Contributions
793 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDRelationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health EducationMy Lords, with the leave of the House I will repeat a Statement made in the other place earlier today by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education. The…25 Feb 2019HANSARDRelationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health EducationMy Lords, on the questions from the noble Lord, Lord Watson, I hope I will address most of them here, but I will write on any that I have missed. On funding, this is a ring-fenced…25 Feb 2019HANSARDRelationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health EducationMy noble friend raises an important point. These issues are a matter of safeguarding, not only against bullying but in ways such as recognising unhealthy relationships and…25 Feb 2019HANSARDRelationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health EducationI reassure the noble Baroness that we are absolutely firm on steering the middle course that we have tried to achieve over this long period to get to this point. As she will know,…25 Feb 2019HANSARDRelationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health EducationThe right reverend Prelate is absolutely correct to mention the whole issue of online safety and the regulation that I hope will curb some of the excesses we have seen over the…25 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsUnfortunately I cannot answer that question. I think that the Children’s Society has come up with a number which again was without true validity. I do not think that that helps…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsI heartily agree with the noble Lord. It is an extraordinary conundrum that you pay just as much in a supermarket for that thin stuff with the red top as for full-fat milk.21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, the Secretary of State for the DWP announced some changes in the past few weeks. We included the two-child limit in those changes but I am happy to write to the right…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, as I said in response to an earlier question, the number of children in receipt of free school meals has increased over the past eight years. I agree with the noble Lord…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, it might be worth pointing out this week’s ONS statistics, which show a rather more positive figure on employment: 32.6 million people in this country are now employed.…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, the Government should support people in the most vulnerable state. That is why we used the same statistics as the DWP, which produces annual estimates and said that the…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, I dispute the noble Lord’s assertion on the number of children living in poverty. The DWP estimates that 300,000 fewer children are in poverty now than prior to 2010. On…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, the continuing provision of free school meals to children from out-of-work or low-income families is of the utmost importance to this Government. Due to the generous…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, I can only come back to my earlier answers. Over the past eight years we have dramatically increased the number of children benefiting from free school meals, and are…21 Feb 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: Free School MealsMy Lords, we debated this almost exactly a year ago. The key thing which may be being misunderstood is that the provisions we have put in place for children with parents on…21 Feb 2019HANSARDEducation, Health and Care PlansMy Lords, I do not have that information to hand but I will write to my noble friend to deal with it specifically.14 Feb 2019HANSARDEducation, Health and Care PlansThe noble Lord is right that autism accounts for the highest proportion of all claims at about 43% of appeals. We are very much focusing on this as an area of concern. In December…14 Feb 2019HANSARDEducation, Health and Care PlansI absolutely take my noble friend’s point. As all parents know, a parent can never be happier than their least happy child. There are huge emotional issues involved in this. That…14 Feb 2019HANSARDEducation, Health and Care PlansMy Lords, as I mentioned in response to an earlier question, the percentage of appeals is 1.5%. Broadly, that is not much higher than under the old regime, which changed in 2014.…14 Feb 2019HANSARDEducation, Health and Care PlansMy Lords, the tribunal process is designed to be as accessible as possible. Parents should be able to appeal and present their case without the need for expensive legal…14 Feb 2019