Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, following their response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report, to ensure that young people who are not in education, employment, or training, including those who have not reached the required standard in literacy and numeracy, are covered by the post-sixteen provisions.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Progress in English and maths at level 2 is vital for 16–19-year-olds to access opportunities in education, work, and life.
The Post-16 Skills and Education Strategy White Paper sets out reforms to qualifications at levels 3 and 2. At level 3, a new vocational pathway, V Levels, will sit alongside A levels and T Levels. At level 2, two pathways will be introduced: Further Study (progression to level 3) and Occupational (skilled employment). Students can combine these with English and maths qualifications.
Local authorities must support young people to participate in education or training, as per the Education and Skills Act 2008. Through the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, the department has committed to help schools, further education providers and local authorities track and share data to prevent young people from becoming not in education, employment or training.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to implement the recommendation of the Curriculum and Assessment Review that rights and responsibilities, and the concepts of fairness and equity, should form part of the curriculum for law and rights.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 5 November, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report, which includes recommendations for a refreshed curriculum and assessment system in England.
As part of the response to the Review’s report the government has made a commitment to make citizenship compulsory in key stages 1 and 2,so that primary aged children are introduced to key content on media literacy, law and rights, democracy and government education. Covering these issues in citizenship will ensure we continue to focus on schools’ role in developing fundamental British values, including mutual tolerance and respect. These principles will be extended to the secondary core content to reflect the age range of pupils and will focus on more complex content.
The department will engage with sector experts and young people in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum Programmes of Study, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to disseminate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Recommendations for Teaching and Learning about the Persecution and Genocide of the Roma during the Nazi Era, published in December 2024, to schools and to incorporate it into teacher training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the current national curriculum for history at key stage 3. The government has made a commitment that the Holocaust will remain a compulsory topic in the reformed national curriculum, which will also be required teaching in academy schools when it is implemented.
The history curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to decide how to teach the subject and what resources to use to support an understanding of the Holocaust and the Nazi’s persecution of non-Jewish groups including the genocide of the Roma. This can already include the work of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
The government supports the teaching of Holocaust education by funding teachers’ professional development in this subject through University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education (CfHE), and the Holocaust Educational Trust’s (HET) Lessons from Auschwitz project, which gives students aged 16 to 18 the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. CfHE will receive £500,000 in government funding in the 2024/25 financial year, match funded by the Pears Foundation, and HET will receive £2.3 million. Both Lessons from Auschwitz and the knowledge and training provided by the CfHE include information and resources to support an understanding of the Holocaust and the Nazi’s persecution of other non-Jewish groups, including the genocide of the Roma.
In addition, a further £2 million funding for Holocaust remembrance and education was committed in the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024. This will be used to support the ambition set by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister for all students to have the opportunity to hear a recorded survivor testimony. The department is currently exploring how it can support schools to fulfil this ambition.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultation with Gypsy and Traveller families they undertook with regard to the use and implications of the term "mobile child" in the statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance, published on 29 February.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and accompanying statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ use the term ‘mobile child’ to describe a child of compulsory school age who has no fixed abode and whose parent is engaged in a trade or business that requires them to move from place to place. This is a new term, but covers the same children as section 444(6) of the Education Act 1996.
Parents of mobile children have longstanding protection in attendance law and guidance, including how absence is recorded in the register, but feedback from parents, schools and local authorities suggested inconsistency in how these are applied. The term ‘mobile child’ is intended to clarify that the provisions are for all pupils who meet the definition as set out in regulation 3 of the 2024 Pupil Registration Regulations (and the statutory guidance) and that they concern the child’s mobility rather than ethnicity.
A draft of the new Regulations and guidance was subject to full public consultation in 2022 and training has been provided both to schools and local authorities to improve consistency and support implementation. The department will continue to monitor feedback on implementation during the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to provide clarity and support to local authorities with regard to the implementation of obligations associated with the concept of "mobile child" as used in the statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance, published on 29 February.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and accompanying statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ use the term ‘mobile child’ to describe a child of compulsory school age who has no fixed abode and whose parent is engaged in a trade or business that requires them to move from place to place. This is a new term, but covers the same children as section 444(6) of the Education Act 1996.
Parents of mobile children have longstanding protection in attendance law and guidance, including how absence is recorded in the register, but feedback from parents, schools and local authorities suggested inconsistency in how these are applied. The term ‘mobile child’ is intended to clarify that the provisions are for all pupils who meet the definition as set out in regulation 3 of the 2024 Pupil Registration Regulations (and the statutory guidance) and that they concern the child’s mobility rather than ethnicity.
A draft of the new Regulations and guidance was subject to full public consultation in 2022 and training has been provided both to schools and local authorities to improve consistency and support implementation. The department will continue to monitor feedback on implementation during the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will ensure that the use of the term "mobile child" in the statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance, published on 29 February, does not adversely and unfairly affect Traveller children.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and accompanying statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ use the term ‘mobile child’ to describe a child of compulsory school age who has no fixed abode and whose parent is engaged in a trade or business that requires them to move from place to place. This is a new term, but covers the same children as section 444(6) of the Education Act 1996.
Parents of mobile children have longstanding protection in attendance law and guidance, including how absence is recorded in the register, but feedback from parents, schools and local authorities suggested inconsistency in how these are applied. The term ‘mobile child’ is intended to clarify that the provisions are for all pupils who meet the definition as set out in regulation 3 of the 2024 Pupil Registration Regulations (and the statutory guidance) and that they concern the child’s mobility rather than ethnicity.
A draft of the new Regulations and guidance was subject to full public consultation in 2022 and training has been provided both to schools and local authorities to improve consistency and support implementation. The department will continue to monitor feedback on implementation during the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to ensure that Traveller families understand what the term "mobile child" means, as used in the statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance, published on 29 February.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and accompanying statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ use the term ‘mobile child’ to describe a child of compulsory school age who has no fixed abode and whose parent is engaged in a trade or business that requires them to move from place to place. This is a new term, but covers the same children as section 444(6) of the Education Act 1996.
Parents of mobile children have longstanding protection in attendance law and guidance, including how absence is recorded in the register, but feedback from parents, schools and local authorities suggested inconsistency in how these are applied. The term ‘mobile child’ is intended to clarify that the provisions are for all pupils who meet the definition as set out in regulation 3 of the 2024 Pupil Registration Regulations (and the statutory guidance) and that they concern the child’s mobility rather than ethnicity.
A draft of the new Regulations and guidance was subject to full public consultation in 2022 and training has been provided both to schools and local authorities to improve consistency and support implementation. The department will continue to monitor feedback on implementation during the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings from their consultation on lifting the cap on faith-based admissions in religious free schools; and the possible socio-economic impacts of lifting the cap.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The consultation was launched on 1 May 2024 and will run for seven weeks, closing on 20 June 2024.
The department will then carefully consider all responses to the consultation and use them to inform the department’s recommendations for better meeting the policy objectives of faith schools.
The government’s response will be published on the GOV.UK website within 12 weeks following closure of the consultation.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish their evaluation of their pilot education funding programme for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children and proposed next steps; and what assessment they have made of the connection between (1) the adequacy of educational provision and funding for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, and (2) their statistics for children missing education for the academic year 2022─23, which show that 10 per cent of children missing from education are from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The £1 million Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Gypsy Roma and Traveller (GRT) Education Areas programme enabled five local authorities and a Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise organisation to deliver tailored support to improve GRT attendance and attainment. Whilst the programme was a one year pilot, the delivery of some of the targeted support carried on beyond that timeline. The close monitoring of the projects helped DLUHC to pick up issues quickly, facilitated the setting up of a buddying system, and improved cross agency relationships and knowledge sharing.
The department has no plans to commission a government evaluation of the programme. The department’s expectation is that participant local authorities will carry out their own evaluation of their projects, build lessons learnt into wider services, and share learning with other local authorities.
The government is committed to ensuring that all children are safe and have access to an excellent education. The department is currently running a call for evidence on ‘Improving support for children missing education’ to seek views on challenges in identifying and supporting children missing from education and how to address those challenges. The call for evidence is open until 20 July and will be used to inform policy future policy thinking. The open consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-support-for-children-missing-education.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that targeted careers advice and the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme reaches Gypsy and Traveller young people, including those who are being educated at home.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring that all young people and adults can access high-quality careers information, advice, and guidance, regardless of their background.
The department is currently developing a Get the Jump communications pack to help Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) stakeholders share information about post-16 and post-18 education and training choices with GRT parents and young people. We will share the pack with members of the department’s GRT stakeholder group at its next meeting and will discuss how we can effectively support GRT young people.
The National Careers Service also provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the Labour Market in England. It is delivered by over 750 careers advisers who help customers to make informed choices about their career options, whatever their age, ethnic group, and background.
Working with the Careers and Enterprise Company, Youth Employment UK have developed a free, new online programme designed to support home-educated young people. This project aims to engage young people with trusted, self-directed learning and high-quality signposting to information about pathways, online experiences of the workplace, sector information, and transitions support. Resources are being developed to be used by multi-agency frontline workers, local authorities, and support staff working with young people being educated outside of mainstream education.
The Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme is raising awareness of apprenticeships and T Levels to young people in schools and colleges. Since September 2022, it has worked with over 380,000 young people from across all regions and demographics.
In addition to working with schools that request support across the country, ASK targets selected levelling-up areas and works closely with schools with students identified as requiring additional support through its development school programme.
ASK works closely with local authorities to identify young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET), or at risk of being NEET to provide additional support. The programme also works with local authorities and a variety of supporting stakeholders to provide the service to young people outside of education.