Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2024 to Question 2948 on Special Educational Needs, what estimate she has made of when the review of Norfolk County Council's Safety Valve agreement will be completed.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Norfolk County Council's Safety Valve agreement is currently under review. The local authority is working closely with the department and expert advisers on a plan to achieve a sustainable high-needs budget while delivering better outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. There is no set timetable for this review to be completed.
The department regularly reviews the implementation of all Safety Valve agreements through its monitoring process and provides support and intervention if they go off track.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing 16 to 19 funding to colleges to help fund pay deals.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises how critical further education (FE) teachers are to unlocking opportunity, tackling disadvantage and equipping learners with the skills needed to secure high value work and boost employer productivity. While the government does not set or recommend pay in the FE sector, it is clear that remuneration is an important factor in teacher recruitment and retention.
The government continues to invest in FE teachers, including through additional funding of around £600 million across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. This includes extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. This will support FE providers to recruit and retain high quality teachers in critical subject areas where vacancy rates are high.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of levels of pay in further education institutions on recruitment and retention.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises how critical further education (FE) teachers are to unlocking opportunity, tackling disadvantage and equipping learners with the skills needed to secure high value work and boost employer productivity. While the government does not set or recommend pay in the FE sector, it is clear that remuneration is an important factor in teacher recruitment and retention.
The government continues to invest in FE teachers, including through additional funding of around £600 million across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. This includes extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. This will support FE providers to recruit and retain high quality teachers in critical subject areas where vacancy rates are high.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of low pay on early years childcare sector recruitment.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the concerns the sector has about workforce recruitment and retention challenges. The department continues to work closely with the sector to understand these challenges. Early education and childcare is delivered by a mixed market of private, voluntary and independent provision who set their own rates of pay.
The department is uplifting funding rates to support providers in dealing with the costs they face, including staffing costs. Current national average funding rates are broadly in line with, or higher than, nursery fees paid by parents last year. For 2024/25, this includes an investment of £67 million to reflect the increase in the National Living Wage from April 2024. Local authorities are required to pass through a minimum of 95% of the funding to early years providers.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 July 2024 to Question 1512 on Special Educational Needs, if her Department will publish a list of local authorities that have breached obligations to fulfil statutory duties to children and young people with SEND.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
A new Ofsted and Care Quality Commission Area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection framework was launched in January 2023. All local areas are due to receive a full inspection within five years, which will support local areas to achieve better outcomes and standards in line with our programme of reform. Ofsted publish final outcome reports on their website, and local areas are required to publish them on their organisation’s website.
Where a council does not meet its duties, the department can take action that prioritises children’s needs and supports local areas to bring about rapid improvement. The department works to monitor, support and challenge local authorities, working closely with NHS England to tackle weaknesses that sit with health partners.
The department collects a range of SEND performance metrics from local authorities on an annual basis and these are publicly available.
The department welcomes the publication of the Big Listen response. It will work with Ofsted to consider how outcomes for children with SEND or in alternative provision are better reflected in both the education inspection and the Area SEND inspection framework going forwards.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 July 2024 to Question 1512 on Special Educational Needs, how her Department monitors whether local authorities are meeting their obligations to fulfil statutory duties to children and young people with SEND.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
A new Ofsted and Care Quality Commission Area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection framework was launched in January 2023. All local areas are due to receive a full inspection within five years, which will support local areas to achieve better outcomes and standards in line with our programme of reform. Ofsted publish final outcome reports on their website, and local areas are required to publish them on their organisation’s website.
Where a council does not meet its duties, the department can take action that prioritises children’s needs and supports local areas to bring about rapid improvement. The department works to monitor, support and challenge local authorities, working closely with NHS England to tackle weaknesses that sit with health partners.
The department collects a range of SEND performance metrics from local authorities on an annual basis and these are publicly available.
The department welcomes the publication of the Big Listen response. It will work with Ofsted to consider how outcomes for children with SEND or in alternative provision are better reflected in both the education inspection and the Area SEND inspection framework going forwards.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 July 2024 to Question 1512 on Special Educational Needs, how her Department monitors whether the Safety Valve programme leads to improvements in SEND service.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Safety Valve agreements are established only when both the local authority and the department agree that the proposals will improve services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The department regularly reviews the implementation of all Safety Valve agreements through a monitoring process that takes place three times a year. These reviews are not published, in order to secure free and frank discussion between the local authority and the department.
Norfolk's agreement is currently subject to review, and the local authority is working with the department on a revised proposal within the programme's framework.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 July 2024 to Question 1512 on Special Educational Needs, when her Department last undertook a review of the Safety Valve agreement with Norfolk County Council; and if she will publish the conclusions of the most recent review.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Safety Valve agreements are established only when both the local authority and the department agree that the proposals will improve services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The department regularly reviews the implementation of all Safety Valve agreements through a monitoring process that takes place three times a year. These reviews are not published, in order to secure free and frank discussion between the local authority and the department.
Norfolk's agreement is currently subject to review, and the local authority is working with the department on a revised proposal within the programme's framework.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase SEND provision for pupils moving from private to state schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department works to support local authorities to ensure that every local area has sufficient places for children that need them and to provide appropriate support where pupils with special educational needs (SEN) require a place at a state-funded school.
State-maintained schools are required to identify and address the needs of the pupils they support. Mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support they need and are funded to do this through their formulaic funding allocations.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of Safety Valve agreements on the delivery of local authorities' statutory obligations to children and young people with SEND.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Local authorities high needs budgets are under significant pressure, and the department is considering what support and reforms are needed to secure better outcomes and experiences for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and to secure local authorities financial sustainability.
The Safety Valve programme is intended to help local authorities provide an improved SEND service by maximising the impact of their high needs budget and promoting a more stable and effective system for children and young people with SEND. Safety Valve agreements have been established only where both the local authority and the department agreed that the proposals would improve services for children and young people with SEND.
Safety Valve agreements are not intended to release local authorities from their obligations to fulfil their statutory duties to children and young people with SEND, and the department would not enter into an agreement with a local authority if it compromised their ability to meet these obligations. The department regularly reviews the implementation of all Safety Valve agreements through its monitoring process and provides support and intervention if they go off track. The future use of Safety Valve agreements is also under review. The department does not hold any specific data on the potential impact of Norfolk’s Safety Valve agreement.