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Written Question
Children: Separation
Wednesday 17th January 2024

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a Minister in her Department leads on policy on supporting children through parental separation.

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

Ministers work closely across government to support children, including those going through parental separation.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is responsible for private family law, which includes marriage and divorce. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the MoJ responsible for this is Lord Bellamy KC.

In my role as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing at the department, I work closely with Lord Bellamy KC at the MoJ, including through the national Family Justice Board, which we jointly chair.


Written Question
Families: Government Assistance
Thursday 23rd March 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to help ensure equal support for kinship families.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

Kinship carers play an extremely important role in both their kin children’s lives and in the Children’s Social Care system.

On 2 February 2023, the department published a consultation and implementation strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love, which sets out how we will achieve broad, system-wide transformation. Through this strategy the department has made a commitment to implement or explore each of the Review’s recommendations on kinship care.

The department has committed to work across government to explore possible additional workplace entitlements and options for an extension of legal aid for kinship carers with a special guardianship order (SGO) or child arrangement order (CAO), as well as exploring the case for mandating a financial allowance for kinship carers with SGOs and CAOs in every local authority.

In addition, we have made a commitment to invest £9 million during this Spending Review period to establish a training and support offer that all kinship carers can access if they wish to. We also announced over £45 million to begin implementing family network support packages through the Families First for Children pathfinder.

The department is also committed to publishing a national kinship care strategy by the end of 2023. This will provide an update on reform activity, such as exploring financial allowances. The strategy will set out a long-term vision for kinship care, and detail how the department can better support children and carers.


Written Question
Pupils: Hearing Impairment
Wednesday 1st March 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the GCSE results of deaf students.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

In the Schools White Paper, published March 2022, the department set clear ambitions for 90% of all children to leave primary school having achieved the expected standard in Key Stage 2 reading, writing and mathematics, and that in secondary schools, the national GCSE average grade in both English language and in mathematics will increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5 by 2030.

The department is confident that the policies set out in the White Paper will have a significant impact on improving literacy and numeracy at both KS2 and GCSE. The White Paper marked the start of a journey towards these targets.

The department knows that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are disproportionately represented in those cohorts not meeting expected standards. If we are going to achieve our 90% and grade 5 targets by 2030 it is vital that we ensure pupils of all characteristics and backgrounds are making progress.

On 29 March 2022, we published the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper, which set out our plans to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with Sensory Impairment, within a fairer and financially sustainable system. We are now carefully considering the feedback we received through the thousands of responses to the consultation and in the many events that took place during the 16-week consultation period. We will publish a full response in an Improvement Plan imminently.


Written Question
Hearing Impairment: Teachers
Wednesday 1st March 2023

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Department is taking to help improve the number of Teachers of the Deaf.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

I refer the hon. Member for Nottingham North to the answer I gave on 13 February 2023 to Question 140375.


Written Question
Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs
Thursday 10th November 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the capacity of local authorities to meet the workforce requirements for the implementation of the SEND and Alternative Provision strategy.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, published in March 2022, set out proposals for consultation, to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and those who need alternative provision.

The Department for Education has been having regular meetings with Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) officials to discuss the findings from the SEND and AP green paper consultation. We continue to work with them to develop our policy proposals.

Department officials also work closely with DLUHC officials regarding the government’s work to support local authorities to manage their high needs systems sustainably in the immediate future. We have already made 14 Safety Valve agreements with local authorities to support the sustainable management of their high needs budgets for the benefit of children and young people and will work with up to a further 20 local authorities in the 2022/23 financial year. We are also currently working with 55 local authorities to address immediate pressures in their local systems, taking a diagnostic approach to helping them improve delivery of SEND services for children and young people, while ensuring services are sustainable.


Written Question
Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs
Thursday 10th November 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the outcomes of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Green Paper consultation.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, published in March 2022, set out proposals for consultation, to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and those who need alternative provision.

The Department for Education has been having regular meetings with Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) officials to discuss the findings from the SEND and AP green paper consultation. We continue to work with them to develop our policy proposals.

Department officials also work closely with DLUHC officials regarding the government’s work to support local authorities to manage their high needs systems sustainably in the immediate future. We have already made 14 Safety Valve agreements with local authorities to support the sustainable management of their high needs budgets for the benefit of children and young people and will work with up to a further 20 local authorities in the 2022/23 financial year. We are also currently working with 55 local authorities to address immediate pressures in their local systems, taking a diagnostic approach to helping them improve delivery of SEND services for children and young people, while ensuring services are sustainable.


Written Question
Free School Meals
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on the number of children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department does not have plans to assess the potential impact of changes in the cost of living on pupils who are not eligible for free school meals (FSM), nor to make any changes to FSM eligibility. However, we continue to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. The department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of pupils are now provided with FSM.


Written Question
Free School Meals
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to provide all children living in poverty with free school meals.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department does not have plans to assess the potential impact of changes in the cost of living on pupils who are not eligible for free school meals (FSM), nor to make any changes to FSM eligibility. However, we continue to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. The department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of pupils are now provided with FSM.


Written Question
Free School Meals
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department does not have plans to assess the potential impact of changes in the cost of living on pupils who are not eligible for free school meals (FSM), nor to make any changes to FSM eligibility. However, we continue to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. The department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of pupils are now provided with FSM.


Written Question
Free School Meals
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to review the eligibility criteria for free school meals before the beginning of the next school year.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department does not have plans to assess the potential impact of changes in the cost of living on pupils who are not eligible for free school meals (FSM), nor to make any changes to FSM eligibility. However, we continue to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. The department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of pupils are now provided with FSM.