Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of their Draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England on Gender Questioning Children, published in December 2023, whether they will ask the Teaching Regulation Authority to reconsider their findings and sanction in the report of 2023 concerning Mr Joshua Sutcliffe.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is important that processes relating to teacher misconduct are progressed without any political involvement. Decisions on whether to progress cases are taken independently by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).
An independent professional conduct panel is appointed to hear cases and determine whether the evidence proves unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, or a conviction of a relevant offence. If so, the professional conduct panel will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Education about whether to prohibit the individual from teaching.
In the case of Mr Joshua Sutcliffe, after hearing all live evidence and mitigations, the independent appointed panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State decision maker to prohibit him from the teaching profession, with a two-year review period.
Following recommendation, the decision to impose a prohibition order is taken by a senior TRA official.
Although that decision is taken on behalf of the Secretary of State, neither she nor any other Minister in the department can have any involvement in these independent investigations, related processes, and decisions.
Mr Sutcliffe has appealed this decision to the High Court, as is his right. It is now for the High Court to carefully consider Mr Sutcliffe’s grounds of appeal. It would not be appropriate to comment on or discuss ongoing litigation further.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Barran on 1 August and 26 October (HL9074 and HL10579), what is the latest date by which they will publish their draft guidance on whether teachers may refer to pupils by their legal and biological gender.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been working closely with the Minister for Women and Equalities on guidance for schools and colleges when a child is questioning their gender. It is vital that the guidance the department publishes gives clarity for schools and colleges and reassurance for parents, so the department made the decision to allow more time to ensure this guidance meets the high expectations that these groups rightly have for it. The department will publish draft guidance for public consultation shortly.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 26 October (HL10580), who sits on the senior leadership team and executive board of the Teaching Regulation Agency.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Teaching Regulation Agency’s (TRA) Senior Leadership Team (SLT) sit on the TRA Executive Board. The TRA SLT includes: Chief Executive, Marc Cavey; Head of Teacher Misconduct, Sarah Buxcey; and Head of Teacher Qualifications, David Oatley. As previously stated, an independent Professional Conduct Panel will make a recommendation to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, on whether to prohibit an individual from teaching. Following the recommendation, the decision to impose a prohibition order is taken by a member of the TRA SLT, on behalf of the Secretary of State. Individual cases and decisions are not discussed at the TRA Executive Board.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government who sits on the senior management board of the Teaching Regulation Agency; how are its members appointed; and on what basis do they make decisions regarding teacher misconduct.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Teaching Regulation Agency’s (TRA) Senior Leadership Team (SLT) sit on the TRA Executive Board. The TRA SLT includes the Chief Executive and Senior Managers who lead the two operational units within TRA. Board members are not formally appointed as they are existing civil servants employed by the TRA. The purpose of the Board is to develop and monitor the strategic planning, risk management and leadership priorities of the Agency.
An independent Professional Conduct Panel, appointed under the Public Appointments process, hear cases of serious teacher misconduct. The independent Professional Conduct Panel determine whether the evidence proves unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, or a conviction of a relevant offence. If so, the Professional Conduct Panel will make a recommendation to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education on whether to prohibit the individual from teaching. Following recommendation, the decision to impose a prohibition order is taken by a member of the TRA SLT, on behalf of the Secretary of State. Individual cases and decisions are not discussed at the TRA Executive Board.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 1 August (HL 9704), what is the latest date by which they will publish their draft guidance on whether teachers may refer to pupils by their legal and biological gender.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 13 July (HL8942), how many incidents of bomb threats to schools or death threats to teachers there have been in the past 10 years; and how many of those threats were made by Islamist individuals or groups.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is unable to comment on individual cases as the police are responsible for investigating such incidents and will take action where they deem appropriate.
Where the department is made aware of incidents of this nature, the local authority and the police will be engaged where appropriate to seek assurances and offer support to schools.
The department’s school and college security guidance provides advice and support to the sector including how to deal with bomb threats. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-security.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 11 July (HL 8841), following the decision by the Teaching Regulation Authority to impose a prohibition order on Joshua Sutcliffe, whether they will publish guidance to clarify whether teachers may refer to pupils by their legal and biological gender.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that gender is a complex and sensitive issue, and that some schools and colleges feel that they need more support in this area in order to help pupils, students and parents deal with concerns raised. That is why the department is working with the Minister for Women and Equalities to develop guidance to support schools and colleges in relation to gender questioning children.
The department has committed to publishing a draft for consultation at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are aware of (1) any school in England receiving bomb threats, (2) any teacher receiving death threats, from Islamist extremists in the past five years; and if so, when, at which schools, and what they are doing to encourage the arrest of those responsible.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has been made aware of a small number of incidents of this nature initiated by individuals who have Islamist and other extremist views.
The department is clear that it is never acceptable to threaten or intimidate teachers and schools. Where the department has been aware of incidents of this nature, it has engaged with the school, local authority and the police to ensure an appropriate response.
The police, who are operationally independent, are responsible for investigating criminal activity associated with these incidents and will take action where they deem appropriate.
To support the sector, the department has published School and College security guidance, which includes dealing with incidents such as bomb threats.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 22 June (HL7956), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what assessment they have made of any implications for national security arising from the funding received by schools from Qatar Foundation International for the teaching of religious education and Arabic in schools; and if they have made no such assessment, whether they intend to do so.
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 its core values, whatever their origin, will not be tolerated.
If there is a concern that a school is not fulfilling its legal duties, complaints procedure should be followed. Where the department is made aware that schools are not fulfilling their legal duties, it will investigate.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether schools in England are free to decide where collective prayer should take place on their premises.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Maintained schools and academies are required to conduct a daily act of collective worship which is wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character. Most schools with a religious designation may conduct collective worship which aligns with their trust deeds or tenets of their religion.
Daily acts of collective worship, subject to the right of withdrawal, must include all pupils attending a school. As a rule, all acts of collective worship should take place on the school premises and schools are free to determine where in the school it takes place. Schools have discretion to organise collective worship elsewhere on special occasions.