Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 7 February (HL5080), which local authorities in England have given a clear commitment to amend the Schools Admission Code to give children adopted from overseas the same entitlement for priority school admission as those adopted from care in England, as set out in the letter from the Minister for School Standards; and in which local authorities this is now the practice.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In December of last year the department announced that when the opportunity arises, we intend to amend the School Admissions Code to require admission authorities to give children adopted from state care outside of England, highest priority for admission into school.
Any changes to the School Admissions Code will require a full statutory process, including a public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny. They must be considered in the context of competing pressures on the parliamentary timetable.
Until such time as we are able to make the relevant changes to the Code, we have asked admission authorities to use their current flexibilities in setting their own admission arrangements, to grant internationally adopted children second highest admissions priority in their oversubscription criteria.
School admission arrangements are agreed locally and we do not collect information on them. Consequently, the information requested on which admission authorities have adopted these changes, is not held centrally and we have not made an assessment of the changes.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have held in the last year with Facebook and other social media companies about online grooming of children; and with what outcomes.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government has been working closely with tech companies and tackling online grooming as a form of child sexual exploitation is a priority for the Home Secretary.
To address the progress of what social media companies are doing about online grooming, the Home Secretary visited the US in February 2018 and November 2017 and met with social media companies to discuss what they are doing to prevent child sexual abuse material on their platforms.
Additionally, Facebook are a member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance Board. The Board meets bi-annually, and most recently launched the Global Threat Assessment on 14th February 2018, highlighting the changing nature of the online threat to children.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what restrictions are imposed by regulation on the eligibility of overseas nationals, whether or not they are citizens of EU member states, (1) to start businesses in the UK, and (2) to serve as directors of such companies.
Answered by Lord Henley
There are no regulatory restrictions on overseas nationals registering a company in the UK or serving as directors on UK registered companies. However, all UK registered companies must have a registered office that is based in the UK and directors of UK registered companies must be at least 16 years old and not disqualified or bankrupt.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 15 November 2017 (HL2833), when children adopted from abroad will have access to the educational entitlements referenced in the answer; and whether they will publish the letter from the Minister of State for School Standards sent to local authorities in England on the subject.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Educational entitlements for children adopted from outside of England remain under consideration. We have not set a timetable for any changes to educational entitlements but have given a clear commitment to amend the School Admissions Code, to give children adopted from care overseas the same entitlement for priority school admission as those adopted from care in England, at the earliest opportunity. I will place a copy of the letter from my right hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards, in the Library of both Houses.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what specific provision is available from their resources, and local government resources, for children of school age adopted from abroad but at school in England; and in which respects that provision differs from the provision for adopted children who were born in the UK.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Previously looked after children adopted in England retain the educational entitlements they had when they were looked after. The entitlements are: a free early education place from the age of two, the early years’ pupil premium, the pupil premium plus and priority admission to school. Children adopted from abroad are not currently eligible for these entitlements. However, the government is currently considering the entitlements of children adopted from care outside England.
From April 2018, previously looked after children adopted from care in England and those adopted from an equivalent form of care outside of England will have access to support and advice from their local council’s Virtual School Head and from their school’s designated teacher for looked after children.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of non-white officers, including Second Lieutenant Walter Tull, to the regular Brisih army in the First world War.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
There is a long tradition of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals serving in the British Armed Forces. They have served with great courage and distinction, and provided an important contribution in defending the UK, both at home and abroad, across many conflicts including the First World War.
At the time of Second Lieutenant Tull's death, the Military Cross could not be awarded posthumously. Although this rule was changed in 1979, this change does not apply retrospectively and there are no plans to change policy. This is in no way a reflection on the bravery and leadership shown by Lieutenant Tull.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans for the posthumous award of the Military Cross to Second Lieutenant Walter Tull, killed on 25 March 1918 during the last German offensive of the First World War.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
There is a long tradition of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals serving in the British Armed Forces. They have served with great courage and distinction, and provided an important contribution in defending the UK, both at home and abroad, across many conflicts including the First World War.
At the time of Second Lieutenant Tull's death, the Military Cross could not be awarded posthumously. Although this rule was changed in 1979, this change does not apply retrospectively and there are no plans to change policy. This is in no way a reflection on the bravery and leadership shown by Lieutenant Tull.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate (1) they, and (2) the International Labour Organisation, have made of the number of (a) deaths, and (b) serious injuries, which have occurred on stadium and hotel building sites in Qatar in the last two calendar years.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government is aware of the death of five construction workers over the past two years – of which two were workplace accidents on world cup building sites, and the other three were health-related. We do not have any figures for serious injuries and do not estimate them.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the average per capita gross annual pay in each of the last five years, broken down by electoral division in the 23 June 2016 referendum.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the average per capita annual PAYE receipts in each of the last five years, broken down by electoral division in the 23 June 2016 referendum.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Analysis of income tax liabilities by region is published in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) statistics table 3.15 – “Income and tax by Parliamentary Constituency”, which is available on the gov.uk website[i].
This liabilities table relates to income tax whether collected through PAYE or another mechanism (such as Self-Assessment). Furthermore, the liabilities table excludes Class 1 National Insurance Contributions which are collected through PAYE.
HMRC does not hold information on all PAYE receipts broken down by parliamentary constituency.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-and-tax-by-parliamentary-constituency-2010-to-2011