Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - 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 7 February (HL5080), which local authorities in England have given a clear commitment to amend the Schools Admission Code to give children adopted from overseas the same entitlement for priority school admission as those adopted from care in England, as set out in the letter from the Minister for School Standards; and in which local authorities this is now the practice.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In December of last year the department announced that when the opportunity arises, we intend to amend the School Admissions Code to require admission authorities to give children adopted from state care outside of England, highest priority for admission into school.
Any changes to the School Admissions Code will require a full statutory process, including a public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny. They must be considered in the context of competing pressures on the parliamentary timetable.
Until such time as we are able to make the relevant changes to the Code, we have asked admission authorities to use their current flexibilities in setting their own admission arrangements, to grant internationally adopted children second highest admissions priority in their oversubscription criteria.
School admission arrangements are agreed locally and we do not collect information on them. Consequently, the information requested on which admission authorities have adopted these changes, is not held centrally and we have not made an assessment of the changes.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - 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 15 November 2017 (HL2833), when children adopted from abroad will have access to the educational entitlements referenced in the answer; and whether they will publish the letter from the Minister of State for School Standards sent to local authorities in England on the subject.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Educational entitlements for children adopted from outside of England remain under consideration. We have not set a timetable for any changes to educational entitlements but have given a clear commitment to amend the School Admissions Code, to give children adopted from care overseas the same entitlement for priority school admission as those adopted from care in England, at the earliest opportunity. I will place a copy of the letter from my right hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards, in the Library of both Houses.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what specific provision is available from their resources, and local government resources, for children of school age adopted from abroad but at school in England; and in which respects that provision differs from the provision for adopted children who were born in the UK.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Previously looked after children adopted in England retain the educational entitlements they had when they were looked after. The entitlements are: a free early education place from the age of two, the early years’ pupil premium, the pupil premium plus and priority admission to school. Children adopted from abroad are not currently eligible for these entitlements. However, the government is currently considering the entitlements of children adopted from care outside England.
From April 2018, previously looked after children adopted from care in England and those adopted from an equivalent form of care outside of England will have access to support and advice from their local council’s Virtual School Head and from their school’s designated teacher for looked after children.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which consultancies or associated companies were retained to advise on any part of the reforms introduced in the Higher Education and Research Bill; what briefs were provided to those companies; and what fees were agreed.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No consultancies were retained in the preparation of the reforms or to provide advice on the reforms during the passage of the Higher Education and Research Bill. Some consultancy advice has been sought on specific areas to support the implementation of the Bill, including the provision of expert HR advice to support the ministerial appointments and advice on the IT requirements for the new Office for Students. Advice was also commissioned from Deloitte to undertake preliminary organisational design work ahead of the establishment of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to publish all research and consultancy reports prepared by consultancies or associated companies on any aspect of the preparation of reforms introduced by the Higher Education and Research Bill in the last three years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The policy work that underpinned the reforms introduced by the Higher Education and Research Bill (HER Bill) was largely undertaken by civil servants and drew on previous published material including, for example, the Gaskell Review that was prepared for Universities UK. This material was referenced in the Green Paper published in October 2015 and again in the White Paper in May 2016 that preceded the introduction of the HER Bill.
BEIS commissioned Deloitte to undertake preliminary organisational design work ahead of the establishment of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), working with BEIS, the UKRI Interim Chair and senior leaders from the existing Partner Organisations which will form UKRI. The brief was to set out high level organisation design principles, assumptions and options for UKRI consistent with the framework set out by the White Paper and the HER Bill. The work was completed in October 2016 as preliminary specialist advice for BEIS officials and ministers to inform further organisational design work being carried out within BEIS and hence it is not planned to publish the commissioned report.