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Written Question
Parents
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of parenting programmes on (a) levels of expenditure associated with (i) child and adult mental health and (ii) youth anti-social behaviour and (b) the proportion of parents able to return to the workplace as a result of a reduction in school refusal rates.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is clear that parents should do everything they can to ensure that their child is in school every day. Regular school attendance is vital for children’s attainment, mental wellbeing and long-term development. It is crucial that the department has a system of support in place to ensure every child attends school every day, ready to learn and thrive.

The government’s ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ guidance, which will become statutory ahead of the next school year, includes a core set of functions that local authority attendance support staff, whether titled education welfare officers, attendance officers or early help practitioners, are expected to provide free of charge to all schools and funded centrally through the Central Schools Service Block and Supporting Families Grant. Some early adopters have reported benefits from integrating attendance into other services, and providing better, more joined up whole family support, that has the potential to reduce demand for higher cost crisis services over time.

The department’s attendance mentors pilot sees mentors supporting a group of persistently absent pupils and their families, on a one-to-one basis, to help identify and address their barriers to education. The department has had positive feedback from parents, pupils and schools who have engaged with the attendance mentors programme and have started to see some promising impact data. The department has recently announced an additional investment of £15 million to expand mentoring into ten new areas over the next three years.

The government’s Supporting Families programme continues to work with families where attendance issues are a significant concern. ‘Getting a good education’ is a headline indicator in the national Supporting Families Outcomes Framework, which requires sustained good attendance for all children in the family, across two consecutive school terms. It is important that those identifying attendance issues begin to explore and identify any issues which may be behind the attendance problems, including any needs and circumstances in the wider family as part of Early Help Assessment processes.

The department’s reforms are starting to make a difference. There were 440,000 fewer pupils persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 than in the year before. Overall absence during the 2023/24 autumn term was 6.8%, down from 7.5% in the 2022/23 autumn term.

Alongside this, the department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through family hubs and is undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department will consider the downstream economic impacts of parenting programmes.


Written Question
Prisoner Escorts
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown Court hearings have been delayed due to a (a) failure to deliver a prisoner and (b) a delay in bringing a prisoner to a court by (i) Serco and (ii) other providers of escort services.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The number of contractual delays at the Crown Court attributable to the two PECS suppliers, in each month from September 2023 to February 2024, is shown in the table below.

Contractual delays include both failure to deliver a prisoner, and delay in bringing a prisoner to court. In contractual terms, a delay occurs when a prisoner who is at that time the responsibility of a PECS supplier, is not available in the courtroom at the required time so that courtroom business is delayed by 15 minutes or more. Whenever a delay occurs, its cause is investigated by the PECS Management Team in His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service. During the period for which data have been provided, there were no instances of failure to deliver a prisoner: all recorded instances are attributable to delay in bringing a prisoner to court.

PECS contractual delays to Crown Court hearings, September 2023 to February 2024

Serco

Total moves to Crown Court

Number of contractual delays

Performance %

Sep 2023

4872

5

99.90

Oct 2023

4651

8

99.83

Nov 2023

5408

17

99.69

Dec 2023

3803

20

99.48

Jan 2024

5136

14

99.73

Feb 2024

4733

7

99.86

GEOAmey

Total moves to Crown Court

Number of contractual delays

Performance %

Sep 2023

4904

2

99.96

Oct 2023

5169

3

99.95

Nov 2023

5559

2

99.97

Dec 2023

4419

1

99.99

Jan 2024

5586

1

99.99

Feb 2024

5223

1

99.99


Written Question
Child rearing
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the accessibility of evidence-based parenting support for parents and families residing in local authority areas that do not offer Family Hubs.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme aims to improve access to services for parents and families with children 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities. It provides funding for parenting support as part of the Start for Life offer to be used on evidence-based programmes alongside peer support and community outreach activities.

The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage. The department would like to see Family Hubs open across the country. The departments initial focus is on delivering well in the local areas that it is currently working with and building a model and evidence base. The department can then look to expand further in the future.

The published programme guide sets out requirements for local authorities to invest in evidence-based programmes with encouragement to select those that feature in published guidance, which have been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated impact.

The programme guide can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide. The published guidance is available at: https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool.

The department is working with the local authorities selected for the programme to assess delivery of all funded services in Family Hubs, and evidence-based parenting programmes are included as part of this. A comprehensive external evaluation of the parenting support offer has been commissioned and is due to report in late 2025. This evaluation will explore how well different parenting programmes have been implemented into the Family Hubs model. It will include a quasi-experimental impact evaluation that will assess the outcomes for families and an assessment of the value for money offered by the programme as a whole.

The department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through Family Hubs and as such undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department considers policies from across the world, including Australia, to inform departmental thinking. This scoping work also includes engaging with the Social Mobility Commission following their recent report into family and parenting programmes.

The department is also investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in order to improve the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. This evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, and seven months for those on free school meals. Over 500,000 children have had their language screened, with 160,000 reception age children having received extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.

Alongside investing in parenting support and the NELI programme, the department has also launched a national media campaign ‘Little Moments Together’ to encourage parents to chat, play and read with their pre-school children. The campaign, run jointly with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides evidence-based advice for parents on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website, and support from national partners on activities for parents. Little Moments Together is based on long-standing evidence on the importance of the home learning environment to providing children the best start to life. The Better Health Start for Life website can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/.


Written Question
Child rearing
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference the Social Mobility Commission's publication entitled Family and parenting programmes: rapid evidence assessment, published in October 2023, what assessment her Department has made of the role of evidence-based parenting programmes in ensuring value for money from expenditure on parenting support.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme aims to improve access to services for parents and families with children 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities. It provides funding for parenting support as part of the Start for Life offer to be used on evidence-based programmes alongside peer support and community outreach activities.

The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage. The department would like to see Family Hubs open across the country. The departments initial focus is on delivering well in the local areas that it is currently working with and building a model and evidence base. The department can then look to expand further in the future.

The published programme guide sets out requirements for local authorities to invest in evidence-based programmes with encouragement to select those that feature in published guidance, which have been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated impact.

The programme guide can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide. The published guidance is available at: https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool.

The department is working with the local authorities selected for the programme to assess delivery of all funded services in Family Hubs, and evidence-based parenting programmes are included as part of this. A comprehensive external evaluation of the parenting support offer has been commissioned and is due to report in late 2025. This evaluation will explore how well different parenting programmes have been implemented into the Family Hubs model. It will include a quasi-experimental impact evaluation that will assess the outcomes for families and an assessment of the value for money offered by the programme as a whole.

The department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through Family Hubs and as such undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department considers policies from across the world, including Australia, to inform departmental thinking. This scoping work also includes engaging with the Social Mobility Commission following their recent report into family and parenting programmes.

The department is also investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in order to improve the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. This evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, and seven months for those on free school meals. Over 500,000 children have had their language screened, with 160,000 reception age children having received extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.

Alongside investing in parenting support and the NELI programme, the department has also launched a national media campaign ‘Little Moments Together’ to encourage parents to chat, play and read with their pre-school children. The campaign, run jointly with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides evidence-based advice for parents on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website, and support from national partners on activities for parents. Little Moments Together is based on long-standing evidence on the importance of the home learning environment to providing children the best start to life. The Better Health Start for Life website can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/.


Written Question
Child rearing
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of (a) evidence-based parenting programmes and (b) other interventions to support parents.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme aims to improve access to services for parents and families with children 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities. It provides funding for parenting support as part of the Start for Life offer to be used on evidence-based programmes alongside peer support and community outreach activities.

The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage. The department would like to see Family Hubs open across the country. The departments initial focus is on delivering well in the local areas that it is currently working with and building a model and evidence base. The department can then look to expand further in the future.

The published programme guide sets out requirements for local authorities to invest in evidence-based programmes with encouragement to select those that feature in published guidance, which have been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated impact.

The programme guide can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide. The published guidance is available at: https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool.

The department is working with the local authorities selected for the programme to assess delivery of all funded services in Family Hubs, and evidence-based parenting programmes are included as part of this. A comprehensive external evaluation of the parenting support offer has been commissioned and is due to report in late 2025. This evaluation will explore how well different parenting programmes have been implemented into the Family Hubs model. It will include a quasi-experimental impact evaluation that will assess the outcomes for families and an assessment of the value for money offered by the programme as a whole.

The department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through Family Hubs and as such undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department considers policies from across the world, including Australia, to inform departmental thinking. This scoping work also includes engaging with the Social Mobility Commission following their recent report into family and parenting programmes.

The department is also investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in order to improve the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. This evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, and seven months for those on free school meals. Over 500,000 children have had their language screened, with 160,000 reception age children having received extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.

Alongside investing in parenting support and the NELI programme, the department has also launched a national media campaign ‘Little Moments Together’ to encourage parents to chat, play and read with their pre-school children. The campaign, run jointly with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides evidence-based advice for parents on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website, and support from national partners on activities for parents. Little Moments Together is based on long-standing evidence on the importance of the home learning environment to providing children the best start to life. The Better Health Start for Life website can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/.


Written Question
Child rearing: Finance
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of funding a digital roll out of evidence-based parenting programmes similar to the scheme announced by the Australian Federal Government in 2022.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme aims to improve access to services for parents and families with children 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities. It provides funding for parenting support as part of the Start for Life offer to be used on evidence-based programmes alongside peer support and community outreach activities.

The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage. The department would like to see Family Hubs open across the country. The departments initial focus is on delivering well in the local areas that it is currently working with and building a model and evidence base. The department can then look to expand further in the future.

The published programme guide sets out requirements for local authorities to invest in evidence-based programmes with encouragement to select those that feature in published guidance, which have been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated impact.

The programme guide can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide. The published guidance is available at: https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool.

The department is working with the local authorities selected for the programme to assess delivery of all funded services in Family Hubs, and evidence-based parenting programmes are included as part of this. A comprehensive external evaluation of the parenting support offer has been commissioned and is due to report in late 2025. This evaluation will explore how well different parenting programmes have been implemented into the Family Hubs model. It will include a quasi-experimental impact evaluation that will assess the outcomes for families and an assessment of the value for money offered by the programme as a whole.

The department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through Family Hubs and as such undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department considers policies from across the world, including Australia, to inform departmental thinking. This scoping work also includes engaging with the Social Mobility Commission following their recent report into family and parenting programmes.

The department is also investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in order to improve the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. This evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, and seven months for those on free school meals. Over 500,000 children have had their language screened, with 160,000 reception age children having received extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.

Alongside investing in parenting support and the NELI programme, the department has also launched a national media campaign ‘Little Moments Together’ to encourage parents to chat, play and read with their pre-school children. The campaign, run jointly with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides evidence-based advice for parents on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website, and support from national partners on activities for parents. Little Moments Together is based on long-standing evidence on the importance of the home learning environment to providing children the best start to life. The Better Health Start for Life website can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/.


Written Question
Civil Proceedings and Family Proceedings: Legal Representation
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the document entitled Qualified legal representative appointed by the Court: Statutory guidance, published in July 2022, how many qualified legal representatives have been registered in (a) family and (b) other civil cases since the publication of that guidance.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.

As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.

Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.

We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.


Written Question
Legal Representation
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many cases a qualified legal representative was (a) required and (b) available.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.

As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.

Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.

We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.


Written Question
Legal Representation: Training
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to monitor the requirement for qualified legal representatives to undergo vulnerable witness training within six months of registering.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.

As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.

Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.

We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.


Written Question
Legal Representation: Training
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many qualified legal representatives had completed vulnerable witness training when they registered for the scheme.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.

As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.

Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.

We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.