Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will issue guidance to schools not to include authorised medical absences related to diagnosed medical conditions in their calculations measuring persistent absence.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Ensuring that children are in school is a top priority for the government.
The department promotes a ‘support first’ approach to school attendance and recognises that some pupils face greater barriers to attendance than their peers. These pupils can include pupils who suffer from long term medical conditions. Their right to an education is the same as any other pupil and therefore the attendance ambition for these pupils should be the same as they are for any other pupil.
The department’s guidance, titled ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’, makes clear that schools should not penalise pupils for their attendance record if their absences are related to physical or mental health conditions. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/803956/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf.
In addition, the department’s guidance, titled ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ emphasises that schools and local authorities should be working with the child and their family to remove any barriers to attendance by building strong and trusting relationships and working together to put the right support in place. This includes having sensitive conversations and developing good support for pupils with physical and mental health conditions and establishing strategies for removing in-school barriers to attendance. More information can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63049617e90e0729e63d3953/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf.
To help implement the ‘support first’ approach, schools should record their attendance data accurately. The department has a daily data scheme to understand the drivers for absence, including those related to illness. Participation in the daily data scheme will become mandatory for all state-funded schools from September 2024.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding allocated to universities enables institutions to mitigate losses incurred from the decline in international student recruitment.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The department considers it important that it has a sustainable system to support students and support higher education (HE), that is responsive to the needs of labour markets and the wider economy and is fair to students and fair to taxpayers. In 2021/22, the total income of the HE sector in England was £40.8 billion, which was up from £28 billion in 2014/15. Of the £40.8 billion, approximately £16 billion was provided by government. This is on top of the department’s £1.3 billion capital investment for teaching and research over the current Spending Review period.
Through the Strategic Priorities Grant, the department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years to support high-quality teaching and facilities. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade. In addition, the department has provided £450 million of capital funding across the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years to allow HE providers to invest in a greater range of projects that will deliver better facilities for students.
With our world-class universities, the government fully expects the UK to continue to be a major destination of choice for international students. The department will continue to work closely with the Home Office on the student visa system and on how it impacts international students.
Longer-term funding plans for the HE sector will be set out at the next multi-year Spending Review, in line with the approach to long-term public spending commitments across government.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 28 March 2024 to Question HL3136 on Poultry: Animal Welfare, what his timeline is for consideration of the findings of the Animal Welfare Committee Opinion on the welfare implications of different methods and systems for the catching, carrying, collecting and loading of poultry; what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish government; and when he plans to decide on next steps.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We continue to consider in detail the various findings and recommendations in the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on poultry catching and handling. In doing so we are working very closely with the Welsh and Scottish Governments and engaging in regular discussions with them on options to ensure, where possible, a consistent approach. Once our analysis of the options is complete, we will be able to set out a timeline for next steps.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of research on the impact of (a) microplastics and (b) nanoplastics on (i) atheromas and (ii) other cardiovascular events.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No such assessment has been made. While there are National Health Service trusts involved in research on the effects of microplastics on certain health issues, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, there is not an NHS policy position in respect to cardiovascular disease treatments at this time.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the impact of the (a) removal of the ability of students on taught masters courses to bring dependants and (b) increase in (i) visa and (ii) Immigration Health Surcharge fees on levels of demand for the Graduate visa.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
An Impact Assessment has been prepared to accompany the dependant changes to the Student route, announced in May 2023, which came into force in January 2024. The Impact Assessment will be published in due course.
Impact assessments estimating the impacts of increasing visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge were published alongside the explanatory material for the changes. These can be found at The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk) and The Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2023 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk).
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2023 to Question 1544 on Renewable Energy: Community Development, when she expects discussions with the Community Energy Contact Group to conclude.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the role community groups play in our efforts to tackle climate change. We have met our commitment to consult on the barriers to community energy projects as this Call for Evidence was published on 8 April 2024. It will remain open for 12 weeks until 30 June 2024.