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Written Question
Children: Behaviour Disorders
Friday 17th November 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that all teachers are trained to support children who meet the criteria for oppositional defiant disorder.

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

All teachers need to be equipped to teach pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). High quality teaching is the single most important factor within school in improving outcomes for all pupils, including those with oppositional defiant disorder.

Training and development to support children with SEND begins at the beginning of a teacher’s career journey, through their Initial Teacher Training (ITT), and is embedded throughout the Early Career Framework (ECF). ITT courses are designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes the requirement in Standard 5 that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils. Careful consideration has been given to the needs of trainee teachers in relation to supporting pupils with SEND, and the ECF builds on that learning for early career teachers once qualified. Both the ITT Core Content Framework (CCF) and ECF were designed in consultation with the education sector, including SEND specialists.

Once teachers qualify and are employed in schools, head teachers also use their professional judgement to identify any further training, including specific specialisms, for individual staff that is relevant to them, the school, and its pupils.

The Department also funds the Universal Services programme, worth £12 million, which offers online training, professional development groups, bespoke school and college improvement projects, sector led research, autism awareness training and an embedded focus on preparation for adulthood, including employer led webinars. The programme commenced in May 2022 and will run until Spring 2025.

So far, 6,600 school and college staff have accessed free online training modules, and 81 schools and over 135 colleges have identified and led their own SEND focused school improvement project. These projects focussed on SEND governance, teaching assistant deployment, early identification of SEND and the curriculum.


Written Question
Teachers: Mental Health
Tuesday 4th July 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the mental health of teachers on the quality of education provided.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department regularly commissions research on topics, including the mental health of headteachers, teachers and school staff, for example, the ‘wellbeing’ chapter in the September 2022 wave of the School and College Panel survey, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1138269/School_and_college_panel_report_for_September_2022.pdf, and wave one of the ‘Working lives of teachers and leaders’ survey, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-lives-of-teachers-and-leaders-wave-1. The Department also monitors emerging research in the field, such as Education Support’s annual wellbeing index report, which reports on the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and education staff. The index report is available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index/.

Supporting the mental health of education staff is crucial to the Department’s commitment to help create a supportive culture in schools and to encourage teacher retention. The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, published by the Department, sets out commitments from the Government, Ofsted, and schools and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff. The Charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.

Building on a successful pilot, the Department is funding the charity, Education Support, to provide professional supervision and counselling to headteachers and college leaders. Over 1,000 leaders have benefitted from the support so far. On 12 June 2023, the Department announced the expansion of the programme, by doubling the number of places available this year, so that more headteachers can have access to this valuable support. More information on the programme can be accessed at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-your-staff/wellbeing-services/school-and-fe-leaders-service/.

To help schools and colleges to implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing, the Department is offering all state funded schools and colleges a grant to pay for senior mental health lead training. More than 13,800 (58%) of eligible schools and colleges have now received a senior mental health lead training grant. This is part of the Governments’ commitment to offer this training to all schools and colleges by 2025.

Along with the publication of the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter on GOV.UK, the Department also signposts to mental health and wellbeing resources for education staff. This includes Education Support’s free, confidential 24 hour helpline for staff working in education. Details for the helpline are available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-you/helpline/.

The Department is working proactively with the sector to understand the drivers behind mental health and wellbeing issues, and to improve policies and interventions.


Written Question
Teachers: Mental Health
Tuesday 4th July 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the mental health of teachers.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department regularly commissions research on topics, including the mental health of headteachers, teachers and school staff, for example, the ‘wellbeing’ chapter in the September 2022 wave of the School and College Panel survey, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1138269/School_and_college_panel_report_for_September_2022.pdf, and wave one of the ‘Working lives of teachers and leaders’ survey, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-lives-of-teachers-and-leaders-wave-1. The Department also monitors emerging research in the field, such as Education Support’s annual wellbeing index report, which reports on the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and education staff. The index report is available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index/.

Supporting the mental health of education staff is crucial to the Department’s commitment to help create a supportive culture in schools and to encourage teacher retention. The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, published by the Department, sets out commitments from the Government, Ofsted, and schools and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff. The Charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.

Building on a successful pilot, the Department is funding the charity, Education Support, to provide professional supervision and counselling to headteachers and college leaders. Over 1,000 leaders have benefitted from the support so far. On 12 June 2023, the Department announced the expansion of the programme, by doubling the number of places available this year, so that more headteachers can have access to this valuable support. More information on the programme can be accessed at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-your-staff/wellbeing-services/school-and-fe-leaders-service/.

To help schools and colleges to implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing, the Department is offering all state funded schools and colleges a grant to pay for senior mental health lead training. More than 13,800 (58%) of eligible schools and colleges have now received a senior mental health lead training grant. This is part of the Governments’ commitment to offer this training to all schools and colleges by 2025.

Along with the publication of the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter on GOV.UK, the Department also signposts to mental health and wellbeing resources for education staff. This includes Education Support’s free, confidential 24 hour helpline for staff working in education. Details for the helpline are available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-you/helpline/.

The Department is working proactively with the sector to understand the drivers behind mental health and wellbeing issues, and to improve policies and interventions.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs
Monday 5th June 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of updating the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice to use identity-first language.

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

The department will consult in due course on updating the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice. This is part of the package of measures to reform the SEND system, following the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, and before putting it to Parliament for approval. This will be an opportunity to gather views on all aspects of the wording of the Code.


Written Question
Education: Restraint Techniques
Thursday 25th May 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of using alternatives to restraint in education settings.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government recognises that the misuse of restraint or reasonable force can have a significant and long lasting effect on the pupils, staff members and parents involved and that this can potentially hinder the creation of a calm, safe and supportive school environment. The Department has commenced a programme of work which aims to minimise instances of the use of reasonable force, including restraint, in all schools in England.

The first stage of the programme is to conduct extensive research to understand the use of reasonable force, physical restraint, and restrictive practices in schools. This includes a call for evidence, which closed on 11 May 2023.

The evidence gathered will inform revisions to the ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance (2013) to provide staff with advice on how to minimise the use of restraint, and in instances where it is absolutely necessary and lawful to use restraint, to do so as safely as possible. Recording incidents of reasonable force and reporting incidents to parents will also be made a legal duty for schools.


Written Question
Childcare: Fees and Charges
Tuesday 23rd May 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department has any plans to extend the 30 hours free childcare entitlement to include families where one parent is retired and one works full time.

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

The 30 hours free childcare entitlement aims to support working families with the cost of childcare and to support parents back into work or to work more hours should they wish to.

This offer is available to parents who earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum/living wage, and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year. This means that parents can be eligible if they earn from just over £167 per week or £8,670 per year. In a two-parent family, both parents must expect to meet this income criteria to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare.

The entitlement aims to support parents back into work and in order to be eligible both parents must be in work. The department is currently not planning to extend this to families where one parent is retired and the other works full-time.

All parents are eligible for 15 hours of free early education, which is available to all three- and four-year olds regardless of family circumstances.


Written Question
Schools: Festivals and Special Occasions
Monday 22nd May 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing Muslim students to take additional time off school during Eid.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Schools must authorise a pupil’s absence if it is on a day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the parent belongs.

The Department does not define which specific days schools should authorise for religious observance, though generally, it may be a day when the pupil’s parents would be expected by the religious body to which they belong to stay away from their workplace to mark the occasion. The Department advises schools to seek advice from the relevant religious body if they are in doubt.

Parents may apply to the school for a leave of absence that is linked to a religious day. Unlike days that the religious body have exclusively set apart for religious observance, such leave is authorised at the discretion of the school.

Schools and Local Authorities may consider taking further steps to manage the effect of such absence, including setting term dates around days for religious observance, working with local faith groups to develop guidance on absence for religious observance, taking INSET days that coincide with religious observance days, and providing individual support for pupils who miss sessions for this reason.


Written Question
Post-18 Education and Funding Review
Monday 22nd May 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Review of Post-18 Education and Funding was published in May 2019.

On 24 February 2022, the department published the Higher Education (HE) Reform Consultation, setting out reforms to the student loan system to put it on a fair and sustainable footing and a package of investment into the HE sector. The department also proposed a range of reforms to improve outcomes for students as a result of their courses and help them move into high-value employment.

The HE Reform Consultation closed on 6 May 2022. The department is now considering the views received and plans to publish a response to the consultation in due course.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse
Monday 27th February 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of child and family social workers have been trained in assessing risk in cases of domestic abuse.

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

Information on child and family social workers trained in assessing risk in cases of domestic abuse and those trained specifically in domestic abuse issues is not held centrally by the department.

Information on children and family social workers is published in the annual Children's social work workforce statistics, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-s-social-work-workforce. The latest data for the year ending 30 September 2022 was published on 23 February 2023.

This information is based on data collected in an annual census of local authorities in England. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childrens-social-work-workforce-census-guide-to-submitting-data.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse
Monday 27th February 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department collects data on the number of child and family social workers trained specifically in domestic abuse issues.

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

Information on child and family social workers trained in assessing risk in cases of domestic abuse and those trained specifically in domestic abuse issues is not held centrally by the department.

Information on children and family social workers is published in the annual Children's social work workforce statistics, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-s-social-work-workforce. The latest data for the year ending 30 September 2022 was published on 23 February 2023.

This information is based on data collected in an annual census of local authorities in England. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childrens-social-work-workforce-census-guide-to-submitting-data.