Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to continue to provide support for the National School Breakfast Programme over the May half-term holiday and summer holidays.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
As both my right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19.
Our latest guidance for schools is set out below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.
Alongside our national approach to supporting free school meal pupils, we are committed to supporting schools and children who benefit from our breakfast club programme. Our suppliers, Family Action along with Magic Breakfast, are in contact with schools on the programme, where possible, and are working closely with them to target the children most in need to continue to provide them with a healthy breakfast.
Schools on the programme can choose to support target children in the way which works best for them. This may include parents collecting food parcels from open schools or breakfast food ‘drop offs’ to target families. This should be arranged alongside the school’s wider support for children on free school meals, and schools must follow Public Health England’s advice on social distancing at all times.
This programme operates during term time, and we would not expect provision to continue through schools during the May half term holiday week. We continue to work flexibly with Family Action and Magic Breakfast on the best ways to support schools during the COVID-19 outbreak.
These are rapidly developing circumstances. We continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of school children living in poverty who fall into the vulnerable category for the purposes of their education policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Our latest guidance on vulnerable children is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, for the purposes of continued attendance at educational settings, vulnerable children and young people are defined as those who:
The official statistics on the number of children in poverty is based on the Annual Households Below Average Income Survey. It is not possible to separately identify children defined as ‘vulnerable’ from the survey data.
The department’s analysis of deprivation and low income in education uses free school meal eligibility as an indicator of children living in families that need additional support. Detail on free school meal eligibility is available at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.
We do not hold data on the overlap between the numbers of children and young people included in the total of the three categories of vulnerable children and children eligible for free school meals.
Our published ‘characteristics of children in need: 2018 to 2019’ data shows that 54.1% of Children in Need at 31 March 2019 (aged 5-16, excluding those who were looked after at any point during the year unless they were also on a child protection plan) were eligible for free school meals. This data is available in Table 1 of the ‘Children in need outcomes national tables: 2019’ available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2018-to-2019.
Our published information on children with Special Educational Needs from the 2019 school census shows that, in January 2019, 32.7% of pupils with EHC plans were eligible for free school meals. This is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2019.
Educational providers and local authorities have the discretion to offer support to children and young people who they consider to be vulnerable, where the child or young person does not fall into either of the categories above.
Educational providers and local authorities may therefore choose to offer support to children and young people where their individual circumstances, including the impact of poverty, may suggest that they would benefit from this support and continued provision.
As this is based on ongoing, locally made decisions, we do not hold data on the number of children and young people that have been identified as otherwise vulnerable or the overlap between this cohort and their eligibility for free school meals.
These are rapidly developing circumstances; we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support families who have lost access to free school breakfasts; whether such breakfasts are provided elsewhere whilst schools are shut down; and if so, where.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Alongside our national approach to supporting pupils to continue to access free school meals, we are also committed to supporting schools and children who benefit from our breakfast club programme.
Our suppliers, Family Action along with Magic Breakfast, are in contact with schools on the programme, where possible, and are working closely with them to target the children most in need to continue to provide them with a healthy breakfast.
Schools on the programme can choose to support target children in the way which works best for them; this may include parents collecting food parcels from open schools or breakfast food ‘drop offs’ to target families. This should be arranged alongside the school’s wider support for children on free school meals, and schools must follow Public Health England’s advice on social distancing at all times.
Family Action have reported that more than 880 schools in disadvantaged areas are registered to receive breakfast deliveries from this programme during the coronavirus outbreak. These schools are located nationwide across England.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria will be applied to decide which disadvantaged school pupils will qualify for free laptops and broadband routers.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Devices have been ordered for the most disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for exams in Year 10, receive support from a social worker, or are a care leaver.
Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school, and disadvantaged children in Year 10 do not have an internet connection, we will be providing 4G connectivity access to them.
Local authorities, trusts and other relevant organisations overseeing schools will be given guidance on how to request government-funded and allocated devices. We recognise that local authorities and academy trusts are best placed to identify and prioritise children and young people who need devices.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the timetable for implementing the commitment in their 2015 report A better deal: boosting competition to bring down bills for families and firms to put best practice guidance for school uniform supply in England on a statutory footing.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
It is for the governing body of a school (or in the case of academies, the academy trust) to decide rules relating to appearance, including whether there should be a school uniform, what it will be and how it should be sourced.
No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to, or attend, a school of their choice. The Department’s best-practice guidance advises schools that they should give the highest priority to cost considerations and achieving value for money for parents.
The Department intends to put the school uniform guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable opportunity arises.
The Department’s guidance is attached and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) looked after children, and (2) care leavers, who are from the European Economic Area or Switzerland are currently supported in England, broken down by region.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The information requested on looked after children and care leavers in England is not held centrally by the department. The devolved administrations are responsible for collecting and publishing information on looked after children and care leavers in their constituent countries.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) looked after children, and (2) care leavers, who are from the European Economic Area or Switzerland are currently supported in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland, and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The information requested on looked after children and care leavers in England is not held centrally by the department. The devolved administrations are responsible for collecting and publishing information on looked after children and care leavers in their constituent countries.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the integration benefits to communities particularly in terms of integration of allowing asylum seekers to have access to free English language classes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), asylum seekers aged 19 or over are currently eligible to receive funding after they have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer and while their claim is being considered by the Home Office or are in the care of the local authority. If they have failed in their claim but are in appeal or have been granted support under the Immigration and Asylum Act (1999), they can still receive funding.
Asylum seekers are not entitled to the same work-related benefits as those granted refugee status or humanitarian protection and therefore cannot access full funding for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses through the AEB. If they meet the criteria set out above, they will instead be co-funded 50% of the course cost. This is because not all those who make their own way to the UK to seek asylum will be found to be refugees and nearly all will have travelled through other safe countries to get to the UK. The government will continue to consider any new evidence put forward on this issue.
From the start of the 2019/20 academic year approximately 50% of the AEB will be devolved to 6 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA). The MCAs and GLA will be responsible for commissioning and funding AEB provision, including ESOL, for learners that are resident in their areas who meet basic eligibility criteria. The Education and Skills Funding Agency will be responsible for funding AEB learners that are resident in non-devolved areas.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by of Lord Agnew of Oulton on 13 June (HL16098 and HL16099), whether they will answer the question put about (1) when a decision will be made on the future funding of the National School Breakfast Programme, and (2) what is the current annual cost of the programme to the public purse.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Decisions about any funding beyond March 2020 will be taken as part of the upcoming Spending Review. Up to £26 million has been allocated to the National Schools Breakfast Programme over 2018-20.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest estimate of the number of children receiving breakfasts under the National School Breakfast Programme; and how that compares with the original numbers anticipated.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country including the Department for Education’s opportunity areas to help make sure every child gets the best start in life.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the breakfast club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Family Action has confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.
We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will also review the effectiveness of the programme fully once the programme concludes including the number of children attending. In March 2019, Family Action indicated that by the start of the summer term over 250,000 children would be benefiting from the programme.