School Census: Pupils’ Nationality
Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Sharples(7 years, 6 months ago)
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Viscount Younger of Leckie
My Lords, the census covers a range of things, and we should be aware that children of foreign nationals can face additional challenges upon starting school in the UK. They are not likely to speak English fluently and may not have been here for the full school choice or application round, so they are more frequently placed in schools that, ideally, they would not choose. The education system they have arrived from may be different from the English system, so they may be behind our expected standards simply because they have yet to cover elements of our curriculum. Understanding nationalities helps us to put the right policies in place to help those children, and there are safeguards in place.
Baroness Sharples (Con)
Can my noble friend confirm that the number of children with English as their second language has risen from 6% to 16% in one year?
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Late Payments
Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Sharples
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The noble Lord makes a good point about the fact that late payment is still very much an issue. In our discussion paper, Building a Responsible Payment Culture, we asked for views on radical options for tackling late payment, including greater legislation. What was clear is that businesses did not want legislation that restricted their freedom of contract, further fines or a Government to collect fines on their behalf, all of which were felt to harm business relationships. That is why we are working to create transparency in payment practices and work with industry to create a more responsible payment culture and, indeed, make some behavioural change.
Baroness Sharples (Con)
Are all government departments paying their bills on time?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The record for government payment is improving the whole time, and I am pleased to say that my own department, BIS, has a 97.3% record. We keep a very strong eye on the stats, and we are very aware of the fact that the public sector has to keep up.