Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who authorised the cancellation of the High Commissioner to Mauritius' annual party to mark Her Majesty the Queen's official birthday on 4 June; and why that party was cancelled.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Queen's Birthday Parties are a celebration of Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday. They are an opportunity to celebrate the relationships between the UK and other countries.
Coming so soon after the unjustified and incendiary remarks made about the UK by the Mauritian Prime Minister at the United Nations General Assembly, it would not have been appropriate to have held one this year. A decision to cancel Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday Party was taken at Ministerial level.
We have no doubt about our sovereignty over British Indian Ocean Territory, which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814. We have made a long-standing commitment to cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes. We stand by that commitment.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the cancellation of the High Commissioner to Mauritius' annual party to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's official birthday on reaching a settlement on the issues arising from the UN General Assembly resolution 73/295 Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 of 22 May which demanded that the UK "withdraw its colonial administration from the Chagos Archipelago unconditionally within a period of no more than six months from adoption of the present resolution."
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Queen's Birthday Parties are a celebration of Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday. They are an opportunity to celebrate the relationships between the UK and other countries.
Coming so soon after the unjustified and incendiary remarks made about the UK by the Mauritian Prime Minister at the United Nations General Assembly, it would not have been appropriate to have held one this year. A decision to cancel Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday Party was taken at Ministerial level.
We have no doubt about our sovereignty over British Indian Ocean Territory, which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814. We have made a long-standing commitment to cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes. We stand by that commitment.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners have been Released on Temporary Licence to enable them to access higher and further education in the community in each of the last three academic years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
It is not possible, except at disproportionate cost, to establish the number of prisoners who have been released on ROTL to allow access to higher and further education in each of the last three years.
There are four categories of ROTL: Resettlement Day Release (RDR), Resettlement Overnight Release (ROR), Special Purpose Licence (SPL) and Childcare Resettlement Licence (CRL). Prisons are required to record the reasons for each release on temporary licence choosing from the following options. They are not required to specify the level of education:
(RDR) Education or Training
(RDR) Paid Work - Retail and Wholesale
(RDR) Paid Work – Manufacturing
(RDR) Paid Work - Catering and hospitality
(RDR) Paid Work - Transportation and storage
(RDR) Paid Work - Construction and recycling
(RDR) Paid Work - IT and communication
(RDR) Paid Work - Agriculture and horticulture
(RDR) Paid Work - Other
(RDR) Unpaid Work - Retail and Wholesale
(RDR) Unpaid Work – Manufacturing
(RDR) Unpaid Work - Catering and hospitality
(RDR) Unpaid Work - Transportation and storage
(RDR) Unpaid Work - Construction and recycling
(RDR) Unpaid Work - IT and communication
(RDR) Unpaid Work - Agriculture and horticulture
(RDR) Unpaid Work - Other
(RDR) Prisoner Apprenticeships Pathway
(RDR) Maintain Family Ties
(RDR) Outside Prison Activities
(RDR) Accommodation Related
(RDR) Other RDR Linked to Sentence/Resettlement Plan
(ROR) Resettlement Overnight Release
(SPL) Funeral
(SPL) Visit Dying Relative
(SPL) Medical/Dental Inpatient Appointment
(SPL) Medical/Dental Outpatient Appointment
(SPL) Other Compassionate Reason
(SPL) Court/Legal/Police/Prison Transfer
(CRL) Childcare Resettlement Licence
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care, Education, and Housing, Communities and Local Government have discussed, or plan to discuss the findings of the Children's Commissioner for England's report We need to talk: Access to speech and language therapy, published on 11 June.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Colleagues across different Departments meet frequently to discuss a range of topics relating to child wellbeing. The Government recognises that speech, language and communication skills are a primary indicator of child wellbeing and will continue to provide strategic leadership across education, health and social care to narrow inequalities.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to conduct an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the appearance before an employment tribunal of Prison Officer Ben Plaistow of HMP Woodhill.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
We strongly condemn homophobia, or any other kind of discrimination, in our prisons. As a result of the issues raised in and by the Tribunal a formal internal investigation is underway. This is being undertaken by a senior manager outside the prisons line management chain. Once that has concluded the interim Director General of HM Prisons will consider what action, including potentially disciplinary action, may be appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that speech and language therapists are included in the trailblazer areas anticipated in the Green Paper Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision, published on 25 July.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
We will seek to use the trailblazer programme as the opportunity to link mental health support teams within schools and colleges, with the range of professionals already working with young people, including speech and language therapists where appropriate. The design of the new mental health support teams should in particular enable better joint working between health and education services, as well as working with other services.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop a clear definition of joint commissioning for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs; and what discussions they have had with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and I CAN on that issue.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There are currently no plans to introduce a single model of joint commissioning for children and young people with speech, communication and language needs. However, we monitor the effectiveness of local joint arrangements via a rolling programme of inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. These began in 2016, and over five years, will visit every local area, and assess how well commissioners work together to support children and young people with special educational needs.
The Government is working with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and I CAN through the Expert Advisory Group established by Public Health England and the Department for Education, as part of the latter’s Social Mobility Action Plan for Education, ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’.
A model speech, language and communication pathway for services for children aged 0-5 years, built on the best evidence and experience of implementation in practice, is currently in development. This will encourage joint commissioning and service provision.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 5 June (HL8079) on speech and language disorders, when NHS England’s review of the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool will be completed; and whether the findings of that review will be made publicly available.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool Quality Assurance Audit is due to complete by the end of January 2019. It was commissioned as an internal review by NHS England to support their functioning as a commissioner and as such will not be published.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the findings of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills in her 2017–18 Annual Report in relation to provision for children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND); and what plans they have to improve (1) identification of SEND, and (2) outcomes for those who do not quite meet the threshold for an education, health and care plan.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We are grateful to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills for her 2017 to 2018 Annual Report and will carefully consider the findings.
Local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspections and revisits carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission are intended to support improvement and provide reassurance to families that areas will be held to account. They have become a significant driver of improvement in the system and have identified a number of strengths around identification of needs and support for those children without an education, health and care (EHC) plan. We are working with partners - including NHS England - to spread this effective practice more widely.
The statutory SEND Code of Practice sets out high expectations of schools about how they identify and meet the special educational needs (SEN) of their pupils. This guidance is attached.
We have made clear through the framework for initial teacher training (ITT) that it should equip trainees to identify the needs of all pupils and make provision for them, including seeking the advice of colleagues with specialist knowledge and experience. We are currently undertaking an audit of university-based and school-based providers of ITT which we will use to produce a best practice guide.
Schools must ensure that staff can meet the needs of children with SEND, including those without EHC plans, as part of their approach to school improvement, professional development and performance management. All schools (including academies and free schools) must also have a SEN co-ordinator who must hold qualified teacher status and, where required, must achieve the master’s level national award in SEN co-ordination within three years of being appointed.
We have a contract with the Whole School SEND Consortium, led by the National Association for SEN, to provide support to the SEND schools’ workforce. The consortium has produced resources and training to enable schools to review their SEND provision and to ensure they can identify and meet the needs of pupils effectively. Additionally, the department has funded a range of organisations to develop specialist resources and training to support teachers to identify and effectively meet the needs of pupils with autism; dyslexia and specific learning difficulties; speech, language and communication needs; sensory impairments and physical disabilities. All the materials funded by the department are hosted on the SEND gateway, an online portal which offers education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for identifying and meeting the needs of children with SEND.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) drug, and (2) alcohol rehabilitation services are currently commissioned in each prison in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England does not hold the information requested centrally.
NHS England is responsible for commissioning healthcare in all prisons in England. This includes integrated substance misuse services.
Commissioning of primary healthcare, mental health and substance misuse services is carried out by local Health and Justice commissioning teams, of which there are 10 across England.
The Welsh Assembly Government and Local Health Boards are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in public sector prisons in Wales.