Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many care leavers entered high tariff higher education institutions in each of the last three years for which the data are available; and how many entered each institution.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The enclosed attachment contains the department’s analysis of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record showing the number of care leavers who entered courses at English higher education providers (HEPs) in each academic year from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Coverage refers to entrants domiciled in England prior to study and care leavers are defined as codes 01 and 04 in the HESA care leaver collection documentation. Further information can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c20051/a/careleaver.
The summary table below shows the number of care leavers who entered courses at high tariff[1] English HEPs in each year, along with total care leavers entering courses at all HEPs. A full breakdown by institution can be found in the attachment.
Academic year | Care leavers entrants at high tariff providers | Care leavers entrants at all providers |
2018/19 | 435 | 3,570 |
2019/20 | 505 | 3,895 |
2020/21 | 580 | 4,290 |
[1] The tariff grouping used here is the same as that which the Office for Students defined in Annex A (pg 20) of their technical guidance, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/6591e671-624a-4ebf-a5fb-1be904a5eb9f/technical-gudiance-to-accompany-provider-modelling-finalforweb.pdf.
They are based on the average UCAS tariff score of their young (aged under 21) UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants in the 2012-13 to 2014-15 academic years. Providers in the top third of the ranking by average tariff score form the 'High tariff' group.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding they have provided in total for family hubs since 2020; and how much of this has been allocated, broken down by fund.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
At Budget, the government announced £82 million to create a network of family hubs. This is part of a wider £300 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England.
Further information on funding profiles and how funding will be allocated will be made available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to which named funds the £500 million of families and early years funding will be directed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Supporting families and children across the country to get the best start in life is a crucial part of the government’s ambition to level up. The £500 million announced at the Autumn 2021 Budget includes:
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much new funding for family hubs they have set aside in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review for each financial year to 2024–25; and how local authorities can apply for these funds.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
At Budget, the government announced £82 million to create a network of family hubs. This is part of a wider £300 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England. The department will set out more detail in due course on how this new funding will be allocated.
The department has previously announced £39.5 million of funding to support the implementation of family hubs. Some of this has been direct support to local authorities:
The remainder of funding is for programmes to support the development of family hubs policy, evidence and data and digital implementation, covering mixed teams of local authorities, officials, and contracted partners. This includes:
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the total population was ever in local authority care as children.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The information requested is not held by the department.
Information of the current number of children in care, as a proportion of the child population, is published in table A1 of the statistical release ‘National tables: children Looked after in England including adoption 2018 to 19’: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019.
Figures for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020 will be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the appointment process for the Children's Commissioner for England; and when they expect to begin this process for the next Commissioner.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Children Act 2004 states that the Children’s Commissioner is to be appointed by the Secretary of State for Education. The Children’s Commissioner post is a Significant Public Appointment and therefore follows the process and requirements set out in the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Officials in the Department for Education have already started planning for the recruitment of the next Children’s Commissioner. We will be monitoring closely the current situation with the COVID-19 outbreak to see when would be most appropriate to launch the campaign.
The current Children’s Commissioner’s term in office will conclude at the end of February 2021. The Children’s Commissioner maximum term in office is six years as set out in primary legislation – the Children Act 2004, as amended by the Children and Families Act. An extension to the term of the Children’s Commissioner is not permitted under the current legislation.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the term of office for the current Children's Commissioner for England is due to end; and whether they anticipate an extension to that term.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Children Act 2004 states that the Children’s Commissioner is to be appointed by the Secretary of State for Education. The Children’s Commissioner post is a Significant Public Appointment and therefore follows the process and requirements set out in the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Officials in the Department for Education have already started planning for the recruitment of the next Children’s Commissioner. We will be monitoring closely the current situation with the COVID-19 outbreak to see when would be most appropriate to launch the campaign.
The current Children’s Commissioner’s term in office will conclude at the end of February 2021. The Children’s Commissioner maximum term in office is six years as set out in primary legislation – the Children Act 2004, as amended by the Children and Families Act. An extension to the term of the Children’s Commissioner is not permitted under the current legislation.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the welfare of young people in unregulated accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is committed to ensuring that vulnerable children and young people remain protected. Local authorities, social workers and those providing support and care for our most vulnerable children and young people deserve our immense gratitude.
Local authorities have the key day-to-day responsibility for delivery of children’s social care. They are continuing to prioritise their responsibilities towards vulnerable children and young people, including those in independent and semi-independent provision. While we will continue to work with local authorities and providers of this provision to ensure that placements remain as stable as possible during this time, we continue to consult on new measures to improve the quality of this provision and ban the placement of under 16s, given that this provision does not deliver care and therefore cannot be appropriate for a child of this age.
We are also working with those delivering services on the frontline to ensure that the support needed for vulnerable children and young people continues. The government has provided £3.2 billion of additional funding to support local authorities to address pressures they are facing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including for delivering children’s social care.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Budget statement on 11 March, (1) how, and (2) by which Department, the £2.5 million for research and developing best practice around the integration of services for families will be administered; and to what criteria those applying for such funds will be subject.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Department for Education will administer the £2.5 million for research and developing best practice around the integration of services for families. More information will be made available in due course