advice on Standards for School Premises, published by the Department for Education in March 2015, whether an individual cubicle consisting of only a toilet and no washing facilities, that can be secured from the inside, constitutes a "room"; or whether a "room" constitutes an entire washroom space, including the cubicle and washing facilities outside it.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 states that, in relation to toilets, a room is a space that, “can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time”. This is the standard which is applied to school buildings.
The regulations relating to the provision of toilets for mainstream schools are in the School Premises (England) Regulation 2012. The regulations for independents schools and academies are held in the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria are used by ICF Consulting Services Ltd to assess value for money in the Green Homes Grant; and what assessment they have made of ICF’s (1) performance in assessing value for money, and (2) overall performance of their contract.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It is the responsibility of the Department to assess value for money of the scheme, not the contractor. The Department uses Net Present Value (NPV) to assess the current and future benefits and costs of a policy.
We have reached a commercial settlement with ICF about their ability to meet their contractual obligations and the exit and transition of the contract.