Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the announcement in July 2022 that all schools in England should have defibrillators on their estates, how many schools in England now have defibrillators; and how many training programmes for their use they have supported.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 17 July 2022, The department announced that it would be providing defibrillators to all state funded schools in England that did not already have them.
Deliveries to all eligible secondary schools have now been completed and, as of 27 June 2023, approximately 12,400 defibrillators have been delivered to over 9,965 eligible schools. All deliveries will be completed by the end of the academic year.
Defibrillators are designed so they can be used safely with no prior training. The devices provided have voice prompts to talk the user through the steps they need to take at the time of use. Users are prompted to follow the step-by-step instructions displayed on the device.
As part of the roll out, awareness videos have been provided showing how simple defibrillators are to use. The department is asking schools to share these videos in staff meetings and assemblies. This will ensure as many people as possible feel able to respond in an emergency situation.
To further support schools, the department has also updated its Automated External Defibrillator guidance, which includes practical information about defibrillators and links to additional support. The guidance is attached.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of physical education at schools; and how they intend to improve the provision of teacher training courses for those teaching sport and PE at Primary School level.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department continues to work closely with schools and stakeholders to remain abreast of developments in the provision of physical education (PE) in schools. In March 2022, Ofsted published a research review into PE. Ofsted will use this understanding of subject quality to examine how PE is taught in England’s schools. Ofsted will then publish a subject report to share its findings.
In October 2021, the government announced nearly £30 million a year towards improving the teaching of PE at primary school and opening school sport facilities in England.
A series of approaches are currently being considered as to how the department can bring together the evidence on what constitutes good PE, how this can be practically delivered, and how to support schools to identify and take the steps they need to make their provision as good as it can be. Further information on this will be published as part of the update to the school sport and activity action plan.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are seeking to make provision for activities for young people to be engaged in physical activity during the 2022 summer holiday period; and if so, what are their plans.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This year, the government is investing over £200 million in its holiday activities and food (HAF) programme.
All 152 local authorities in England are delivering the programme in the Easter, summer, and Christmas holidays. The HAF provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families. This benefits their heath, wellbeing and learning.
The holiday clubs on this programme must provide physical activities daily. Children take part in moderate to vigorous activities for up to 60 minutes at each session.
The department is also exploring a summer activity challenge to provide more opportunities for children to be physically active during the summer holidays.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to engage with independent schools to extend the use of their sport and recreation facilities with local communities to demonstrate that they are creating dual use and public benefit.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department continues to encourage new partnerships to form between independent and state-funded schools. Whilst partnerships can cover a wide range of activities, many independent schools collaborate with local state schools and their communities by hosting joint events or sharing facilities. The 2020 Census by the Independent Schools Council (ISC), covering the period immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic, found that 87% of its member schools were involved in partnerships with local state schools. 30% of these reported sharing sports fields, 28% swimming pools, and 22% a concert hall or theatre.
As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the department encourages more schools to experience the opportunities of working in partnership in areas including, but not limited to, sharing facilities. For example, across teacher and curriculum development, governance and leadership, and other targeted forms of school improvement.
The department’s joint understanding with the ISC is designed to expand the participation of independent schools across other areas which help to demonstrate that sector’s commitment to its local communities, such as by encouraging schools to offer support targeted at children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The department welcomes the ISC’s efforts to increase participation, alongside charities such as the Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation and the School Partnerships Alliance. The department will continue to work together with these organisations to ensure that even more children benefit, irrespective of their backgrounds or the schools they attend.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the register of approved apprenticeship training providers to reopen to applicants.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The register of apprenticeship training providers is open to applicants now, but only where the training they offer meets the definition of ‘critical workers’ in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, with a linked employer endorsement to verify that any new training responds to an identified training gap. We will keep this approach to targeted entry to the register under review subject to the course of the COVID-19 outbreak, which will include any changes to the definition of ‘critical workers’ that may arise.
That approach reflects the government’s plan to raise the quality of delivery across the apprenticeship training market, and to progressively introduce more stringent entry criteria for entry to the register. On that basis, we have also been recently inviting all current, active providers on the register to reapply.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the introduction of Designated Senior Leads for Mental Health in every school and college by 2025; what will be the resource level and training requirements for that programme; and what are the details of the geographical roll-out for that programme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
An increasing proportion of schools and colleges have an individual who leads on mental health as part of their role. In 2018, 82% of schools and 91% of further education colleges had a mental health lead.
The department is supporting the uptake of senior mental health lead roles by providing training. Subject to contract procurement, this training will be available from June 2020 and available to all state-funded schools and colleges by 2025. The precise level of commitment to complete training will be determined during the development of the training, shaped by the needs of senior leads.
Training will be prioritised in the first instance within schools and colleges selected to work with Mental Health Support Teams, which were chosen as part of the commitments made by the government in its response to ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health: A Green Paper’, attached. It will then be offered to all other schools and colleges nationally, with precise plans for geographical rollout to be developed once a training provider has been recruited.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to include education on mental health, wellbeing and emotional literacy in the relationships and sex education and health education curriculum from September 2020; and which organisations they intend to work with in addition to Mental Health First Aid England for primary schools and the Anna Freud Centre for secondary schools in order to provide suitable training.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The statutory guidance on relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education was published in June 2019. In health education, there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing, including a recognition that mental wellbeing and physical health are linked. Emotional literacy at primary and secondary levels is included throughout all 3 subjects, and particularly when covering topics on mental health and wellbeing.
Schools have flexibility to design and plan age-appropriate subject content. In health education, the guidance sets out core areas for health and wellbeing for primary and secondary aged pupils; including topics such as mental wellbeing, physical health and fitness, healthy eating, harmful substances, health and prevention and basic first aid.
The department is currently working with teachers and schools to determine how support and training for these subjects should be structured. Our programme of support will focus on tools that improve schools’ practice, such as implementation guidance and targeted support; training materials; and resources that teachers need to teach the new subjects effectively.
To provide further support for schools to build the capability to identify and promote awareness of mental health needs, the government committed in January 2017 to make available mental health awareness training to one member of staff in all state secondary schools by 2020, and all state primary schools by 2022. The 3 year secondary schools’ mental health awareness training programme started in 2017 and was delivered for the first 2 years by Mental Health First Aid England. In 2019, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE) announced that the final year of the secondary school mental health training programme will be delivered by the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. The DHSC are currently considering options on how best to deliver the mental health awareness training in primary schools.
The DfE is currently recruiting a provider to develop and deliver a new mental health training programme for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges. We expect to be able to announce the outcome of this process in 2020. Subject to contract award, training delivery will commence from June 2020.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish details of the £1 million competition run by the Office for Students to find innovative new ways to support mental health at universities and colleges as announced by the Prime Minister on 17 June.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 17 June, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a £1 million fund to enable development of innovative proposals that drive improvements in mental health support for higher education students.
The Office for Students is currently working with students, sector representatives, experts and relevant government departments to develop the priorities of this £1 million competition. They aim to publish further details by the end of the year.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government what consultation the Department for Education held with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the decision to cut the Healthy Pupils Capital Programme.
Answered by Lord Nash
Officials from DfE and DCMS work together closely across a number of programmes to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to lead healthy, active lives.
As announced by the Secretary of State on 17 July, £100m of Healthy Pupils Capital Funding will be used to pay for facilities to support PE, after school activities and healthy eating. In addition, the Primary PE and School Sport Premium will be doubled to £320m a year from September 2017. The premium funds additional and sustainable improvements to the provision of PE and sport in primary schools to encourage the development of healthy, active lifestyles.
The Department allocates around £1.2bn per year of capital funding directly to schools and their responsible bodies for them to invest in maintaining and improving their school buildings and facilities. They can decide how funding is spent, and if they wish they can of course target sports facilities where they are the local priority.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government, following the decision to cut the Healthy Pupils Capital Programme, what additional resources, if any, they will make available for schools to invest in after-school sports clubs and sports facilities.
Answered by Lord Nash
Officials from DfE and DCMS work together closely across a number of programmes to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to lead healthy, active lives.
As announced by the Secretary of State on 17 July, £100m of Healthy Pupils Capital Funding will be used to pay for facilities to support PE, after school activities and healthy eating. In addition, the Primary PE and School Sport Premium will be doubled to £320m a year from September 2017. The premium funds additional and sustainable improvements to the provision of PE and sport in primary schools to encourage the development of healthy, active lifestyles.
The Department allocates around £1.2bn per year of capital funding directly to schools and their responsible bodies for them to invest in maintaining and improving their school buildings and facilities. They can decide how funding is spent, and if they wish they can of course target sports facilities where they are the local priority.