Asked by: Baroness Janke (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk to Palestinian refugees caused by efforts to abolish UNRWA.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We recognise the essential and pivotal role that UNRWA plays in providing health and education services and humanitarian relief to Palestinian refugees. The United Nation's General Assembly voted on 12 December 2022 to extend UNWRA's mandate until 30 June 2026.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the World Health Organization report A focus on adolescent substance use in Europe, central Asia and Canada, published on 25 April, what plans they have to address the high levels of child alcohol consumption in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Guidance from England’s Chief Medical Officer for healthcare professionals is clear that an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest and best option. The Department promotes this through online platforms such as the NHS.UK website, the Talk to FRANK online resource, and the GOV.UK website. Local authorities promote these guidelines as part of their public health duties. As part of the Government’s 10-year drug strategy, the Department has an ambition to support 5,000 more children and young people in receiving treatment than at the start of the strategy in March 2022.
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance, Relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education, became mandatory in September 2020. Through this, education on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco became compulsory at state-funded primary and secondary schools, teaching children and young people how to manage influences and pressure, and keep themselves healthy and safe. To deter individuals selling alcohol to a person aged under 18 years old, the maximum fine for the offence of persistently selling alcohol to children was increased from £10,000 to £20,000, under section 147A(8) of the 2003 Licensing Act.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to undertake a review into levels of childhood obesity and the role that the promotion of meals, snacks and drinks in early years settings can play in combatting this trend.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet, for the learning, development, and care of children from birth to five years old. The EYFS requires that where children are provided with meals, snacks, and drinks, they must be healthy, balanced, and nutritious. The EYFS also refers to example menus and guidance, which support parents, carers, and anyone working with children, to provide healthy food options. The Department for Education has also very recently published a range of tools and advice to support childminders, nursery leaders, and pre-school practitioners to improve the food offered in early years settings on the Help for early years providers platform.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, what assessment they have made of the competence of the Youth Justice Board given that girls are being accommodated in male prisons, despite specific care needs illustrated by the official statistics 'Safety in the Children and Young People Secure Estate: Update to December 2023', published on 25 April, which stated that the rate of self-harm among girls on the secure estate is 66 times higher than for boys.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Responsibility for the management of the youth secure estate in England and Wales was transferred from the Youth Justice Board to the Youth Custody Service, a distinct arm of His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), in 2017.
There are various mechanisms to monitor the performance of the Youth Justice System, including youth custody. The Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation chairs the Youth Justice Quarterly Performance Board (YJQPB), which provides strategic oversight on how effectively the Youth Justice System is performing. The Board uses key metrics and other intelligence across the entirety of the system to identify challenges and drive action to address these. Senior representatives across the Youth Justice System, including the Youth Custody Service, Youth Justice Board and other stakeholders within Government and the public sector collaborate to monitor the key metrics and drive change.
In addition, the Minister monitors specific custody-related performance updates through regular meetings with senior managers from Youth Custody Service.
Girls in the youth estate may be accommodated in mixed-gender settings, including within the Secure Children’s Home sector, Oakhill Training Centre and at HMYOI Wetherby. Placement decisions are made according to individual need, within the placement options available. Within each sector, each child has his or her own room - boys and girls do not mix. However, as they may do while at school within the community, boys and girls do mix in education and association areas- and are supervised by staff at all times.
Any girl in the youth estate who is at risk of self-harm will be supported through the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, ensuring she has a dedicated case manager; and girls with the most complex needs will receive additional monitoring and more intensive case management.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to house girls convicted of crimes in female-only prison units.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As of February 2024, girls make up less than 1 per cent of the children and young people in the youth estate. There have been fewer than 10 girls in the youth estate at any one time during the period September 2023 to February 2024 (the latest for which figures are available).
Within the youth estate, girls may be placed in establishments that also accommodate boys: in Secure Children’s Homes, at Oakhill Secure Training Centre and at HMYOI Wetherby. Within each sector, every child has his or her own room. When boys and girls come into contact with each other – in education and association areas – they are supervised by staff at all times. The availability of these options is designed to enable the needs of each individual girl to be met in the most appropriate way. We are keeping the position of girls in the youth estate under constant review, and the Youth Custody Service is developing a gender-specific operating model for HMYOI Wetherby, as well as gender-responsive guidance for the wider youth estate.
For the longer term, we are reviewing options, and examining future placement locations and services, for girls who require custody, together with the training and operational support that staff need to enable them to care for girls in the youth estate.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 56 of the Concluding Observations on the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of the UK to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, published on 22 June 2023, whether he plans to accept the recommendation that an enlisted child should not be subject to a longer minimum service period than an enlisted adult.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Under 18 recruits are able to leave up to the day before their 18th birthday via a variety of mechanisms such as Discharge As Of Right or Discharge Under 18. Prior to their 18th birthday, they make an informed choice as to whether to remain in service beyond this age. These rights are exclusive to those Under 18, providing additional safeguards appropriate to their age. Subsequent adult service is only committed to having completed this period of enhanced rights and having attained the age of 18. Individuals who decide to leave the Armed Forces are supported for up to two years post discharge to gain a route into further education, training or employment.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the reduction in the level of real-terms funding since 2010 on schools in Rochdale constituency; and if she will make it her policy to increase the level of real-term funding for schools in Rochdale constituency to 2010 levels.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children and has invested significantly in education to achieve that. Overall school funding, including the recently announced additional pensions funding, is rising to £60.7 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. This means that real terms funding for schools in England has increased rather than decreased since 2010.
Through the National Funding Formula (NFF), funding is distributed fairly based on the needs of each school and their pupils and all schools attract a per pupil increase in funding. Mainstream schools in the Rochdale Constituency are attracting an extra £1 million in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 through the schools NFF, which is an increase of 1.9% per pupil in their pupil-led funding. This means schools in the Rochdale Constituency will attract over £112.1 million, based on the schools NFF. Constituency figures are based on an aggregation of school-level allocations through the NFF, and final allocations will depend on the local authority’s funding formula.
Asked by: Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to make provision in England which is similar to the Childcare Offer for Wales, and whether they have had discussions with the Welsh Government in that regard.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Through the English government’s transformative childcare reforms, the department will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever. The childcare expansion is being rolled out in phases, with over 210,000 children now benefitting since the launch of the first phase in April. The next stage in September 2024 will extend this to children aged from 9 months. By September 2025, eligible working parents will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare from the term after their child turns 9-months-old to when they start school.
As such, there are currently no plans to introduce the Welsh style childcare provision in England. Education and the entitlement to free childcare for pre-school children in Wales is devolved to the Welsh Assembly. We engage routinely with the Welsh government and other devolved administrations at ministerial and official levels to learn from each other to improve early years outcomes across the UK.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will list the school related schemes that have received notice that funding will be (a) reduced and (b) ended since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children and has invested significantly in education to achieve that.
Including the additional funding for teachers’ pay and pensions, funding for both mainstream schools and high needs is £2.9 billion higher in 2024/25 than in 2023/24. The overall core school budget will total £60.7 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. This means school funding is set to have risen by £11 billion by 2024/25 compared to 2021/22.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will hold discussions with his Nigerian counterpart on the effectiveness of the Safe Schools Initiative for supporting the education of (a) girls, (b) religious minorities and (c) other children in conflict-affected areas of northern Nigeria.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Special Envoy for Girls Education, Helen Grant MP, will meet the Nigerian Education Minister on May 20 to discuss Nigeria's upcoming programme of education reform. The UK and Nigeria are signatories of the Safe School Declaration which commits governments to protect education from violence. The UK supports the implementation of the Safe Schools Initiative in Nigeria through its Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises (EiEPC) programme. This provides assistance to children affected by conflict in Borno and Yobe states, allowing them to learn foundational skills, increase their resilience and strengthen systems which support formal and non-formal education during emergencies.