Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce education in schools to promote responsible dog ownership.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are no plans to introduce responsible dog ownership into the curriculum for schools. The Government has committed to no further changes to the National Curriculum this Parliament. Schools have the autonomy to teach responsible pet ownership if they wish to.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2017 to Question 110875, when her Department last reviewed the statutory guidance entitled Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school; and whether any changes have been made to that guidance to address a lack of awareness and compliance in schools.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The department worked with a range of stakeholders including the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance, unions, members of the school workforce and parents and their children on developing the statutory guidance, a draft of which was subject to public consultation in early 2014. Updates to the guidance were made in December 2015, which included clarifying the distinction between statutory and non-statutory guidance and adding references to the special educational needs and disabilities code of practice.
Governing boards should ensure that all schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions, which is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies.
Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework requires inspectors, in making judgements upon schools, to pay particular attention to the outcomes of a range of groups of pupils, including those with medical needs. Ofsted included guidance to inspectors on this matter in their March 2017 school inspection update, reminding inspectors that they should consider how schools are meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2017 to Question 110875, when her Department plans to review the statutory guidance entitled Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school; and if her Department will amend that guidance to include a requirement for governing bodies to ensure that all schools publish their policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions on the school’s website so that it is readily accessible to parents and school staff.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The department worked with a range of stakeholders including the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance, unions, members of the school workforce and parents and their children on developing the statutory guidance, a draft of which was subject to public consultation in early 2014. Updates to the guidance were made in December 2015, which included clarifying the distinction between statutory and non-statutory guidance and adding references to the special educational needs and disabilities code of practice.
Governing boards should ensure that all schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions, which is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies.
Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework requires inspectors, in making judgements upon schools, to pay particular attention to the outcomes of a range of groups of pupils, including those with medical needs. Ofsted included guidance to inspectors on this matter in their March 2017 school inspection update, reminding inspectors that they should consider how schools are meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November to Question 110875, how her Department (a) monitors that governing boards are ensuring that the school’s policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff and (b) responds to governing boards and schools when there is evidence of non-compliance to their statutory obligations.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The department worked with a range of stakeholders including the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance, unions, members of the school workforce and parents and their children on developing the statutory guidance, a draft of which was subject to public consultation in early 2014. Updates to the guidance were made in December 2015, which included clarifying the distinction between statutory and non-statutory guidance and adding references to the special educational needs and disabilities code of practice.
Governing boards should ensure that all schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions, which is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies.
Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework requires inspectors, in making judgements upon schools, to pay particular attention to the outcomes of a range of groups of pupils, including those with medical needs. Ofsted included guidance to inspectors on this matter in their March 2017 school inspection update, reminding inspectors that they should consider how schools are meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will amend the statutory guidance entitled Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school to include a requirement for all schools to publish their medical conditions policies.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
We know how important it is that children with medical conditions are supported to enjoy a full education. That is why we introduced the duty, under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014, to require governing bodies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions and have provided statutory guidance outlining schools’ responsibilities in this area.
We keep this statutory guidance under review. We will continue to ensure that it clearly sets out the arrangements that governing boards should be making to support pupils with medical conditions, based on best practice.
All governing boards should ensure that the school's policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were required to re-sit their (a) English and (b) mathematics GCSE exams in the latest academic year for which information is available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The latest information available is for the academic year 2015/16 which is published in table 15a and 15b as part of the “A level and other 16-18 results: 2015 to 2016 (revised)” statistical first release (SFR).[1]
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2015-to-2016-revised (“English and Maths tables: SFR05/2017” document, table 15a and 15b)
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions (a) she and (b) her Department have had with animal welfare organisations on the incorporation of animal welfare in the national curriculum.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department received representations from animal welfare groups about the inclusion of animal welfare in the science curriculum in response to the consultation on the new National Curriculum.
The new primary science curriculum, introduced from September 2014, focuses on the essential scientific knowledge that children need to be educated citizens. It teaches pupils about the requirements for animals to survive such as appropriate habitat, food, water and air. Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education also provides opportunities for pupils to be taught about animal welfare and teachers are free to decide what further activities they offer on this topic.