Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 6 December 2017 (HL3948), what is their assessment of the value of Catholic schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
There are 1,967 state funded Catholic schools in England.
They are more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted than other schools and achieve consistently higher exam results than the national average.
The Catholic Church has been providing education in England since 1847 and the government recognises the enormous contribution the Catholic Church has provided over the last 170 years.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 20 December 2017 (HL3949), what evidence they have, if any, of why some Muslim parents send their children to Catholic, or other faith, schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department does not collect data about the preferences of parents from particular faiths in relation to the choice of school for their children. Catholic schools are often popular with parents and over-subscribed and it is likely that this may result in interest from Muslim parents as well as those from other faiths and no faith.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the Cadbury Report (1992), Greenbury Report (1995) and their successors as models for any future reports concerning corporate governance in universities.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Any future reports the government might commission in relation to corporate governance in universities would need to evaluate the models of previous reports, such as the Cadbury Report (1992) and the Greenbury Report (1995) on a case by case basis.
Any such assessment would need to take into account the timing, scope and context of any such future report.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, whether they intend to encourage universities to follow the example of Central St Martin's London in refunding students for failure to provide adequate tuition in their courses.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Decisions on students’ issues are primarily for individual institutions. Higher Education providers (HEPs) are, in the first instance, responsible for the management of their own internal affairs, complying with relevant legislation. Responsibility for handling a student complaint is initially a matter for the relevant Higher Education provider. Where a student complaint cannot be resolved through the institution’s complaint processes, they can take their complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education. The OIA was established in 2004 as an alternative to the courts and is free of charge to students.
HEPs can also have responsibilities under consumer law which should be discharged fully, and policies and procedures should be in place to comply with the law. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance to help HEPs understand their obligations under consumer law.
The government has published a consultation on behalf of the new Office for Students (OfS) regarding the regulation of the higher education sector. The consultation includes a proposal that the OfS will require registered HEPs in the approved and approved (fee cap) categories to demonstrate that they have given due regard to relevant guidance, such as that of CMA, to comply with consumer law when developing their procedures governing their contractual relationships with students. The consultation closes on 22 December and a response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of places available at Catholic schools for Catholic children.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department does not collect data on the number of places available at Catholic schools for Catholic children.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of Muslim children being educated in Catholic faith schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department does not hold information on the religion of pupils attending schools in England.