Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future of the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast which has entered into administration.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

On 16 September, Harland and Wolff announced the winding down of non-core operations and were clear that this would in no way affect jobs at its shipyards or core operations, including delivering on contracts for the Ministry of Defence at the Belfast shipyard.

We explored all options to provide support and following a thorough review of Harland and Wolff’s financial situation, it is clear that at present the market is best placed to address their challenges.

We will continue to work across government and with the Northern Ireland Executive, as needed, to help secure shipbuilding and manufacturing across the UK.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen collaboration with international partners in intelligence-sharing and joint operations to counter transnational security threats, including terrorism.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

It is the longstanding policy of successive UK Governments that we do not comment on intelligence matters. The UK will continue to work with partners to address evolving threats and deliver impact for UK security.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government which specific items of personal data pupils and parents may object to being collected in the school census, and by what process they may do so.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The provision of information about individual pupils to the department is a statutory requirement on schools in England under section 537A of the Education Act 1996. Under those powers, the ‘Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013’, as amended, detail the specific identifiable pupil data that must be returned. The Regulations can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2094/made. Together this provides the legislative basis for the school census.

Whilst it is not possible for a parent/guardian or an individual child to opt out of the school census collection, information on (1) ethnicity, (2) first language and (3) whether a child is the child of someone in the Armed Services, must always be as declared by the parent/guardian or the pupil where a pupil is deemed mature enough to have capacity to consent to sharing their personal data with others. When collecting the data items listed above from the parent/guardian or pupil, schools should ensure that they are made aware of their right to decline to provide these data items. Where they exercise this right, the information will be recorded on the school system as ‘refused’ and will not be transferred to the department as part of the school census.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government under which pieces of legislation schools are required to collect and submit identifiable pupil data to the Department for Education.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The provision of information about individual pupils to the department is a statutory requirement on schools in England under section 537A of the Education Act 1996. Under those powers, the ‘Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013’, as amended, detail the specific identifiable pupil data that must be returned. The Regulations can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2094/made. Together this provides the legislative basis for the school census.

Whilst it is not possible for a parent/guardian or an individual child to opt out of the school census collection, information on (1) ethnicity, (2) first language and (3) whether a child is the child of someone in the Armed Services, must always be as declared by the parent/guardian or the pupil where a pupil is deemed mature enough to have capacity to consent to sharing their personal data with others. When collecting the data items listed above from the parent/guardian or pupil, schools should ensure that they are made aware of their right to decline to provide these data items. Where they exercise this right, the information will be recorded on the school system as ‘refused’ and will not be transferred to the department as part of the school census.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government which specific items of personal data may be collected in the school census about pupils (1) in primary school and (2) aged 11–18 respectively.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The school census collects different categories of data for different cohorts of individuals depending on factors such as age, year group and type of school attended. Categories of data collected via the school census include:

• Instant identifiers such as name and address.
• Meaningful identifiers such as unique pupil numbers and unique learner numbers.
• Characteristics such as ethnicity, language and free school meals eligibility.
• Details of any special educational needs.
• Information on absence and suspensions/exclusions.

Full details of the information collection via the school census are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-the-school-census/data-items-2024-to-2025.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessments are required by statute to be undertaken as part of a standard education throughout a child’s school life.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

In England, there are several statutory assessments taken by eligible pupils during primary school. These include the reception baseline assessment in the first six weeks after entering reception, the early years foundation stage profile at the end of reception year, the phonics screening check in year 1, the multiplication tables check in year 4, and end of key stage 2 tests and teacher assessments, usually taken at the end of year 6. GCSEs and other public examinations in secondary school are not statutory assessments.