Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of support for children and young people with Tourette’s Syndrome as outlined in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision Green Paper published in 2022, and how is that measured.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Through delivery of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, which was published in March 2023, the department is establishing a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND, so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.
Pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education. In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance intended to help governing bodies meet their legal responsibilities. This guidance sets out the arrangements they will be expected to make based on good practice. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and should have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed.
Tourette's is a complex neurological condition and children and young people with it may also have other learning difficulties. As a result, schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person gets the special educational provision they need, which includes monitoring the progress of pupils regularly and putting support in place where needed, such as arranging diagnostic tests where appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in determining whether suicide and self-harm prevention will be included in their guidance on relationships, sex and health education as an explicit part of the curriculum, in particular to support young people to spot the signs of, and seek appropriate support for, cases of suicidal ideation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is currently reviewing the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance. In July 2023, as part of the review, the department held a workshop with teachers. The former Minister for Schools also chaired roundtable meetings with a panel of experts and with families to explore the inclusion of suicide prevention in the curriculum.
The department will publish an amended draft of the statutory guidance for consultation at the earliest opportunity. The department will consider responses carefully before publishing the final revised guidance in 2024.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to legislate to give parents and guardians the right to view all material used in teaching Relationship, Health and Sex Education curricula, including lessons and activities delivered by external contractors or partners.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The existing statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) already places clear responsibilities on schools to engage parents about the content of lessons so that they know what their children are being taught. The department is clear that parents have a right to view teaching materials and that copyright law does not prevent a parent from viewing external resources on school premises. The department will be writing to schools shortly to confirm this position and that schools should not use external providers who would restrict their ability to do this.
On 8 March, the Prime Minister announced that the government had brought forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance. This will enable the Department to consider the evidence and decide whether the provisions in the guidance need to be strengthened further to ensure that schools are fully transparent with parents.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they provide to schools and Local Education Authorities on their application of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and in particular with regard to any parent's request to access information on Relationships and Sex Education curricula delivered by external contractors and providers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools are responsible for what is taught in Relationship, Health and Sex Education (RHSE) lessons, including anything taught by external providers. Schools should agree reasonable requests from parents to view curriculum materials. We would expect schools to avoid entering into any agreement that seeks to prevent them from ensuring parents can be made properly aware of the materials that are being used to teach their children. The department will soon be writing to schools to clarify this.
Regarding Government providing advice on the application of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, local authorities and schools are public authorities in their own right for the purposes of the FOIA. This means that they must make their own decisions on how they should respond to specific FOIs they receive, including any from parents requesting access to information on Relationships and Sex Education curricula delivered by external contractors and providers. Accordingly, the department does not advise schools or local authorities on the responses that they should provide to such requests.
The Information Commissioner’s Office makes guidance on the application of the FOIA available to all public authorities. This guidance is available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-freedom-of-information/.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to assist Peterborough City Council in improving educational attainment in primary schools; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Regional Schools Commissioner is working collaboratively with Peterborough City Council to identify areas for improvement in Peterborough primary schools. The Department is currently intervening in those primary schools with unacceptably low results this summer to ensure improved outcomes in 2017. We are encouraging Good and Outstanding schools to set up their own Multi Academy Trust to increase capacity in a school-led system. In addition, we are bringing in high quality academy sponsors from other parts of the country to support struggling schools.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve teacher recruitment in local education authority areas with poor educational attainment; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to achieving educational excellence everywhere so that children in every part of the country, regardless of their background and circumstances, have access to an outstanding education.
High-quality teachers are central to that ambition, and we have recently announced the establishment of a new National Teaching Service (NTS) that will second outstanding teachers and middle leaders into the schools that most need support, particularly in areas of the country that find it hardest to retain and recruit good teachers. Our ambition is that by 2020 there will be 1,500 NTS teachers/middle leaders in underperforming schools in areas of the country facing particular challenges in terms of teacher quality and recruitment. The NTS will begin with a pilot of 100 outstanding teachers and middle leaders in the North West from September 2016. Following the pilot the national programme will be rolled out from September 2017 where it will be extended into other regions.
We are also increasing the number of high-achieving graduates teaching in disadvantaged schools by supporting the geographical expansion of Teach First into every region of England. This gives Teach First the scope to reach 90 per cent of eligible schools by 2016, boosting the Government’s commitment to recruit more top teachers throughout England, including in more rural, coastal and disadvantaged areas. We are continuing to increase the proportion of initial teacher training that is led by schools, and our School Direct programme is giving more head teachers the ability to select, train and employ the teachers they need in their local areas.
The pay reforms that we have introduced since September 2013 give schools greater autonomy and more freedom to decide how much they pay teachers and how quickly pay progresses. Schools may also choose to use their pupil premium funding to attract or retain the best teachers. This increased flexibility gives schools in disadvantaged areas more scope to attract and recruit the high quality teachers that they need to deliver outstanding education in the most challenging circumstances.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the governance of first wave academies; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The governance arrangements for all academies are overseen by the Education Funding Agency and are based on ensuring compliance with their funding agreement and their duties as charitable companies. The department updates its requirements in relation to academies’ governance regularly through the Academies Financial Handbook with which all academies are required, by their funding agreement, to comply.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review secondary school funding formulae in (a) Peterborough and (b) England; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The previous government took the first step in reforming school funding by allocating an additional £390 million in 2015-16 to the local authorities that it considered to have been unfairly funded in previous years. 69 local authorities benefitted from this additional funding, including Peterborough, which received an additional £860,000. As we pledged in our manifesto, we will build on these reforms and make schools funding fairer across the country for both primary and secondary schools.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils in Peterborough constituency achieved (a) Level 1 and (b) Level 2 skills in English in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Laws
A table showing the number of pupils in Peterborough constituency that achieved a Level 1 or a Level 2 in English (key stage 4) since 2005/06 has been placed in the House Library.
Information on pupils for 2004/05 is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to support children with special educational needs in (a) Peterborough and (b) England.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, to be implemented from this September, introduces the largest reform to the system for special educational needs and disability for 30 years. It builds on the experience of 20 pathfinders and will place children and families at the heart of a more integrated system focused on improving outcomes for children and young people.
The Department for Education is providing substantial funding to local areas to deliver the reforms. Last week, the Department announced an injection of an additional £45.2 million in 2014-15 on top of the £70 million Special Educational Needs (SEN) Reform Grant already provided this year for implementing the reforms. Peterborough will receive £200,615 of this most recent funding on top of the £307,940 SEN Reform Grant it has already received.
We are also providing £30 million over two years to voluntary, community and private sector organisations to provide independent supporters to families to help them navigate the new system.Bids to offer independent supporters have been invited by 25 June. The Department for Education's strategic partner, the Council for Disabled Children, will then work with interested organisations to secure support for families across the whole of England.
This is supplemented by a wide range of activity to support implementation, from Pathfinder local authorities sharing their experience particular aspects of the reforms, through to funding for a range of specialist voluntary and community sector experts to provide materials and support for professionals on specific conditions.