Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to extend entitlement to a late spouse's teacher's pension to remarried surviving spouses of teachers who retired or died before January 2007.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Pensions were introduced for the widows of teachers in 1972. Spousal pensions were then extended to include widowers and civil partners. Up until 2007, funding of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) was on the basis that partner pensions would cease, should the dependent partner remarry or enter a civil partnership.
In 2007, the rules governing survivor pensions were changed to ensure that any pension which becomes payable to a surviving spouse or civil partner, where the member had service in the TPS after 1 January 2007, will be paid for life. There are no plans to retrospectively apply this amendment to those who retired, or otherwise left the TPS, before the regulations were changed.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the exclusion review will make a comparative assessment of exclusion rates of academies and maintained schools.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The externally led review of exclusions practice and implications for pupil groups disproportionately represented in the national statistics, will consider how schools use exclusion and how this impacts on all pupils, but particularly why some groups of children are more likely to be excluded from school. The department will publish full details of the review, including how views can be submitted, in due course.
Statistics on permanent and fixed-period exclusions published in July 2017 “Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England 2015 to 2016” are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2015-to-2016.
The national data tables within this release include exclusion rates for all academies and maintained schools.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2017 to Question 118056, what the timetable is for local authorities to report to her Department whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Department officials have written to all local councils in England asking them to review whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014, and whether any action is necessary to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities. We continue to work with local councils to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2017 to Question 114975 (a) which local authorities commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited during the period January 2010 to April 2014 and (b) how many such tests were conducted.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Department officials have written to all local councils in England asking them to review whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014, and whether any action is necessary to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities. We are continuing to work with local councils to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will require local authorities to write to those affected by the potential manipulation at Trimega in cases in which it may affect child safety and wellbeing decisions.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Officials have written to all local councils in England to ask them to review whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited during the period January 2010 to April 2014, and have requested that they do this by 30 November 2017.
It is unlikely that decisions about the welfare of children will have been taken solely on the basis of toxicology test results. However, we have asked councils to consider whether any action is necessary to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities.
The government has published information for anyone who thinks they have been affected, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forensic-toxicology-tests. Anyone who thinks that they may be affected should contact their local council or seek legal advice from a solicitor or an organisation like Citizens Advice.
With regard to the reviewing of case files involving private employers for the purpose of drug and alcohol testing of their employees, the information in the above hyperlink explains that anyone who believes that they may have been the subject of such tests should contact the party who commissioned the test. They may also wish to consult a legal adviser, their union or professional body, or an organisation like Citizens Advice.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017, Toxicology, HCWS 265, what the timescales are for reviewing case files to identify where test results were relied on by (a) local authorities when making child protection decisions outside the court process and (b) private employers for the purpose of drug and alcohol testing of their employees; and whether people potentially affected by such cases will be informed that their case files are being reviewed.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Officials have written to all local councils in England to ask them to review whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited during the period January 2010 to April 2014, and have requested that they do this by 30 November 2017.
It is unlikely that decisions about the welfare of children will have been taken solely on the basis of toxicology test results. However, we have asked councils to consider whether any action is necessary to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities.
The government has published information for anyone who thinks they have been affected, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forensic-toxicology-tests. Anyone who thinks that they may be affected should contact their local council or seek legal advice from a solicitor or an organisation like Citizens Advice.
With regard to the reviewing of case files involving private employers for the purpose of drug and alcohol testing of their employees, the information in the above hyperlink explains that anyone who believes that they may have been the subject of such tests should contact the party who commissioned the test. They may also wish to consult a legal adviser, their union or professional body, or an organisation like Citizens Advice.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Written Ministerial Statement HCWS265 what the timescale is for establishing whether local authorities commissioned tests from Trimega.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Government officials have written to all local councils in England asking them to review whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited during the period January 2010 to April 2014, and have requested that they do this by 30 November 2017.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish its response to the Home Office public consultation, Reporting and acting on child abuse and neglect; and if she will pay particular regard to mandatory reporting and acting on child sexual abuse and neglect in that response.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The consultation 'Reporting and acting on child abuse and neglect' sought views on a mandatory duty to report child abuse and neglect and an alternative duty focused on taking appropriate action, as well as the effects of embedding current government reforms. The consultation was a broad exercise which invited views on a range of different models, including the potential scope of any duty and the types of abuse such a duty might pertain to.
Tackling both child sexual abuse and neglect remains a key focus of the government’s reforms to create a world class child protection system, where the needs of individual children are identified early and they get the help and support they require as soon as possible to keep them safe.
The government has committed to laying a report before Parliament on the outcome of the consultation. Submissions are being considered and a government response will be published in due course. Just as it was right to consider in depth the evidence around these questions, it is important that we apply equally careful consideration to formulating our response in such a complex policy area, with such vitally important implications for the safety and welfare of children.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the gender split is in University Technical Colleges in (a) Sheffield and (b) England and Wales among students.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The ‘schools, pupils and their characteristics’ Statistical First Release contains data on the gender split in schools in the 2016/2017 academic year and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2017.
This data only covers schools in England, as education is a devolved matter. There are no University Technical Colleges (UTCs) in Wales.
The data for University Technical Colleges show the following:
a) Sheffield
| Boys | Girls |
UTC Sheffield (opened 2013) | 365 | 80 |
UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park (opened 2016) | 65 | 65 |
Total | 430 | 145 |
b) England
Number of UTCs | 48 |
Boys | 8,158 |
Girls | 2,874 |
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total payroll cost of her Department's Extended Ministerial Office was; and how many civil servants worked in that office during its existence.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Secretary of State’s Extended Ministerial Office has a payroll cost of £732,968.45 (including National Insurance and pension contributions) from July 2015 to March 2017.
A total of 9 civil servants have worked in the Extended Ministerial Office during its existence, with no more than 7 in post at any one time.