Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many items of correspondence were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2018; and of those, how many were received in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Laming
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chairman of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. In total, 1,519,939 items of mail were received on the Parliamentary Estate in 2018. The destination of mail is not recorded but it is estimated that approximately 30 per cent of these items were destined for the House of Lords. These figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the Written Answer by the Chairman of Committees on 25 February 2009 (HL Deb, col 89W), how many staff of the House of Lords are employed exclusively or primarily on press and public relations; and whether he has made an assessment of how this figure now compares with the number of staff employed for the same purpose by (1) the House of Commons, and (2) the Scottish Parliament.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
Both Houses and the Scottish Parliament organise their communications/press and public relations functions in different ways which makes it hard to compare figures directly. Consequently, the figures below simply compare the number of FTEs employed predominantly on dealing with press/media.
| House of Lords | House of Commons | Scottish Parliament |
FTEs employed on press/media | 5 | 19 | 7 |
These figures do not include staff employed by either House or the Scottish Parliament on marketing, digital communications, public information, visitor services, education and engagement all of which contribute to their work on public relations. We do not hold these figures in respect of the House of Commons and Scottish Parliament.
No assessment has been made of how these figures compare with each other.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many teachers there are in secondary schools in England who are qualified citizenship education teachers.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In November 2016 there were 4,800 teachers in state funded secondary schools teaching citizenship. Of these we estimate that 8.7% had a relevant post A level qualification in the subject. A relevant post A level qualification is defined as a first degree or higher, BEd degree, PGCE, Certificate of Education or any other qualification at National Qualifications Framework level 4 or above in either citizenship, international relations, international, EU or UK politics or polictical theory.
There are also 10.6% of citizenship teachers with post A level qualification in history that prepare teachers well for teaching British citizenship.
The source of this information is the annual school workforce census. The census collects the post A level qualifications of teachers and the curriculum taught by teachers for around 75% of secondary schools. As the return is incomplete and the number of citizenship teachers is fairly small there is some uncertainty around the proportion provided and therefore we estimate there may be a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2%.
Information on post A level qualifications held by teachers, in the subject they teach, is published in Table 12 of the school workforce in England statistical publication. This is attached and available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2016.
The data for November 2017 is expected to be published in June 2018.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what practical steps they are taking to ensure that citizenship education in secondary schools is treated on a par with other subjects in the national curriculum.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Citizenship has a strong position in secondary schools, where it is part of the national curriculum in both key stages 3 and 4. It is one of only six compulsory subjects to be included in the key stage 4 curriculum. Citizenship education can also support schools to deliver their duties regarding the spiritual, moral, social and culture development of pupils, and promoting fundamental British values.
The recent report published by the Lords Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement, ‘The Ties that Bind: Civic Engagement in the 21st Century’ made a number of recommendations regarding the quality and status of citizenship education in schools. We are currently considering these recommendations and will respond fully in due course.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Cabinet Office is presently structured at official level to address holistically the constitution of the UK; and, if so, how.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Constitution Group, based in the Cabinet Office, sits within the wider UK Governance Group which is also made up of the Scotland Office, the Office of the Advocate General and the Wales Office. Close links are also maintained across Whitehall departments in order to ensure constitutional issues are properly considered including in the appropriate Cabinet Committee.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which Cabinet committee has responsibility for addressing constitutional issues.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Constitutional issues are regularly considered by Cabinet and a number of Cabinet sub-Committees. The Social Reform (Home Affairs) sub-Committee and the EU Exit and Trade (Domestic Preparedness, Devolution and Legislation) sub-Committee are the principal Committees at which constitutional issues are considered. A full list of all the Cabinet Committees is attached.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the annual UK aid budget is devoted to funding students from developing nations to study at UK higher education institutions; and what plans there are to increase that proportion.
Answered by Lord Bates
During the financial year 2016-17, DfID programmes supported over 9,000 individuals through tertiary education scholarships, including through the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office also funded 1,838 overseas students through Chevening Scholarships to study at UK universities in 2016-17.
We regularly review our ODA spending to ensure that it is spent as effectively as possible and where need is greatest.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, what plans they have to increase funding for promoting campaigns to encourage students in overseas countries to study in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
The Study UK: Discover You (“Study UK”) campaign led by the British Council, aims to promote UK higher education, attract the brightest and best students to choose the UK and support UK universities in their international objectives. Study UK is a core component of the government’s GREAT Britain campaign (“GREAT”), which showcases the very best of what our whole nation has to offer in order to encourage the world to visit, study and do business with the UK.
Study UK uses digital and face to face activity in key markets to promote the quality and distinctiveness of the UK education offer in the highly competitive international market for globally mobile students. The campaign also promotes the success of international alumni of British universities in their countries and promotes other forms of UK study – for instance, by encouraging international students to study online courses provided by UK universities.
Activity to encouraged overseas students to study UK courses on the online FutureLearn platform led to over 100,000 extra enrolments by overseas students on MOOCs (“Massive Open Online Courses”) provided by UK universities in 2016/17. Students enrolled from 124 different countries. This year, the programme has driven more than 60,000 such new enrolments to date.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Young of Cookham on 16 January (HL4562) and by Lord McNally on 14 June 2010 (HL Deb col WA77), why it was possible for data on uncommenced provisions of Acts of Parliament to be provided for the period from 1997 to 2010 but not for the period since.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Cabinet Office does not hold a central list of uncommenced primary legislation. Given the interest in this topic amongst Noble Lords, I have asked my officials to draw up a note on this issue and place it in the libraries in both Houses of Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the estimated earliest date by which both Houses of Parliament could decant the Palace of Westminster in the event of a decision so to do for the purposes of the restoration and renewal of the Palace; and what is the estimated cost to the public purse for the repair and maintenance of the Palace in the period between now and both Houses decanting.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
Neither House has yet considered the recommendation of the Report of the Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster (House of Lords Paper No. 41, HC 659, Session 2016–17), published in September 2016, that both Houses should leave the Palace temporarily while the essential restoration and renewal work is carried out. The future schedule for the Restoration & Renewal Programme will depend largely on when both Houses take a decision on the preferred delivery option, and on what that decision is. If both Houses accept the Joint Committee’s recommendation, then it will be necessary to acquire, design and fit out temporary accommodation, and to complete the refurbishment of the House of Commons Northern Estate, before decant can take place. There will also be several years of design work, including consultation with Members of both Houses and more widely, which will be followed by a procurement phase for the works. The Joint Committee recommended the establishment, by statute, of an independent Sponsor Board and Delivery Authority to deliver the Programme. Assuming that a decision on the future direction of the Programme can be taken soon, we expect that this work could be completed in time for decant to take place in 2025.
The forecast cost of repair and maintenance of the Palace of Westminster from 2017/18 to 2021/22, the end of the current Medium Term Investment Plan period, is set out in the table below. This includes both planned preventative and reactive maintenance, and current and planned Strategic Estates projects, including a further round of mechanical and electrical engineering work intended to keep the building habitable until 2025.
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Planned preventative & reactive maintenance | £10,950,421 | £10,906,124 | £11,044,424 | £11,366,324 | £10,969,424 |
Current & planned Strategic Estates projects | £82,423,288 | £106,455,026 | £98,110,475 | £35,684,761 | £25,058,596 |
Medium-term mechanical and electrical works | – | £801,903 | £3,494,211 | £18,301,903 | £18,301,903 |
Total | £93,373,709 | £118,163,052 | £112,649,110 | £65,352,988 | £54,329,923 |
Costs include VAT and optimism bias where appropriate, but no allowance has been made for inflation. There is not yet a reliable forecast for routine maintenance beyond the end of the current Medium Term Investment Plan period in 2021/22. It is possible that reactive maintenance costs may rise in future as the condition of the Palace continues to deteriorate.
It is assumed that, as the start date for the Restoration & Renewal Programme approaches, wherever possible, work which can be deferred until the Programme starts will be.