Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what reviews or audits of the Student Loans Company have been undertaken in the past five years; and what companies or individuals were employed to carry out those activities.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Student Loans Company (SLC) is subject to a rigorous programme of internal and external audits through the Government Internal Audit Agency, its external auditor KPMG, and the National Audit Office (NAO). In addition, the NAO have undertaken a number of specific reviews pertaining to SLC, such as the report into Student Loan Repayments published in November 2013 and Alternative Higher Education Providers in October 2017 (see attached reports). The SLC is also within the scope of a number of Parliamentary Committees, including the Education Select Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.
The reports are published at the following addresses:
https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/student-loan-repayments/.
https://www.nao.org.uk/report/follow-up-on-alternative-higher-education-providers/.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many formal complaints they received about Steve Lamey while he was Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company; how many of those complaints were upheld; and what investigations were carried out into Steve Lamey's performance as Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Two whistleblowers raised separate allegations about Steve Lamey whilst he was Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company (SLC). Two separate independent investigations were put in place to investigate these allegations.
The allegations raised against Steve Lamey were fully considered by SLC as his employer, in line with established SLC processes. For reasons of confidentiality there are no plans to make public the investigation reports or the detailed findings they contain.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many days were lost through sickness absence in each of the past five years (1) at the Student Loans Company, (2) at the Department for Education, and (3) for the average UK worker.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of days that are lost through sickness absence for the Student Loans Company (SLC) and the Department for Education are set out in the attached document.
The data for the financial year 2017/18, in the attached table, shows that the number of days lost from April to October has reduced by 26% from 2016/17. This decrease can be contributed to the introduction of a new Attendance Management Policy from August 2017 which has seen the days lost each month reduce by over 30%.
Even with seasonal variation in sickness levels, we would expect the reduction in days lost to still remain at 26% due to the continued attention paid to sickness absence within SLC. If this reduction was maintained until the end of the 2017/18 financial year we would see the average number of days lost per employee reduce to less than 12 days.
The Office for National Statistics holds data on sickness absences for the average UK worker, which is available on their website.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Be Real Campaign’s research that 52 per cent of secondary school pupils regularly worry about their physical appearance; and whether they will consider promoting Be Real’s Body Confidence Toolkit for Schools in all schools in England.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government is supportive of the work of Be Real, and provided initial funding to launch its website. Caroline Dinenage, the previous Minister for Women and Equalities, met with Be Real following the launch of their toolkit, to thank them for their important work and discuss how we can best support young people’s body image.
In 2015 the Government funded the PSHE Association to develop and publish key standards on teaching about body image in schools, which I referred to in my previous answer. That includes a list of resources on body image that have been accredited by the PSHE Association, and the Be Real body confidence toolkit has received that accreditation and so is included within the key standards resource. The PSHE Association is a trusted source for teachers and schools, and I am confident that this is an important way to support the promotion of the Be Real resource to schools.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government whether the Government Equalities Office’s Body Confidence Campaign has undertaken any activities since its 2015 progress report; and whether any future activities are planned.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government Equalities Office (GEO) continues to address the important issue of body image as part of its work to support young people’s media literacy, resilience, healthy relationships and healthy self-image. In 2015, the GEO funded the PSHE Association to develop key standards on teaching about body image in schools, and this resource has been used and valued by many teachers. It has been updated and is still available on the PSHE Association website.
The GEO also funded Media Smart, the advertising industry’s educational charity, to develop film-based resources for pupils in Key Stage 2 on the issue of body image in advertising. This resource was launched in 2016 and continues to be used and valued within schools.
The GEO has also addressed concerns about the very low weight of some fashion models. The previous Minister for Women and Equalities, Caroline Dinenage, hosted a roundtable for fashion models to hear their experience and concerns, and met with the British Fashion Council (BFC) to discuss what could be done to support models’ health and wellbeing. As a consequence, the BFC developed improved advice for models and agencies which is available on its website. The BFC also runs The Model Zone as a part of London Fashion Week, to support models’ wellbeing.