Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support students with EHCPs to access post-16 educational placements that support their (a) interests and (b) career goals.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.
We want to ensure that impartial, lifelong careers guidance is available to everyone when they need it, regardless of age, circumstance or background. This will allow everyone to develop skills, progress into work or the next stage of their career, and boost long term economic prosperity.
The department has published statutory guidance on careers guidance to set out what is expected of schools and colleges, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools.
The National Careers Service offers free, up-to-date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England. It helps people to achieve and thrive and supports social mobility by working with individuals to motivate them and develop their understanding of the full range of options open to them, whatever their background or circumstances. More information is available on the National Careers Service website, which can be found here: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/.
Preparing all children and young people with SEND for adulthood is a key part of the SEND system and should begin from the earliest point.
A wide range of training programmes are available to suit the needs of the individual and their aspirations. This includes academic or vocational courses such as supported internships and apprenticeships which provide experience of workplace activities. For those with an education, health and care (EHC) plan, there must be a focus from year 9 onwards on preparing the young person for adulthood as part of their plan’s annual review. This focus must continue until the young person’s EHC plan ceases. Planning for the transition to adulthood should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching, and which are tailored to the needs and interests of the young person.
The department knows that with the right preparation and support, the overwhelming majority of young people with SEND are capable of sustained, paid employment. All professionals working with them should share that presumption and should provide the career advice and support that helps young people develop the skills and experience, and achieve the qualifications, that they need to succeed in their careers.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) funding and (b) resources for local authorities for the provision of comprehensive post-16 education options for students with EHCPs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. High needs funding helps local authorities with the ongoing costs of post-16 education provision for students with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
Local authorities must publish a local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND and keep it under review, including the sufficiency of provision. This must be co-produced with parents, young people and a wide range of education providers, both within and beyond the local authority area. The local offer must include provision within the local authority’s area alongside provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible.
Local authorities’ duties include securing enough suitable education and training provision to meet the reasonable needs of all young people in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. This is a duty under section 15ZA of the Education Act 1996. To fulfil this, local authorities should have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and identify and resolve gaps in provision.
If a local authority places students at a special post-16 institution (SPI) and would like the SPI to be considered for Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, the department will take the SPI through the due diligence process and award a funding agreement if successful.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that students with EHCPs have access to a wide range of post-16 educational opportunities (a) within and (b) outside of their catchment area.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. High needs funding helps local authorities with the ongoing costs of post-16 education provision for students with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
Local authorities must publish a local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND and keep it under review, including the sufficiency of provision. This must be co-produced with parents, young people and a wide range of education providers, both within and beyond the local authority area. The local offer must include provision within the local authority’s area alongside provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible.
Local authorities’ duties include securing enough suitable education and training provision to meet the reasonable needs of all young people in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. This is a duty under section 15ZA of the Education Act 1996. To fulfil this, local authorities should have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and identify and resolve gaps in provision.
If a local authority places students at a special post-16 institution (SPI) and would like the SPI to be considered for Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, the department will take the SPI through the due diligence process and award a funding agreement if successful.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the availability of specialist post-16 educational placements for students with Education, Health and Care Plans.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. High needs funding helps local authorities with the ongoing costs of post-16 education provision for students with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
Local authorities must publish a local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND and keep it under review, including the sufficiency of provision. This must be co-produced with parents, young people and a wide range of education providers, both within and beyond the local authority area. The local offer must include provision within the local authority’s area alongside provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible.
Local authorities’ duties include securing enough suitable education and training provision to meet the reasonable needs of all young people in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. This is a duty under section 15ZA of the Education Act 1996. To fulfil this, local authorities should have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and identify and resolve gaps in provision.
If a local authority places students at a special post-16 institution (SPI) and would like the SPI to be considered for Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, the department will take the SPI through the due diligence process and award a funding agreement if successful.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish further information on proposed Young Future Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s is committed to a Young Futures programme made up of Young Futures prevention partnerships and Young Futures Hubs.
Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
To roll out Young Futures Hubs, the department will first establish early adopter hubs. These, and work with local areas, will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs. Young Futures Hubs will build upon the successes of existing infrastructure and provision. We will set out more details in due course.
Young Futures Hubs are one part of delivering this within a much wider youth landscape. They will be designed to complement core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing financial support to specialist education colleges to help mitigate the increase in employer National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is receiving compensation in recognition of the increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs) paid by institutions it funds, including colleges, schools and other state-funded special education needs and disabilities provision. Work is in progress to determine how that funding will be distributed, and more information will be provided as soon as is practicable. This NICs funding will be in addition to the £300 million and £1 billion funding increases announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 for further education and young people with high needs respectively, in 2025/26.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to extend the Targeted Retention Incentive to specialist SEND teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s outcomes and is therefore essential to delivering the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child.
We are committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes. We recognise the critical work SEND teachers do in achieving this.
A successful teacher recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy. The targeted retention incentive is worth up to £6,000 after tax per year for early career teachers in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical subjects in disadvantaged schools and all further education (FE) colleges. It is targeted at key STEM and technical subject teachers because specialists in these subjects have high earning potential outside teaching and are often the most difficult to recruit and retain.
The targeted retention incentive is available to school teachers in both mainstream and special schools if they teach mathematics, physics, chemistry or computing and have completed either a degree or Initial Teacher Training (ITT) course in one of these subjects. The incentive is also available to eligible FE college teachers of those same subjects and also construction, digital, early years and engineering and manufacturing. This includes any eligible specialist SEND teachers in FE colleges teaching those subjects.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of Climate Change education in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) is currently reviewing the existing national curriculum and statutory assessment system in England, to ensure they are fit for purpose and that the curriculum is rich and broad, inclusive and innovative. The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025, setting out their interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final report, with recommendations, will be published in autumn 2025.
Topics relating to climate change and the environment are currently included within geography, science and citizenship in the current national curriculum, with an environmental science A level also available. At a primary level, pupils are given a foundation of climate science which can be built on in secondary school. Teachers also have the flexibility to plan their own lessons, which enables them to adapt and consider new developments, societal changes, or topical issues. As a result, the department is seeing excellent work in climate education at all levels in many schools and multi-academy trusts.