Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the service provided to armed forces personnel by the chaplaincy is prioritised according to the religion or belief of the individual seeking pastoral support.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Information regarding how many users of the chaplaincy identified as non-religious is not held. Data regarding any protected characteristics of individuals seeking confidential pastoral support is not normally recorded, nor will they necessarily even arise or be disclosed unless they have a direct bearing upon the issues at hand.
Where dissatisfaction or a neutral stance is expressed in the Armed Forces Continuous Attitudes Survey (AFCAS), the specific reasoning behind each survey response is not recorded. AFCAS does not go into that level of detail, however, local evaluations in-Unit routinely show high levels of satisfaction with the teaching and pastoral care that chaplaincy provides.
Neutral responses with the AFCAS survey are often in effect a “not applicable (N/A)” response. In this case the respondents are not likely to have sought direct support from the chaplaincy in the time frame of the AFCAS survey. As they are unlikely to have accessed or used the service provided, there are no specific measures targeting improvement for this cohort of respondents.
Information regarding a breakdown of resources comparing the chaplaincy to the various staff networks that provide support to Service personnel is not held in the format requested.
The question of the religion, belief, or any other protected characteristics of an individual in contact with chaplaincy has absolutely no bearing on priority of access for pastoral support. Pastoral support is delivered according to need and open to all.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 13 July (HL1351), what proportion of those using chaplaincy provided by their service identified as non-religious; what reasons were given for dissatisfaction with or a neutral stance towards the service received; what steps have been taken to improve the service in response to the 30-40 per cent of respondents who declared themselves either neutral towards or dissatisfied with the service they had received; and what resources, including funded posts comparable to religious chaplaincy, are provided to the various staff networks, including the Humanist And Non-religious in Defence Network, to provide support to those Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Information regarding how many users of the chaplaincy identified as non-religious is not held. Data regarding any protected characteristics of individuals seeking confidential pastoral support is not normally recorded, nor will they necessarily even arise or be disclosed unless they have a direct bearing upon the issues at hand.
Where dissatisfaction or a neutral stance is expressed in the Armed Forces Continuous Attitudes Survey (AFCAS), the specific reasoning behind each survey response is not recorded. AFCAS does not go into that level of detail, however, local evaluations in-Unit routinely show high levels of satisfaction with the teaching and pastoral care that chaplaincy provides.
Neutral responses with the AFCAS survey are often in effect a “not applicable (N/A)” response. In this case the respondents are not likely to have sought direct support from the chaplaincy in the time frame of the AFCAS survey. As they are unlikely to have accessed or used the service provided, there are no specific measures targeting improvement for this cohort of respondents.
Information regarding a breakdown of resources comparing the chaplaincy to the various staff networks that provide support to Service personnel is not held in the format requested.
The question of the religion, belief, or any other protected characteristics of an individual in contact with chaplaincy has absolutely no bearing on priority of access for pastoral support. Pastoral support is delivered according to need and open to all.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which professional qualifications relating to non-religious world views such as humanism are undertaken by the Armed Forces Chaplaincy; and which body accredits any such qualifications.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
All military Chaplains are accredited by Defence-endorsed sending churches or faith authorities which have committed their Chaplains to appreciate and understand the world views of all personnel irrespective of faith background. The vast majority of Chaplains are, additionally, university graduates whose professional studies will have included study of world views from a variety of spectrums, including humanism. Exact content will vary by institution, and is accredited by the relevant university, or institution.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, (1) how levels of satisfaction with the armed forces’ pastoral support services are measured, (2) whether they will publish the results, and (3) whether armed forces personnel are asked if they wish to receive non-religious pastoral care.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of philosophy or faith background. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain are encouraged to seek support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff and welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The publicly available annual Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey shows that, of those who have used chaplaincy support provided by their Service, satisfaction with the service has ranged between 61% and 65%. Dissatisfaction levels have been consistently low, recorded at either 4% or 5%, with the remaining 30% to 35% of respondents having a neutral stance on the service.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they plan to provide to charities and the voluntary sector to protect elderly people from being attacked in their homes by people who gain entrance on false pretences, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Public safety and protecting the most vulnerable people in society from coronavirus is this government’s top priority. The Government has prepared ‘how to help safely’ guidance on Gov.uk to advise individuals and charities how they can help those isolating - including friends, family members and neighbours. This guidance is also accessible for the new Covid Mutual Aid groups that have been set up in response to the crisis. These pages have been accessed over 174,000 times since publication.
Genuine volunteers have been instructed not to enter people’s homes, unless deemed essential. We advise that vulnerable people take general precautions such as asking for ID, not sharing financial details and, if in doubt, do not engage and report serious suspicious behaviour to the police.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the provision of online tuition adequately educates those children and young people, particularly those who live in poverty or who are otherwise vulnerable, who are not in school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Since Friday 20 March, schools have been closed except for children of critical workers and vulnerable children. Attending school can be a protective factor, which is why vulnerable children are eligible for continued provision.
We recognise that many schools have already shared resources for children who are at home, and are grateful for this.
We are working with the BBC and other partners to provide access and support directly to parents, including online resources they can access for their children at home, and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has announced a package of high-quality resources:
We will consider accessibility throughout the development of any advice, and ask that schools do the same.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what, if any, support they are providing to efforts by (1) the government of Greece, (2) the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and (3) Greek and international non-governmental organisations, to monitor hotspots for migrants and refugees in the Greek islands and in particular the needs of unaccompanied minors.
Answered by Lord Bates
In response to the refugee crisis in Greece, the UK has provided 500,000 relief items such as tents, blankets and clothes, delivered more than 1.4 million meals to vulnerable migrants and refugees and supported safe accommodation spaces for children (totalling £39 million). At the height of the crisis the UK was one of the first donors to make substantial funding available.
Whilst UK funding has ended, along with support to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UK continues to support Greece under the EU-Turkey Deal. Since 2016 we have delivered two packages of support – including a combined total of up to 115 expert staff – to ease overcrowding on the islands and accelerate the asylum and returns processes.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the reports by Save the Children, <i>Untapped Potential</i> published in October 2016, and <i>Early Development and Children's Later Educational Outcomes </i>published in February 2016, concerning the impact of having qualified Early Years teachers in nurseries on children's early development.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government agrees that the first few years of a child’s life are fundamentally important. Evidence tells us that they shape children’s future development and influence how well children do at school. They also affect their on-going health and wellbeing and their achievements later in life.
In 2013 we introduced the early years initial teacher training programme which leads to the award of Early Years Teacher Status. We have made a significant investment in this programme, funding is available for training course fees, with additional funding for nursery employers to help them support graduates in their setting to become early years teachers. To encourage the best graduates into the early years workforce we provide bursaries to eligible trainees.
On 3 March the Department for Education published an early years workforce strategy which seeks to remove the barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff. For graduates we have begun the process to amend regulations so that early years teachers can lead teaching in nursery and reception classes in maintained schools. Over the longer term, we are going to consider how plans to strengthen QTS could offer positive opportunities for early years teachers. We also want to make sure that all settings serving disadvantaged children can access specialist graduates, so we are commissioning a feasibility study to explore how best to achieve this.
A copy of the early years workforce strategy is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Home Office staff are working on resettlement under the family reunion provisions of the Dublin Regulation in (1) France, (2) Greece, and (3) Italy.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has transferred more than 900 unaccompanied children to the UK this year under both the family reunification provisions of the Dublin Regulation and the terms of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. This includes more than 750 children from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance almost half of the unaccompanied children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance.
We have consulted local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and will publish the total number of children to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
In July, the Home Office increased the funding provided to local authorities by up to 33 percent for the care and support of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The recent operation to transfer children from Calais involved over 300 officials at home and abroad and the Government continues to work closely with partners across Europe to ensure the timely and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have seconded experts to France and Greece, and we have a long standing secondee in Italy to support the work on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe, including the Dublin Regulation.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Home Office staff are working on resettlement under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in (1) France, (2) Greece, and (3) Italy.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has transferred more than 900 unaccompanied children to the UK this year under both the family reunification provisions of the Dublin Regulation and the terms of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. This includes more than 750 children from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance almost half of the unaccompanied children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance.
We have consulted local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and will publish the total number of children to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
In July, the Home Office increased the funding provided to local authorities by up to 33 percent for the care and support of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The recent operation to transfer children from Calais involved over 300 officials at home and abroad and the Government continues to work closely with partners across Europe to ensure the timely and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have seconded experts to France and Greece, and we have a long standing secondee in Italy to support the work on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe, including the Dublin Regulation.