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.
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 holds data on what percentage of Child Protection cases have domestic abuse as the predominant issue.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not hold data on the number of children who were subject to a child protection plan where domestic abuse was the predominant issue. The data that is held shows that of the 50,920 children that were the subject of a child protection plan at 31 March 2022, 3,780 (7%) had physical abuse recorded as the initial category of abuse.
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 she has made an assessment of the potential merits of making political education (a) a compulsory subject and (b) part of (i) personal, social, health and citizenship education and (ii) other subjects in secondary schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Teaching about political issues, different viewpoints, and the way in which pupils can engage in a democratic society is an essential part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
Citizenship forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. Within citizenship, secondary pupils in maintained schools in England are taught how Parliament functions, the importance of voting and elections, the role of police, courts and justice, free press, human rights and international law, and the governments of other countries. Pupils are taught the actions citizens can take in democratic and electoral processes to influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils to explore political and social issues, to weigh evidence, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments.
Maintained primary schools and all academies are encouraged to teach citizenship as part of their duty to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum.
Teachers are also able to teach pupils about political and social movements in appropriate places within the history curriculum. This is focused on history, rather than encouraging active participation in democracy, in terms of its purpose.
The Department trusts schools to use their professional judgement and understanding of their pupils to develop the right teaching approach for their school, drawing on the expertise and support of subject associations and other organisations such as UK Parliament, which offers resources, visits to Parliament, outreach sessions and workshops.
Schools can help pupils to set up their own networks or clubs to focus on political issues, where they are deemed appropriate. The Department published political impartiality in schools guidance to support teachers in tackling sensitive issues in the classroom. The guidance is clear that legal duties on political impartiality do not limit the range of political issues and viewpoints schools can teach about. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2022 to Question 66976 on Relationships and Sex Education: Suicide, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of updating the relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance to include suicide prevention as a compulsory subject.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All pupils in schools are taught about mental health as part of the relationships, sex and health Education (RSHE) curriculum, which the Department has made mandatory in 2020 to ensure that all pupils are taught about important topics. Schools can teach older pupils about suicide in an age appropriate and sensitive way.
Ministers are aware of the interest in the inclusion of suicide prevention material in the RSHE curriculum and have written to key campaigners about this important topic.
The Department is bringing forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance, and the revised guidance will be published in 2024. The Department is taking a comprehensive, evidence based approach in deciding what should be included and suicide prevention will be considered in the review.
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 she is taking to support schools and pupils in (a) Year 7, (b) Year 8, (c) Year 9, (d) Year 10 and (e) Year 11 with (i) examinations, (ii) social development and (iii) pastoral care.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Schools White Paper, published in March 2022, sets out the Department’s long term vision of a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
The White Paper sets an ambition that, in secondary schools, the national average grade in both GCSE English language and maths will increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5 by 2030.
The Department will achieve these ambitions by delivering an excellent teacher for every child, high standards of curriculum, attendance and behaviour, targeted support for every child who needs it, and a stronger and fairer school system that works for every child.
The 2022 Autumn Statement announced significant additional core schools’ funding, increasing by £2 billion in 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review. This additional funding will bring the core schools budget to a total of £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This will enable school leaders to continue to concentrate funding in the areas that positively affect educational attainment, including high quality teaching and targeted support to the children who need it most.
It is up to schools to decide what pastoral and extracurricular support to extend to their pupils to support their social development, building on the requirements of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum. It is also up to schools to decide how to support pupils to prepare successfully for examinations.
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 comparative assessment her Department has made of the accessibility of study abroad for those who would have been eligible for the Erasmus scheme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Under the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with the EU, the UK will continue to participate fully in the 2014-2020 Erasmus+ Programme until project completion. Certain projects may continue up to 2024.
The UK government is supporting access to study abroad through the Turing Scheme. The scheme provides grant funding for education providers and organisations to offer their students, learners and pupils undertake study or work placement across the globe. Participants can study or work anywhere in the world, subject to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office travel advice.
For the 2022/23 academic year, the Turing Scheme is providing funding for over 38,000 pupils, learners, and students across the UK to study and work in over 160 destinations across the globe. More than half of these opportunities are for participants from disadvantaged backgrounds. In the 2021/22 academic year, the Scheme provided funding for over 41,000 participants, with 48% of this for participants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
For comparison, Erasmus+ participant numbers for higher education (HE) were 15,784 in the 2015/16 academic year, 16,559 in 2016/17, 17,048 in 2017/18 and 16,596 in 2019/20. The Turing Scheme is providing funding for 23,472 HE placements in the 2022/23 academic year and provided funding for over 28,000 HE placements in 2021/22. Direct comparison across all sectors is not possible, given the data published by the European Commission for Erasmus+ doesn’t specify numbers of student participants for other education sectors. Whilst Erasmus+ included some staff mobility, the Turing Scheme is focused on student placements.
In 2019/20, UK institutions received around €134 million of funding from the Erasmus+ programme. €41,257,969 of this was for in further education (FE) and vocational education and training (VET) and €87,621,663 in HE. In 2021/22 the Turing Scheme allocated £24,819,113.40 of funding in FE and VET, £67,001,941.25 in HE, and £6,710,407.60 in schools for student mobilities and accompanying staff. The figures for 2022/23 are £36,376,335.62, £62,115,424.80, and £7,616,999.60 respectively.
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 recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on improving skills training in Leeds North West constituency.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department regularly discusses skills matters with other government departments, including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, but not specifically about individual constituencies.
The department is investing £3.8 billion more in further education (FE) and skills over the Parliament to ensure people across the country, including in Leeds, have access to the skills they need to build fulfilling careers in jobs the economy needs.
This additional funding will help a wide range of school sixth forms supporting young people, including providers such as Luminate Education Group in Yorkshire. In total we are funding over 18,000 16-to-18 year olds in 2022/23, including several school sixth form provisions based in the Leeds North West area.
The local college curriculum offer includes a broad range of skills training and qualifications including T Levels, apprenticeships, an extensive range of qualifications from Entry Level to Higher Education, including higher technical qualifications, and adult education programmes. The provision is shaped in collaboration with local employers to ensure it meets local skills needs and focuses on meeting Leeds City Region LEP skills priorities.
The department is also investing in local college estates through FE capital programmes to support estate condition improvement, increase college capacity to support more local people with skills training and qualifications, and T Level facilities with world class equipment.
The department is supporting employers in all sectors and all areas of the country, including Leeds, to use apprenticeships to develop the skilled workforces they need. To support more employers and learners to access apprenticeships we are increasing funding for apprenticeships in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year. Since May 2010, there have been a total of 5,880 apprenticeship starts in Leeds North West.
Residents in Leeds can access free Level 3 qualifications to improve their skills via the Free Courses for Jobs scheme, which enables adult learners without a level 3 qualification (or learners with any qualification level but earning below the National Living Wage) to gain a qualification for free.
In addition, the department has also introduced Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with an employer.
The department is continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) at £1.34 billion in the 2022/23 academic year. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. Currently, approximately 60% of the AEB is devolved to nine Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs), including West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), which covers Leeds. This gives WYCA direct control over adult education provision for their residents and provides the local area with the opportunity to meet local needs.
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 recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) removing and (b) reducing the 97 per cent attendance requirement during the trial period of managed moves.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government does not set any attendance requirements during the period of a managed move.
The law does not allow for ‘trial admissions’, once a child has been admitted to a school, they may only be deleted from the admissions register in limited circumstances prescribed by The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended.
The updated Suspension and Permanent Exclusion guidance, published in July 2022, makes clear a managed move should be used to initiate a process which leads to the transfer of a pupil to another mainstream school permanently. Managed moves should be voluntary and agreed with all parties involved, including parents/carers and the admission authority of the new school. A managed move should only occur when it is in the pupil’s best interests.
Some Local Authorities use their Fair Access Protocols to also consider managed moves. Should anyone have any concerns about the protocols in a particular area, they should take this up with the relevant Local Authority directly.
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 School Food Standards to remove the mandatory servings of meat, including fish, and dairy.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department believes that the current school food standards provide a robust yet flexible framework to ensure that pupils in England continue to receive high quality and nutritious food. The framework should build healthy eating habits for life.
The Department’s focus is on promoting compliance with the school food standards. The Department is keeping this under review. In February 2022, the Levelling Up White Paper outlined several measures the Department is implementing to strengthen adherence. These include piloting work with the Foods Standards Agency, investing up to £200,000 in a pilot Governor Training Scheme, and encouraging schools to complete a statement on their school websites setting out their whole school approach to food.
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 help reduce the rate of increase of childcare costs.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare. More than £20 billion has been spent over the past five years to support families with the cost of childcare.
In July 2022 measures were announced to increase take-up of childcare support and reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers. These plans give providers more flexibility and autonomy, and ensure that families can access government support to save money on their childcare bills. The full announcement can be viewed online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drive-to-reduce-the-cost-of-childcare-for-parents.
There is currently a £1.2 million campaign underway, led via the childcare choices website, to ensure that every parent knows about the government funded support they are eligible for. The website can be accessed at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
The department is also actively considering ways to ensure a sufficient supply of childminders, giving more parents access to an affordable, flexible type of childcare. We will continue to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and to encourage families to use the government-funded support they are entitled to.