Oral Answers to Questions

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me an opportunity to do in this House what I have done on other platforms and underline my debt to Baroness Morgan, who has led the Ofsted board in a superlative fashion. However, it is good corporate practice to ensure that the chair of any body—whether the Surrey Heath Conservative association or Ofsted—is refreshed from time to time.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

I had the opportunity last week to congratulate the nation’s teachers on the fantastic GCSE performance recorded in our league tables, which show that the number of students being educated in schools below floor standards at secondary level has diminished dramatically under this Government. I would like to take the opportunity once more to thank the nation’s teachers for the superb work that they do.

[Annette Brooke]

I echo the Secretary of State’s comment.

Following a unilateral decision by an academy upper school in my constituency to change the age of transfer from 13 to 11, assuming that the local authorities carry out a feasibility study and full consultation, and demonstrate that pupil outcomes will be improved, what assistance can the Government give towards capital expenditure for any reorganisation of the feeder schools, as that clearly is not in any plans?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend raises a very specific case, although I understand why she has brought it to my attention. I hope that we will have the opportunity to talk afterwards so that I can ensure that the Dorset local authority is provided with all the support it needs to make sure that children’s educational standards improve.

Child Care

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I have just answered the hon. Gentleman’s question.

I was talking about why Labour made such a mess of child care. It piled red tape on schools and nurseries, making it harder for them to expand. Furthermore, even though parents like flexible, affordable, home-based care, the number of childminders halved under Labour, because of the level of regulation, the difficulty of becoming a childminder and the fact that the funding system was skewed towards nurseries and away from childminders.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I often challenged the previous Government on the collapse in the number of childminders, and I would be interested to hear what innovative ideas the Minister has for expanding this important child care provision.

[Elizabeth Truss]

I thank my hon. Friend for her points and I note her consistent support for home-based child care and the important help it can offer.

Oral Answers to Questions

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I agree with all my advisers that real talent is rare on the Labour Benches, which is why it is so important that we ensure that this Government are re-elected in a few years’ time.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

May I be assured that the asbestos in schools steering group will continue, given the importance of developing a clear, up-to-date policy and strategy regarding asbestos?

[Mr Laws]

We are still looking closely at the important issue of asbestos in schools, and we are beginning a review of this subject very shortly. I shall ensure that my hon. Friend has a full opportunity to contribute to the review.

Bullying (School Transport)

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

On 12 December 2006, 11-year-old Ben took his own life after being persistently bullied on a dedicated school bus in Sussex. The bullying incidents were reported on a number of occasions, but still the end result was this dreadful tragedy. Had it just been his peers he may well have withstood the bullying, but the bus driver decided to join in and, in his parents’ view, this took the situation to another level. As Ben saw it, here was an adult—someone to look up to and who represented authority—taking part in his denigration. Ben’s parents have since moved to my constituency and I have met his father on many occasions. Over the years, Mr Paul Vodden has spent an enormous amount of time working with charities associated with protecting children from bullying and he met a children’s Minister with me during the previous Government’s time in office.

In 2010, a year after the publication of Government guidance on tackling bullying on journeys to and from school, a survey carried out by 4Children and me showed that the majority of local authorities did not have a safer travel policy in place. The survey found that out of 67 local authorities, 60% did not have a safer travel policy and 52% did not have a safer travel team. Of those local authorities that did have a safer travel policy, only 50% said it covered all forms of bullying and only 38% said it covered all forms of journey.

The chief executive of 4Children said that the implementation of anti-bullying policies outside the school gates has been slow, with many local agencies still not working together as well as they could. Mr Vodden said:

“In my opinion, this incident represents a small tip to a very large iceberg of misery for many children who have a hard time on their way to and from school on dedicated school buses. In what other situation would we expect an untrained and unqualified adult to be in sole charge of 50 or more children and to do another complex task at the same time”?

This August, Mr Vodden completed his report on his own online survey to assess bullying on dedicated school buses. The aim of his survey is to attempt to determine the extent of bullying on those buses and the involvement, if any, of drivers. The report demonstrates that a number of problems still exist and they need to be urgently addressed. I have sent the Minister details of the methodology used by Mr Vodden and today I want to look at his conclusions.

The situation on the dedicated school bus is, by its nature, potentially problematic as far as bullying is concerned. Children are placed on a school bus in a group, the composition of which they have no choice over. There is no formal supervision and virtually no opportunity of avoiding conflict situations. In other social situations, such as during playground play, there is at least the potential of formal supervision by a teacher, access to supportive peers and the opportunity of escaping unpleasant situations. However, as we know, even in the playground, bullying is not easily avoided.

Mr Vodden’s survey aims to be a realistic snapshot of what is happening on dedicated school buses and a general indication of the effects and consequences of bullying in general. Although the intention of the survey was to focus on the dedicated school bus, anecdotal evidence suggests that the situation is not much better on public service buses.

To put the level of responses in context, it should be noted that bullied children feel that making an issue of bullying could make matters worse. Although the children ought to feel safe because they are anonymous for the purposes of the survey, the responses indicate that they still feel vulnerable. It is also common for such children to have low self-esteem, which makes them feel that the bullying is their fault and that no one will think that they are worth bothering with.

The responses to the survey indicate that there is a significant problem with bullying on dedicated school buses. That has had serious consequences for many of the bullied children. Thirty respondents reported self-harming, 24 considered suicide and 97 just wanted to hide away. Fear, anger and embarrassment were also significant reactions, which adds to the concerns.

The survey indicates that most bullying on the school bus starts when the student commences secondary school in year 7. One hundred and two respondents said that the bullying started in that year, which is 40% of the respondents. Children in the top year of primary school are confident of where they fit within the school and of their peer group. Moving to secondary school puts them at the bottom of the pile, with all the pressures and insecurities that that engenders. The move from year 6 in primary school to year 7 in secondary school should therefore be recognised as a time of particular vulnerability. That vulnerability is compounded by the fact that children are often moving from a small primary school where they know most of their fellow students to a much larger secondary school with many more pupils, perhaps from a greater variety of social groups. That is a particularly interesting finding and something that could easily be cross-referenced with other research. I wonder whether the Minister has further evidence on that point. We know that school transition can be difficult in many other respects.

Mr Vodden concludes that it is clear that the role of the driver is significant. Only four drivers were recorded as taking action to alleviate bullying, whereas 41 were reported as taking no action, even when many of them were reported as knowing what was going on. A worrying 17 drivers were reported as joining in.

Only six respondents knew about the safer travel policy. Although 69 respondents knew that their school had an anti-bullying policy, it is worrying that an almost equal number did not. A significant number of respondents did not know who to turn to in the event of bullying or whether the school had any systems in place to deal with bullying. That might indicate that the school did not have an effective system in place, if any. Although a few respondents reported that support was forthcoming from the school and that practical, effective action was taken, a large majority reported that they received little help from school staff. When help was provided, it was generally found to be ineffectual.

That part of the analysis shows how patchy anti-bullying policies are across schools. I have seen some excellent examples of good practice in schools in my constituency. It is clearly necessary to ensure that good practice is spread. There is also a question over how much leadership there is from the local authority and over what is happening in academies and free schools. ChildLine and other helplines are important because they allow children to discuss bullying, but children are still highly likely to need practical support from their school. Good mentoring from older pupils can be particularly useful in helping children to overcome their reluctance to talk to adults.

My husband recently led a working party on anti-bullying policies across Poole. He concluded that the local authority needs to promote wider discussions with schools to help them understand bullying and must give schools greater assistance in dealing with individual cases. He found that governors need to develop a more proactive role and challenge or encourage their schools to develop and implement anti-bullying policies. He said that partnership working must be developed in conjunction with the expansion of an anti-bullying programme, which could provide for the greater inclusion of parents. It is interesting that that separate piece of work came up with the same areas where more needs to be done.

Mr Vodden’s survey shows that bullying takes place on dedicated school buses and that it involves both verbal and physical abuse such as spitting, punching, slapping and pushing. He concludes that, apart from some notable exceptions, bullying on school buses is clearly an area of child vulnerability that has received insufficient attention. In what other situation are as many as 50 or more children forcibly restricted in a confined space for up to an hour, with a single, untrained adult present, who is undertaking a separate task that requires their full attention? When students are taken on school outings, the ratio of adults to students is strictly controlled and there are always a number of helpers.

Drivers of school buses, whether public service routes or dedicated school services, are recruited on account of their training, qualifications and ability to drive a bus. I make a plea for a requirement for some training for people who drive a bus with those vulnerable pupils. As a minimum safeguard, most local education authorities of course require drivers of dedicated school buses to undergo a Criminal Records Bureau check, but additional training and assessment is needed to ensure that such drivers are able to relate to children and equipped to deal with the childish behaviour that is bound to happen. The findings of the survey indicate that there is a risk of school bus drivers reacting inappropriately towards the young people in their charge. At best they may fail to notice or to report peer bullying, thus leaving vulnerable children without a responsible adult to turn to. At worst, either through ignorance or wilful intent, they may themselves take part in acts of bullying.

Mr Vodden asks whether the driver of a bus can reasonably and safely be expected to monitor children’s behaviour while giving their full attention to the serious undertaking of driving. If not the driver, however, where is the “responsible adult” who can intervene to safeguard children from bullying during their daily journey to and from school? That question requires an urgent and unequivocal answer.

The psychological effects of bullying on children are potentially long term and significant even in the short term. It seems from the responses given in this survey by victims of bullying that a number of schools do not adequately understand the complex nature of bullying, and appear unclear how to deal with it. The responses indicate a lack of joined-up thinking between the relevant agencies when dealing with bullying, and an absence of a coherent strategy or clear procedures. Schools are required to enforce measures that will encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying, including the provision of an anti-bullying policy, but the results of the survey indicate that in many cases that is not properly implemented. Even when systems are in place to deal with bullying, they may be ineffective.

Owing to the complex nature of bullying and the varying needs of both the victims and the bullies, it is essential that any procedure for identifying or dealing with bullying should be flexible and applied specifically to the individuals involved. It is self-evident that children—like the rest of us—are individuals and must be dealt with as such. Any procedure must be efficient and effective to alleviate the bullying without delay. It is important to assess accurately what is taking place, but it is potentially risky to undertake a painstaking investigation before taking speedy action.

Mr Vodden’s conclusions and recommendations include a properly trained adult or “chaperone” other than the bus driver to be provided for all dedicated school buses, particularly on longer journeys, and that all dedicated school bus drivers be given appropriate training in how to behave when dealing with children, how to respond in the event of bullying, and how to avoid becoming involved in the bullying itself—I have asked the previous Schools Minister about that issue on a number of occasions. Mr Vodden recommends that all dedicated school bus drivers should be assessed as suitable and safe to transport children; that it should be made clear to all which agencies and individuals are directly responsible for resolving incidents on the school bus; and that those individuals must be properly trained. In Ben’s case, the parents went to the school repeatedly, but nothing happened as far as the bus journey was concerned. It is so easy to separate school departments from transport departments at local authority level.

Mr Vodden also recommends that a professional body of experts and practitioners in child behaviour should be created to set up and frequently monitor a national procedure for assessing and dealing with bullying. That should be flexible and take into account individual requirements. Every school should have in place an efficient, effective and up-to-date procedure for dealing with bullying, ideally including peer mentoring schemes with proper pastoral care for students.

Clearly, this survey has been carried out in response to a heartbreaking tragedy and a father’s passion to try to ensure that better support is given to children like Ben who suffered so much. Seven years on, many improvements could still be made. I commend the whole piece of work—the survey—to the Minister. There is scope to cross-reference with other pieces of research to come up with further ideas to build on the good work that the Department for Education already supports. I should like to request a meeting with the Minister and Mr Vodden to discuss that further.

A number of charities do excellent work for bullied children, and I thank all of them. Mr Vodden specifically mentions the anti-bullying ambassadors scheme operated by the Diana Award—a cheap and highly effective system for implementing peer mentoring in schools—and the counselling work undertaken by Kidscape, and says they are of particular value in dealing with children in extreme cases of bullying. However, all hon. Members know that bullying happens and will continue to happen. The worst situation is when a school suggests that no bullying takes place, because it is most likely to be happening somewhere. We must face up to the problem and not believe that school transport, as something that happens outside the school, is nothing to do with the teacher in charge of bullying policy, and the governors, who must support the school’s anti-bullying policy. Let us ensure that everybody pulls together so we can do our very best to avoid tragedies such as Ben’s.

Deaf Children and Young People

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Gordon (Sir Malcolm Bruce) on securing the debate and for his contribution, over so many years, to this area of work. I have raised issues about the education of deaf children on many occasions, but this is the first time that I have spoken in a debate concentrated solely on this topic. This is a good opportunity to reinforce the many points raised by the National Deaf Children’s Society.

I continue to be saddened that deaf children experience an attainment gap, which is reflected so strongly in GCSE results. About a month ago, I had the pleasure of meeting at party conference a deaf young person called Adam, who was introduced to me by the NDCS. Adam is an extremely bright, confident and articulate deaf young man, and was quickly in charge of the whole meeting. He explained to me clearly that he would not be where he is today without the help of the specialist support services he had received to date. Even with deaf young people such as Adam, we can see the risks of what happens when support does not match their needs and is cut. Adam told me that the support he received in maths was variable because of staff turnover, and that the extra support had been reduced to just once a week. This meant that he was now struggling to pick up some of the complex new words and vocabulary being used and that he was no longer thriving but coping in maths.

Across the country there is too much wasted potential when it comes to deaf children, because too many are not getting the support they need. I share the concerns that the Department’s funding protection for vulnerable learners is not always being carried through locally. I also support the NDCS’s call for Ofsted to play a greater role in inspecting specialist support services for deaf children.

I hear really positive reports of my local services. Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole operate a long-standing joint arrangement through which specialist support is provided to children with hearing or vision impairment. Dorset is the lead authority, and the outcomes for deaf children locally have generally been good and the feedback from parents and the young people themselves about the work of the service is excellent. I am told that there are no plans to reduce the funding available for specialist provision, which sounds good, but there are concerns about the future. I was contacted by a specialist teacher who told me:

“At the present time we are not a traded service, this means that we can provide support, training, advice and teaching (depending on the child’s level of need) to any school in Dorset where there is a pupil attending the school who has a hearing impairment that requires them to wear a hearing aid, who has a cochlear implant or similar hearing device. The school does not have to pay for this directly, which means we can respond to the level of need appropriately. We of course have a set of protocols to follow to ensure that the time given to each individual is proportionate. However, often the pupils with a high level of need (those with a severe to profound hearing loss) have a great deal of support in school which along with appropriate direction and guidance from our service enables them to make good progress. It is more often (in my experience) those pupils with a mild to moderate hearing loss who are not entitled to additional support in school who find it more difficult to progress and overcome the barriers to their learning. At the present time our service is able to support these pupils also, enabling many of them to ‘narrow the gap’ and achieve age-related expectations. However, one of the fears for our service in Dorset is that due to financial constraints we may have to become a ‘traded service’ this would mean that schools may have to buy us in on an hourly rate.”

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

The hon. Lady has hit the nail on the head. In this very important area—it is the same with speech therapy—people are reluctant to address some of these needs and concerns because of the lack of money available.

[Annette Brooke]

I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point, but I am flagging up fears about the future, not about what is happening now. If each school had to buy in the service, it would be more difficult to spread it over a larger number of pupils. I think we would still have excellent support in Dorset for those with a statement of educational need or an education health care plan, but many of those with not such severe conditions are not achieving their potential in speech, language and literacy skills. It is important, therefore, not only to consider what is happening now, but to look at what might happen in the future and to ensure that we maintain support for hearing impaired children.

Like other speakers, I want to emphasise the need for good, specialist communication support workers and teachers. It has been many years, but I remember being struck by the fact that many communication support workers—I still call them teaching assistants—had only level 2 qualifications in sign language. It must be difficult for somebody with just a level 2 qualification—an important qualification in its own right—to communicate the technical language of science and maths. I am really concerned about that.

In conclusion, we all want every child to achieve their full potential, and many improvements have been made for children with hearing impairments over the years, but there is more to be done, and we must protect what we are doing well at the moment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The patience and politeness of the hon. Lady are now rewarded: I call Annette Brooke.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Support for bus travel is not available to my constituents in sixth forms or similar in rural Dorset—a problem added to when they now stay on for an extra year—which is placing a great burden on hard-working parents. Will the Secretary of State discuss that issue with Ministers in the Department for Transport?

[Matthew Hancock]

I have received representations from the hon. Lady on that issue. Ensuring that the costs of transport are represented in the bursaries available to young people is an important issue that we are looking at closely. I will ensure that the right representations are made to the Department for Transport, and I am happy to meet her to take that forward.

School Starting Age

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Westminster Hall

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I am extremely pleased to have secured this debate. It follows from early-day motion 213, which I tabled in June, on the school starting age for summer-born pupils. The timing is particularly apt, given that most four-year-olds start their primary school education this week. A child born on 31 August 2009 will most likely be in the same year group as a child born on 1 September 2008. Indeed, I received information this morning that some three-year-olds—those born between 29 August and 1 September—have started school in an area where school re-started on 29 August.

The early-day motion notes

“the robust and consistent evidence from around the world on birth date effects, which in England shows that summer-born children can suffer long-term disadvantages as a result of England’s inflexible school starting age”.

To expand on such birth date effects, I will briefly refer to the Institute for Fiscal Studies report published in May. The study found that, relative to children born in September, those born in August are 6.4 percentage points less likely to achieve five GCSEs or equivalents at A* to C, and about 2 percentage points less likely to go to university at 18 or 19. It is staggering just how long term the effects appear to be.

Following the Rose review, the previous Government required local authorities to provide a full-time school place for all four-year-olds in the September following their fourth birthday. One could argue that that change tackled one problem faced by summer-borns—that they receive less time in formal education than their peers, which for some has a long-term effect on their school performance.

I argue that any such benefits are cancelled by the impacts on individual children who are simply not ready in their emotional, social and cognitive development to start formal school. A good nursery or pre-school can obviously help with school-readiness in some respects, but certain aspects of an individual child’s development can progress only when that child is ready. By definition, many summer-borns will not be as ready as their older counterparts. Furthermore, an unhappy experience may lead to behavioural problems and a lack of confidence and self-esteem as a child tries to cope within the school setting, and may therefore have further impacts on long-term achievements.

The statutory school starting age remains five. In principle, parents have a choice about which term their child starts school within that time span, but practice may be a little different. For many families, a child starting full-time school reduces the burden of child care costs. It is difficult to imagine that that would not impact on some families’ choices.

Where a parent chooses to defer their child’s entry to school, the child remains entitled to a funded early education place of 15 hours a week for 38 weeks, which prompts the question of the cost of any extra child care needed by working parents. There are also pressures on parents to do what is best for their child. A parent has to be confident and have full information if they are to decide to keep their child in nursery while others start school. Will the school and the local authority make sure that a school place is available part-way through the school year in an over-subscribed school so that parents can exercise their choice about which term their child starts school?

Over the years, I have received representations from across the country about parents who have struggled to be allowed to exercise that choice. I have asked questions and supplied details of cases, but I am not clear what the Department does to support parents experiencing problems in simply trying to have a place held open, so I would be grateful for clarification.

More recently, I have been contacted by parents who want to have the option of their child starting school at the statutory age, but in reception rather than year 1. It is pretty obvious that that makes sense for some children born at one minute to midnight on 31 August, and even more so for a premature baby born at that time. It is easy to extend that line of argument to include more children who would benefit from starting in reception class aged five.

I welcome the discussions between Bliss, parents and the Department for Education on schools admissions policy and that, as a result, new advice was issued in July. I congratulate Bliss on all its work representing families in which premature babies have been born.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

My hon. Friend is making a strong case, and I congratulate her on securing the debate. Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to meet the Minister’s officials and Bliss on that point. I want to put on the record my thanks for the fact that, in answer 4 in that advice, the Government specifically refer to premature children who would have been in the lower age group had they been born when they were due. That is a welcome advantage for parents who are having such conversations with local admissions authorities.

[Annette Brooke]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I not only congratulate Bliss, but I am grateful that the DFE has taken a big step forward. I particularly welcome the fact that the new advice states:

“There is no statutory barrier to children being admitted outside their normal year group”,

and that

“flexibilities exist for children whose parents do not feel they are ready to begin school”

in the September following the child’s fourth birthday.

The questions and answers provided in the advice on the DFE website are helpful, on the whole, but I particularly want to draw the Minister’s attention to answer 8, which states:

“Parents who are refused a place at a school for which they have applied have the right of appeal to an independent admission appeal panel. They do not have a right of appeal if they have been offered a place and it is not in the year group they would like.”

Parents may make a complaint, but the advice states that they cannot appeal. Surely, there should be a right of appeal. It seems to me that although there may be no statutory barrier to a child being admitted to a particular year group, there is no statutory right. That means that although some authorities work to help and support parents, others can continue to make it extremely difficult for parents to exercise a justified choice.

The other barriers that I have mentioned will also prevail—financial, in relation to child care costs; and parents’ confidence and empowerment in relation to requesting a different time of entry and possibly a different year group. I would be interested to know the Minister’s plans to monitor local authorities’ actions on the new advice, to promote best practice and to make sure that full information is available to parents.

I was contacted late yesterday—I have not had time to check this material, so I will refer to it only briefly—by someone who has looked at several London local education authorities’ admissions policies, of which 49% apparently did not conform to the new advice. I apologise that this is second-hand material, but it needs to be checked. It states:

“Admission Arrangements For…2014/2015—Request to delay entry to school (known as deferred entry). Parents of children below compulsory school age may defer their child’s entry to a Reception class…until later in the school year. However, a Reception class place must be taken up by the start of the summer term. If entry is deferred beyond the summer term, parents will need to reapply for a Year 1 place”.

That just shows that although the DFE has played its part, there must be follow-through if the system is really going to change.

In the case of premature births, I imagine that it will be possible to involve health visitors, as well as pre-schools and nurseries, and to use the new advice to secure a place in reception for a child aged five. I certainly hope that that will be much easier, but of course it will not be so unless all local authorities operate within the new advice, which is really important.

I want to mention one or two case studies. I need not give too many, because there are just so many and they are very similar. In a case of premature birth, a child born at 32 weeks struggled enormously with the transition to mainstream school after their parents’ application to delay entry to reception by a year was rejected by the local education authority. I also have a story of twins. The tragedy is that the parents felt that they had to put their children into the reception class. Sometimes the whole experience is of a totally broken down system. It is only when the children are withdrawn from school that it is accepted that they have to start reception in another school year. I am sure that everyone will agree that the experience of starting school and then being pulled out must be avoided.

Clearly, a lot of proactive work has to be done to ensure that the advice makes a difference. I repeat the question: how will the Department ensure that the questions and answers are promoted to admissions authorities and parents? That information should be available not just to those parents who are seeking information, but to all parents. Furthermore, there is a need to monitor published admissions policies.

I remain concerned about how a parent can succeed in exercising their choice when we are considering a child who is so immature, but not prematurely born, that he or she is not ready to start school until the age of five and then needs to experience a reception year. I want to hear the Minister’s views on this matter. What information does a parent need to supply to the local authority to provide a convincing case?

The advice given in answer 4 is far more open to individual interpretation than the one on premature births. It is quite likely that such a child does not have special educational needs as such—there is often misclassification. It is just that the child is not developmentally ready or mature enough at the age of four. By the age of five, they have simply had one year’s growth and maturity, and they need the experience in a reception class.

[Mr Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD)]

Will my hon. Friend extend what she said earlier about the knock-on effects of not getting this right, and of not matching the learning experience to the child’s stage of development later on? Like her, I used to teach older children in the primary sector. The knock-on effects to a child’s confidence are repeated as they get older, with really damaging effects.

[Annette Brooke]

Absolutely. I thank my hon. Friend for reinforcing the case. It can be seen as an issue just for some middle-class parents who perhaps want to get their children to the top of the class. I want to reiterate that that is not the case. Unfortunately, it is about trying to shoehorn individuals into a one-size-fits-all system, and that is the problem. We must all love and make the most of the individual differences of our children both in our families and in our schools.

We must consider whether some of the issues of summer-born children can be overcome with a play-based curriculum and excellent teaching in the reception class, where the needs of individual children are being taken into account. I would like the answer to be yes, but we have changes in the primary curriculum and assessment and testing regimes, which put constraints and pressures on schools and teachers. Even with an excellent teacher, the individual interests of the child may require a start in reception at the age of five. I do not think that such a move would open floodgates because most parents want their children to fit into the system as it is. Not all summer-born children are adversely affected by being the youngest in their year and there will be variations in any effects. It is difficult to see that age-adjusting test results, as proposed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, is an entirely valid approach.

Undoubtedly, the early start to formal schooling and the testing regime in this country compound the summer-born problems, which leads me to conclude that, ideally, we need to rethink our approach to the all-important learning settings and experiences for the four to seven-year-olds. The school experience should suit the individual child; the child should not be made to fit the school because of the potential adverse outcomes over their lifetime.

Meanwhile, we have to do the best we can. We must identify the problems and cope with them within the existing system. We must have more flexibility in school starting time, and parents need to be empowered and enabled to make the best choices for their child. Currently, what is in the best interests of the child can be ignored in favour of slotting everybody into an arbitrary 12-month period.

There are so many cases that I could cite, and I am happy to talk about them with the Minister—even those relating to the transfer from primary to secondary school. The whole matter needs to be considered carefully. We must assess the scale of the problem and monitor the impact of the new advice. Having monitored the situation, we must consider whether the schools admission code needs changing in the future.

We also need to consider assessment within the early years foundation stage and how summer-born children are being assessed. This is a huge issue, but my message today is that if parents can demonstrate that they have a strong case that is in the best interests of their children, they should be empowered and enabled to allow their child to start school at the age of five as required, but in reception year.

[Dr William McCrea (in the Chair)]

I will call Alok Sharma now, but let me just say that I will be calling the Minister at 4.20, because she needs to have time to respond to the debate.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Elizabeth Truss)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) on securing this debate and on her campaign, including the early-day motion, on the issue of summer-born children. I absolutely share the concerns that she has raised about the issues affecting those children. In the Department for Education, summer-born children are heavily represented—I was born in July and the Secretary of State was born in August, although we both went to primary school in Scotland, where the cut-off dates are slightly different.

My hon. Friend made a variety of points, encompassing some of the overall issues about the school system and the early-years system, as well as the specific issue of the admissions code. What we are seeking to do with our education reforms is to increase the level of flexibility that head teachers and teachers have—for example, over how they implement the school curriculum—so that children are not pushed through material that they are not yet ready for and so that more care is taken about the individual’s level of capacity at a stage of learning.

We are also trying to remove some of the barriers between early years and school, so that there is not a sudden jump between them but rather a continuum of age-appropriate learning for children. Those changes are also important in ensuring that each child is treated as an individual rather than as part of a block of children who are pushed through the system.

The statutory school admissions code allows for flexibility in school starting dates, as my hon. Friend pointed out. It requires school admission authorities to provide for the admission of children in the September following their fourth birthday, so that the maximum amount of reception education is available to all children. However, children do not reach compulsory school age until after their fifth birthday, and no parent is obliged to send their child to school before then.

As my hon. Friend pointed out, we released new guidance this summer, making it much clearer to schools about where their responsibilities lie and where the responsibilities of local authorities lie. We need to allow some time for that new guidance to filter through and to ensure that all local authorities and schools understand it. Nevertheless, in that guidance we certainly addressed some of the concerns that she has raised today.

What we want to do is to empower parents to be more demanding about how their child’s level of development is reflected in whether they join reception or year 1 when they enter school after reaching the compulsory school age. My hon. Friend made valid points about issues such as child care costs and other children in the family, which will also have an effect on the decision that parents reach, but I do not think that we can impose a solution from Whitehall.

The way to do things is to empower parents and ensure, first, that they have the complaints and appeals procedures at their disposal and, secondly, that the DFE is following up on those procedures. We have a working group on admissions, which is monitoring this issue. As a Department, we will also be monitoring any complaints made by parents, such as the one that my hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma) mentioned in his speech, and following up to ensure that our guidance is being adhered to.

At the moment, we do not have data that would demonstrate how many parents of summer-born children request that their child is admitted to the reception class at the age of five, or how many of those requests are granted. That is something that I will look into, to see whether it is possible to get more information to understand what might be the scale of the problem. However, like my hon. Friend, we are concerned about the level of correspondence that we are having on this issue and the level of complaints about it, which is precisely why we issued the new guidance to clarify the situation for schools and local authorities.

The point about flexibility is important, because all children are different. Some children may benefit from entering year 1 as soon as they reach the compulsory school age, while others would benefit from entering reception. It should be the parents who are the primary decision-makers when it comes to deciding which route is most appropriate for their child and which environment will enable their child to thrive.

[Annette Brooke]

If someone sends their child to an independent school, it is clearly available to them to decide which year group they go into. When it is really in the best interests of the child, I want that flexibility to apply to all parents, right through to a situation where perhaps there are disadvantages in the background. So I welcome the Minister’s words, but I would just like her to be a little more proactive as well as responsive to the problem.

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are absolutely clear that parents should be able to say to a school, “We want our child, who is aged five, to enter reception”, if they feel that that is in the best interests of their child. That is what we are elucidating in the new guidance that we issued this summer and that is what we will be following up on with local authorities and schools.

One of the reasons why we issued the new guidance is that we felt that earlier guidance was misunderstood and that it was not necessarily clear enough. I also agree with my hon. Friend’s comment earlier about the “floodgates”. Like her, we do not think that the new guidance will open the “floodgates”; we think that it is about schools being responsive to parental needs and that there are not a massive number of complications in doing that. We want schools to be responsive to parental needs. However, only the parents of a limited group of children—those born between April and August—can lawfully delay entry by a full year. It is those children we are talking about in this debate.

I agree with what my hon. Friend said about the research evidence on summer-born children. We know that they have lower average attainment than their older peers. The attainment deficit decreases over time as they progress through the key stages, but it persists throughout their schooling. Absolute age is the dominant reason for that but it is not the only reason, and there is a statistically significant effect from the starting age or the length of schooling. That is why we want to give maximum flexibility.

I have mentioned the non-statutory advice that we issued on 29 July. We make it absolutely clear that there is no statutory barrier to children being educated outside of their normal year group and that it is unlawful for an admissions authority to have a blanket policy that children are never admitted outside of their normal age group. We make that very clear in the guidance.

I note from my hon. Friend’s comments that she feels that some of that guidance should be clearer, and that is certainly something we can look at. However, the new guidance is considerably clearer than the earlier guidance. We say that the following factors should be taken into account when making a decision about entry: the impact on the child of entering year 1 without having first attended reception class; whether a prematurely born child would naturally have fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on time; and whether delayed social, emotional or physical development is affecting the child’s readiness for school.

Of course, the guidance has just been issued—no doubt partly due to the campaign by my hon. Friend and her colleagues—and we will need to see how it affects behaviour and the level of complaints that we receive.

Oral Answers to Questions

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Monday 24th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

It is absolutely regrettable if any principal or head teacher declines to respond to a request from an elected Member of Parliament. I will look into the case, but I should stress that academies are subject to freedom of information. The previous Government did not allow that, but this Government brought it in.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

My Department published destination data last week that showed how many schools are very successful in encouraging young people to go on to universities and into satisfying apprenticeships, but it is still a matter of regret that for one fifth of comprehensive schools not a single student makes it to a Russell Group university.

[Annette Brooke]

In the light of the recent conclusion of the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment that children are more vulnerable than adults to an equivalent asbestos exposure, what reassurances can the Secretary of State provide that his Department’s policy on asbestos in schools will be reviewed rigorously, transparently and in a timely fashion?

[Michael Gove]

My right hon. Friend the Minister for Schools and I have been discussing today exactly what we can do to ensure that the arguments made in the committee’s report are taken on board and to ensure that when we think about how to invest in the future fabric of schools and about the state of the estate we take appropriate steps. I hope, following on from the spending review, we can be clear that the money we spend on maintenance will be spent in a way that takes account of the arguments made by my hon. Friend.

Speech, Language and Communication Education

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Wednesday 19th June 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Buckland]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and I like his point about linking up with business so that the skills young people acquire, such as communication skills, match what businesses need. We need to look at that in terms of young people, in 2015, coming to their GCSEs and, indeed, reaching the age of 17 or 18 and remaining in some form of learning environment.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I, too, apologise to my hon. Friend because I have to leave shortly for another meeting. I have two brief points. Does he agree that we must start picking up the problems in pre-school and nursery? Otherwise, we get intense behavioural problems, which is not a good start to the child’s period at school. On GCSEs, does he share my concern about the potential impact of Ofqual’s proposal to remove the speaking and listening assessment from GCSE English language?

[Mr Buckland]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for both those points. I will come to the concerns I share with her about Ofqual and GCSE English language in a little while, but let me deal with her first point, about early years. Often, we are talking about a pre-education setting and a health setting. I have long advocated the need for a proper, health-based assessment of speech, language and communication needs at the age of two, and I am supported by people such as Jean Gross, the communications champion. The Government are similarly committed to moving in that direction. With the increase in health visitor numbers—an extremely welcome initiative, which is already having an effect in places such as Swindon—and with extra training for health visitors and other professionals, we can start to identify a cohort of young people who, at the moment, are not being identified until early years education or, sometimes, even later.

Oral Answers to Questions

Annette Brooke Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

It will raise standards.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T7. In the interest of transparency and to provide information for schools and local authorities, will the Secretary of State ensure that all reports on the asbestos incident in Cwmcarn high school in Wales, including the final report from the Health and Safety Executive, are made publicly available? I note that the local council has decided to remove asbestos from the school on safety grounds.

[The Minister for Schools (Mr David Laws)]

I will look at this matter on behalf of my right hon. Friend. We are keen to ensure that policy on asbestos is evidence-based, and that there is clarity about the inquiry carried out by the HSE.