Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the StandWithUs UK University Campus Polling published on 18 May 2024, what assessment they have made of the finding that 29 per cent of surveyed university students would describe the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 as an "understandable act of resistance".
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is deeply concerned by the findings of the StandWithUs UK University Campus Polling.
Antisemitism is unacceptable, and universities must have robust policies and processes in place for preventing and tackling it. Whilst it is entirely right that universities protect freedom of speech and academic freedom on campus, this does not extend to hate, harassment or incitement. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education recently met with Vice Chancellors to discuss what more could be done to address the continued unacceptable level of antisemitism on our campuses.
From August 2025, the Office for Students’ new condition of registration for preventing, addressing and investigating incidents of harassment will take effect and universities will be held to account for their action. Furthermore, under the Prevent duty, the Office for Students monitors and evaluates whether universities and other higher education providers have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism.
The government is also investing £7 million to tackle antisemitism in education, including support for Jewish student welfare and remains committed to ensuring that all students can study in safety and dignity.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the StandWithUs UK University Campus Polling published on 18 May 2024, what assessment they have made of the finding that 38 per cent of university student surveyed think that people who publicly support Israel should expect to face abuse on campus.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is deeply concerned by the findings of the StandWithUs UK University Campus Polling.
Antisemitism is unacceptable, and universities must have robust policies and processes in place for preventing and tackling it. Whilst it is entirely right that universities protect freedom of speech and academic freedom on campus, this does not extend to hate, harassment or incitement. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education recently met with Vice Chancellors to discuss what more could be done to address the continued unacceptable level of antisemitism on our campuses.
From August 2025, the Office for Students’ new condition of registration for preventing, addressing and investigating incidents of harassment will take effect and universities will be held to account for their action. Furthermore, under the Prevent duty, the Office for Students monitors and evaluates whether universities and other higher education providers have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism.
The government is also investing £7 million to tackle antisemitism in education, including support for Jewish student welfare and remains committed to ensuring that all students can study in safety and dignity.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of days of in-person education lost by school pupils in England and Wales as a result of isolating after coming into to contact with a fellow pupil who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department’s goal is to support pupils to attend face to face education, and to reverse the long-term impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on their education.
The department collects information from schools through the daily education setting survey. Schools record and submit data on the following categories:
Full school attendance data is published weekly and includes information on the number of pupils absent due to potential contact with COVID-19 in schools. The latest week’s data can be accessed through the following link, along with each previous week: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak#dataDownloads-1.
Education is a devolved power and the Department does not collect data on Welsh schools. Please contact the Welsh Government (https://gov.wales).
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to publish additional sample test material ahead of the 2017 SATs.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Standards and Testing Agency will not be producing any additional sample tests prior to the 2017 tests. We produced sample tests prior to the 2016 National Curriculum tests to provide exemplification of the new tests. As there will be no further changes to the tests in 2017, schools can now refer to the 2015 sample tests and the 2016 live tests for exemplification of the tests in 2017 and any future tests.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to modify the level of difficulty in the SATs tests for 2017.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are no plans to modify the difficulty of the National Curriculum tests for 2017. The tests are constructed to meet the test specification outlined in the test frameworks.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education has spent the following amounts on iPhones in each year since 2010:
Year | Costs (£) |
2010 | 0 |
2011 | 1,188 |
2012 | 1,836 |
2013 | 0 |
2014 | 31,038 |
In 2011 and 2012 a total of six iPhones were purchased for staff with accessibility requirements where the standard departmental mobile device (Blackberry) would not meet their needs. There was no requirement to purchase any further devices in 2013.
The significant increase in 2014 was due to the implementation of a new mobile working pilot utilising ‘GOOD’ Technology (a secure IT mobility solution) where iPhones were the preferred device and 57 devices were purchased as part of the pilot. Following an evaluation, the pilot has now been discontinued, and the Department is in discussions with Vodafone regarding the return of these devices and recuperation of costs. The above costs include the purchase of an Apple iPhone device with live SIM card. The models purchased were a combination of iPhone 4, 5 and 5S.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to her Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In 2013, 3,954 instant rewards were issued to officials of the Department for Education. The total value of such rewards was £132,140, giving an average value of £33.42.
In 2014 to date (4 November), 4,825 instant rewards have been issued. The total value of instant rewards this year has been £200,245, giving an average value of £41.50.
The instant reward scheme is funded from the staff pay bill (not in addition to it). Each year 0.1% of the pay budget is set aside to pay for instant reward vouchers and any associated tax and National Insurance.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions her Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, the Civil Service Commission has not turned down any requests made by the Department for Education to appoint a Senior Civil Servant by exception.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families on 21 July 2014 to Question 206217.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Freedom of Information requests her Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Quarterly and annual statistics on Freedom of Information requests received by the Department for Education, including the number of requests in which all requested information was released in full, is set out in the table below. This information is published online at:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
Year | Requests received | Resolvable requests [1] | Resolvable requests granted in full |
2010 | 880 | 733 | 549 (75%) |
2011 | 1,149 | 937 | 590 (63%) |
2012 | 1,309 | 1,038 | 686 (66%) |
2013 | 1,759 | 1,354 | 931 (69%) |
2014 (Q1 and Q2) | 961 | 710 | 399 (56%) |
[1] Resolvable – requests in which it was possible to give a substantive decision on whether to release the information being sought; for example, excluding requests where the information sought was not held or further clarification was necessary.