Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many alternative education schools are (1) registered, and (2) unregistered.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
During the 2022/23 academic year there were 335 state funded alternative provision schools registered in England. Data on the number of state funded alternative provision schools is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. Independent schools can also cater for children requiring alternative provision. There is no specific designation for such schools.
The department does not collect data on the number of alternative provision settings, typically called unregistered alternative provision, that do not meet the criteria to register as a school.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) pedestrians, and (2) drivers, have been (a) injured, or (b) killed, by electric scooters in each of the past three years.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT reports on the number of personal injury road traffic collisions involving e-scooters, in Great Britain, using the STATS19 reporting system.
STATS19 data does not allow the precise cause of collisions to be determined so it is not possible to provide figures for injuries or deaths caused by a particular road user type.
The table shows the number of reported road casualties for pedestrians and drivers of motorised vehicles (including cars, motorcycles, buses, coaches, and good vehicles) in collisions involving e-scooters by severity in Great Britain, 2020 to 2022 (the latest year for which data is available).
Year | Road user type | Killed | Serious injury (adjusted) | Slight injury (adjusted) | Total casualties |
2020 | Pedestrians | 0 | 13 | 44 | 57 |
2021 | Pedestrians | 0 | 66 | 163 | 229 |
2022 | Pedestrians | 1 | 60 | 172 | 233 |
2020 | Motorised vehicle drivers | 0 | 2 | 13 | 15 |
2021 | Motorised vehicle drivers | 0 | 3 | 27 | 30 |
2022 | Motorised vehicle drivers | 0 | 3 | 35 | 38 |
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Nationally Determined Contribution updated in September 2022 (CP744), why the Climate Change Committee advised that emissions from international aviation and shipping should not be included; and in particular, whether this was because of the difficulty in attributing emissions to specific countries.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Climate Change Committee is an independent advisory authority. In 2020, it advised that the UK’s 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution should commit to reduce emissions by at least 68% from 1990 to 2030, excluding emissions from international aviation and shipping (IAS), in line with UN convention.
IAS emissions are included in the UK’s domestic sixth carbon budget. The Government has set out ambitious strategies to reduce emissions from aviation and shipping through the Jet Zero Strategy and Clean Maritime Plan.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve railway connectivity between Liverpool and Manchester.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network North confirmed the Government’s commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail and to improving connectivity between Liverpool and Manchester. Funding has been made available to allow the Liverpool to Manchester section of Northern Powerhouse Rail to be delivered as previously set out in the Integrated Rail Plan. Government committed to working with local leaders and that engagement with local leaders is underway.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for issuing children suffering from cancer an education, health and care plan.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department shares the ambition that children with cancer get the support they need to remain in school if they are well enough, both to maintain their education and for the benefits of being with their friends. The department understands this may not always be possible, either on a short or long-term basis. That is why there are existing statutory duties to ensure children with cancer should be able to get the support they need without an Education Health and Care plan.
Under the Equality Act 2010, cancer is classified as a disability. This means schools must make reasonable adjustments to their practices, procedures and policies to ensure that such a child is not substantially disadvantaged in their education. Under section 100 of the Children and Families Act, schools also have duties to support children with medical conditions, including by providing an Individual Health Plan. The department has issued guidance to support schools in this.
Local authorities also have legal duties under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to provide all children with a full-time education. If a child is unable to attend school, for example due to risk of infection after cancer treatment, then the local authority, working with medical professionals, the child and their family, must make alternative arrangements for them, such as home tutoring.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total number of empty houses for each of the past three years.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
As set out in publicly available information, statistics on vacant dwellings in England (as reported for the purposes of council tax) for each of the past three years are shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1. All vacant dwellings1 and Long-Term vacant dwellings2 England, 2021 to 2023.
Date | All-Vacants | Long-Term Vacants |
|
4 Oct 2021 | 653,025 | 237,340 |
|
3 Oct 2022 | 676,304 | 248,149 |
|
2 Oct 2023 | 699,126 | 261,189 |
|
Source: Council Tax Base (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/council-taxbase-statistics) and also published in Live Table 615 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants)
1 These are defined as empty properties as classified for council tax purposes and include empty properties liable for 100% council tax and empty properties that receive a council tax exemption, discount or premium.
2 These are defined as properties liable for council tax that have been empty for more than six months and that are not subject to Empty Homes Discount class D or empty due to specific flooding events.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of the National Tutoring Programme; and what plans they have for that programme after August 2024.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There is extensive evidence that tutoring is one of the most effective ways to accelerate academic progress. The department has evaluated the delivery and impact of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) through a series of independent evaluations, which are available online.
The year 2 impact evaluation identified small improvements in key stage 2 and key stage 4 mathematics, which can be equated to one month’s worth of additional progress, for the School Led Tutoring route.
The year 3 implementation and process evaluation also found there was a positive perceived impact on pupils’ attainment, progress, and confidence, and that the NTP was perceived to help narrow the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils.
The department is committed to the objective that tutoring should be embedded across schools from 2024 with schools using their core budgets, including pupil premium, to provide targeted support to students who will benefit.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total amount of hectares of contaminated brownfield sites.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The figures requested are not held centrally. Brownfield Land Registers (BLRs) are currently the best resource for the amount of brownfield sites in a local authority area that are suitable for housing, irrespective of their planning status.
National planning policy expects local planning authorities to give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements; including by supporting appropriate opportunities to remediate despoiled, degraded, derelict, contaminated or unstable land.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total amount of hectares of uncontaminated brownfield sites in England suitable for house building.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The figures requested are not held centrally. Brownfield Land Registers (BLRs) are currently the best resource for the amount of brownfield sites in a local authority area that are suitable for housing, irrespective of their planning status.
National planning policy expects local planning authorities to give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements; including by supporting appropriate opportunities to remediate despoiled, degraded, derelict, contaminated or unstable land.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what provision and educational support is given to children and young people who are out of school long term with cancer.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have a duty, under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996, to arrange a suitable education for children of compulsory school age unable to receive their education in school because of any illness, including cancer.
Children who are unable to attend school because of a health need should be able to access suitable and flexible education appropriate to their needs. The nature of the provision must be responsive to the demands of what may be a changing health status.
Provision for children who are not attending school due to their health needs should offer good quality education equivalent to that provided in mainstream schools, as far as the child’s health needs allow.