Lord Hampton

The department wants to ensure that young carers have the best life chances by supporting them in their education. They were first added to the School Census in the 2022/23 academic year. This change has raised both awareness and the profile of young carers in schools. It has, for the first time, provided hard data on both the numbers of young carers in schools and their education.

The department expects the quality of the data returns to continue to improve as the collection becomes established. 72% of schools did not record any young carers in 2024.

The department produces guidance, which is periodically reviewed with the sector, to ensure that our data asks are clear and that schools understand how to record all elements of the School Census, including identification of young carers. Further, the School Census has embedded validation rules to maintain the quality of the data which mean that for all pupils, schools must respond to say whether or not the child has been identified as a young carer. We will continue to work closely with the sector, including organisations that work directly with schools in the support of young carers, to encourage better identification, recording and support for young carers in schools.

The department’s expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, were made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance. The ‘support first’ ethos of the attendance guidance is that pupils and families, including young carers, should receive holistic, whole-family support to help them overcome the barriers to attendance they are facing. This includes holding regular meetings with the parents of pupils who the school, and/or local authority, consider to be vulnerable to discuss attendance and engagement at school. Schools are expected to recognise that absence is a symptom and that improving a pupil’s attendance is part of supporting the pupil’s overall welfare.

The daily attendance data collection has been established to ensure consistent recording and monitoring of pupil attendance, support the identification of absence patterns, and help schools and local authorities provide appropriate interventions. We will continue to monitor the quality of school census data on young carers for consideration for future inclusion in the daily collection.

The department wants to ensure that young carers have the best life chances by supporting them in their education. They were first added to the School Census in the 2022/23 academic year. This change has raised both awareness and the profile of young carers in schools. It has, for the first time, provided hard data on both the numbers of young carers in schools and their education.

The department expects the quality of the data returns to continue to improve as the collection becomes established. 72% of schools did not record any young carers in 2024.

The department produces guidance, which is periodically reviewed with the sector, to ensure that our data asks are clear and that schools understand how to record all elements of the School Census, including identification of young carers. Further, the School Census has embedded validation rules to maintain the quality of the data which mean that for all pupils, schools must respond to say whether or not the child has been identified as a young carer. We will continue to work closely with the sector, including organisations that work directly with schools in the support of young carers, to encourage better identification, recording and support for young carers in schools.

The department’s expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, were made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance. The ‘support first’ ethos of the attendance guidance is that pupils and families, including young carers, should receive holistic, whole-family support to help them overcome the barriers to attendance they are facing. This includes holding regular meetings with the parents of pupils who the school, and/or local authority, consider to be vulnerable to discuss attendance and engagement at school. Schools are expected to recognise that absence is a symptom and that improving a pupil’s attendance is part of supporting the pupil’s overall welfare.

The daily attendance data collection has been established to ensure consistent recording and monitoring of pupil attendance, support the identification of absence patterns, and help schools and local authorities provide appropriate interventions. We will continue to monitor the quality of school census data on young carers for consideration for future inclusion in the daily collection.

I refer the noble Lord to the answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 20959.

The department recognises there are number of issues that affect girls’ experience of, and engagement with PE lessons, including body image and negative stereotypes. It is for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers to design a curriculum for primary teacher training and specialist secondary PE teaching, in line with the ITT core content framework and early career framework, that is relevant to subject or phase they will be teaching and provides the opportunity for all pupils to experience success.

Decisions relating to teachers’ professional development rest with schools, headteachers and teachers themselves, as they are in the best position to judge the development and training that teachers in their schools need to support their pupils. The PE and sport premium can be used by primary schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to their offer including continuing professional development and training where needed as well as support for equal access for boys and girls.

The government is committed to creating the healthiest ever generation of children. Breaking down the barriers to accessing sport and physical activity will be critical to achieving the government’s ambitions.

The department knows from the Active Lives Children and Young People survey results, covering the 2023/24 academic year, that only 45% of girls meet the Chief Medical Officers’ 60 minutes of activity a day recommendation, compared with 51% of boys. The figures for both remaining largely stable over the last two years.

The School Games Mark, funded by the government and managed by the Youth Sport Trust (YST), has introduced mandatory equality criteria for PE, school sport and physical activity participation for the 2024/25 academic year. Schools aiming to achieve or maintain the award’s status and recognition must now meet these criteria. The department is collaborating with the YST to identify and share best practice from the School Games Mark, with all schools on enhancing girls' equal access to PE, school sport, and physical activity.

The PE and sport premium for the 2024/25 academic year helps all eligible primary schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to their offer, and the guidance states that funding can be used to provide or improve equal access for boys and girls.

The department works in tandem with a wide range of sporting bodies to further support equal access to sport and physical activities.

The department has also launched an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will seek to deliver a broader curriculum so that children and young people do not miss out on subjects such as music, art, PE and drama, as well as vocational subjects.