Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many schools registered to deliver language intervention programmes in (1) 2021, (2) 2022, and (3) 2023, and how many completed the full work programme in each of those years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department works with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to support building the evidence base for early language interventions. In July 2024, the department announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme (two thirds of English state primary schools) would continue for the 2024/25 academic year. NELI is the most robustly evidenced early language programme in the UK, helping children who need extra support with their speech and language development to make four months of additional progress and seven months for those on free school meals.
To support early language skills, the department has invested over £20 million in NELI. The department does not hold the exact number of children who have completed NELI since 2020, but an estimate is based on the data included in EEF’s 'NELI Scale-up: Evaluation Report - Year 2', as attached. The programme has screened more than 650,000 children in the last four years and supported more than 210,000 four and five-year-olds since the pandemic. Broken down by academic year, this is:
2020/21: 35,000
2021/22: 59,000
2022/23: 58,000
2023/24: 59,000
The Stronger Practice Hubs, which provide advice, share good practice and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners, have also collaborated with the EEF to fund and make places available on several early language programmes. This is helping to strengthen and add to the evidence base of early years professional development programmes. The department does not hold data on the number of children who have benefitted from these programmes.
The number of new schools who registered to deliver NELI in each academic year since 2020 are as follows:
2020/21: 6,668
2021/22: 4,418
2022/23: 26
2023/24: no new school registration undertaken
For registered schools, the government has continued to fund the intervention so that schools can deliver the programme to new cohorts of reception children, where they are identified with below or well-below average language levels. We do not hold figures on how many of these schools completed the full work programme in each of those years.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children have completed language intervention programmes each year since such programmes were first funded by the Government in 2021.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department works with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to support building the evidence base for early language interventions. In July 2024, the department announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme (two thirds of English state primary schools) would continue for the 2024/25 academic year. NELI is the most robustly evidenced early language programme in the UK, helping children who need extra support with their speech and language development to make four months of additional progress and seven months for those on free school meals.
To support early language skills, the department has invested over £20 million in NELI. The department does not hold the exact number of children who have completed NELI since 2020, but an estimate is based on the data included in EEF’s 'NELI Scale-up: Evaluation Report - Year 2', as attached. The programme has screened more than 650,000 children in the last four years and supported more than 210,000 four and five-year-olds since the pandemic. Broken down by academic year, this is:
2020/21: 35,000
2021/22: 59,000
2022/23: 58,000
2023/24: 59,000
The Stronger Practice Hubs, which provide advice, share good practice and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners, have also collaborated with the EEF to fund and make places available on several early language programmes. This is helping to strengthen and add to the evidence base of early years professional development programmes. The department does not hold data on the number of children who have benefitted from these programmes.
The number of new schools who registered to deliver NELI in each academic year since 2020 are as follows:
2020/21: 6,668
2021/22: 4,418
2022/23: 26
2023/24: no new school registration undertaken
For registered schools, the government has continued to fund the intervention so that schools can deliver the programme to new cohorts of reception children, where they are identified with below or well-below average language levels. We do not hold figures on how many of these schools completed the full work programme in each of those years.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government which providers of language intervention programmes for schools they support with funding.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department works with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to support building the evidence base for early language interventions. In July 2024, the department announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme (two thirds of English state primary schools) would continue for the 2024/25 academic year. NELI is the most robustly evidenced early language programme in the UK, helping children who need extra support with their speech and language development to make four months of additional progress and seven months for those on free school meals.
To support early language skills, the department has invested over £20 million in NELI. The department does not hold the exact number of children who have completed NELI since 2020, but an estimate is based on the data included in EEF’s 'NELI Scale-up: Evaluation Report - Year 2', as attached. The programme has screened more than 650,000 children in the last four years and supported more than 210,000 four and five-year-olds since the pandemic. Broken down by academic year, this is:
2020/21: 35,000
2021/22: 59,000
2022/23: 58,000
2023/24: 59,000
The Stronger Practice Hubs, which provide advice, share good practice and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners, have also collaborated with the EEF to fund and make places available on several early language programmes. This is helping to strengthen and add to the evidence base of early years professional development programmes. The department does not hold data on the number of children who have benefitted from these programmes.
The number of new schools who registered to deliver NELI in each academic year since 2020 are as follows:
2020/21: 6,668
2021/22: 4,418
2022/23: 26
2023/24: no new school registration undertaken
For registered schools, the government has continued to fund the intervention so that schools can deliver the programme to new cohorts of reception children, where they are identified with below or well-below average language levels. We do not hold figures on how many of these schools completed the full work programme in each of those years.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential role of rural taxi services in reducing pressure on bus services in low-population areas of the country, thereby improving environmental performance.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Taxi and private hire vehicle policy is a devolved matter in all UK nations. The role the trade can play in providing flexible transport services, especially in rural areas, is recognised in Department for Transport guidance issued to licensing authorities in England.
The Rural Mobility Fund demand responsive transport (DRT) minibus pilot, currently underway in 14 different local authorities, is exploring whether DRT can provide a solution in rural and suburban areas, either alone or in conjunction with other services. A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation process is in place, consisting of a process evaluation and an impact evaluation. The final process evaluation report is due next year.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 7 August (HL344), whether any of the civil servants claiming diversity network time are also claiming trade union facility time, and at what hourly amounts; and what is their policy on the double dipping of network time and facility time.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are fewer than 5 individuals in DWP in September 2024 who are claiming Trade Union (TU) Facility time and Diversity Network time.
In line with standard departmental practice in statistics, we do not publish details of numbers below 5, or where individuals might otherwise be identified in the data, as this would breach our data protection obligations.
DWP does not have a policy on colleagues claiming both Diversity Network Time and Facility Time at the same time.
Asked by: Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the mental health benefits of music education for children; and what plans they have to promote music in the national curriculum for primary schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The government believes that creative subjects like arts, music and drama are important elements of the rounded and enriching education every child deserves to receive. Under this government, the arts and music will no longer be the preserve of a privileged few.
Music is in the current National Curriculum, which is compulsory in all maintained schools from the age of 5 to 14 years. The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will be chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, and one of the aims is to deliver a broader curriculum so that pupils do not miss out on subjects such as music. When the review has concluded, and subject to Parliament passing the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, the department will require all state-funded schools, including academies and free schools, to follow the National Curriculum.
The department additionally supports children to learn music through the Music Hubs programme, which supports instrumental teaching in schools, as well as providing continuing professional development for teachers and access to local, regional and national ensembles. In 2022/23, Music Hubs provided support to around 90% of primary schools across England.
The department has not made a specific assessment of whether promoting music education in the National Curriculum for primary schools would help diminish pressures on the NHS arising from children’s mental health. However, studies show that music education has a wide range of wellbeing benefits for children.
The government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. The right support should be available to every young person that needs it, which is why the government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.
The government will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
Asked by: Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether promoting music education in the national curriculum for primary schools would help diminish pressures on the NHS arising from children’s mental health.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The government believes that creative subjects like arts, music and drama are important elements of the rounded and enriching education every child deserves to receive. Under this government, the arts and music will no longer be the preserve of a privileged few.
Music is in the current National Curriculum, which is compulsory in all maintained schools from the age of 5 to 14 years. The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will be chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, and one of the aims is to deliver a broader curriculum so that pupils do not miss out on subjects such as music. When the review has concluded, and subject to Parliament passing the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, the department will require all state-funded schools, including academies and free schools, to follow the National Curriculum.
The department additionally supports children to learn music through the Music Hubs programme, which supports instrumental teaching in schools, as well as providing continuing professional development for teachers and access to local, regional and national ensembles. In 2022/23, Music Hubs provided support to around 90% of primary schools across England.
The department has not made a specific assessment of whether promoting music education in the National Curriculum for primary schools would help diminish pressures on the NHS arising from children’s mental health. However, studies show that music education has a wide range of wellbeing benefits for children.
The government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. The right support should be available to every young person that needs it, which is why the government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.
The government will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefit of forest schools and similar nature-focused learning for child development.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
Forest schools provide children with frequent opportunities for outdoor play and exploration.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure every child has the best start in life.
The EYFS framework states that providers must provide access to an outdoor play area. If that is not possible, they must ensure that outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis, unless circumstances make this inappropriate, for example unsafe weather conditions. The EYFS framework also specifies that young children should develop positive values towards the environment and the natural world.
By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, such as in larger parks and spaces in the local area or through forest schools, adults can support children to develop in a number of areas, including core strength, stability, balance and spatial awareness.
The department is committed to supporting all early years settings to deliver the EYFS well, for the benefit of all children.
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 Lamont of Lerwick (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what are the responsibilities of the House of Lords Management Board; to whom it reports; and what relationship it has to the House of Lords Commission.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The House of Lords Management Board supports the Clerk of the Parliaments in the discharge of his functions as Accounting Officer, Corporate Officer and employer of House staff. The Board takes strategic and corporate decisions for the House of Lords Administration within the framework set by the House of Lords Commission. The Commission provides high-level strategic and political direction for the House of Lords Administration on behalf of the House. The Commission works with the Management Board to develop, set and approve the strategic business plan, the annual business and financial plans for the Administration and monitor the performance of the Administration against agreed targets.
The responsibilities of the Management Board are set out in more detail in its terms of reference, and include:
· Preparing the strategic plan, business plans, financial plans, annual estimates and annual reports for approval by the House of Lords Commission;
· Managing the resources agreed by the House of Lords Commission;
· Assessing and managing each of the House of Lords Administration’s corporate risks, and maintain a system of prudent and effective controls;
· Monitoring the House of Lords Administration’s performance in achieving its objectives, as set out in the strategy approved by the House of Lords Commission; and
· Managing change in the House of Lords to increase, protect and drive value for money, improve performance and reduce costs so that the House operates and delivers services more efficiently and effectively.
By statute, the Clerk of the Parliaments is accountable to the House of Lords as a whole, but in practice this is primarily channelled through the Commission. The Clerk of the Parliaments regularly reports to the House of Lords Commission on the work of the Administration, and the Commission, Services, Finance, and Audit and Risk Assurance Committees scrutinise the work of the House of Lords Administration.
The full Terms of Reference are set out in the Management Board Handbook and Operating Framework, which is available on ParliNet.