Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help reduce ethnicity-based bullying in schools.
Answered by Brendan Clarke-Smith
The government condemns and strives to tackle all forms of racial discrimination, prejudice, and harassment.
All schools are required to have a behaviour policy by law, with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. The department provides advice for schools, which outlines schools’ responsibilities: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying. The advice makes clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child's social, emotional and mental health needs.
The department is providing over £2 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2023, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups, such as those who are victims of ethnic-based bullying or hate-related bullying.
We are also making sure that all children in England will learn about respectful relationships, in person and online, as part of mandatory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE). These subjects are designed to give pupils the knowledge they need to lead happy, safe, and healthy lives and to foster respect for other people and for difference. The statutory RSHE guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.
We have published ‘Respectful School Communities’, a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline, available here: https://educateagainsthate.com/resources/respectful-school-communities-self-review-signposting-tool-2/ This can help to combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind, including ethnicity-based bullying.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure every (a) disabled child, (b) young person and (c) their families receive the social care support they need.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Rother Valley, to the answer I gave on 25 May 2022 to Question 3798.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking through the SEND Green Paper to ensure that every family with a disabled child receives the social care support they need.
Answered by Will Quince
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper aims to ensure the right support is delivered for children and young people with SEND. The government is proposing to introduce national standards for how needs are assessed, identified, and met across education, health and care in order to drive greater national consistency. There is a clear focus on SEND in health workforce planning, new analysis will be commissioned into the level of demand for relevant health services for those with SEND.
There are also a number of measures in the green paper to strengthen accountability, including proposed new local and national dashboards which will set out performance data and metrics for education, health, and care. The Green Paper also sets out that statutory guidance will be produced clarifying that statutory responsibilities for SEND must be delegated to an ICB (Integrated Care Boards) Executive Lead and that The Health and Care Act provides intervention powers for NHS England where ICBs are found to be failing to deliver their statutory duties. The Green Paper is open for consultation until 22 July and the government will publish a national SEND and AP delivery plan later this year setting out the government's response to the consultation and how change will be implemented in detail.
The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care has also now published its final report, making a number of recommendations on the support that disabled children should receive. To respond to this review, the department will publish a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year. The government is committed to aligning this with the SEND and AP reforms so that we build a coherent system with the best interest of all vulnerable children at its heart.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to include proposals in the SEND green paper to allow parent carers to hold health and social care providers to account if they do not meet their statutory deadlines for providing support.
Answered by Will Quince
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper aims to ensure the right support is delivered for children and young people with SEND. The government is proposing to introduce national standards for how needs are assessed, identified, and met across education, health and care in order to drive greater national consistency. There is a clear focus on SEND in health workforce planning, new analysis will be commissioned into the level of demand for relevant health services for those with SEND.
There are also a number of measures in the green paper to strengthen accountability, including proposed new local and national dashboards which will set out performance data and metrics for education, health, and care. The Green Paper also sets out that statutory guidance will be produced clarifying that statutory responsibilities for SEND must be delegated to an ICB (Integrated Care Boards) Executive Lead and that The Health and Care Act provides intervention powers for NHS England where ICBs are found to be failing to deliver their statutory duties. The Green Paper is open for consultation until 22 July and the government will publish a national SEND and AP delivery plan later this year setting out the government's response to the consultation and how change will be implemented in detail.
The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care has also now published its final report, making a number of recommendations on the support that disabled children should receive. To respond to this review, the department will publish a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year. The government is committed to aligning this with the SEND and AP reforms so that we build a coherent system with the best interest of all vulnerable children at its heart.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to include proposals in the SEND green paper to help to tackle delays in accessing health and social care services for disabled children.
Answered by Will Quince
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper aims to ensure the right support is delivered for children and young people with SEND. The government is proposing to introduce national standards for how needs are assessed, identified, and met across education, health and care in order to drive greater national consistency. There is a clear focus on SEND in health workforce planning, new analysis will be commissioned into the level of demand for relevant health services for those with SEND.
There are also a number of measures in the green paper to strengthen accountability, including proposed new local and national dashboards which will set out performance data and metrics for education, health, and care. The Green Paper also sets out that statutory guidance will be produced clarifying that statutory responsibilities for SEND must be delegated to an ICB (Integrated Care Boards) Executive Lead and that The Health and Care Act provides intervention powers for NHS England where ICBs are found to be failing to deliver their statutory duties. The Green Paper is open for consultation until 22 July and the government will publish a national SEND and AP delivery plan later this year setting out the government's response to the consultation and how change will be implemented in detail.
The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care has also now published its final report, making a number of recommendations on the support that disabled children should receive. To respond to this review, the department will publish a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year. The government is committed to aligning this with the SEND and AP reforms so that we build a coherent system with the best interest of all vulnerable children at its heart.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that (a) specialist and (b) mainstream schools can provide the therapies and other services that disabled children need.
Answered by Will Quince
The department encourages schools and colleges to work collaboratively with their local authority, Clinical Commissioning Group, and health providers to ensure that children and young people have access to the appropriate therapies and support, including addressing any backlogs in assessments. To support this we issued joint guidance last year for educational settings and health providers, working with a cross-sector group including the Royal Colleges and professional organisations, guidance is available here: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/about-cdc/media-centre/news-opinion/delivery-specialist-11-and-group-interventions-children-and.
In December 2021, the department announced an additional £1 billon for the recovery premium over the next two academic years (2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024). This will help schools to deliver a range of evidence-based approaches to support the most disadvantaged pupils, and specialist providers receive an uplift in this funding in recognition of the significantly higher per pupil costs they face. Schools can use their recovery premium funding to help subsidise the cost of support such as speech and language therapies should they wish to do so. In addition, the schools-led element of the National Tutoring Programme can be used for tutoring to support catch-up in the broader curriculum, such as practising and consolidating techniques in speech and language therapy.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Green Paper sets out the departments proposals to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with SEND and their families. It aims to drive national consistency in how needs are assessed, identified, and met across education, health, and care through the introduction of national standards. This includes a proposal to commission analysis to better understand the support that children and young people with SEND need from the health workforce, so that there is a clear focus on SEND in future health workforce planning. The proposals within the Green Paper are currently open to a full public consultation until 22 July. The Green Paper is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-review-right-support-right-place-right-time.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government plans to take to help ensure that care-experienced young people will be included in the implementation process following the independent review of children's social care.
Answered by Will Quince
The department will now consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care carefully with those with care experience and all interested stakeholders. This will include establishing a National Implementation Board that includes people with experience of leading transformational change and those with their own experience of the care system.
The department will publish an implementation strategy later this year, setting out how we will improve children’s social care. More detail about the National Implementation Board will also be provided in due course.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his timetable is for establishing the Care Review Implementation Board of experts.
Answered by Will Quince
The department will now consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care carefully with those with care experience and all interested stakeholders. This will include establishing a National Implementation Board that includes people with experience of leading transformational change and those with their own experience of the care system.
The department will publish an implementation strategy later this year, setting out how we will improve children’s social care. More detail about the National Implementation Board will also be provided in due course.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of St Benet's Hall, Oxford University, on the (a) history, (b) heritage and (c) educational diversity of that institution.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We cannot intervene to influence the decision that Oxford University Council has made as they are an autonomous body responsible for their own decision making.
We are confident that the council would have been privy to all the relevant information needed and will have taken careful consideration before reaching its final decision.
We were also reassured to note from media sources that on 16 May 2022 the current students were informed that the likelihood of them being re-located to different colleges throughout the university has been addressed, and that arrangements are underway to ensure their continued education.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will hold discussions with (a) St Benet's Education Trust, (b) the Ampleforth Abbey Trust and (c) the Roman Catholic Church on potential solutions to ensure the continued operation of St Benet’s Hall, Oxford University.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We cannot intervene to influence the decision that Oxford University Council has made as they are an autonomous body responsible for their own decision making.
We are confident that the council would have been privy to all the relevant information needed and will have taken careful consideration before reaching its final decision.
We were also reassured to note from media sources that on 16 May 2022 the current students were informed that the likelihood of them being re-located to different colleges throughout the university has been addressed, and that arrangements are underway to ensure their continued education.