Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on enabling access to student finance for people with leave to remain in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State meets with my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary and other Cabinet secretaries regularly to discuss the Department for Education agenda.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2018 to Question 199286 on Overseas Students: Immigration, what criteria are used to assess whether a student has a recognised connection with the UK.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Generally, to meet the eligibility requirements for student support, a student should be resident in England and have ‘settled’ status. 'Settled' means being ordinarily resident in the UK without any immigration restriction on the length of stay in the UK. An exception to this rule is made for Refugees, Stateless Persons, Persons Granted Humanitarian Protection and those who can demonstrate Long Residence in the UK.
To qualify for student support, individuals should normally have been a resident of the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for the 3 years prior to the start of the course. Refugees are exempt from the three year residence requirement.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has (a) funded, (b) awarded contracts to and (c) procured the services of the Integrity Initiative in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education’s (DfE) internal payment and commercial systems hold no record of contracts or spend with the Integrity Initiative.
All DfE contracts awarded to suppliers of £10,000 or more are published on Contracts Finder. The link to Contracts Finder is: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether medical evidence of non-accidental injuries must be provided before children's services departments place children in the care of a local authority on the grounds of such injuries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system is that children are best looked after within their families. However, as a last resort, after other steps have failed, local authorities may apply to the independent courts for a decision to be made about removing a child from his or her family for the child’s safety. Children’s welfare must be the paramount factor when decisions are taken in any case involving children.
Where a local authority believes that a child is suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm, they can apply to the independent courts for a care (or supervision) order. The courts may only make a care order to remove a child from his or her family’s care if they are satisfied that the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm and that a care order is deemed better for the child than not taking any action; or the child is beyond parental control. This assessment must be based on evidence and the courts must be satisfied that any factual circumstances that are alleged are more likely than not to have arisen in order to rely on them. However, local authorities need not have and indeed may not be able to access medical evidence prior to taking action to seek to take a child into their care.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether medical evidence of non-accidental injuries must be provided before children's services departments place children in the care of a local authority on the grounds of such injuries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system is that children are best looked after within their families. However, as a last resort, after other steps have failed, local authorities may apply to the independent courts for a decision to be made about removing a child from his or her family for the child’s safety. Children’s welfare must be the paramount factor when decisions are taken in any case involving children.
Where a local authority believes that a child is suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm, they can apply to the independent courts for a care (or supervision) order. The courts may only make a care order to remove a child from his or her family’s care if they are satisfied that the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm and that a care order is deemed better for the child than not taking any action; or the child is beyond parental control. This assessment must be based on evidence and the courts must be satisfied that any factual circumstances that are alleged are more likely than not to have arisen in order to rely on them. However, local authorities need not have and indeed may not be able to access medical evidence prior to taking action to seek to take a child into their care.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times local authority children's services departments have put children up for adoption against the wishes of their parents in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department does not collect data on specific adoption circumstances.
Information on those children placed for adoption, where consent is dispensed by the court, is published annually in Table D1 of the statistical release 'Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017' at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017. These are circumstances where the court can dispense without the consent of a parent to the placement and adoption of their child if the welfare of the child requires it. This may be a decision in some situations that does not accord with the wishes of the parents.
The welfare of a child is paramount and local authorities have a statutory duty to intervene to undertake child protection enquiries and to take action to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. However, decisions on adoption are ultimately taken by an independent judge based on the evidence presented.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will ensure that during routine inspections Ofsted do not single out young Muslim female pupils wearing hijabs for (a) questioning and (b) the subject of any special inspections.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a voluntary-aided English school designated with a religious character can give preference on the grounds of religion in connection with the appointment of every single one of its teachers.
Answered by Anne Milton
A voluntary aided English school designated with a religious character is permitted to take faith into account when appointing employing teachers - see section 60 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.
This provision does potentially apply to the appointment of all teachers at such a school but it does not provide blanket protection or an unlimited exception from the terms of the Equality Act 2010 and is not a licence to discriminate on the basis of religion or belief. If challenged as to the use of section 60 in a particular case, a school would be expected to justify the use of the power in the relevant context, the justification being that it was legitimate to take faith into account in the particular case or context. For example, a school might rely on factors such as the pastoral responsibilities of all teachers, regardless of subject or seniority, and the importance that such pastoral responsibilities are discharged consistently by the teachers in the school.
Also, it is our expectation that schools with a religious character will balance the need to maintain the religious character of their school with that of securing the best staff for their school.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether paragraph 4 of Schedule 22 to the Equality Act 2010 exempts English schools designated with a religious character from Schedule 9 to that Act.
Answered by Anne Milton
Paragraph 4 (education appointments, etc. : religious belief) of Schedule 22 to the Equality Act 2010 does not provide English schools designated with a religious character with an exemption from Schedule 9 to that Act. Rather, it provides some exceptions from the provisions of the Act as a whole in certain situations – this is to prevent such schools from discriminating contrary to the Act on the basis of religion or belief.
Schedule 9 (work: exceptions) provides exceptions from provisions in Part 5 of the Act which covers employment. Therefore, Schedule 9 is focussed on work and employment in the widest sense rather than in the sphere of education. It does provide one exception in paragraph 3 of that Schedule which does have an impact on schools namely that it enables employers (including schools) to make religion or belief an occupational requirement for work in certain circumstances without breaching provisions of Part 5 of the Act.
Paragraph 4 of Schedule 22 set out a few exceptions from the provisions of the Equality Act for foundation schools, voluntary schools, academies and free schools, and independent schools that are not academies, where they have been designated as having a religious character.
The exceptions cover a range of situations relating to the appointment, promotion and remuneration of teachers by cross-referring to various sections in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 which cover these situations in the context of schools designated as having a religious character. Paragraph 4 of Schedule 22 states that such schools do not contravene the provisions of the Equality Act simply because they are acting in line with the relevant sections of the 1998 Act.
If a school with a religious character is acting in compliance with the relevant provisions of the 1998 Act this gives it protection from claims that it is discriminating on grounds of religion or belief and is in breach of the Equality Act. Such schools may take faith into account when employing teachers, for example. Our expectation is that schools with a religious character will balance the need to maintain the religious character of their school with that of securing the best staff for their school. Alongside this, school leaders are very aware, for example, that they must comply with employment law and their responsibilities under the Equality Act that are not covered by the exceptions when making appointments.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that children in receipt of free school meals do not go hungry over the Christmas period.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Free school meals are only provided to eligible pupils attending school during term time and schools are not required to provide food for children during the holidays. Some local councils may, however, decide to allocate some of their funding to programmes that help families who find it difficult to provide their children with healthy meals during the holidays.
We are currently considering the School Holidays (Meals and Activities) Bill, which considers this issue, and will be responding in due course.