Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Hertfordshire SEND Improvement Plan, published in December 2023, whether her Department (a) was consulted on and (b) agreed with the implementation of the Hertfordshire County Council target to complete 60% of all new Education, Health and Care needs assessments within the statutory 20 week deadline.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The target of 60% of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans being completed within 20 weeks by Hertfordshire County Council is published in the local area partnership’s priority action plan. The department understands from Hertfordshire County Council that the 60% target is a realistic initial target rather than the end goal. Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission jointly review priority action plans and determine whether they are fit for purpose and they have confirmed that Hertfordshire’s plan is fit for purpose. The department does not approve priority action plans; therefore, it did not approve this target. The department’s role is to determine whether a priority action plan is something that the local area can be monitored against, and we have confirmed that Hertfordshire’s plan can be monitored.
The department expects all local authorities to meet their statutory duties, and we will continue to monitor and challenge Hertfordshire County Council’s EHC plan 20-week timeliness.
The department provides support and challenge to the Hertfordshire local area partnership by monitoring progress against its priority action plan and improvement plan, and by providing advice and guidance via a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) expert advisor. The partnership has also established a SEND Improvement Board, which is independently chaired by Dame Christine Lenehan, to oversee progress and provide appropriate challenge.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she had made an assessment of the adequacy of the number of educational psychologists in each local education authority in England.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department understands the critical role educational psychologists play in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Data on the number of educational psychologists employed by local authorities is collected by the department within the School Workforce Census, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Whilst it is the responsibility of local authorities as the employers of educational psychology services to ensure that their services are adequately staffed, the department is taking measures to support local authority educational psychology services by investing in developing the future workforce of educational psychologists.
The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
Following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. To support local authority services to recruit and retain their educational psychology workforce, this requirement will increase to three years for those trainees beginning their course this year. This will allow local authority services to benefit from the public investment in educational psychologist training, and support their delivery of statutory assessments and wider work.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 including awareness of endometriosis in Relationships, Sex and Health Education in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Statutory guidance on the current relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum published on GOV.UK states that pupils should be taught key facts about the menstrual cycle, including what is an average period, the range of menstrual products and implications for emotional and physical health. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
While endometriosis is not mentioned specifically in the statutory guidance, it is open to schools to include it as part of this education.
In 2020, the department developed teacher training modules to support schools further, which are freely available to download from GOV.UK. This included working with Endometriosis UK when developing the ‘changing adolescent body’ module, which references endometriosis.
The department is currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools. As such, the government will re-engage with stakeholders, look carefully at the consultation responses and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the rates paid to providers for free hours childcare and early years education.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Current national average funding rates for local authorities are broadly in line with, or higher than, nursery fees paid by parents last year. However, the department is taking concerns from the early years sector very seriously and wants to ensure that the sector is financially sustainable going forward. Budgets for 2025/26 are still to be agreed at the autumn Spending Review. This includes the 2025/26 early years budget which the department will need to agree across government. The department knows how important these decisions are to local authorities and providers, and is working across government to take them as soon as practicably possible.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 402 on Special Educational Needs, how many children and young people with education, health and care plans have missed (a) one year and (b) more than one year of education in the last five years because they were required by local education authorities to transfer into a year group commensurate with their age.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the guidance entitled Summer born children: advice for admission authorities, published on 27 April 2023, whether she plans to introduce additional guidance for summer born children with an education, health and care plan.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department will be considering whether to publish such additional guidance and will confirm its decision in due course.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to hold discussions with the F40 campaign group on SEND funding allocations.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department will take time to consider the high needs national funding formula (NFF) that it uses to allocate funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities. The department is considering the impact of the formula on local authorities, including Hertfordshire County Council and those in the F40 group. It is important that there is a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed.
Budgets for the 2025/26 financial year have not been set, which means that decisions on the high needs and mainstream schools NFF and the publication of allocations for that year will not be to the usual timescales.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the SEND funding formula allocations for pupils in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department will take time to consider the high needs national funding formula (NFF) that it uses to allocate funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities. The department is considering the impact of the formula on local authorities, including Hertfordshire County Council and those in the F40 group. It is important that there is a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed.
Budgets for the 2025/26 financial year have not been set, which means that decisions on the high needs and mainstream schools NFF and the publication of allocations for that year will not be to the usual timescales.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to extend free childcare to holders of British National (Overseas) passports working in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is determined to make early years the department’s top priority, reset its engagement with the sector and set every child on the journey to improved life chances. The government will say more about plans for early education and childcare in due course.
The current position is that families with British National Overseas status can access:
o £26,500 for families outside of London with one child
o £34,500 for families within London with one child
o £30,600 for families outside of London with two or more children
o £38,600 for families within London with two or more children
The entitlements for children of working parents are not within the definition of ’public funds’ in the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or the Immigration Rules. However, there are requirements in the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022 for the parent, or one of the parents, not to be subject to immigration control. This means that where both parents have no recourse to public funds, they will not be eligible for these entitlements. However, if there are two parents and just one of them is subject to immigration control, the family will still be eligible for the entitlements provided they meet the other eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in care are moved more than 10 miles away due to a lack of appropriate local care options.
Answered by David Johnston
The ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’ 2023 data shows that 70% of children who were looked after on 31 March 2023 were placed within 20 miles of home and 21% were placed over 20 miles from home. This data is published on GOV.UK. Information for the remaining 9% was not known or not recorded. In most cases this will be because the child was an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child but it could also be because the home address was not known or for reasons of confidentiality. Information on reasons why children were placed more than 20 miles from their home is not held centrally by the department.
Sometimes out of area placements are essential to keep a child safe, but the department recognises there are challenges in the children’s social care sector. At the Spring Budget, the government announced a £165 million boost to expand places in secure and open residential children’s homes, on top of the £259 million secured at Spending Review 2021. This takes the total planned investment to over £400 million. This Spring Budget funding is expected to create a further 200 open children’s homes (OCHs) places and rebuild Atkinson and Swanwick secure children’s homes (SCHs). This is in addition to the 95 new OCHs, providing 360 additional placements, and two brand new regional SCHs in London and West Midlands created by the Spending Review funding. This total investment illustrates the department’s commitment to support councils in continuing to deliver high-quality services to vulnerable children and families.