Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to re-evaluate the quality of the work provided by music education hubs.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The work of music education hubs is evaluated in an annual report by Birmingham City University and published by Arts Council England. The most recent report, attached, was published in October 2018. It shows that the hubs taught over 700,000 children to play a musical instrument, as part of whole class ensemble teaching, in 2016-17. The hubs provided individual lessons for over 157,000 children, lessons in small groups for over 238,000 children and lessons in larger groups for over 145,000 children. They also supported or delivered over 16,000 musical ensembles.
We are refreshing the National Plan for Music Education and, as part of this, we will be considering the roles of the music education hubs and how best their work should be evaluated.
Earlier this year, we announced additional funding for music education hubs, providing them with an extra £490,000 for 2018-19 and an additional £840,000 for 2019-20. The increases in funding recognise a range of pressures on hubs, including pressures linked to teacher pay. The department’s public consultation to gather evidence on the impact of increased contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) for all TPS employers, which included the initial proposal to fund music education hubs for 2019-20, closed on 12 February 2019. Final funding decisions will be made in due course when consultation evidence has been reviewed. Funding for music education hubs beyond March 2020 is a matter for the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the work of music education hubs.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The work of music education hubs is evaluated in an annual report by Birmingham City University and published by Arts Council England. The most recent report, attached, was published in October 2018. It shows that the hubs taught over 700,000 children to play a musical instrument, as part of whole class ensemble teaching, in 2016-17. The hubs provided individual lessons for over 157,000 children, lessons in small groups for over 238,000 children and lessons in larger groups for over 145,000 children. They also supported or delivered over 16,000 musical ensembles.
We are refreshing the National Plan for Music Education and, as part of this, we will be considering the roles of the music education hubs and how best their work should be evaluated.
Earlier this year, we announced additional funding for music education hubs, providing them with an extra £490,000 for 2018-19 and an additional £840,000 for 2019-20. The increases in funding recognise a range of pressures on hubs, including pressures linked to teacher pay. The department’s public consultation to gather evidence on the impact of increased contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) for all TPS employers, which included the initial proposal to fund music education hubs for 2019-20, closed on 12 February 2019. Final funding decisions will be made in due course when consultation evidence has been reviewed. Funding for music education hubs beyond March 2020 is a matter for the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total number of elected local councillors, at all levels of local government, in Wales in (1) 1988, (2) 1998, (3) 2008, and (4) 2018.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total number of elected councillors, at all levels of local government, in England in (1) 1988, (2) 1998, (3) 2008, and (4) 2018.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many successful applicants for Tier 1 (Investor) visas, between 2008 and 2015 inclusive, have been classified then or since as politically-exposed persons.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
I am sorry but the Home Office does not hold the specific information in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many residence permits granted to Tier 1 (Investor) visa applicants have been rescinded since 2008; and on what grounds.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
I am sorry but the Home Office does not hold the specific information in the format requested. To obtain it would involve interrogating individual case records, incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Tier 1 (Investor) visa applications have been rejected since the tightening of conditions for acceptance in 2014–15.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Information on the numbers of grants, refusals, withdrawals and lapsed cases for Tier 1 (Investor) visa applications is published quarterly, latest data in the Home Office’s ‘Immigration Statistics, July – September 2016’, table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1), available from the GOV.UK website and attached to this answer.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Tier 1 (Investor) visa applications were rejected between 2008 and 2015.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Information on the numbers of grants, refusals, withdrawals and lapsed cases for Tier 1 (Investor) visa applications is published quarterly, latest data in the Home Office’s ‘Immigration Statistics, July – September 2016’, table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1), available from the GOV.UK website and attached to this answer.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to mark the centenary of the independence of the Baltic states, and in particular the role played by the Royal Navy in protecting Estonia and its neighbours from the Soviet Navy.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Preparations are underway for the centenary celebrations in the Baltic States. The Royal Navy played a significant role in the war for independence in Estonia and Latvia and we hope the Senior Service will be able to feature in the 2018 and 2019 celebrations. The British Army and Royal Air Force will also be involved in marking these celebrations. The UK Government will be represented at centenary events in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will refer to any non-commercial criteria in calculating the economic rent to be charged to HM Treasury, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Cabinet Office, for their occupation of historic buildings in Whitehall.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Treasury does not pay an economic rent for its occupation of 1 Horse Guards Road and therefore non-commercial criteria are not applied. HM Treasury's occupation of the building is financed via a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract, let on the commercial market, essentially a commercial leaseback arrangement for 35 years.
No information is held by HM Treasury regarding the occupation of historic buildings in Whitehall by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the Cabinet Office.