Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the Child Poverty Strategy intends to reduce child poverty in rural and coastal communities.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty which is why we have set up a Ministerial Taskforce that is urgently working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025.
Our publication on 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we will develop the Strategy, harnessing all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this Parliament.
The Strategy will look at policies across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
The Taskforce will hear directly from experts across the UK on each of the Strategy’s themes including children and families living in poverty and work with leading organisations, charities, and campaigners.
Alongside the work of the Taskforce, we are continuing to provide substantial funding to Local Authorities to support those most in need. At the Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced that £1 billion, including Barnett impact, will be invested to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England by a full year until 31 March 2026, and to maintain Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales. This enables Local Authorities to provide discretionary support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water.
The government knows how important bus services are to local communities and knows that buses can be a lifeline in particular for those in rural areas. We have set out a plan to deliver better buses throughout England by giving local leaders the tools they need and empowering them to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities they serve, including through the introduction of the Buses Bill later in this parliamentary session. The government also recognises the importance of providing funding to support and drive improvements to bus services over the longer-term. In the Budget we confirmed over £1 billion of funding to support and improve bus services, and keep fares affordable in England outside London.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the National Rural Crime Unit since its inception.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Rural Crime Unit is a specialist unit, and its activities exemplify the importance of collaboration in this area, involving farmers, policymakers and police working together at national and local level to examine how UK farming businesses can be better protected against crime.
The National Rural Crime Unit has recovered stolen property, including agricultural machinery and vehicles, worth £10 million since 2023. It has also co-ordinated operational responses across the UK that resulted in multiple arrests as well as disrupting organised crime groups.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the review of school exclusion report was not released by their deadline of the end of 2018; and when they intend to publish that report.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In March 2018, the government launched an externally-led review of exclusions practice, led by Edward Timpson CBE. The review is exploring how head teachers use exclusion, and why pupils with particular characteristics are more likely to be excluded from school. It is also considering the differences in exclusion rates across primary and secondary schools in England.
The review has gathered substantial evidence, including over 900 submissions to the call for evidence. Edward Timpson has also chaired a series of roundtables and the review has met with over 100 organisations and individuals, including schools, local authorities, parents and children.
The review will report in early 2019.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following their Race Disparity Audits, what steps they are taking to ensure that educational institutions improve attainment at GCSE level for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department’s education reforms, including those aimed at improving teaching, literacy and numeracy, and strengthening the curriculum and examination system, are designed to deliver opportunity and high standards for all pupils, regardless of their ethnic background. These reforms are reinforced by new school accountability measures, which are intended to encourage schools to focus more closely on the attainment of all their pupils. The introduction of a new national curriculum for maintained schools from 2014, with phonics at its heart and the establishment of 32 English Hubs in 2018 specifically support primary schools to improve standards of reading.
The department knows that the most significant factor affecting pupil attainment, which cuts across all ethnicities including a high proportion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, is economic disadvantage. To tackle this, the department has provided a total of £13.75 billion from April 2011 to March 2018 through the pupil premium to help schools improve the progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. The department continues to provide this additional funding, which is £2.4 billion this year alone.
In January last year, the department established the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller stakeholder group to inform policy development to raise the attainment and participation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils at all stages of education.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following their Race Disparity Audits, what steps they are taking to ensure that educational institutions improve the standard of reading among Gypsies, Roma and Travellers aged 6–7.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department’s education reforms, including those aimed at improving teaching, literacy and numeracy, and strengthening the curriculum and examination system, are designed to deliver opportunity and high standards for all pupils, regardless of their ethnic background. These reforms are reinforced by new school accountability measures, which are intended to encourage schools to focus more closely on the attainment of all their pupils. The introduction of a new national curriculum for maintained schools from 2014, with phonics at its heart and the establishment of 32 English Hubs in 2018 specifically support primary schools to improve standards of reading.
The department knows that the most significant factor affecting pupil attainment, which cuts across all ethnicities including a high proportion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, is economic disadvantage. To tackle this, the department has provided a total of £13.75 billion from April 2011 to March 2018 through the pupil premium to help schools improve the progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. The department continues to provide this additional funding, which is £2.4 billion this year alone.
In January last year, the department established the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller stakeholder group to inform policy development to raise the attainment and participation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils at all stages of education.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to improve recruitment and retention of teachers in small rural schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department is working directly with schools facing teacher supply challenges, including small rural schools. £30 million of funding has been announced, tailored to help these schools recruit and retain teachers.
The department will be working with education organisations, including teachers and head teachers from small rural schools, to develop a teacher recruitment and retention strategy. The strategy will consider the challenges facing a range of types of schools, including small rural schools.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that schools, further education colleges and universities are able to provide specialist careers advice and support for disabled young people.
Answered by Lord Nash
Good careers education and guidance should give all young people, including those with disabilities, access to the information they need to make informed decisions. That is why we are investing £90 million over this Parliament to improve careers provision for young people.
Careers advice for pupils with special educational needs and disability (SEND) should be based on high aspirations and a personalised approach. Schools and colleges have a legal duty to secure independent careers guidance. This duty applies to all young people up to and including the age of 18 in schools and colleges, and 19- to 25-year-olds in colleges with an Education Health and Care Plan. The 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice makes it clear that all children and young people with SEND should be prepared for adulthood, and that this preparation should start early.
Local authorities retain their legal responsibility, under section 68 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, to make available support that it considers appropriate to encourage, enable and assist the participation of young people in education or training. For individuals with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, this applies up to the age of 25. Schools and colleges should make use of the local offer published by the local authority that must set out details of SEND provisions in their area – including the full range of post-16 education and training options, and support in preparing for adulthood.
In his latest guidance, the Director of Fair Access encourages higher education institutions, through their access agreements, to consider what more they can do to support students with disabilities. This includes considering students’ differing needs to access higher education, succeed in their studies and progress towards appropriate postgraduate study and employment. Higher education institutions are also subject to requirements in the Equality Act 2010. They have clear duties and responsibilities to ensure that disabled students do not face discrimination or less favourable treatment when applying to, and studying in, higher education.
The National Careers Service provides free, up-to-date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England for everyone, including those with disabilities.
We publish destination measures that show the percentage of young people continuing their education in schools, further education colleges, sixth form colleges or higher education institutions. These measures also include apprenticeships and show the percentage who went into employment or training, and those who were not in education, employment or training. The data is also broken down by student characteristics, including the destinations of children with special educational needs leaving key stage 4. This will provide more transparent information on how each school is helping children with disabilities to make the transition into post-16 education, training or employment.