Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 27 July 2021 (HL1956), what progress has been made by officials in reviewing the deferral of the cut-off date for the registration of historic rights of way.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in my answer of 27 July 2021 the Government intends to lay legislation as soon as reasonably practicable including the relevant provisions in the Deregulation Act 2015. Deferring the 2026 cut-off date for registration of historic rights of way is still under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which minister has cross-government responsibility for co-ordinating all matters relating to (1) citizenship, and (2) civic engagement.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Minister Kevin Foster has overall responsibility for matters relating to citizenship in the United Kingdom in the Home Office. This portfolio includes the current and future visa system, as well as immigration casework and nationality.
DCMS is responsible for youth engagement across Government and provides grant funding for the UK Youth Parliament programme and Youth Engagement Grant. These are key programmes through which young people can engage with policy and decision-makers and have a say on issues that matter to them. The lead minister is Nigel Huddleston.
DCMS is responsible for youth volunteering and social action across government, and supports the #iwill movement and the #iwill Fund, both of which aim to get 10 to 20 year-olds involved in volunteering, fundraising and campaigning in local communities
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to update the Life in the UK test; and when the test was last updated.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Life in the UK test is based on the Life in the UK handbook, “Life in the UK: a guide for new residents”. An updated impression of the current edition of the handbook was published in early 2020.
Questions in the test are reviewed on an ongoing basis. New questions were added between October 2020 and January 2021.
The test is kept under review and will be updated further as needed.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which ministers sit on the Safe and Integrated Communities Inter-Ministerial Group; and how many times has the Group met in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Government is committed to ensuring that our communities are both safe and well integrated. This is at the heart of our mission to level up communities across the whole of the UK. The specific inter-ministerial group last met in 2019. Ministers and officials continue to meet regularly, driving forward vital work across Government – and in local places - to create socially and economically stronger, more confident and integrated communities.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total amount of index-linked government stock; and what percentage of total government debt it represents.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The total amount of index-linked gilts (ILGs) in issue on close of business 05 July 2021 stood at £476.93 billion including inflation uplift (£357.60 billion nominal excluding inflation uplift). Therefore, ILGs represent 22.79% of the total amount of wholesale government debt outstanding (£2,092.42 billion as of 05 July 2021 including inflation uplift for ILGs). Further details on the ILGs in issue can be found on the Debt Management Office (DMO) website.
Following a revision to the DMO’s financing remit in April 2021, £29.4 billion of ILGs are planned to be sold in 2021-22. This accounts for 11.6% of all gilt financing plans in this fiscal year.
The Government considers the appropriate balance between index-linked and conventional gilts when setting its financing plans, taking account of the level of structural demand, the diversity of the investor base, and the Government’s desired inflation exposure. Decisions on precise levels of ILGs and conventional issuance continue to be taken annually through the financing remit, taking into account market and demand conditions as well as other factors.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many teachers self-identified as citizenship education teachers in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, (5) 2020, and (6) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The number of teachers in state funded secondary schools in England, who are recorded as teaching one or more lessons of citizenship per week, are shown in the table below. The latest information gives the situation in November 2019. Information for November 2020 will be published in June 2021. Information for 2021 will be collected via the School Workforce Census later this year.
As at November 2019 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Headcount of teachers teaching citizenship | 4,826 | 4,451 | 4,241 | 4,257 |
As a % of all teachers in state funded secondary schools | 2.2% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 1.9% |
The majority of teachers of citizenship also teach other subjects.
The number of trainees who successfully completed training in citizenship education from the 2015/16 to the 2018/19 academic year inclusive is summarised in the table below:
Academic Year | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
Postgraduate trainees awarded qualified teacher status | 78 | 45 | 37 | 31 |
The data on numbers of postgraduate trainees awarded qualified teacher status, for the academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21 is not yet available. Due to a change in the recording of subjects in the Initial Teacher Training data, we will not be able to specifically identify Citizenship trainees for the academic year 2019/2020 onwards.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many teachers specialising in citizenship education completed their training in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, (5) 2020, and (6) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The number of teachers in state funded secondary schools in England, who are recorded as teaching one or more lessons of citizenship per week, are shown in the table below. The latest information gives the situation in November 2019. Information for November 2020 will be published in June 2021. Information for 2021 will be collected via the School Workforce Census later this year.
As at November 2019 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Headcount of teachers teaching citizenship | 4,826 | 4,451 | 4,241 | 4,257 |
As a % of all teachers in state funded secondary schools | 2.2% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 1.9% |
The majority of teachers of citizenship also teach other subjects.
The number of trainees who successfully completed training in citizenship education from the 2015/16 to the 2018/19 academic year inclusive is summarised in the table below:
Academic Year | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
Postgraduate trainees awarded qualified teacher status | 78 | 45 | 37 | 31 |
The data on numbers of postgraduate trainees awarded qualified teacher status, for the academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21 is not yet available. Due to a change in the recording of subjects in the Initial Teacher Training data, we will not be able to specifically identify Citizenship trainees for the academic year 2019/2020 onwards.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will make a decision about the Charity Commission's request to refer the Royal Albert Hall to the charity tribunal.
Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton - Advocate General for Scotland
The Charity Commission sought the previous Attorney General’s permission to refer a number of questions to the Tribunal concerning the Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Sciences – the Royal Albert Hall – which is a registered charity. While the Charity Commission has the power to refer questions to the Tribunal, it may only do so with the consent of the Attorney General, as set out in section 325 of the Charities Act 2011.
The issues concerned in this case are complex. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has engaged with the parties since the original request was made in order to explore the issues, which involve both modern charity law and its application to an organisation established over 150 years ago. This engagement has helped to refine the issues.
Before taking a decision on whether to consent to the latest iteration of the Commission’s request, the previous Attorney General asked the Commission and the Corporation to try to find a way forward without recourse to litigation. The AGO is awaiting an indication from the parties regarding the outcome of that process.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans are in place to ensure that the UK is prepared for any impact resulting from a solar superstorm; and which department is responsible for those preparations.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government understands that good management of risk is essential for contingency planning, increasing the likelihood that the services we rely on day-to-day are available for citizens and ensuring that we can protect people’s health and safety.
The Department is the Lead Government Department for the risk of a severe space weather event. BEIS is therefore responsible for coordinating a Cross-Government work programme to ensure that appropriate preparedness and mitigation measures are in place so that impacts from severe space weather are minimised. BEIS working closely with the Met Office, Civil Contingencies Secretariat, other Government Departments, and academic partners has taken significant steps to increase the UK’s preparedness for major space weather events.
The Department will publish a new space weather strategy later this year, which will set out a five-year road map for how we intend to boost resilience and build on existing UK strength and capacity in this area, to continue to increase our preparedness for a severe space weather event.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to respond to the letter sent by Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 8 December 2020 about making public funds available to the Royal Albert Hall.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
A response was sent on 25th February 2021. I apologise for the delay.