Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to bring England into line with the rest of the UK by removing the sanction of imprisonment for non-payment of council tax.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Imprisonment should only ever be the last resort for non-payment of council tax. Before a magistrates’ court commits someone to prison for failure to pay their council tax, it must inquire as to the debtor’s means, and satisfy itself that failure to pay is due to “wilful refusal or culpable neglect”. This is to prevent persons who are genuinely unable to pay their council tax from being committed to prison. The Government does not have any plans to change the current arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the report by Refugee Rights Europe, Finally Safe? Experiences of Women in Asylum Accommodation in Birmingham, published in November, and the proposals made by Asylum Matters and the Scottish Refugee Council about an increased role for local authorities in the procurement and monitoring of asylum accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government demands the highest standards from contractors and their accommodation and monitor them closely to ensure this is maintained. All Providers are contractually required to take account of any particular circumstances and vulnerability of those that they accommodate, including those who have health care issues or are pregnant. This includes making specific allowances for accommodation type in accordance with local authority regulations, as well as ensuring that registration and transportation to medical appointments takes place.
Identifying the needs of service users as well as safeguarding those being supported by UKVI are common themes throughout the new contracts. Additional measures have been put in place to monitor the service that is being delivered, introducing mechanisms and opportunities to respond to changes in service user circumstances whilst they are supported and accommodated. We encourage all reports to share details of individual cases with the Home Office to ensure that we are able to respond swiftly and efficiently to any points raised.
We take the wellbeing of asylum seekers and the local communities in which they live extremely seriously and will continue to work closely with local authorities across the United Kingdom to deliver on our statutory obligation to house destitute asylum seekers whilst their asylum claims are determined. All accommodation providers are contractually obliged to consult the relevant Local Authority on any new properties procured for use in the asylum dispersal system. This obligation will continue into the new accommodation contracts.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that opportunity areas develop plans to improve communication and language skills of children and young people over the age of five.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We know that poor speech, language and communication (SLC) skills can hold children back at school and limit their later life chances. This was identified as an issue in all 12 of the Opportunity Areas, which is why we have put plans in place to improve outcomes in the early years and across all the different phases and age ranges.
Particular projects that include or focus on children over the age of five include the following:
In Stoke-on-Trent, we are extending the successful “Stoke Speaks Out” initiative to 25 primary schools with lower than average numbers of children attaining a good level of development. This will provide targeted, specialist support for early language, communication and literacy.
In Derby, we are inviting schools in the most deprived areas to participate in ‘Talk Derby’, an ambitious SLC programme offering a package of support including developing an improvement plan against their particular needs providing training and development for ‘front-line practitioners’ in identifying and supporting SLC needs and training parents to introduce an early talkers programme.
In Blackpool, we are targeting nine secondary schools in a key stage 3 reading project. This will provide a series of interventions with the aim of increasing students’ reading fluency, enhancing their vocabulary and improving their comprehension.
In Fenland and East Cambridgeshire, we are funding five schools to run evidence-based research projects to improve language and communication skills in their pupils, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged.
In West Somerset, three schools have taken part in a systematic synthetic phonics programme, “Read Write Inc”, delivered by Ruth Miskin training. We are now making plans for a more widespread synthetic phonics programme for the next academic year.
In Bradford, we have approved a project through our Strategic School Improvement Fund that will support 23 schools to improve outcomes at key stage 1.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that where there are concerns about a child or young person's behaviour in school an assessment is carried out to determine whether there are any causal factors such as difficulties with speech, language, and communication.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We expect schools to have clear processes to support pupils who present challenging behaviour, including how they will manage the effect of any disruptive behaviour so it does not adversely affect other pupils.
With some pupils, such challenging behaviour may reflect a wide range of social and emotional difficulties, including underlying mental health difficulties or disorders or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) such as difficulties with speech, language or communication. The SEND Code of Practice sets out the approach we would expect schools to take in relation to SEND, including requesting education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments.
The government has taken steps to improve access to support for speech, language and communication needs. For example, the Children and Families Act 2014 aims to ensure improvements to early identification of children with speech and language communication needs. There is ongoing work between the Department for Education and Public Health England to target early years professionals for involvement in this early identification.
To provide further support to school practice, we are reviewing our existing mental health and behaviour in schools guidance. This is to ensure it reflects the changing context for support with the implementation of the SEND reforms and changes that are happening in children and young people’s mental health following the ‘Future in Mind’ report (attached) and the mental health Green Paper: ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’ (attached).
We are also reforming training so that all teachers will be shown how to effectively manage behaviour in their first two years in the profession and have recently announced a £10 million investment to support schools to share best practice in behaviour management.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans Ofsted has to consider children and young people's speech, language, and communication needs in their future research on special educational needs and difficulties, including provision of joint commissioning of specialist therapies and support.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to you directly and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Public Health England about providing practitioners with evidence-based red flags that indicate communication and language concerns at each of the statutory review points that are part of the next review of the Healthy Child Programme.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department for Education has an ongoing dialogue with Public Health England on the issue of children’s speech and language development. They have formed a partnership to address the ‘word gap’ and support the speech, language and communication elements of the Healthy Child Programme. This programme of work will include training and resources for health visitors on speech, language and communication needs, incorporating evidence-based red flags on delayed early use of gesture and pointing by young children.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to commission Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to continue their local area special educational needs and disability inspections beyond the current initial five-year cycle.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspections of the effectiveness of special educational needs and disability services are providing evidence of progress and are a powerful driver of improvement in local areas.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced on 5 July that he would be asking Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to design a programme of further inspections to follow the current round, due to conclude in 2021; and for their advice on further inspection or monitoring of those areas required to produce a ‘Written Statement of Action’.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the effectiveness of the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool in identifying speech, language and communication needs.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has no current plans to review the effectiveness of the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool to identify speech, language and communication needs in the children and young people’s secure estate.
NHS England has commissioned Manchester University to review use of the Tool across 14 Secure Children’s Homes, three Secure Training Centres and four Young Offender Institutions. This includes consideration of the quality of the assessments being completed and the processes and procedures set up to support the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool. The review will report on overarching themes and individual site reports, each containing an action plan and recommendations. It is intended that this process will enable identification of key themes for NHS England to consider as well as individual site reports, each containing an action plan and recommendations.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Youth Justice Board about the recommendations in the report by I CAN and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Bercow: Ten Years On, published on 20 March.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
To date, we have not discussed the ‘Bercow: Ten Years On’ report, with the Youth Justice Board. We acknowledge the findings of the report and we are clear that all young people should be able to effectively engage with the justice system, regardless of their particular needs.
Over the past three years MoJ and the YJB have supported a national project, led by the Department for Education, to deliver special educational needs and disability (SEND) awareness training to the youth justice workforce. The Youth Justice SEND Bubble programme offered free training to Youth Justice System professionals, supporting them to effectively identify and meet children’s special educational and disability needs and allowing them to work towards more effective engagement and positive long-term outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Education has discussed the recommendations in the report by I CAN and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Bercow: Ten Years On, published on 20 March, with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, particularly the recommendation that there should be a new cross-government strategy for children.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Officials from the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are in regular contact and are working together to implement the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms underpinned by the Children and Families Act 2014. Effective joint working between DHSC and DfE is at the heart of these reforms, at national and local level.
The recommendations of the ‘Bercow: Ten Years On’ report are very timely. They come at a time when we are considering the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism’s report ‘Autism and education in England 2017’; and considering our response to Dame Christine Lenehan’s review of residential special schools, ‘Good Intentions, Good Enough?’.
We shall consider all of these reports carefully and are committed to responding to Dame Christine Lenehan’s review. We will take that opportunity to set out how the government will continue working to achieve the vision of a reformed SEND system, underpinned by the Children and Families Act 2014.