Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of projects such as the Barbuda Ocean Club and Cedar Tree Point on the human rights of Barbudans, and in particular the impact of such projects on access to sufficient safe drinking water, environmental protection, and communal land ownership.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
HMG is not involved in the development of the Barbuda Ocean Club and Cedar Tree Point projects. Any impact assessment would be conducted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing entitlement to legal aid to Windrush scandal victims to navigate the compensation process; and what steps they plan to take, if any, to improve the accessibility of the compensation scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We have designed the Compensation Scheme to be as clear and simple as possible, so people do not need legal assistance to make a claim. However, for those who want or need support to make a claim, the Home Office provides free assistance in making applications through our independent claims assistance provider – We Are Digital (WAD).
WAD has extensive experience of dealing with isolated and vulnerable customers and working with the Home Office and, through their partners, have a nationwide network of community-based centres.
Were we to allow applicants to recover legal costs in applying to the Scheme, we may serve to encourage organisations to take advantage of potentially vulnerable individuals and charge them for unnecessary support to complete a claim.
Claims forms were redesigned in 2021, in collaboration with stakeholders to make them easier to complete. This included obtaining the Crystal Mark, demonstrating our commitment to clarity, and communicating with claimants using plain English.
Decision makers also work with claimants to gather information on their behalf.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of findings by Human Rights Watch that human rights are being violated as a result of the failure to implement an effective compensation scheme under the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We do not accept the Human Rights Watch assessment of the Windrush Compensation Scheme nor that human rights are being violated in the way it is operated. We remain absolutely committed to righting the wrongs of Windrush. The latest Windrush Compensation Scheme statistics show that £57.13m had been paid out by the end of February 2023 across 1,520 claims. A further £11.13m has been offered, awaiting acceptance, or pending review, taking the total amount paid or offered to £68.27m. In addition, over 60% of claims have received a final decision.
We have engaged with Human Rights Watch in response to their report and will continue to work with them to discuss their findings. We are making good progress towards the vast majority of recommendations from Wendy Williams’ report and believe there are more meaningful ways of achieving the intent of a very small number of others.
Through this work, we will make sure that similar injustices can never be repeated and are creating a Home Office worthy of every community it serves.
The Home Secretary continues to co-host Windrush Working Group meetings to discuss how we can work together to drive further improvements.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to grant victims of the Windrush scandal the right to have a hearing at the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of their compensation claim, they can ask the Home Office to review its decision. This will be an internal independent review by someone who has not been involved in the individual’s case (Tier 1 review).
If an individual remains dissatisfied, they can then request an external independent review (Tier 2 review). Their claim will be looked at by the Adjudicator’s Office.
The Adjudicator’s Office is a separate organisation, independent of the Home Office who can look at, among other things, whether the department has followed its policies, and the use of discretion by the Windrush Compensation Team.
The compensation scheme is intended to properly compensate members of the Windrush generation and to deliver on the commitment to right the wrongs that were experienced, while avoiding the need for court proceedings. We think this is in the best interests of those affected.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist victims of the Windrush scandal who still face long waits; and what plans they have to review the levels of compensation granted to applicants of the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Following implementation of the significant changes made to the Scheme since December 2020, we are now fully focused on reducing the time between claim submission and decision. The Scheme continues to run ongoing recruitment campaigns to ensure the necessary level of staffing is maintained and has continued to backfill those who have left. Alongside significantly increasing the number of EO decision makers, the Scheme has also increased quality assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace.
In the meantime, as set out by the Home Secretary at the Windrush Working Group Meeting on 24 January 2023, additional experienced EO decision makers have been deployed on a temporary basis to assist with accelerating decision making, this is in addition to the established EO decision makers that are already in post.
Alongside significantly increasing the amount of Decision makers, we have also increased our Quality Assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace. Furthermore, we are improving the evidence gathering process, including revising our data sharing agreements with other government departments.
We continue to listen and respond to feedback received from stakeholders and our customers to ensure the Scheme is operating effectively for everyone.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to include in the National Crime Agency’s Missing Persons Data Report data on the ethnicity of people who go missing including (1) the recorded risk factors of those people, such as mental health issues, sexual exploitation or criminal exploitation, (2) the length of time missing, and (3) how those people are found or return.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This is a matter for the National Crime Agency (NCA), which is operationally independent of Government. The NCA’s annual Missing Persons Data Report includes analysis of risk factors, duration of missing incidents and statistics on found and returned persons.
The Home Office has funded the National Policing lead for Missing persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report will be completed this year. Deputy Chief Constable Hankinson, the National Policing lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues of unconscious bias if this is indicated in the research.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to collect and publish data and analysis on the ethnicity of looked-after children who go missing, including their recorded risk factors, such as mental health issues, sexual exploitation or criminal exploitation.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The department collects information on children looked after in the annual Children Looked After (SSDA903) data return, including information on missing incidents. The data collected includes the primary need of a child starting to be looked after, which is collected using an established code set, set out in the collection guide. These categories are not intended to be exhaustive, and mental health issues, sexual exploitation or criminal exploitation are not specified categories. The data collection guide is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/children-looked-after-return-guide-to-submitting-data.
The department publishes an annual statistical release which contains information on looked after children who have gone missing. This release disaggregates missing incidents by age, duration or placement, but not ethnicity, although this data is collected. The department reviews the content of statistical publications in light of user needs.
The published information is available in table G1 of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that all children, including those who have special educational needs, have full access to (1) theatres, and (2) arts centres.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
The Government is committed to ensuring that all children have access to arts and cultural attractions across the UK. That is why it encouraged Arts Council England to ensure that the public money it disburses is spread more equitably across the country, and why we are pleased to see a record number of cultural organisations receiving funding in more parts of the country than ever before, helping to bring world-class arts and culture closer to everyone.
Arts Council England funding supports a range of projects, programmes, and organisations which specialise in widening opportunities for young people, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The most recent annual survey of Arts Council national portfolio organisations showed that 509 organisations (61%) delivered specific activity for people with disabilities, with 71 reporting that this was a major focus of their work. 309 organisations in the portfolio delivered workshops or educational sessions for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
David Stanley is the Government’s Arts and Culture Disability and Access Ambassador. As founder and chief executive of the multi award-winning music education charity The Music Man Project, David is widely known for his experience and commitment to supporting people with special educational needs to access and participate in the arts. The Department is working closely with David to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, including children with special educational needs.
Arts Councils across the UK are also working with the British Film Institute to launch a free, UK-wide arts access scheme by early 2024. This scheme will operate across all arts and cultural venues, for seamless, barrier-free booking that is responsive to individual circumstances and needs.
Our work with the Department for Education on a new Cultural Education Plan, as committed to in the Schools White Paper, will build further on this important work.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current status of the Arts Premium funding for secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The department believes in a high-quality education for all pupils, and integral to this is cultural education, including teaching music and the wider arts. All state-funded schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, and this includes promoting pupils' cultural development.
The department will continue to spend around £115 million per annum in cultural education over three years, through our music, arts and heritage programmes. With the real terms per pupil increases to core school funding and the nearly £5 billion that has been announced for education recovery, schools will continue to have the flexibility to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum and enrichment activities, including in arts and creative subjects.
The department published the Model Music Curriculum in 2021 and a refreshed National Plan for Music Education in 2022 to support teachers in delivering high-quality music education. The National Plan for Music Education was jointly published by the department and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in June 2022, and sets out a vision for music education to 2030, to enable all children and young people to learn to sing, play an instrument and create music together, and have the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents, including professionally.
The department will also publish a Cultural Education Plan in 2023, working with DCMS and Arts Council England. The Chair of the Expert Advisory Panel was announced last year and other panel members will be announced in due course.
The plan will further support young people who wish to pursue careers in the creative and cultural industries and will cover a range of wider arts subjects where appropriate, such as drama, dance and the wider performing arts. The department does not intend to produce detailed plans in other arts subjects, or to establish a Hub programme for arts subjects other than music. It is widely recognised that that there is a need for Music Hubs in addressing the unique challenges in supporting young people’s access to and progression in music.
With the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s education, the department’s priorities have been to focus on education recovery in the recent Spending Review. The government remains committed to the ambitions for a Cultural Education Plan and will give consideration to the future of the Arts Premium in due course.
The department does not collect information on spending in arts education at independent schools. The department does publish information on entries in arts qualifications at Key Stage 4 by type of school, including in GCSEs. In the 2021/22 academic year, the proportion of Key Stage 4 pupils taking at least one arts qualification in state-funded schools was 52.4%, while the equivalent proportion for independent schools was 42.3%.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the discrepancy in the (1) scale, and (2) investment, of arts education in (a) state schools, and (b) independent schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The department believes in a high-quality education for all pupils, and integral to this is cultural education, including teaching music and the wider arts. All state-funded schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, and this includes promoting pupils' cultural development.
The department will continue to spend around £115 million per annum in cultural education over three years, through our music, arts and heritage programmes. With the real terms per pupil increases to core school funding and the nearly £5 billion that has been announced for education recovery, schools will continue to have the flexibility to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum and enrichment activities, including in arts and creative subjects.
The department published the Model Music Curriculum in 2021 and a refreshed National Plan for Music Education in 2022 to support teachers in delivering high-quality music education. The National Plan for Music Education was jointly published by the department and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in June 2022, and sets out a vision for music education to 2030, to enable all children and young people to learn to sing, play an instrument and create music together, and have the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents, including professionally.
The department will also publish a Cultural Education Plan in 2023, working with DCMS and Arts Council England. The Chair of the Expert Advisory Panel was announced last year and other panel members will be announced in due course.
The plan will further support young people who wish to pursue careers in the creative and cultural industries and will cover a range of wider arts subjects where appropriate, such as drama, dance and the wider performing arts. The department does not intend to produce detailed plans in other arts subjects, or to establish a Hub programme for arts subjects other than music. It is widely recognised that that there is a need for Music Hubs in addressing the unique challenges in supporting young people’s access to and progression in music.
With the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s education, the department’s priorities have been to focus on education recovery in the recent Spending Review. The government remains committed to the ambitions for a Cultural Education Plan and will give consideration to the future of the Arts Premium in due course.
The department does not collect information on spending in arts education at independent schools. The department does publish information on entries in arts qualifications at Key Stage 4 by type of school, including in GCSEs. In the 2021/22 academic year, the proportion of Key Stage 4 pupils taking at least one arts qualification in state-funded schools was 52.4%, while the equivalent proportion for independent schools was 42.3%.