Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ratify imminently Optional Protocol 3 to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child relating to a communications procedure; and if not, why.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: My Lords, the Foreign Secretary mentioned a few moments ago, in response to the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, the government review into future BBC funding. What input does he or his department intend to have into the review, given that its scope includes the World Service, which of course gets around a quarter of its funding in grant in aid from the FCDO?
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: My Lords, my noble friend Lord Blunkett has done your Lordships’ House a service by introducing this important debate. I thank him for that. Levelling up is a term that is almost incapable of meaningful definition. However, it was a key pledge made by the Government at the last general election to reduce regional inequality in England and it is fair to ask what has happened since then. The...
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the survey results published by Schools Week on 21 February which found that the rate at which children left the classroom for home education in 2022–23 showed a 12 per cent increase on 2021–22, with the biggest increases in some of the country’s most deprived areas.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: I do not know whether I picked this up correctly, but I think the Minister said that all schools would have access to mental health support teams by 2025. I thought the figure the Government were aiming for was 50%. Have I got that wrong?
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: My Lords, we are indebted to the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, for introducing this important Bill. It is certainly welcome because the extent to which young people are exhibiting mental health disorders in school has increased dramatically and the measures introduced thus far by the Government are proving inadequate to the task in hand. In her powerful opening speech, the noble Baroness...
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the gap. I would have had my name on the list, but I did not expect to be here for the start of the debate. I declare an interest, in that this year, I shall clock up 50 years of membership of the union that is now Unite—that is the fifth name the union has held over the years, through a number of nominal mergers, although it did not always...
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to empower Ofsted to review pupil absence rates as part of their school inspections.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: I thank the Minister for that Answer. She knows that a child is deemed to be persistently absent if they have missed 10% or more of lessons. Across the two school terms prior to the current one, around one in five children were persistently absent from primary and secondary schools, which is more than double the figure five years ago. So there is an existential crisis and a safeguarding...
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Sater, for securing this debate and introducing it so effectively. It is a shame that noble Lords have such a short speaking time this evening but I suppose that is testament to the fact that so many of us feel strongly about the need for young people to be properly prepared in financial literacy. The Education Select Committee feels the same;...
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of The National Parent Survey, published by Parentkind on 4 December 2023.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government why they decided to end the National Leaders of Governance Programme for schools in October 2023, rather than extend it to 2025.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: My Lords, the Minister said in her opening remarks that the problems in the last few days were such that we had not seen before, but is that the case? This is the ninth season that the so-called European windstorms have been sufficiently serious for them to have names attached. On each occasion, we see apparently more serious effects in the UK than in other countries—electricity supply off...
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the provision of safe and suitable housing for care leavers and thereby reduce the risk of care leavers becoming homeless.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills following the report of the senior coroner for Berkshire into the death of Ruth Perry.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what forecasting they have carried out regarding the number of children in care aged 16 and 17 who will be living in supported accommodation settings that do not provide care in the next (1) one, (2) three, and (3) five, years.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on children in care who are moved more than 20 miles from home.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their publication on 16 November of data on 'Children looked after in England including adoptions', which showed that more than 21 per cent of children in care had been moved more than 20 miles away from home, what steps they are taking to ensure that the number does not continue to rise in future years.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish their disability action plan; and whether they expect publication to be delayed due to the cancellation of the role of minister for disabled people, health and work.