Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure school children are made aware of current global conflicts.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The national curriculum does not mandate teaching about current global conflicts. It is important that pupils understand national and global events and schools are free to teach age-appropriate content on these topics within the context of their citizenship curriculum. The national curriculum for citizenship includes content on the need for mutual respect and tolerance for people of all backgrounds, human rights, the UK legal system, and international law. The citizenship curriculum also develops pupils’ skills to research and interrogate evidence, debate and evaluate viewpoints and present reasoned arguments. The national curriculum for citizenship is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.
As with other areas of the curriculum, the government does not prescribe how citizenship should be taught. Schools are expected to develop a curriculum that meets the need of their pupils, drawing on the expertise and support of subject associations and other organisations that produce and quality assure resources. To support schools to deliver a high-quality curriculum, Oak National Academy, which became an independent Arm’s Length Body in September 2022, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum resources. On 2 October 2023, Oak launched its second cycle of procurement for curriculum sequences and teaching resources, including for secondary citizenship. Cycle 2 is scheduled for completion by Autumn 2025.
The government has also published resources on the Educate against Hate website to help schools to speak about the news, ongoing conflicts and hold discussions on difficult topics with pupils. The resources are available at: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/blog/posts/how-to-speak-about-the-news-ongoing-conflicts-and-hold-discussions-on-difficult-topics-with-students/.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what background information is given to schools about the situation in the home countries of pupils who have arrived in the UK as asylum seekers or refugees.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not provide information on the situation in other countries to schools educating children who are asylum seekers and refugees.
The circumstances for civilians in many conflict zones are widely reported upon in the media and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office publishes brief profiles for each foreign nation. These profiles can be found at: https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/6e1f22a9-feb9-49d8-8e61-8fc19764480a/fco-country-profiles.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they adjust the schools curriculum to meet the needs of areas with a high number of immigrants.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Maintained schools in England are legally required to follow the National Curriculum as a piece of statutory guidance.
Within a broad statutory framework, schools have considerable flexibility to organise the content and delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils.
In addition to meeting their statutory duties, schools are also free to include additional subjects or topics they deem relevant for their pupils, as part of the school’s wider curriculum.
Academies and free schools have greater freedom and autonomy in how they operate for areas such as the curriculum, but they are expected to teach a curriculum that is comparable in breadth and ambition to the National Curriculum.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total spend in England on education for young people between the ages of three and 18 in 2020 (1) in cash terms, and (2) as a percentage of total government expenditure.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the 2020/21 financial year, the department’s revenue funding for the 3 to 4-year-old universal and additional hours for the childcare entitlement was £3.1 billion. £51.5 billion was spent on school age pupils (5-16), and £6.2 billion on mainstream and high needs funding for 16-19 education in colleges, school sixth forms, and other institutions. In the 2020/21 financial year, the department’s revenue funding for apprenticeships for 16 to 18-year-olds was £500 million.
In relation to capital funding, it is not possible to separate out funding for young people aged 3 to 18 from other capital funding. The majority of the department’s capital funding supports young people in this age group. In the 2020/21 financial year, the department’s total capital expenditure was £4.8 billion.
In total, capital and revenue spend in England for these areas in the 2020/21 financial year was £66.2 billion.
Total managed expenditure for the government in the 2020/21 financial year, as published in HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses, was £1,104 billion. The department’s expenditure to support young people in England, as outlined above, is 6% of total managed expenditure.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to reports that 39 unaccompanied Albanian refugee children have been reported as missing by Kent County Council, what steps they are taking to locate those children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government takes the matter of any child going missing very seriously. Statutory guidance is in place, which details the responsibilities of local authorities and their partners, to prevent children going missing and to gather and share information and intelligence to reduce this risk. The guidance applies to all children going missing, whether this is from the family home or from care and includes unaccompanied refugee children.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children in England currently receive free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Free school meal (FSM) eligibility criteria is a devolved policy. In England, under the benefits-based criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal. An additional 1.3 million infant aged children can also access a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime, following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014.
Under the benefits-based criteria, to be eligible to receive FSMs, a pupil or their parent must be in receipt of specific welfare benefits and must make a claim to the school for FSMs. The criteria are available at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.
Schools provide free school meals for eligible pupils during term time. Beyond that, billions of pounds of welfare assistance is in place to support families and children. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and during the period in which schools were largely closed, the department funded around £450 million supermarket vouchers through the National Voucher Scheme. Since November 2020, the Department for Work and Pensions has put in place funding to support vulnerable households across the country. The latest fund is the DWPs £500 million Household Support Fund to help families and individuals with essentials over the coming months as the country continues its recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. This fund will allow local authorities to directly help the hardest-hit families and individuals with daily needs such as food, clothing and utilities.
The recent Budget also confirmed the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with an investment of over £200 million per year. Operated through local authorities and taking place in schools and community venues across England, national delivery began at Easter 2021 and has run across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. It supports disadvantaged pupils and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new skills, providing physical activity, nutritional education, and supporting socialisation and well-being. Local authorities are required to operate against the core HAF objectives including the provision of food that meets the school food standards but have freedom to determine the delivery approach, for example working with local partners, businesses and supermarkets.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to arrange for restaurants and cafes to provide children who qualify for free school meals with meals during school holidays.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Free school meal (FSM) eligibility criteria is a devolved policy. In England, under the benefits-based criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal. An additional 1.3 million infant aged children can also access a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime, following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014.
Under the benefits-based criteria, to be eligible to receive FSMs, a pupil or their parent must be in receipt of specific welfare benefits and must make a claim to the school for FSMs. The criteria are available at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.
Schools provide free school meals for eligible pupils during term time. Beyond that, billions of pounds of welfare assistance is in place to support families and children. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and during the period in which schools were largely closed, the department funded around £450 million supermarket vouchers through the National Voucher Scheme. Since November 2020, the Department for Work and Pensions has put in place funding to support vulnerable households across the country. The latest fund is the DWPs £500 million Household Support Fund to help families and individuals with essentials over the coming months as the country continues its recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. This fund will allow local authorities to directly help the hardest-hit families and individuals with daily needs such as food, clothing and utilities.
The recent Budget also confirmed the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with an investment of over £200 million per year. Operated through local authorities and taking place in schools and community venues across England, national delivery began at Easter 2021 and has run across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. It supports disadvantaged pupils and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new skills, providing physical activity, nutritional education, and supporting socialisation and well-being. Local authorities are required to operate against the core HAF objectives including the provision of food that meets the school food standards but have freedom to determine the delivery approach, for example working with local partners, businesses and supermarkets.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to provide meals during school holidays for pupils who qualify for free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Free school meal (FSM) eligibility criteria is a devolved policy. In England, under the benefits-based criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal. An additional 1.3 million infant aged children can also access a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime, following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014.
Under the benefits-based criteria, to be eligible to receive FSMs, a pupil or their parent must be in receipt of specific welfare benefits and must make a claim to the school for FSMs. The criteria are available at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.
Schools provide free school meals for eligible pupils during term time. Beyond that, billions of pounds of welfare assistance is in place to support families and children. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and during the period in which schools were largely closed, the department funded around £450 million supermarket vouchers through the National Voucher Scheme. Since November 2020, the Department for Work and Pensions has put in place funding to support vulnerable households across the country. The latest fund is the DWPs £500 million Household Support Fund to help families and individuals with essentials over the coming months as the country continues its recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. This fund will allow local authorities to directly help the hardest-hit families and individuals with daily needs such as food, clothing and utilities.
The recent Budget also confirmed the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with an investment of over £200 million per year. Operated through local authorities and taking place in schools and community venues across England, national delivery began at Easter 2021 and has run across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. It supports disadvantaged pupils and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new skills, providing physical activity, nutritional education, and supporting socialisation and well-being. Local authorities are required to operate against the core HAF objectives including the provision of food that meets the school food standards but have freedom to determine the delivery approach, for example working with local partners, businesses and supermarkets.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the criteria for children to qualify for free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Free school meal (FSM) eligibility criteria is a devolved policy. In England, under the benefits-based criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal. An additional 1.3 million infant aged children can also access a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime, following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014.
Under the benefits-based criteria, to be eligible to receive FSMs, a pupil or their parent must be in receipt of specific welfare benefits and must make a claim to the school for FSMs. The criteria are available at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.
Schools provide free school meals for eligible pupils during term time. Beyond that, billions of pounds of welfare assistance is in place to support families and children. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and during the period in which schools were largely closed, the department funded around £450 million supermarket vouchers through the National Voucher Scheme. Since November 2020, the Department for Work and Pensions has put in place funding to support vulnerable households across the country. The latest fund is the DWPs £500 million Household Support Fund to help families and individuals with essentials over the coming months as the country continues its recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. This fund will allow local authorities to directly help the hardest-hit families and individuals with daily needs such as food, clothing and utilities.
The recent Budget also confirmed the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with an investment of over £200 million per year. Operated through local authorities and taking place in schools and community venues across England, national delivery began at Easter 2021 and has run across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. It supports disadvantaged pupils and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new skills, providing physical activity, nutritional education, and supporting socialisation and well-being. Local authorities are required to operate against the core HAF objectives including the provision of food that meets the school food standards but have freedom to determine the delivery approach, for example working with local partners, businesses and supermarkets.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the computers provided to Computacenter, made under Procurement Policy Note 01/20 as part of their provision of computers to schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic, were made on loan.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The value of the Computacenter contract is £60 million. Details of the contract can be found on the ‘Contracts Finder’ on gov.uk: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e9047eeb-be82-4506-8a97-448ff0d73cfe?origin=SearchResults&p=1.
A total of 260,000 devices have been delivered under this contract. The breakdown of devices is as follows: 175,426 Windows laptops, 67,817 Google Chromebooks, 6,757 Windows tablets and 10,000 Apple iPads were delivered.
Devices have not been provided on a loan basis. Laptops and tablets are owned by the school, college, academy trust or local authority, who can lend them to children and young people who need them most during the current COVID-19 restrictions.