Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding of the Carers Trust report Caring and classes: the education gap for young carers, published in September, that almost a quarter of young carers said there is “no support at all” for young carers in their school, college or university.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department appreciates the ongoing efforts of the Carers Trust in supporting carers of all ages across the UK. Their recent report, ‘Caring and Classes: The Education Gap for Young Carers’, examines the support available to young and young adult carers in educational settings and we have noted its findings.
This government is committed to breaking down the barriers of opportunity for all young people, including young carers who provide a critical role caring for their loved ones and are all too often hidden from view.
Young carers were added to the school census in the 2022/23 academic year. This change has raised awareness and their profile and, for the first time, provided hard data on both the numbers of young carers and their education, including data cited by the Carers Trust. The last annual spring census collection had 72% of schools recording zero young carers, which is an improvement on 2023 where it was 79%.
As this is a new data collection, the department expects the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. All schools, except nurseries, must send this information as part of the spring school census, though the recording and handling of the information is at the school’s discretion. We will continue to monitor the quality of data on young carers that is collected via the school register, for consideration to include in the daily data collection in the future.
Ofsted has committed to developing and consulting upon a revised schools’ inspection framework for September 2025. This will support the new school report card, which will also be in place from that time. A consultation on the framework and report card is scheduled to launch early in the new year. The department and Ofsted are engaging closely to take this forward and will consider how schools are to be assessed in future in terms of their contribution to inclusion, bearing in mind the government’s mission to ensure that all children, including young carers, can achieve and thrive at school.
The Children’s Social Care National Framework, which was issued in December 2023, is statutory guidance for local authorities. It provides clarity on the outcomes that leaders and practitioners should achieve when supporting children, young people and families, including in the identification and assessment of support for young carers. Safeguarding partners, and other relevant agencies including education, should read and engage with the National Framework as they have an important role in supportive positive outcomes and improving access to opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to list young carers separately in daily school attendance reporting in order to assess the impact of caring on school attendance.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department appreciates the ongoing efforts of the Carers Trust in supporting carers of all ages across the UK. Their recent report, ‘Caring and Classes: The Education Gap for Young Carers’, examines the support available to young and young adult carers in educational settings and we have noted its findings.
This government is committed to breaking down the barriers of opportunity for all young people, including young carers who provide a critical role caring for their loved ones and are all too often hidden from view.
Young carers were added to the school census in the 2022/23 academic year. This change has raised awareness and their profile and, for the first time, provided hard data on both the numbers of young carers and their education, including data cited by the Carers Trust. The last annual spring census collection had 72% of schools recording zero young carers, which is an improvement on 2023 where it was 79%.
As this is a new data collection, the department expects the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. All schools, except nurseries, must send this information as part of the spring school census, though the recording and handling of the information is at the school’s discretion. We will continue to monitor the quality of data on young carers that is collected via the school register, for consideration to include in the daily data collection in the future.
Ofsted has committed to developing and consulting upon a revised schools’ inspection framework for September 2025. This will support the new school report card, which will also be in place from that time. A consultation on the framework and report card is scheduled to launch early in the new year. The department and Ofsted are engaging closely to take this forward and will consider how schools are to be assessed in future in terms of their contribution to inclusion, bearing in mind the government’s mission to ensure that all children, including young carers, can achieve and thrive at school.
The Children’s Social Care National Framework, which was issued in December 2023, is statutory guidance for local authorities. It provides clarity on the outcomes that leaders and practitioners should achieve when supporting children, young people and families, including in the identification and assessment of support for young carers. Safeguarding partners, and other relevant agencies including education, should read and engage with the National Framework as they have an important role in supportive positive outcomes and improving access to opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether NATS Holdings will be required to compensate airlines for the consequences of its IT failure last year.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government regrets the NATS operational failure and the impact this had on airlines and their customers. The Independent Review into this incident has now concluded and lessons will be learned. NATS is regulated against service targets set by the Civil Aviation Authority. There are annual incentives for NATS linked to its performance so if this falls below target levels it may incur penalties. However, NATS is not penalised for individual incidents such as the technical failure of August 2023.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to make it a criminal offence to re-sell driving test slots.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
It is currently not a criminal offence to re-sell driving test slots.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests, often at significant profit. The agency encourages all customers to book a test through the official channel on GOV.UK where customers can book, change and cancel tests. The agency does not license any service to resell test slots.
DVSA operates an online booking service (OBS) for approved driving instructors (ADI) and trainers so that they can book and manage driving and riding tests for their pupils. DVSA has made changes to the OBS by stopping automatic online registrations to use the service, ensuring each company that registers employs an ADI and removing access for any companies not linked to driving instructors.
In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to reduce the selling of tests for profit. Since then, the agency has issued 327 warnings, 779 suspensions, and closed 727 business accounts for misuse of its booking service.
DVSA is deploying enhanced bot protection to stop automated systems from buying up test slots unfairly.
DVSA’s work in this area is continuing and will continue to take steps to address these practices.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when minimum competence standards will be introduced for the management of high-risk residential buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Under the Building Safety Act 2022, every higher-risk occupied building must have at least one named accountable person, who is responsible for managing the fire and structural safety for the building. Accountable persons must have either the relevant competence or appoint someone with the relevant competence to help carry out their duties.
The Building Safety Regulator has published guidance to support accountable persons and this guidance is available on their website. The British Standards Institution (BSI) published standard (PAS 8673) also sets out guidance on competence requirements for the safe management of residential buildings
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential merits of a voucher scheme to encourage cycle ownership for people on low incomes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government has not made a detailed assessment of the costs and benefits of such a scheme but will consider it carefully as it develops its future plans for active travel.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Crown Estate has notified the Treasury of any risks to its reputation, further to section 15.1 of the Treasury's Framework Document: The Crown Estate, published in June 2023.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Crown Estate provides regular updates to the Treasury on all matters of its business in line with its obligations set out in the Framework Document 2023. This includes notifying Treasury officials of any potential risks to its reputation during regular business engagement.
The Crown Estate meet with Treasury officials on a regular basis, including 6-weekly meetings to discuss business performance. Outside of performance meetings, there are open channels of communications between officials where information is openly shared in a timely manner.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they expect the draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury and the Crown Estates to be published before consideration of the Crown Estates Bill is concluded in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Yes. As committed at Second Reading of the Crown Estate Bill, the Government will publish a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury and The Crown Estate by November. This will be before Report stage of the Bill in the House of Lords.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cars in the Government Car Service are (1) fully electric, (2) hybrid, and (3) petrol or diesel.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government Car Service currently has the following number of vehicles in its operational fleet:
36 fully electric.
51 Hybrid.
20 Petrol or Diesel.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to proceed with the policy of street votes authorised by Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is still reviewing its policy inheritance from the last government, including in relation to street votes, we have announced on the 8 and 30 July the first steps we are taking to fix the planning system and unlock new housing. The Government will set out its plans for further planning reform in due course.