Results 1-20 of 1,229 for speaker:Baroness Morgan of Drefelin

Written Answers — House of Lords: Care Services: Children (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: Precise data on the number of guardians appointed by the courts to represent children in care proceedings are not available. However, one guardian is usually appointed in each care proceeding and, for the years in which the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) has existed and kept records, the number of care proceedings were as follows: Financial Year Total...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Care Services: Children (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: The DCSF does not maintain records of the number of complaints made by children in respect of named guardians. CAFCASS does not collect this information in a centralised system but has provided the following statistics for the number of complaints made by children to CAFCASS. Without further investigation, CAFCASS cannot clarify how many of these complaints relate specifically to guardians. ...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Care Services: Children (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) has a statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people who are the subject of court proceedings. It offers advice to the courts about applications made to them, makes provision for children to be represented in court proceedings, and provides information, advice and support for the...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Children Act 1989 (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: The work of CAFCASS guardians is crucial in securing the well-being of vulnerable children in the family justice system. There has been a good deal of discussion about the most effective use of guardian resource in recent months. In particular, my officials have taken the views of the Family Justice Council on this issue. I have also received a number of representations, including from the...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Courts: Family Cases (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: It is clearly right that children who are of sufficient age and understanding are informed about the presence of accredited media representatives in the court and the fact that material may be published. We would expect professionals to use their judgment about the most effective and appropriate way to do this.

Written Answers — House of Lords: Education: Home Schooling (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: Local authority data on electively home-educated children not in education, employment or training has been placed on the Every Child Matters website in the form of a histogram (http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/ete/independentrev iewofhomeeducation/irhomeeducation). We have not provided the names of individual local authorities, as some of the figures provided by smaller local...

Written Answers — House of Lords: People Trafficking (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: Victims of child trafficking have the same entitlement to education as all other children of compulsory school age. Schools should consider the specific needs of all children who are newly arrived from overseas. They should set them suitable learning challenges by modifying the curriculum to meet their needs, taking account of their cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds and of their...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Schools: Inspection (12 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: All approved independent inspectorates, including the School Inspection Service (SIS) and the Bridge Schools Inspectorate (BSI), operate under strict quality assurance arrangements. Ofsted carries out monitoring to satisfy the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the wider public that the inspection judgments made by other inspectorates are consistent with those made by Ofsted....

Written Answers — House of Lords: Education: Special Educational Needs (11 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: Young people with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) also have a transition plan from age 14 to help them make the transition from school to further studies and adult life. The local authority Connexions service is responsible for arranging assessments of all young people with SEN who are in their last year of compulsory schooling and who are planning to go into further education...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My Lords, I apologise as noble Lords may be getting fed up of me popping up and down but this is my amendment. We have now reached the last group of amendments, which we debated late on Report. I am grateful to noble Lords opposite for our constructive discussions on this part of the Bill. We remain firmly of the view that, in the overwhelming majority of cases where there is a significant...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: I know that I have cleared a letter that has gone in the direction of the committee. It is another letter that we have circulated. I agree with the noble Viscount that it is very important that the committees are properly informed and that we meet the deadlines on all these matters. Amendment 31 agreed. Clause 217 : Arrangements etc. to be made by Commission Amendment 32 Moved by Baroness...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: I was about to attempt to move this formally, but that would have been most inappropriate. We now move to part of the Bill looking at the system of complaints in schools. I assure noble Lords that we intend to make the system that we are developing work efficiently and effectively for parents, children and young people, and it will be properly developed and rolled out through a phased...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: I start by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, for her remarks. It has been helpful to have a very constructive discussion about the complaints process. We have made good progress through the passage of the Bill. The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, asked whether information would be made available in a format accessible to children and young people. Yes, it will be. Both the noble...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My Lords, I hear what the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, has to say. We have worked hard to ensure that the concerns of the whole House have been addressed. The Bill will lead to a strong, independent regulator able to do the job that we are all looking for; that is, to ensure that standards in examinations and qualifications more generally are properly regulated and the public can have...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My Lords, the amendment will make the first exercise of the regulation-making power on statutory safeguarding targets subject to the affirmative procedure. It follows my commitment to consider the amendment of, and points made by, the noble Baronesses, Lady Walmsley and Lady Verma, on Report, when I gained a strong sense from the House that it wanted a debate on the new safeguarding targets....

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their remarks in this important debate as we come to the closing parts of the progress of the Bill through this House. Over many months, we have developed a helpful, positive and constructive understanding about what needs to be done to the Bill and more widely than the confines of the statute. We have also developed an understanding about the work that we...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: I thank the noble Lord for that insight. I am sure that, with his experience of these matters, he is absolutely right. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Baker, for his very kind remarks. I was very interested in his third Second Reading speech, which we were able to enjoy today. I listened very seriously to his remarks. I remember education in the youth justice system featuring very highly on the...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My Lords, in moving government Amendment 21, I shall speak also to the 12 other amendments in my name in this group. The debates in Committee and on Report have shown a welcome level of support for our plans to set up Ofqual as an independent qualifications regulator. The thoughtful and knowledgeable contributions made by so many of your Lordships have been most welcome. We laid a number of...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My Lords, we turn to the part of the Bill concerned with the education of young offenders. Amendment 17 and the others in the group concern young people in custody and will place a duty on the host authority to ensure that information about the young person's education be shared with their home authority around the time of their release. This ensures that information about their education in...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Church Buildings (10 Nov 2009)

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: myplace is delivering over £270 million of government capital investment in world class youth facilities driven by the active participation of young people and their views and needs. Through a competitive bidding process, myplace is funding both new build projects and projects to redevelop existing community assets. It is for bidding organisations from either the public, private or third...