Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to continue the holiday activities and food programme into the 2025–26 financial year; and what plans they have for this funding.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 20959.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of teacher training in preparing teachers to deliver physical education to girls in (1) primary, and (2) secondary, schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to broaden the range of physical activities available to girls inside and outside schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase girls’ participation in physical activity in schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given the findings by Action for Children in its report, Above and Beyond: How teachers fill gaps in the system to keep children learning, that (1) nine children in an average class of 25 face challenges outside of school which hinder their ability to learn, and (2) teachers are struggling to support them and their families, what action they are taking to encourage schools to employ family liaison officers to support struggling families.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government recognises the pivotal role teachers and education settings play in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and families.
The department’s 2023 updated statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ confirms that staff working in education settings play an important role in building relationships, identifying concerns and providing direct support to children.
At the last Spending Review, the department announced over £1 billion for programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantages through the Supporting Families Programme and the holiday activities and food programme. Local authorities working with their partners can decide to use this funding to employ family liaison officers or other professionals to support families within education settings.
The department’s ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love: strategy and consultation’, announced plans to build on the strengths of these vital early help services through the implementation of family help. In the Families First for Children Pathfinder, the department is testing how it can increase the role of education in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and how local areas can provide targeted support to help children and families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity. The Pathfinder is running in ten local authority areas across two ‘waves’: Dorset, Lincolnshire and Wolverhampton (wave one announced July 2023) and Lewisham, Luton, Redbridge, Walsall, Warrington, Warwickshire and Wirral (wave two announced April 2024).
The department is also making the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory from September 2024. This sets out how schools, local authorities and other services need to work together to support pupils at risk of poor attendance and ensure support provided to these families is consistent across the country.
The department’s package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance means that there were 440,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given the finding by Action for Children in its report, Above and Beyond: How teachers fill gaps in the system to keep children learning, that teachers are supporting 3.3 million children who face barriers to their education because of issues outside of school, what plans they have to make schools the fourth statutory safeguarding partner.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government recognises that education needs to play a greater role in local safeguarding arrangements. This reflects the part schools, colleges, early years and other education settings play in the lives of children and families, and their safeguarding responsibilities.
In 2023, the department consulted on and strengthened its statutory guidance, titled ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, which clarified the roles and responsibilities of education settings, both strategically and operationally, in local safeguarding arrangements.
As outlined in ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department is exploring how it can increase the role of education in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential (1) social, and (2) economic, benefits of expanding the School Milk Subsidy Scheme to provide a free one third of a pint portion of milk to all primary school age children each day attending school.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Milk is an excellent food for children’s growth and development. This is why, as part of the School Food Standards, schools are already required to ensure milk is available to all pupils who want it during school hours. The National School Milk Subsidy Scheme can be used by primary schools to reduce the cost of milk for all their pupils.
Thanks to Universal Infant Free School Meals, pupils under seven years old are already eligible for free milk when it is offered as part of their school lunch. Older pupils entitled to benefits related free school meals are also eligible for free milk when made available during the school day. This is in addition to the free milk provided for children under five-years-old thanks to the Nursery Milk Scheme.
As with free school meals, the department believes it is important to support those most in need and to ensure policy remains affordable and deliverable for schools. The department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for the scheme.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 26 October (HL10658), whether they will undertake to publish the finalised annual version of Keeping Children Safe in Education in the school summer term in future, given that even minor changes can cause issues with planning.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department currently has no plans to alter the established publication timings for ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’. The department publishes a near final version of the guidance in late spring or early summer.
Schools and colleges are familiar with the department’s approach which ensures that schools and colleges have sufficient time to digest revisions and to plan any necessary training, ahead of implementation in the next school year.
It is rare for material changes to be made between the ‘for information’ version and the final publication in September. Where this does occur, changes are strictly limited to reflect vital information in response to unexpected or emerging issues and are made to support schools and colleges to better safeguard children.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to confirming final updates to their statutory guidance Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges, in the summer term of the academic year with effect from 1 September of the next academic year to enable schools (1) to update their safeguarding policies, and (2) implement staff training, in readiness for 1 September when the statutory guidance becomes effective.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department’s guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), is updated annually in the summer term, for information to enable schools and colleges to plan for the commencement of the guidance in September.
For 2023, KCSIE was published for information on 6 June 2023, with a final version with only minor changes published on 1 September 2023.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Secretary of State for Education to all members of the House of Lords on 24 August where she stated that "we’ve also seen some really encouraging trends in the subjects that pupils are choosing to study, with more students opting to take core academic subjects this year", how they define core "academic subjects"; and why they are so encouraged by the uptake of those subjects.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Core academic subjects are defined as those that are included within the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). The EBacc is made up of English language and literature, mathematics, the sciences, including computer science, either history or geography, and a modern or ancient language.
The department is encouraged by the increased uptake in these core academic subjects because they are essential for many degrees, and they provide a sound basis for a variety of careers beyond the age of 16. In particular, they can enable pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to follow a curriculum which will give them similar post-16 options as their non-disadvantaged peers, fostering greater social mobility.
The EBacc’s core academic subjects provide a strong foundation for all pupils regardless of whether that want to take an academic, technical, or vocational route post-16.