Contributions
3,240 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEthnicity Pay GapI am delighted to celebrate with the noble Baroness.25 Apr 2024HANSARDEthnicity Pay GapThe Government agree that it is worth while but not that it should be mandatory. We have developed clear guidance for employers and are seeking case studies from employers…25 Apr 2024HANSARDEthnicity Pay GapAs I said, the Government have done extensive work engaging with employers in this area. We have the important work of the Inclusive Britain report. An employer of, say, 250…25 Apr 2024HANSARDEthnicity Pay GapI am more than happy to take this back to the department and share my noble friend’s reflections, but I remind the House that there is no ethnicity pay gap for people born in this…25 Apr 2024HANSARDChildcare EntitlementsI have to say that I did not agree with everything that the noble Baroness asserted. To start with the risk register, it is not glowing red, but it is of course a priority risk…24 Apr 2024HANSARDChildcare EntitlementsI thank both noble Lords for their questions and for sharing, as we all do across this House, the ambition for all children, as we know the importance of a great start in life. I…24 Apr 2024HANSARDChildcare EntitlementsMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat a Statement made yesterday in another place by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education. The Statement is…24 Apr 2024HANSARDChildcare EntitlementsOn building capacity, the department has awarded £100 million to local authorities to help expand capacity. On the quality of space, as the noble Baroness knows, early years…24 Apr 2024HANSARDChildcare EntitlementsThe noble Baroness hits on perhaps the one thing on which we do not accept the recommendation from the National Audit Office. We made a decision not to run the pilot because we…24 Apr 2024HANSARDExpansion of Free ChildcareWe have to be careful about describing 200,000 additional children going into childcare aged two from this April as something “going disastrously wrong”. I argue that it is a huge…23 Apr 2024HANSARDExpansion of Free ChildcareMy Lords, I can confirm that over 200,000 parents of two year-olds are now benefiting from the Government’s help with childcare costs as part of the largest ever expansion of…23 Apr 2024HANSARDExpansion of Free ChildcareThe noble Lord is right that one part of delivering this is to do with workforce, and we are focused on delivering that, but the other part is to do with the physical buildings…23 Apr 2024HANSARDExpansion of Free ChildcareFirst, it is more than an aspiration. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State talked about aiming for 150,000 additional children taking up the entitlement offer in…23 Apr 2024HANSARDExpansion of Free ChildcareI am grateful to my noble friend for raising that, because this can be an incredibly valuable support for children with special educational needs in their early years. We have…23 Apr 2024HANSARDExpansion of Free ChildcareThe figure of 40,000 is the increase in the workforce that we need to achieve by September 2025. That is exactly why we are having a phased introduction to this policy. Even…23 Apr 2024HANSARDChildren and Young People: Local Authority CareMy Lords, I join other noble Lords in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Laming, for securing this important debate. As your Lordships know, when one comes into this place, people tell…18 Apr 2024HANSARDSchool Inspections: FundingAgain, I can only agree with the noble Lord. I was reflecting on the new verb that has entered the lexicon of being “Ofsteded”—we will leave that. This is important. The work that…17 Apr 2024HANSARDSchool Inspections: FundingThe fact that Ofsted is identifying more issues of this type reflects a few different things. Clearly, as in society more broadly, sadly, we do not know whether some of these…17 Apr 2024HANSARDSchool Inspections: FundingIt would be up to the trust, in relation to an academy, or the local authority to address those specific weaknesses. The department has led on the development of a framework of…17 Apr 2024HANSARDSchool Inspections: FundingSadly, in most of the developed world there are more obese children. I am not sure there is a direct correlation with who is in power. As he knows—I thank the noble Lord for…17 Apr 2024