Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of access to school (a) playgrounds, (b) playing fields and (c) play areas for children with disabilities; and what steps she is taking to increase that access.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not collect information on the adequacy of access to school playgrounds, school playing fields, or school play areas for children with disabilities. The department has published area guidelines for schools in Building Bulletin 103, and specific guidance for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) schools and alternative provision (AP) sites in Building Bulletin 104. These documents include guidance and expectations around size, type, and design of outdoor PE space, informal and social areas, and the use of habitat areas.
Schools must also comply with their duties under the Equality Act 2010. This includes making reasonable adjustments and carrying out accessibility planning for disabled pupils. Schools must prepare and implement accessibility plans, which should include plans for improving the physical environment of schools to enable disabled pupils to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities, and services provided. Ofsted may review a school’s accessibility plan as part of school inspections.
In March 2022, the department announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) amounting to over £1.4 billion of new investment. This funding is to support local authorities to deliver new places for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing provision for children and young people with SEND or who require AP.
It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their funding to address their local priorities, including improving the accessibility of school play areas. Local authorities can work with any school in their local area to do so.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of teacher training for identifying pupil eating disorders; and if she will introduce an eating disorder toolkit for teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is committed to ensuring teachers have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and resources they need to promote and support mental health and wellbeing, including being able to identify the potential early signs of an eating disorder.
The Department has published guidance and signposting to external sources of mental health and wellbeing support for teachers and others in contact with children and young people, which includes sources of help and advice for children and young people suffering with an eating disorder. This information can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges.
To support the effective use of training and guidance on supporting and promoting mental health in schools, including identifying need, the Department is funding all schools and colleges in England to train senior mental health leads who can put in place whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. This approach should encompass robust processes for identifying students, or specific groups, who need additional mental health support. Two thirds of schools and colleges will have been able to access funding by April 2023, backed by £10 million in the 2022/23 financial year.
There are also currently 287 mental health support teams in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing common mental health issues and with the potential to spot eating disorders early on. These teams now cover 26% of pupils, a year earlier than originally planned. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
It is important to recognise teachers are not mental health professionals and should not be expected to diagnose mental health issues. If a child or young person is suffering with an eating disorder or problem, evidence-based treatment should be accessed via their general practitioner or local Psychological Therapies services.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of access to school play areas for children with disabilities; and what plans she has to improve access for disabled children.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not collect information on the adequacy of access to school play areas for children with disabilities. The department publishes area guidelines for schools in Building Bulletin 103: Area Guidelines for Mainstream Schools, and specific guidance for special educational needs and disability (SEND) schools and alternative provision (AP) sites in Building Bulletin 104: Area Guidelines for SEND and alternative provision, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/905692/BB103_Area_Guidelines_for_Mainstream_Schools.pdf and here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/905693/BB104.pdf.
These documents include guidance and expectations around size, type, and design of outdoor PE space, informal and social areas, and the use of habitat areas.
Schools must also comply with their duties under the Equality Act 2010, including making reasonable adjustments and carrying out accessibility planning for disabled pupils. Schools must prepare and implement accessibility plans which should include plans for improving the physical environment of schools to enable disabled pupils to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided. Ofsted may review a school’s accessibility plan as part of school inspections.
In March 2022 the department announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations amounting to over £1.4 billion of new investment. This funding is to support local authorities to deliver new places for academic years 2023/24 and 2024/25, and improve the suitability and accessibility of existing provision for children and young people with SEND or who require AP. It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their funding to address their local priorities, including improving the accessibility of school play areas, and they can work with any school in their local area to do so.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support the building of leadership skills for school management in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department is creating a world-class teacher development system by transforming the training and support teachers and headteachers receive at every stage of their career.
Each career stage is underpinned by evidenced-based frameworks that set out what teachers will learn and know after completing the programme. The frameworks build on and complement one another and have been independently reviewed by the Education Endowment Foundation to ensure they draw on the best available evidence of high-quality teaching and school leadership.
This ‘golden thread’ of high-quality support and training begins with Initial Teacher Training based on the new ITT Core Content Framework, progresses through an extended free training entitlement over the first 2 years of a teacher’s career through the Early Career Framework reforms and leads to our suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) which support teachers and headteachers to develop their leadership skills at each stage of their career. This golden thread helps establish strong professional development cultures both within individual schools and across the country, elevating the quality of teaching and leadership and ultimately improving pupil outcomes. In addition, we continue to fund the High Potential Initial Teacher Training and Leadership Development Programme (HPITT), delivered by Teach First which aims to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils by recruiting, placing and training outstanding graduates and experienced professionals in disadvantaged schools.
The suite of NPQs includes four leadership qualifications that support professionals to develop the knowledge, behaviours, and networks they need to be a high-performing teacher at different levels. The Early Headship Coaching offer is also available to professionals in their first five years in headship. This offer is a targeted support package which provides structured unassessed support based on the best available evidence about what makes an effective headteacher.
As part of the Government’s long-term education recovery plan, £184 million of new funding will enable 150,000 education professionals employed at state-funded organisations across the sector to access fully funded training scholarships for NPQs. This support will be available in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years to help more professionals than ever before to access the qualifications.
The Department also announced on 26 May 2022 that the School-Led Development Trust would establish the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT). The NIoT will be an exemplary provider of our teacher development programmes, including NPQs and the National Leaders of Education programmes, ensuring high quality support to struggling and vulnerable schools by raising standards and building their leadership capacity. It will also utilise cutting-edge research and disseminate best practice to further improve the quality of teacher and leadership training nationwide.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to help increase the sharing of leadership skills across both primary and secondary education.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department is creating a world-class teacher development system by transforming the training and support teachers and headteachers receive at every stage of their career.
Each career stage is underpinned by evidenced-based frameworks that set out what teachers will learn and know after completing the programme. The frameworks build on and complement one another and have been independently reviewed by the Education Endowment Foundation to ensure they draw on the best available evidence of high-quality teaching and school leadership.
This ‘golden thread’ of high-quality support and training begins with Initial Teacher Training based on the new ITT Core Content Framework, progresses through an extended free training entitlement over the first 2 years of a teacher’s career through the Early Career Framework reforms and leads to our suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) which support teachers and headteachers to develop their leadership skills at each stage of their career. This golden thread helps establish strong professional development cultures both within individual schools and across the country, elevating the quality of teaching and leadership and ultimately improving pupil outcomes. In addition, we continue to fund the High Potential Initial Teacher Training and Leadership Development Programme (HPITT), delivered by Teach First which aims to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils by recruiting, placing and training outstanding graduates and experienced professionals in disadvantaged schools.
The suite of NPQs includes four leadership qualifications that support professionals to develop the knowledge, behaviours, and networks they need to be a high-performing teacher at different levels. The Early Headship Coaching offer is also available to professionals in their first five years in headship. This offer is a targeted support package which provides structured unassessed support based on the best available evidence about what makes an effective headteacher.
As part of the Government’s long-term education recovery plan, £184 million of new funding will enable 150,000 education professionals employed at state-funded organisations across the sector to access fully funded training scholarships for NPQs. This support will be available in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years to help more professionals than ever before to access the qualifications.
The Department also announced on 26 May 2022 that the School-Led Development Trust would establish the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT). The NIoT will be an exemplary provider of our teacher development programmes, including NPQs and the National Leaders of Education programmes, ensuring high quality support to struggling and vulnerable schools by raising standards and building their leadership capacity. It will also utilise cutting-edge research and disseminate best practice to further improve the quality of teacher and leadership training nationwide.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will increase transport provision for children with SEND requirements who live within three miles of their schools and are over 8 years old.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The government’s home to school transport policy aims to ensure that no child is unable to access education because of a lack of transport. Local authorities must provide free home to school transport for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest suitable school and live beyond the statutory walking distance (2 miles for children under 8, and 3 miles for children aged 8 and over) or live within the walking distance but would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs or disability, or because the route is unsafe.
A child who attends their nearest suitable school and would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs or disability will be eligible for free home to school transport even if they live less than the statutory walking distance from their school. Where a child has an education, health and care plan, the school named in the plan will usually be considered to be their nearest suitable school for transport purposes. Home to school travel and transport guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.