Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government who approved the vetting of the social media profiles of speakers due to speak at events run by the Department for Education; and what was the purpose of such vetting.
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 Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the costs to date of the (1) resources, and (2) staff, spent on education experts' social media accounts vetting at the Department for Education.
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 Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authorities no longer have fostering placements in their area.
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 Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children in each of the last three years had an Education, Health and Care Plan and were permanently excluded from school.
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 Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 14 April (HL7026), what is the total financial cost to date of the Commissioners sent to Liverpool.
Answered by Lord Evans of Rainow - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Further to the answer provided by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 14 April 2023, the Secretary of State is mindful of the need for Commissioner remuneration to represent value for money for local taxpayers.
The Liverpool Commissioners' pay arrangements were set out in paragraph 45 of the updated Explanatory Memorandum to the Directions made under section 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999. In recognition of the nature and scale of the intervention at Liverpool, he has determined fees of £1200 a day for the Lead Commissioner and £1100 a day for the other Commissioners.
A full breakdown of the Commissioners' invoiced fees and expenses are published periodically on Liverpool City Council's website, available here .
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that bereaved families are able to retrieve a note or letter written by an individual who has died by suicide.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Any death which is suspected to have been a suicide must be reported for investigation by the coroner. If a note or letter has been left by the deceased person, this should be provided to the coroner by the police and must be admitted as evidence if the coroner considers that the content of the document is relevant to the inquest into the person’s death.
Rule 13 of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 provides that, (subject to a limited number of exceptions) where an interested person (which would include the bereaved family) requests the disclosure of a document held by the coroner, the coroner must provide the document, or a copy of it, or make the document available for inspection by the interested person as soon as reasonably practicable.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) children, and (2) adults, have undertaken the Bikeability cycle training course for each of the past three years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Over the past three years, the Department for Transport has provided funding for Bikeability cycle training to a total of 1,042,079 children: 140,390 in 20/21, 439,802 in 21/22 and 461,887 in 22/23. The Department does not hold figures for adult cycle training as it is not formally part of the Bikeability programme and is not funded centrally.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total number of pupils (1) excluded, and (2) permanently excluded, from (a) primary, and (b) secondary, schools in each of the past three years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information on permanent exclusions and suspensions is published in the annual Permanent Exclusions and Suspensions in England national statistics, with the latest available data being from summer term 2021/22: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england.
Suspensions and permanent exclusions in state-funded primary and state-funded secondary schools in England 2018/19 to 2021/22
| 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | |
State-funded primary | Permanent exclusions | 1,067 | 739 | 392 | 758 |
Permanent exclusions (rate) | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | |
Suspensions | 66,463 | 47,261 | 46,203 | 66,203 | |
Suspension (rate) | 1.41 | 1.00 | 0.99 | 1.42 | |
Pupil enrolments with one or more suspension | 29,771 | 23,726 | 24,418 | 31,437 | |
Pupil enrolments with one or more suspension (rate) | 0.63 | 0.50 | 0.52 | 0.68 | |
State-funded secondary | Permanent exclusions | 6,753 | 4,269 | 3,492 | 5,658 |
Permanent exclusions (rate) | 0.20 | 0.13 | 0.10 | 0.16 | |
Suspensions | 357,715 | 253,307 | 296,224 | 498,120 | |
Suspension (rate) | 10.75 | 7.43 | 8.48 | 13.96 | |
Pupil enrolments with one or more suspension | 164,214 | 125,816 | 153,006 | 214,650 | |
Pupil enrolments with one or more suspension (rate) | 4.93 | 3.69 | 4.38 | 6.02 | |
(1) For 2019/20 and 2020/21, while suspensions and permanent exclusions were possible throughout the academic year, pandemic restrictions will have had an impact on the numbers presented and caution should be taken when comparing across years. 2018/19 has been included to give the pre-pandemic year figures.
Source: School Census. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/27c1ed1a-73aa-4909-acfd-08dbb395de42
(2) Exclusion rates are the number of permanent exclusions/suspensions/pupil enrolments with one or more suspensions as a percentage of the number of sole and dual main registered pupils on roll on January school census day.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the legal age for riding (1) an electric scooter, or (2) an electric bike, on the road; and what road and safety awareness training is required in order to do so.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In the UK, e-scooters are classed in law as a type of motor vehicle, therefore, all users of e-scooters in approved rental trial areas are required to hold a driving licence, a provisional as a minimum. Users are not required to complete a mandatory training course, but the Department recommends e-scooter providers offer training courses to users.
Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (EAPCs), otherwise known as e-cycles, cannot be ridden by anyone under the age of 14 and road and safety awareness training is not required to ride them. The Highway Code provides advice on how to safely ride a cycle, including an e-cycle.
If an e-cycle does not meet the EAPC requirements set out in the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles Regulations 1983 (as amended) it will be classed as a motor vehicle in GB law and will be subject to approval, registration, insurance, vehicle excise duty and road worthiness testing. The user will need to have the appropriate driving licence and wear an approved helmet.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total amount of apprenticeship levy unspent and returned to the Treasury in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.
The government, via HM Revenue and Customs, collects the apprenticeship levy of 0.5% on total payroll from businesses across the UK with a payroll of more than £3 million. From this, HM Treasury (HMT) sets an English apprenticeships budget for the department. The apprenticeships levy is UK wide, and income from the levy also supports the devolved administrations to invest in their skills programmes.
The department’s apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts in all employers, levy and non-levy paying employers alike, across England, and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers and providers. This means that levy payers’ unspent funds are used to support additional costs and apprenticeships in smaller employers
The table below shows the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget and spend together with budget underspends for the last five financial years (FY).
(£ million) | FY 18/19 | FY 19/20 | FY 20/21 | FY 21/22 | FY 22/23 |
DfE Ring-fence Apprenticeships Budget | £2,321m | £2,469m | £2,467m | £2,466m | £2,554m |
Total Ring-fence Apprenticeship Spend | £1,738m | £1,919m | £1,863 | £2,455 | £2,458m |
Underspends against Ring-fenced Apprenticeships Budget | £493m | £550m | £604m | £11m | £96m |
In the last two financial years, on average, 98% of the English apprenticeships budget was spent.
Any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the FY are first returned to HMT, as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance. As employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, annual spend of the apprenticeship budget is subject to employer demand.