Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support and protect at-risk girls and young women in education settings, including against poor mental health and sexual harassment.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to helping education settings provide the safe, calm, and supportive learning environments that promote good wellbeing and reduce risk of harm. This includes considering how we can best support girls and young women who may be at higher risk of sexual harassment or poor mental health.
The government’s Tackling Violence against Women and Girls Strategy sets out the actions that we are taking and the progress that we have made to prevent violence and harassment and protect victims. It includes the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, the Enough communications campaign, and changes to the law to introduce new criminal offences, including up-skirting and revenge porn. We will also be publishing non-statutory guidance specifically focused on teaching about sexual harassment and sexual violence.
As part of the strategy, we are determined to make sure the right resources and processes are in place across the education system to support any victims of abuse who come forward. The department published strengthened statutory school safeguarding guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education in September 2021. The guidance has been further strengthened for 2022, ensuring schools have even clearer guidance on how to deal with reports of sexual abuse. Revised guidance includes the ‘Sexual violence and sexual harassment advice’, putting this on a statutory footing to give the issue the prominence it deserves. The department is also trialling the impact of supervision for designated safeguarding leads, with a particular focus on supporting them to respond to sexual abuse issues.
As well as supporting pupils to understand their mental health, the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum in schools ensures all pupils are taught about respectful relationships. This includes learning that some types of behaviour within relationships are criminal, what constitutes sexual harassment and sexual violence, and why these are always unacceptable. The department has started a review of the RSHE statutory guidance and continues to develop standalone non statutory guidance to support schools to teach about these issues effectively.
Further education providers also have flexibility to offer aspects of RSHE. Providers should support students to access the support they need to have healthy relationships. The Ofsted Further Education and Skills inspection handbook includes personal development in its judgements, including students’ understanding of healthy relationships and how to keep themselves mentally healthy.
In higher education (HE), the department expects all providers to have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, including the Equality Act 2010, and to swiftly address reports of harassment and sexual misconduct. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill includes a clause banning the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements to silence victims in cases of sexual misconduct in HE. The Office for Students (OfS) has also launched a consultation to make mandatory measures that will require providers to address student harassment.
The department supports education settings to take effective approaches to supporting wellbeing and mental health. In schools and colleges, we are providing grants to train Senior Mental Health Leads and rolling out Mental Health Support Teams which can improve access to support. In HE, we have an ambition for all providers to sign up to Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter by 2026. The OfS have funded the online platform Student Space. The department has asked them to allocate £15 million to establishing better partnerships between universities and local NHS service and support transitions into university.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to understand the drivers behind young women and girls’ official and unofficial school exclusions, in order to tackle the over-representation of ethnic minorities among those excluded.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Continuing to improve behaviour in schools is a priority for the government. Head teachers use suspensions and permanent exclusions when required as part of creating calm, safe and supportive classrooms. Schools should only use permanent exclusion as a last resort, and the Department supports teachers in taking proportionate and measured steps to ensure good behaviour in schools.
Informal or unofficial exclusions are unlawful, and the department has previously written to schools to remind them of the rules on suspension and permanent exclusion.
Analysis from the Timpson Review of School Exclusion (2019) illustrated a complex picture but, on the whole, there is no substantial difference in permanent exclusion rates when comparing all ethnic minority children as a whole with white British children. More information on the Timpson Review of School Exclusion can be found attached.
The updated 'School suspension and permanent exclusion’ guidance sets out that schools, local authorities, and local partners should work together to understand what lies behind local trends.
The department’s ‘Understanding your data: a guide for school governors and academy trustees’ guidance also makes clear governing boards should carefully consider the level and characteristics of pupils who are leaving the school, and challenge the school and academy trust management teams on any permanent exclusions to ensure it is only used as a last resort.
Schools also have a clear duty not to discriminate against pupils under the Equality Act 2010. Ofsted’s assessment of behaviour in schools includes specific consideration of rates, patterns and reasons for exclusions, as well as any differences between groups of pupils.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total spend on unregistered alternative provider education placements in England, broken down by (1) school, (2) local authority, and (3) region of England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Data is collected in the alternative provision census on the placement of pupils in unregistered alternative provision providers by local authorities. Since 2022, this data is also collected on arrangements made by schools. This is collected via the schools census.
Information on the total spend on unregistered alternative education placements by school, local authority, or region, is not collected by the department, and cannot be derived from this data.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pupils registered with a state-funded school spend (1) less than two days per week, (2) two or more days per week, (3) three or more days per week, and (4) four or more days per week, in an education placement with an unregistered alternative provider.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Via the alternative provision census, the department collects information on pupils aged 2-18 who local authorities have placed in unregistered providers.
Since the 2022/23 academic year, the department has also collected information on placements made by schools via the school census, with the first mandatory collection being in the spring census. The information is not currently available whilst the spring census is collected and returns validated.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the (1) mean, and (2) median, amount spent on an unregistered alternative provider place in England by (a) Pupil Referral Units, (b) state-funded schools not classified as a Pupil Referral Unit, and (3) local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Data is collected in the alternative provision census on the placement of pupils in unregistered alternative provision providers by local authorities. Since 2022, this data is also collected on arrangements made by schools. This is collected via the schools census.
Information on the mean or median amount spent by Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), state funded schools not classified as PRUs, or local authorities is not collected by the department, and cannot be derived from this data.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Pupil Referral Units sub-commission unregistered alternative providers to supply education placements for their children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since the 2022/23 academic year, the department has started to collect data from schools via the school census about the alternative provision (AP) they arrange. This includes AP in unregistered settings. The first mandatory collection is currently being carried out within the spring census, and so the information is not yet available.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, given that the Student Loans Company (SLC) has accepted responsibility for overpayments to healthcare students and that the SLC told students that they were not being overpaid, the SLC will write off overpayments to physiotherapy and other healthcare students.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government announced on 18 April 2018 that the Student Loans Company (SLC) will provide support to ensure that none of the students affected by the error suffer hardship.
Students affected by this will be eligible to apply for additional, non-repayable, support of up to £1,000 for the remainder of this academic year, and should contact the SLC. In addition, repayment of overpaid maintenance support will be deferred for all students affected until they have finished their courses and can afford to repay. Repayment of overpaid maintenance loans will happen via HM Revenue and Customs in the normal way, which is how students will have expected to repay their loans when they took them out.