Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 9 March (HC Deb col 81), what evidence they possess regarding the risks to young people which they say will require further regulation of home education.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Parents have the right to educate their children in elective home education and many do so effectively in their children’s best interests.

Home education is not in itself a risk, however evidence from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel highlights that school attendance is a protective factor for vulnerable children, highlighting the serious harm that has been experienced by some children withdrawn into home education. In addition, 96% of local authority respondents to the 2019 Children Not in School consultation believed Children Not in School registers were needed to support them to fulfil their education and safeguarding duties towards these children.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act introduces compulsory Children Not in School registers and requires parents of some children known to children's social care or with the highest needs to get permission from the local authority before withdrawing their children from school for home education.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a national system for monitoring vacancies on the boards of trustees of schools and colleges.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are no immediate plans for a national vacancy monitoring system, but colleges supply unfilled vacancy data for further education (FE) governors, which helps us to understand vacancy rates in FE colleges. The department closely monitors the statistics produced annually by the National Governance Association. We fund the Governor Recruitment Service to help with FE governor recruitment. The department also works with partners to support recruitment to boards, including sharing resources for recruitment through the effective governance resources produced in partnership with governance organisations. This information is available to view on GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to continue the FE Governor Recruitment Service contract due to expire in March 2027; and what assessment they have made of the impact of uncertainty around the future of the contract on colleges and other further education stakeholders.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government is committed to strong leadership and governance in further education colleges, and the department provides existing support for colleges, including via the further education governor recruitment service (GRS) and from the Further Education Commissioner and her team. The existing GRS contract has potential to run until March 2028, and the department will make decisions on future requirements in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the division of funding is between the Light Mobility Vehicle programme and the Heavy Protected Mobility programme; what is the procurement timeline for the Light Mobility Vehicle programme; and what is the planned maximum number of vehicles to be procured as part of the Light Mobility Vehicle programme.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Land Mobility Programme is a 20-year, circa £4 billion pan-Defence programme to deliver over 13,000 digitally enabled, adaptable utility and protected mobility vehicles to the Joint Force. It comprises three sub-programmes: Heavy Protected Mobility (PM), Light PM, and Light Mobility Vehicle (LMV).

The LMV programme is in its assessment phase, with competition due to start late summer 2026. The Heavy PM programme remains in its concept phase, and as a result it has not yet been assigned a funding profile. Therefore, I am unable to provide a break down in funding between the two sub-programmes until the concept phase for Heavy PM concludes.

I can, however, confirm that on current plans, LMV is due to deliver by 2030. The total number of vehicles being procured is still subject to the ongoing assessment phase.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote governance volunteering more explicitly as a social value activity within public procurement and commissioning processes; and what steps they are taking to encourage organisations bidding for public contracts to support employees who undertake those roles.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)

The government recently announced its intention to make changes to social value that will put communities at the heart of social value practices. We are working with the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector, alongside others, on this.

Contracting authorities must ensure that any requirement included in public contracting is relevant to the subject matter of the contract, proportionate and non-discriminatory. Governance volunteering may not be suited to all public procurements, but central government contracting authorities select relevant outcomes from the social value model, which is focused on priority outcomes including good jobs, skills and opportunities for those that face barriers to employment.

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