Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the use of imaging equipment in the NHS that enable circular methods of reuse, remanufacture, and recycling; and when will this come within scope of the design for life programme.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Design for Life Roadmap, the Government’s plan to build a circular economy for medical technology, includes all medical technology products within its scope. Therefore, enabling circular imaging equipment sits within its aims.

The programme is already making progress in this area. For example, the Department recently commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare to conduct a series of pilots across National Health Service trusts to investigate the real-world processes, barriers, and enablers involved in transitioning from single use to reusable products. These pilots spanned several high-priority products, including bronchoscopes. The report of the findings from these pilots will be publicly available later in the year, and the programme will work closely with NHS trusts and the NHS Supply Chain to explore the rapid implementation of the recommendations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the availability of free and accessible educational materials suitable for KS3 and KS4, particularly for elective home education.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

Parents who choose to educate at home assume full responsibility for the education of their child, including financial responsibility, as a state school place (or state-funded place) is available.

Home educators are not required to follow the national curriculum but if they choose to, local authorities can be a source of information and advice for parents.

As part of the children not in school measures within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is introducing the first ever duty on local authorities to provide support for home educating families, in the form of advice and information. This will include signposting to high-quality, reputable educational materials, such as those offered by the Oak National Academy.

Government does not provide funding to local authorities for the specific purpose of assisting home educating families accessing examinations. Local authorities do have discretion to provide such financial assistance from within their existing budgets, and we are aware that some do so.

To sit an exam as a private candidate, students need to find an exam centre to enter them for all aspects of their chosen subject or subjects, including any assessments.

The department is committed to supporting home educated students to access exams and as such have worked with the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) to better support home educating families. This includes a search function on JCQ’s website, which enables students to locate the nearest centre available to sit their GCSE, AS or A level exams.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether funds are allocated to local education authorities to ensure that elective home education students can access free testing for level 1, 2, 3, and 4 qualifications.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

Parents who choose to educate at home assume full responsibility for the education of their child, including financial responsibility, as a state school place (or state-funded place) is available.

Home educators are not required to follow the national curriculum but if they choose to, local authorities can be a source of information and advice for parents.

As part of the children not in school measures within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is introducing the first ever duty on local authorities to provide support for home educating families, in the form of advice and information. This will include signposting to high-quality, reputable educational materials, such as those offered by the Oak National Academy.

Government does not provide funding to local authorities for the specific purpose of assisting home educating families accessing examinations. Local authorities do have discretion to provide such financial assistance from within their existing budgets, and we are aware that some do so.

To sit an exam as a private candidate, students need to find an exam centre to enter them for all aspects of their chosen subject or subjects, including any assessments.

The department is committed to supporting home educated students to access exams and as such have worked with the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) to better support home educating families. This includes a search function on JCQ’s website, which enables students to locate the nearest centre available to sit their GCSE, AS or A level exams.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how elective home education students can access exam centres as external candidates.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

Parents who choose to educate at home assume full responsibility for the education of their child, including financial responsibility, as a state school place (or state-funded place) is available.

Home educators are not required to follow the national curriculum but if they choose to, local authorities can be a source of information and advice for parents.

As part of the children not in school measures within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is introducing the first ever duty on local authorities to provide support for home educating families, in the form of advice and information. This will include signposting to high-quality, reputable educational materials, such as those offered by the Oak National Academy.

Government does not provide funding to local authorities for the specific purpose of assisting home educating families accessing examinations. Local authorities do have discretion to provide such financial assistance from within their existing budgets, and we are aware that some do so.

To sit an exam as a private candidate, students need to find an exam centre to enter them for all aspects of their chosen subject or subjects, including any assessments.

The department is committed to supporting home educated students to access exams and as such have worked with the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) to better support home educating families. This includes a search function on JCQ’s website, which enables students to locate the nearest centre available to sit their GCSE, AS or A level exams.