Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of graduates have not reached the salary level to start repaying their student loan.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The exact information is not readily available or held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The department can provide the following information, which was published on 15 June 2023, in the Student Loans in England (for financial year 2022/23) publication available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2022-to-2023/student-loans-in-england-financial-year-2022-23.
The figures below classify borrowers with income contingent loans by their known status as of 30 April 2023. Until their loan balance is fully repaid or cancelled, borrowers can move into and out of any of the statuses.
As of 30 April 2023, of those who reached their repayment date between financial years 2000/01 to and including 2021/22, with at least one tax year processed, 18.8% are UK residents in live employment and not required to pay and 1.2% are residents outside of the UK and have not reached the repayment threshold for that country.
From those remaining, 25.3% have fully paid off their loans and 41.9% are repaying. A further 0.8% and 2.1% are currently in the UK tax system and marked as currently having no live employment at HMRC for fewer than 90 days or 90 days or longer, respectively, and 0.4% are awaiting first year tax return to determine if they earn above the threshold. A further 7% are known to be in the UK but not in the UK tax system and their status does not require repayment at this point. A further 1.5% reside outside of the UK and either have no details of income or are not currently repaying and their repayment status is being sought. Finally, 1% are not resident in the UK and have defaulted in arrears. This information is available via the attachment.
The figures included can be found in Table 3A(i)(ii) of the release is available via the attachment.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the Foreign Secretary on 29 June, what assessment they have made of the UK’s future relations with growing regional powers in (1) the Indo-Pacific region, and (2) Latin America.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Foreign Secretary has set out, the UK is committed to making a long term and sustained effort to revive old friendships and build new ones, reaching far beyond our long-established alliances. This includes increasing the UK's engagement with countries in the Indo-Pacific region and Latin America, strengthening our relationship in areas of mutual interest such as defence, security and trade partnerships, and upholding and promoting the international rules-based system.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the Foreign Secretary on 29 June, what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed addition of a permanent member of the UN Security Council from an African nation.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has a clear and longstanding position on UN Security Council (UNSC) reform, including support for permanent African representation on the Council, as referenced in the Foreign Secretary's speech on multilateralism on 29 June.
The UK believes that UNSC reform is needed to make the Council more representative of the world. Coupled with a renewed commitment to the UN Charter, a reformed Council would be well placed to respond decisively to threats to international peace and security.
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 impact of the strikes relating to marking of university exams and essays on students awaiting end of year grades.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department understands that the vast majority of students will remain unaffected by the industrial action and, in most cases, will receive their full results on time and progress and/or graduate as normal. The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) has published research findings which surveyed 49% of higher education (HE) institutions in the New Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff. These institutions provided updated feedback on the impact of the marking and assessment boycott on students at their institutions:
A link to these research findings can be found here: https://www.ucea.ac.uk/news-releases/23june23/.
On 22 June 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, met with Universities UK (UUK), the Russell Group and UCEA to better understand the impact that this boycott will have on students and the mitigating actions their members are taking to protect students’ interests.
The Minister also wrote to the Russell Group and UUK, encouraging them to continue to do everything within their powers to protect the interests of students during this phase of industrial action. On 27 June 2023, the Minister met with a number of HE representative groups to discuss the marking and assessment boycott, including the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests.
HE institutions are working on minimising the disruption to their students in a variety of ways, including reallocating marking to other staff members and hiring external markers. Moreover, many HE institutions can award degrees when they have enough evidence of a student’s prior attainment to do so. Others will be able to assign provisional grades to students to allow them to progress and, once all papers have been marked, degree classifications will either remain as provisionally assigned or be uplifted to reflect the student’s achievements.
The government believes students should be at the heart of the HE system. This is why the Office for Students (OfS) has been set up, to regulate the HE sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS has published guidance to students on their rights during industrial action, available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/student-rights-and-welfare/student-guide-to-industrial-action/.
On 12 June 2023, the OfS wrote to institutions affected by the boycott to reiterate its expectations in relation to its conditions of registration. The OfS will continue to monitor this ongoing situation through their normal regulatory mechanisms.
Students who have complaints about their HE experience should contact their provider in the first instance. Students in England and Wales may also raise a complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, which was set up to provide an alternative to the courts and is free of charge to students. Further information is available at: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/.
The department will continue to engage with the HE sector over the coming weeks to help better understand the boycott’s impact on students and the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of children with special needs completed the education healthcare plan within 20 weeks in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department collects data on the timeliness of new Education, Health and Care plans. This is published in the ‘Education, health and care plans’ statistics release, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.
Data covering the last three years is available in the attached document.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many retailers have been prosecuted for selling disposable vapes to children.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions, convictions and sentence outcomes in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, including offences as set out in the Offence Group Classification, both found via the following link: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This includes the number of prosecutions for offences contrary to regulations under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (09185) and the sale of tobacco to person under 18 years of age (14401).
However, whether this was specifically regarding the sale of disposable vapes to children is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings Database. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to banning the sale of flavoured vapes which may be attractive to children and young people.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government assessment is that youth vaping has increased. Over the past decade, the use of vapes by children has been consistently low. However, data collected in NHS Digital’s Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey showed that in 2021 9% of 11 to 15 year old children currently used e-cigarettes, up from 6% in 2018.
It is illegal to sell nicotine vapes to children and we are concerned about the recent rises in youth vaping, particularly because of the unknown long-term harms. To address this the government announced in April a call for evidence on youth vaping and £3 million of additional funding through the creation of an illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales.
At the end of May the Prime Minister made a further announcement to close a loophole that allows industry from giving out free samples, increase education and to support the dedicated school police liaison officers to keep illegal vapes out of schools, and review both on the spot fines and underage sales for non-nicotine vapes.
Our youth vaping call for evidence closed on the 6 June. This call explored a range of issues and asked questions related to the appeal of vapes to children. We are analysing responses and the evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products. This will include an assessment of the appeal of flavours. We will publish the response early this autumn to outline our next steps.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increasing number of children and young people vaping.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government assessment is that youth vaping has increased. Over the past decade, the use of vapes by children has been consistently low. However, data collected in NHS Digital’s Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey showed that in 2021 9% of 11 to 15 year old children currently used e-cigarettes, up from 6% in 2018.
It is illegal to sell nicotine vapes to children and we are concerned about the recent rises in youth vaping, particularly because of the unknown long-term harms. To address this the government announced in April a call for evidence on youth vaping and £3 million of additional funding through the creation of an illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales.
At the end of May the Prime Minister made a further announcement to close a loophole that allows industry from giving out free samples, increase education and to support the dedicated school police liaison officers to keep illegal vapes out of schools, and review both on the spot fines and underage sales for non-nicotine vapes.
Our youth vaping call for evidence closed on the 6 June. This call explored a range of issues and asked questions related to the appeal of vapes to children. We are analysing responses and the evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products. This will include an assessment of the appeal of flavours. We will publish the response early this autumn to outline our next steps.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of staff working in the Department for Education have a teaching qualification.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The information requested is not held centrally for staff at the department.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the requirements regarding (1) appointment procedures, and (2) financial remuneration, for Deputy Police Commissioners.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on the annual cost of Police and Crime Commissioners which includes pay, employer pension and national insurance contributions and expenses. However, the total basic pay cost of PCCs annually is approximately £3m. PCCs are under a duty to publish information relating to their salary, allowances, the composition of their office and the salaries of their senior staff on an annual basis.
The Home Office does not hold information on the annual cost of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioners. The appointment, pay and other arrangements for Deputy Police and Crime Commissioners is a matter for each Police and Crime Commissioner. As the locally elected representative for policing, they are ultimately responsible for balancing their budget and making decisions about the size and composition of their offices.
Police and Crime Commissioners are required to seek the views of their local Police and Crime Panel before appointing a Deputy, and other senior staff, as set out in Schedule 1 to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.