First elected: 6th May 2010
Left House: 9th May 2018 (Resignation (Northstead))
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
These initiatives were driven by Heidi Alexander, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
A Bill to require listed companies to report annually on the percentage of their staff paid below a Living Wage; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to give courts the power to order internet service providers to remove certain material which incites gang violence; and for connected purposes
Maternity and Paternity Leave (Premature Birth) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Steve Reed (LAB)
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills core owns no freehold land, therefore, no land has been released for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.
The Department of Energy & Climate Change has not released any land for this purpose, nor has it had vacant land with which to do so.
Information on students awarded and paid Disabled Students' Allowance is published annually by Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education England'. The latest statistics are available at the following link:
http://www.slc.co.uk/media/694170/slcsfr052013.pdf
A further breakdown for the London Borough of Lewisham and Lewisham East constituency has been provided in the table for the academic year 2012/13. The effective date is that of the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. The figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013.
Equivalent figures for the academic year 2013/14 will be available from November 2014.
Students in receipt of Disabled Students Allowance(1,2) from the London Borough of Lewisham(3) and Lewisham East constituency(3)
Academic Year 2012/13 (provisional)
Effective date: 13/11/2013(4)
Application Type | ||||
Full-Time Application | Part-Time Application | Post Graduate DSA | Total | |
(Area) | No of Applicants Paid | No of Applicants Paid | No of Applicants Paid | No of Applicants Paid |
London Borough of Lewisham | 450 | 40 | 60 | 550 |
Lewisham East Constituency | 150 | 10 | 10 | 170 |
Notes:
1. Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) may be paid to the Student or to a Supplier on the student's behalf.
2. DSA Payments may be made at any point during the Academic Year or after the end of the Academic Year.
3. Figures are derived from the Post Code of the applicant's home address.
4. The effective date is that of the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. The figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013.
Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not add to the sum of the components due to rounding.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is actively engaged in discussions with stakeholders to inform the DSA Guidance 2015/16 and the Equality Analysis and this will continue over the summer. Both documents will be published in the autumn.
The Law Officers’ Departments have not released any land for this purpose since 2010. The Crown Prosecution Service is the only Department which actually owns any property and its estate is very small.
Since 2010 the Government Property Unit, based in the Cabinet Office, has helped the Government reduce the size of its estate by over 2 million square metres. As at March 2014 Government had released land with capacity for 76,000 homes under the current public sector land programme, towards a target of 100,000 by end March 2015.
The Cabinet Office has two land holdings: (i) an operational site at Hannington; and, (ii) the Sunningdale Park site, which is subject to a Private Finance Initiative contract. The Sunningdale Park site is not subject to a lease break until 2017.
Therefore the Cabinet Office has not been in a position to release any land since May 2010.
There are no plans to provide further details to protect the identities of the individuals involved.
We routinely publish all open academy details and academy projects in development.
These details can be easily accessed online and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development
The Sponsored Pipeline tab features a list of Sponsored academy projects currently in progress, the local authority in which they are located and, where applicable, the agreed sponsor.
We do not hold data on the time taken to match a sponsor with a school.
We routinely publish all open academy details and academy projects in development.
These details can be easily accessed online and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development
The Sponsored Pipeline tab features a list of Sponsored academy projects currently in progress, the local authority in which they are located and, where applicable, the agreed sponsor.
We do not hold data on the time taken to match a sponsor with a school.
We routinely publish all open academy details and academy projects in development.
These details can be easily accessed online and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development
The Sponsored Pipeline tab features a list of Sponsored academy projects currently in progress, the local authority in which they are located and, where applicable, the agreed sponsor.
We do not hold data on the time taken to match a sponsor with a school.
As of 24 October 2016, there have been 33 grant payments made as a result of an Academy Order being issued under the provisions of the Education and Adoption Act 2016. They consist of the following:
Grants Paid | Total |
1 part payment of grant of £45,000 | £45,000 |
22 grants of £70,000 | £1,540,000 |
2 grants of £80,000 | £160,000 |
7 grants of £90,000 | £630,000 |
1 grant of £110,000 | £110,000 |
Grand Total | £2,485,000 |
This brings an average cost of £75,303 supporting these sponsored academies. The details of the grant amounts can be found on page 4 of the Sponsored academies funding Advice for sponsors document. This guidance is published online and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/511128/sponsored_academies_funding_advice_for_sponsors.pdf
This does not include any award of sponsor capacity fund (SCF) which may previously have been made to relevant sponsors as part of their developing greater capacity to support schools.
Since the Education and Adoption Act came into force in April 2016, the Secretary of State has been under a duty to make an Academy Order in respect of any maintained school that has been judged by Ofsted to be inadequate. Regional Schools Commissioners, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, ensure that the maintained school becomes a sponsored academy as swiftly as possible, after considering the circumstances in the school, and then identifying the most suitable sponsor.
No Academy Orders have been revoked to date.
143 Academy Orders have been made since the new duty came into force. It is too soon to give an annual average of how long it has taken to match a school to a sponsor under these new arrangements.
Since the Education and Adoption Act came into force in April 2016, the Secretary of State has been under a duty to make an Academy Order in respect of any maintained school that has been judged by Ofsted to be inadequate. Regional Schools Commissioners, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, ensure that the maintained school becomes a sponsored academy as swiftly as possible, after considering the circumstances in the school, and then identifying the most suitable sponsor.
No Academy Orders have been revoked to date.
143 Academy Orders have been made since the new duty came into force. It is too soon to give an annual average of how long it has taken to match a school to a sponsor under these new arrangements.
The Department for Education does not maintain a record of all applications from local authorities to install Interim Executive Boards (IEBs). Our records show that in the last five years the Secretary of State has approved 325 local authority IEBs. Of these 127 have subsequently opened as academies and a further 36 have been approved to open as academies.
The total number of approved local authority IEBs can be broken down across academic years as follows:
In academic year 10-11, 32 were approved.
In academic year 11-12, 62 were approved.
In academic year 12-13, 88 were approved.
In academic year 13-14, 108 were approved.
In the current academic year, 35 have been approved.
The Education and Inspections Act 2006 enables local authorities to apply to the Secretary of State for consent to constitute the governing body as an IEB. An IEB can be used to accelerate improvement in standards and attainment and provide challenge to the leadership of the school to secure rapid improvement. IEBs can also be used where there has been a serious breakdown of working relationships within the governing body of the school.
The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust retains income to cover the costs of central services, which are attributable to all academies within the multi-academy trust. In 2012/13, this equated to £2.16 million.
For the years in question, the amounts defrauded from the Trust were:
2010-11 £1,047,788 (3.33% of income)
2011-12 £914,316 (1.66% of income)
2012-13 Nil
The CEO and Accounting Officer in 2010-2011 was Dr Liz Sidwell. In 2011-12 and 2012-13 it was Adrian Percival.
The funds defrauded from the Trust were intended to be used for educational purposes, in line with requirements in the funding agreement and academies financial handbook. The money was taken from the Trust’s overall budget.
The Trust notified the Department for Education of the fraud on 1 November 2012. Senior officials worked with the Trust immediately to assess its financial systems and risks. The Department has provided ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that the Trust has taken all appropriate actions.
The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust retains income to cover the costs of central services, which are attributable to all academies within the multi-academy trust. In 2012/13, this equated to £2.16 million.
For the years in question, the amounts defrauded from the Trust were:
2010-11 £1,047,788 (3.33% of income)
2011-12 £914,316 (1.66% of income)
2012-13 Nil
The CEO and Accounting Officer in 2010-2011 was Dr Liz Sidwell. In 2011-12 and 2012-13 it was Adrian Percival.
The funds defrauded from the Trust were intended to be used for educational purposes, in line with requirements in the funding agreement and academies financial handbook. The money was taken from the Trust’s overall budget.
The Trust notified the Department for Education of the fraud on 1 November 2012. Senior officials worked with the Trust immediately to assess its financial systems and risks. The Department has provided ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that the Trust has taken all appropriate actions.
The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust retains income to cover the costs of central services, which are attributable to all academies within the multi-academy trust. In 2012/13, this equated to £2.16 million.
For the years in question, the amounts defrauded from the Trust were:
2010-11 £1,047,788 (3.33% of income)
2011-12 £914,316 (1.66% of income)
2012-13 Nil
The CEO and Accounting Officer in 2010-2011 was Dr Liz Sidwell. In 2011-12 and 2012-13 it was Adrian Percival.
The funds defrauded from the Trust were intended to be used for educational purposes, in line with requirements in the funding agreement and academies financial handbook. The money was taken from the Trust’s overall budget.
The Trust notified the Department for Education of the fraud on 1 November 2012. Senior officials worked with the Trust immediately to assess its financial systems and risks. The Department has provided ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that the Trust has taken all appropriate actions.
The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust retains income to cover the costs of central services, which are attributable to all academies within the multi-academy trust. In 2012/13, this equated to £2.16 million.
For the years in question, the amounts defrauded from the Trust were:
2010-11 £1,047,788 (3.33% of income)
2011-12 £914,316 (1.66% of income)
2012-13 Nil
The CEO and Accounting Officer in 2010-2011 was Dr Liz Sidwell. In 2011-12 and 2012-13 it was Adrian Percival.
The funds defrauded from the Trust were intended to be used for educational purposes, in line with requirements in the funding agreement and academies financial handbook. The money was taken from the Trust’s overall budget.
The Trust notified the Department for Education of the fraud on 1 November 2012. Senior officials worked with the Trust immediately to assess its financial systems and risks. The Department has provided ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that the Trust has taken all appropriate actions.
The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust retains income to cover the costs of central services, which are attributable to all academies within the multi-academy trust. In 2012/13, this equated to £2.16 million.
For the years in question, the amounts defrauded from the Trust were:
2010-11 £1,047,788 (3.33% of income)
2011-12 £914,316 (1.66% of income)
2012-13 Nil
The CEO and Accounting Officer in 2010-2011 was Dr Liz Sidwell. In 2011-12 and 2012-13 it was Adrian Percival.
The funds defrauded from the Trust were intended to be used for educational purposes, in line with requirements in the funding agreement and academies financial handbook. The money was taken from the Trust’s overall budget.
The Trust notified the Department for Education of the fraud on 1 November 2012. Senior officials worked with the Trust immediately to assess its financial systems and risks. The Department has provided ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that the Trust has taken all appropriate actions.
As companies and charitable trusts, academy trusts are required to appoint independent auditors to report on their financial statements. It is for the academy trust to manage the contract for their services.
Auditors are qualified accountants and regulated by their professional institutes. The institutes undertake a programme of quality assurance visits to ensure firms are operating in accordance with expected professional standards. The outcomes of these reviews are publically available.
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) supplements the various institute regulatory regimes with:
· reviews of academy trusts’ audited financial statements, the associated audit reports on these and auditor management letters. The EFA follows up significant issues with individual trusts and their auditors;
· regular attendance at sector training events and delivery of online presentations/webinars for auditors on the key issues arising from reviews, to help ensure they are aware of the requirements expected of them and key risk areas; and
· responding to auditor queries received through the academy questions mailbox.
Other professional services provided to academy trusts will also be regulated by their relevant institute body, e.g. the Law Society.
The Trust reported to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) that a theft had occurred. The Trust undertook a full independent review, and the EFA monitored their response. The Department for Education’s most recent discussion with the Trust has been to confirm progress with the recovery of funds and the police investigation.
The Department has not had recent discussions with the Trust’s auditors. The EFA reviewed the most recent audited accounts in early 2014.
The Department does not hold a copy of the service level agreement between the Federation Trust and its schools.
There are currently 174 free schools open, with applications approved for a further 156 schools that are seeking to open in 2014/15 and beyond. Of these 330 schools, 4% do not currently have a permanent site identified. None of these schools are planning to open in September 2014.
A full list of approved applications, showing the local authority, is published online:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-successful-applications-and-open-schools-2014
The Trust reported to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) that a theft had occurred. The Trust undertook a full independent review, and the EFA monitored their response. The Department for Education’s most recent discussion with the Trust has been to confirm progress with the recovery of funds and the police investigation.
The Department has not had recent discussions with the Trust’s auditors. The EFA reviewed the most recent audited accounts in early 2014.
The Department does not hold a copy of the service level agreement between the Federation Trust and its schools.
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
There are strict rules protecting publicly funded school land. This is set out in guidance, which is published online at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/protection-of-school-playing-fields-and-public-land-advice
The Department for Education does not collect data on children missing education. Section 436A of the Education Act 1996 places a duty on local authorities to have arrangements that enable them to establish the identities of children in their area who are not registered pupils at a school, and are not receiving suitable education through a means other than at a school. Local authorities may decide as part of this duty to collect information on children who may be missing education or at risk of doing so. The Department's statutory guidance to local authorities advises that they must have robust procedures in place to fulfil their legal duty.
The 'lost pupils database' (LPD) records the transfer records of pupils whose correct destination is not known. Files are retained whenever a child leaves a school for a destination outside the maintained school sector. Examples of these destinations include ‘gone to an independent school', ‘gone sick', ‘moved abroad with parents' or 'moved on without reason'.
The LPD is not used by Children Missing Education (CME) officers to record CME data. The primary function of the Department's School to School (S2S) secure data transfer website is to provide schools and Local Authorities (LAs) with a mechanism for the secure and ongoing transfer of thousands of statutory child-level data files per week to new schools/LAs when children move school.
The details required for the Lost Pupil Database are:
File Name
Source school
Source LA
UPN
Surname
Forename
DOB
Gender
Former UPN
Former Surname
Middle Names
Ethnicity
FSM eligibility
In Care
Care Authority
SEN status
Start Date
Postcode
Sessions Possible
Sessions Attended
Sessions Unauthorised
First Language
LPD records are stored for a minimum of 12 months. The last ‘clear down' took place in October 2013 which means monthly additions are only held back to October 2012. At 1 February 2014, 15,128 records were held on the system. Records are not removed from the system until the general ‘clear down', so the figure does not represent pupils missing from education at any given time.
The Department has contributed land capable of delivering 11,675 homes to the Programme. We are continuing to rationalise our estate, delivering cost savings and better value for money for the taxpayer.
Freedom of movement is ending but there will continue to be migration and mobility between the UK and the EU after the UK leaves. The Prime Minister has made it clear that the Government is open to discussing with the EU how to facilitate the valuable links between our people.
We want to limit the number of barriers that could prevent UK firms from setting up in the EU and vice versa, and agree an appropriate labour mobility framework that enables businesses and self-employed professionals to provide services to clients.
We will discuss these arrangements with the EU in due course - at every step of the negotiations, we will work to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people.
As the Prime Minister said in her speech in Mansion House on 2 March 2018, we will want to explore with the EU the terms on which we could remain part of EU agencies such as those that are critical for the chemicals, medicines and aerospace industries: the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
There are other agencies, such as those related to our future security partnership, that the UK may seek to remain a part of. Where there is a demonstrable national interest in pursuing a continued relationship with an agency or other EU body the Government will carefully examine whether we should pursue this. Our future relationship with the EU's agencies will ultimately be a matter for the negotiations.
The Department for Exiting the European Union is working closely with all departments to ensure our preparations for exit from and new partnership with the EU are on track. The Department has established a series of arrangements to coordinate departments’ planning and delivery.
As indicated in the National Audit Office report, departments have identified Exit work streams that are used to structure engagement with DExEU. The structure and development of work streams is part of ongoing cross-Government work to develop and assess potential policy options. The number of work streams is being updated regularly but because the nature of this internal work could be sensitive to ongoing negotiations, we will not be publishing the full list.
DFID has not released any land for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.
The Rail Accident Investigations Branch (RAIB) are aware of the incident at Lewisham and the understandable public concern related to it. This has led to them to start what they refer to as a “preliminary examination” into the event. They are currently gathering evidence that will enable them to decide what further action they will take, based around the decision criteria they use. They currently anticipate a decision within the next two weeks.
As set out in the Statement of Funds Available, we expect around £47.9bn to be spent on the railway between 2019 and 2024, with up to £34.7bn to be provided directly via Government grant. This will include funding to improve accessibility across the network.
We are now working with Network Rail to provide further confidence in the volumes and costs involved in this portfolio and we will publish the details of how the funding will be allocated once Network Rail’s detailed business plans have been scrutinised by the independent regulator, the Office of Rail and Road later this year.
The Department expects to publish a Call for Evidence early in 2018. Preliminary discussions regarding Phase Two have already started.
The Department’s investment board considered Southeastern’s proposal in December 2016. We have concluded the plans are not deliverable as previously proposed, principally because depot-related costs have escalated significantly. As a result, the Department has asked Southeastern and GTR (both owned by Govia) to work together to provide alternative workable solutions for offering additional extra capacity in Southeastern for 2017, including credible stabling options.
Network Rail is continuing to assess power supply implications associated with providing additional rolling stock to Southeastern. This will form part of our consideration of the business case and investment proposal.
The business case and investment proposal for additional rolling stock on Southeastern will be considered in coming weeks, and an announcement will be made in due course.
The Department's investment board is due to consider the investment proposal for additional rolling stock on Southeastern in coming weeks.
As part of the development of the business case and investment proposal for additional rolling stock on Southeastern, stabling options have been identified and proposed. This will form part of our overall consideration of the business case and investment proposal.
Department for Transport officials have asked Southeastern to consider all available opportunities within the rolling stock market and received outline options in February, with a more detailed proposal due from Southeastern by the end of the month. Any decision on the Department funding additional rolling stock must be supported by a business case which clearly demonstrates both affordability and value for money, and we will be working closely with Southeastern to assess the options, costs and benefits before taking any funding decisions.
The vehicle enquiry service provides general information about vehicles and not individuals. The information included is therefore not covered by the Data Protection Act 1998.
The service was recently enhanced to include the taxation class and MoT status of vehicles. This was intended to help organisations to continue to provide the appropriate parking concessions and exemptions from certain tolls to users of vehicles in the disabled tax class, following the abolition of the tax disc.
The term "disabled" describes a vehicle’s tax class and does not refer to a living individual. Views have been expressed about the potential impact on the privacy of individuals who may be linked with vehicles licensed in the disabled tax class. The DVLA has removed all tax classes from the vehicle enquiry service while these matters are being considered in discussion with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) is responsible for the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (NRCoC). The NRCoC is a Schedule to the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA), an agreement between train operators that sets out arrangements for the carriage of passengers and the retailing of tickets. The written approval of the Secretary of State for Transport is required before any changes can be made to the NRCoC.
ATOC is currently reviewing the NRCoC, with a view to publishing a revised version in spring 2015. ATOC has stated that it intends to consult passenger groups (including Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch) on any changes it proposes to make to the current NRCoC before submitting the revised version to the Secretary of State for approval.
Under Schedule 4 of the Track Access Agreements between Network Rail and the train operating companies, Network Rail compensates train operators on a formula basis for the estimated overall cost impact of network possessions. It is the train operator that is responsible for providing and meeting the cost of any rail replacement bus services, not Network Rail.
Under Schedule 4 of the Track Access Agreements between Network Rail and the train operating companies, Network Rail compensates train operators on a formula basis for the estimated overall cost impact of network possessions. It is the train operator that is responsible for providing and meeting the cost of any rail replacement bus services, not Network Rail.
As of the end of March 2014 the Public Sector Land Programme had disposed of land capable of delivering over 76,000 homes in England.
The Department for Transport has contributed land capable of delivering 3,752 homes to the Programme, we are continuing to rationalise our estate, delivering cost savings and better value for money for the taxpayer.
In the final year of this programme work is continuing to dispose of land capable of delivering much needed homes and are on course to meet the Government’s ambition to dispose of land capable of delivering 100,000 homes by April 2015.
We plan to announce the stations that will receive Access for All funding in April.
The responsibility for deciding which stations will benefit from the next phase of the National Stations Improvement Programme rests with the industry Local Delivery Groups (LDGs) and not the Department.
The LDGs are in the process of developing their plans and will in due course be able to confirm which schemes they are progressing.
We do not expect all peak services provided by Southeastern to be formed of 12 car trains as demand on some routes does not require this level of capacity provision. It is for the Train Operating Company running the service to best match its rolling stock with passenger demand.
Through the Government's Rail Investment Strategy we are investing in additional capacity across the country, for where it is most needed.
It is Network Rail who has funded and delivered the platform lengthening on the Integrated Kent Franchise routes. The Department has no detailed information on individual station costs.