Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have received any formal request or demand from the government of Ireland to send any asylum applicants back to the UK from the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Irish Department of Justice for information sharing to preserve and enhance the operation of the Common Travel Area. This enables data sharing about asylum seekers.
In addition to this, in 2020 we agreed operational arrangements which allow for the return and readmission of asylum seekers where this is agreed by both participants. This is not a legally binding agreement and Ireland has not returned anyone to the UK under these arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum applicants have been returned to the UK from the EU in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
There have been no returns from the EU to the UK.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to ensure their targets for additional childcare provision are met for September 2024 and September 2025, given the National Audit Office report into early years entitlements published on 24 April.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government exceeded expectations for the first stage of the rollout to working parents of two year olds in April, with over 210,000 children accessing funded places to date, and all local authorities confirming that they are able to meet parental demand.
The department is confident that parental demand will be met for the next steps of the rollout, as it was in April.
The department has a number of interventions in place to support local authorities to deliver for September 2024 and September 2025, including £12 million delivery support funding and support through the department’s delivery support contractor, Childcare Works.
The department is also taking action to support the childcare market to expand to meet estimated demand from September 2024 and September 2025. This includes significantly increasing rates paid to providers for government funded hours and confirming an additional £500 million to provide certainty that rates will increase in line with cost pressures in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years. The department has also launched a nationwide recruitment campaign, introduced a package of flexibilities to help manage staffing pressures, and allocated £100 million of capital investment to increase physical space in nurseries and other childcare settings.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the resource funding provided in the Northern Ireland Block Grant for 2024–2025 falls below a needs-based assessment of funding.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As committed to in the 2024 Northern Ireland Executive restoration financial package, the UK Government will also agree a Fiscal Framework with the Northern Ireland Executive which will outline Northern Ireland’s long-term funding arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultations have taken place with the childcare and early years sectors regarding ways to expand childcare provision.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is delivering the largest expansion of childcare in England’s history. Already, over 210,000 two year olds are confirmed to have places for 15 hours a week of free childcare, as part of the largest ever expansion of childcare in England, and the rates for the new entitlements have been independently confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) to be well above market rates. The department will continue to support the sector’s expansion with £400 million of additional funding provided to uplift hourly rates next year and a guarantee that rates will increase in line with cost pressures for two years after that.
As part of the expansion, the department has held a number of consultations with the sector, including on proposals to support childminders and childminder agencies (closes 10 May) and on an experience-based route for early years practitioners (closes 20 May). The department is also consulting on proposed changes to safeguarding requirements in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework (closes 17 June). The department has also consulted on the EYFS to seek views on a range of proposals to remove burdens and to offer greater flexibility for providers within the EYFS while maintaining quality and safety standards, which included changes to staff:child ratios. The department is considering all responses as part of ongoing policy development.
The number of childcare places has increased by 40,000 in 2023 compared with 2018. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare, including supporting them through the department’s childcare delivery support contract where appropriate. The department is in regular contact with all local authorities and none of them are reporting that they have insufficient places to meet local demand.
On top of funding reforms, the department is providing significant support for local authorities to deliver the early years expansion from April, such as:
The department will continue to work closely with the sector on the implementation of these reforms at every stage. In order to make sure there are enough places across the country for everyone that needs them, the department has already begun investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase hourly funding rates and is allocating £100 million in capital funding for more early years and wrapround places and spaces.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government by how much, and by what percentage, (1) resource funding, and (2) capital funding for the Northern Ireland Block Grant has increased from 2023–2024 to 2024–2025.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
To accurately compare the Northern Ireland Executive's (NIE’s) funding between years, it is important to compare the same point in the financial year.
The most comparable figures are the 2021 Spending Review settlement for the NIE, which can be found in Table 4.19 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61c495ebe90e07196d2b8383/Budget_AB2021_Print.pdf
The (NIE) receives in-year funding through the operation of the Barnett Formula and non-Barnett funding provided at fiscal events and Main and Supplementary Estimates.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the proposed increase in early years childcare provision could lead to a widening of the attainment gap.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The most recent Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results in 2022/23 found 67.2% of children had a good level of development, which is an increase of around 2 percentage points compared to the previous year. Additionally, the percentage of disadvantaged children with a good level of development had increased by 2.5 percentage points and the gap with their peers had narrowed by at least 0.5 percentage points.
The department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the childcare entitlements expansion, which will explore the effects of the expansion on children’s development. Results will be made available on GOV.UK in due course. This is in addition to the existing significant programme of monitoring that includes pulse surveys with early years providers, polling with parents and annual large-scale surveys of providers and parents. The department will also continue to use the existing body of evidence from studies such as the Study of Early Education and Development and Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education to inform its work.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evaluation, if any, they are undertaking of pilot projects by schools of extending the length of the school day.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
All schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the content, structure and duration of their school day to best support their pupils’ education. The government has however set a non-statutory expectation that all state-funded mainstream schools will deliver at least a 32.5 hour school week by September 2024. Most schools already meet this expectation.
Extending the compulsory school day, or offering enrichment activities around the school day, may help children, particularly the most disadvantaged, to improve attainment, social skills and raise aspirations. It may also help parents with childcare. Should a school be considering making changes to the duration of its day, it should act reasonably and consider the impact on those affected, including pupils, parents and teachers.
The government is not providing funding for, nor conducting evaluation of, pilot projects for schools looking to extend the length of the school day. The department is aware of schools taking innovative approaches to structuring their school day and is always interested to hear from schools who are trialling new approaches.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they are providing for pilot projects for schools to assess the feasibility of extending the school day.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
All schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the content, structure and duration of their school day to best support their pupils’ education. The government has however set a non-statutory expectation that all state-funded mainstream schools will deliver at least a 32.5 hour school week by September 2024. Most schools already meet this expectation.
Extending the compulsory school day, or offering enrichment activities around the school day, may help children, particularly the most disadvantaged, to improve attainment, social skills and raise aspirations. It may also help parents with childcare. Should a school be considering making changes to the duration of its day, it should act reasonably and consider the impact on those affected, including pupils, parents and teachers.
The government is not providing funding for, nor conducting evaluation of, pilot projects for schools looking to extend the length of the school day. The department is aware of schools taking innovative approaches to structuring their school day and is always interested to hear from schools who are trialling new approaches.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what level of financial commitment they have made to the Casement Park rebuilding project.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
EURO 2028 is a fantastic opportunity for the UK and Ireland to showcase world-class sport as hosts.
The UK Government is continuing to work closely with the Department for Communities regarding the cost and delivery of Casement Park whilst also having proper regard for value for money for the taxpayer. We remain committed to ensuring EURO 2028 leaves a lasting legacy across the UK.