Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops had been supplied to schools under the Get Help with Technology programme and predecessor programmes aimed at supporting schools through the covid-19 outbreak, by each local education authority in the UK as of (a) 1 September 2020, (b) 20 December 2020 and (c) 1 April 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including making 1.3 million laptops and tablets available for disadvantaged children and young people.
To date, over 1.29 million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education colleges.
The Department has partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help over 30,000 disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering over 75,000 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home.
Data on the number of laptops, tablets and 4G routers distributed by the Get Help with Technology Programme to local authorities has been published periodically over the duration of the programme and can be found through this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/laptops-and-tablets-progress-data-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Looked After Children attend (a) university and (b) further education from (i) Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and (ii) the UK in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The information is not held centrally in the form requested. The department does not collect information on the educational activity of all looked after children. Information is held on the number of care leavers aged 17 to 21 years old who are in higher education or other types of education on or around their birthday.
The number of care leavers (full-time and part-time) aged 17 to 21, who were in higher education in Barnsley local authority and England in the year ending 31 March 2020 or in ‘education other than higher education’ are shown in the table.
Number of care leavers aged 17 to 21 in education12
Care leavers in Barnsley and England
Year ending 31 March 2020
| All care leavers | Higher Education | Other than Higher Education |
Barnsley Local Authority | 90 | C3 | 30 |
England | 42,960 | 2,230 | 11,530 |
The latest information on children looked after in England, including the number of care leavers in education on 31 March 2020, is contained in the Children looked after in England statistics release, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
Figures on children looked after outside England is a matter for the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support he is providing to help looked after children secure a place in (a) higher and (b) further education.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Improving the academic attainment of looked after children in school is vital to increasing their subsequent participation in further and higher education. Every local authority in England must appoint a Virtual School Head, who has a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of all children in their care up to the age of 18. Virtual School Heads have made a significant impact since they were introduced by statute in 2014, bringing expert leadership to the system that has seen a very significant reduction in permanent expulsions and absenteeism and improved educational progress. All looked after children, up to age 18, must also have a personal education plan. This should include careers advice and financial information about further and higher education, training, and employment.
Children in care and care leavers are a priority group for receipt of the 16 to 19 bursary, which provides up to £1,200 a year to help meet the financial costs of participating in further education.
If care leavers attend university, local authorities are required to provide a minimum £2,000 bursary and provide, or meet the costs of, accommodation during non-term times. As with other students, care leavers can request a maintenance loan to cover their living costs and a student loan to cover their course fees. In addition, many universities provide additional support for care leavers. In 2019, the department published the care leaver higher education principles for higher education institutions, which identify the areas where care leavers need extra support to access and succeed in higher education, with examples of best practice from across the sector. Further information on these is available here: https://mycovenant.org.uk/offers/educational/.
We have also launched the Care Leaver Covenant, which provides a way for organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors to show their commitment to care leavers through providing concrete offers of support. In total, 67 further education colleges and higher education institutions have signed the Care Leaver Covenant and published their offer to care leavers.
At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities, wrote to universities and other providers of higher education to highlight the vulnerability of care leavers and estranged students and asked them to prioritise these groups for additional support. We have also prioritised care leavers for the receipt of laptops and data packages, distributed to local authorities in summer 2020 to allocate to vulnerable children and young people in their local areas, to help them to access education online and keep in touch with their support networks.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support he is providing to schools during the covid-19 outbreak to support children with an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The COVID-19 outbreak has been extremely challenging for many families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and schools who support them. Mainstream and special schools, special post 16-providers and alternative provision remained open to vulnerable children and young people throughout the third national lockdown, including those with education, health and care plans. Due to this, many specialist settings continued to offer face-to-face provision for the vast majority of, if not all of, their pupils and students.
To support those settings, we published guidance, which we regularly update, to provide additional information and support for delivering education in these settings.
In June last year, we introduced a COVID-19 catch-up premium worth £650 million to support schools to make up for lost teaching time. Head teachers decide how this premium is spent (for example, on educational psychologists, speech and language therapy and access to technology). Schools can prioritise funding support for SEND.
On 24 February, the government announced a new £700 million package for a range of additional measures to give early years settings, schools, providers of 16-19 education – including specialist settings – the tools they need to target support for all students.
Specific targeted support for children and young people with SEND includes a new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary and secondary schools, building on the Pupil Premium, which will be provided to schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This funding can be used to lay on additional clubs or activities or for other evidence-based approaches for supporting the most disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND, from September.
To support schools with delivering remote education, the department made £4.84 million available for the Oak National Academy, both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20 and the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects. Specialist content for pupils with SEND is available. Additionally, the Oak National Academy offers therapy-based lessons and resources across occupational, physical, sensory and speech and language therapy, which can be accessed at this link: https://classroom.thenational.academy/specialist.
We have also funded the National Star College to launch their SEND Hub, providing advice and guidance on ways to ensure the curriculum is accessible and inclusive for all.
Finally, through our funding of the Whole School SEND consortium in the financial year 2021-22, we have provided resources for families and schools and training for teachers to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in the last contract year. The funding in the financial year 2021-22 will bring the total funding for this contract to over £8 million.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Special Educational Needs and Disabilities places are available in schools in (a) Yorkshire and Humber and (b) England as at 23 March 2021.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) sits with local authorities. We provide funding for all the places that are needed, based on local authorities’ own data. We have announced nearly £500 million to provide places needed for 2023. This funding is on top of over £8.1 billion to provide places needed from 2015 to 2022 and our investment in the Free Schools programme. School capacity published data estimates that, as at May 2019, local authorities in Yorkshire and Humber still needed to provide a further 8,644 places by September 2021. Funding is allocated at local authority level. The local authorities within Yorkshire and Humber have been allocated £1 billion to provide new school places between 2011 and 2023.
In addition to this funding, we are investing £300 million in 2021-22 for new places for children with SEND or who require alternative provision. This funding is on top of £365 million allocated to local authorities through the Special Provision Capital Fund across 2018-19 to 2020-21, with local authorities across Yorkshire and the Humber receiving nearly £22 million through this fund. Funding for future years will be determined as part of the next Spending Review.
The majority of children with special educational needs[1] (SEN) are educated in mainstream settings[2]. Of those identified in state-funded education[3] as either requiring SEN Support (983,559) or who have an education, health and care plan (269,022), 1,125,476 are currently educated in mainstream settings in England. This trend is replicated in the Yorkshire and Humber region, where 116,079 of 126,703 children requiring SEN support or have an education, health and care plan are in mainstream settings.
Under the SEND Code of Practice 2015, all mainstream schools are under a duty to use their best endeavours to support children with SEN (whether or not the child has an education, health and care plan). The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to keep the provision for children and young people with SEND under review (including its sufficiency), working with parents, young people, and providers.
[1] We collect data on pupils with a special educational need (SEN). This does not cover all disabilities and pupils may have a disability without a special educational need.
[2] Mainstream refers to state-funded primary and secondary schools only.
[3] State-funded refers to state-funded primary, secondary and special schools only.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities places available in schools in (a) Yorkshire and Humber and (b) England.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) sits with local authorities. We provide funding for all the places that are needed, based on local authorities’ own data. We have announced nearly £500 million to provide places needed for 2023. This funding is on top of over £8.1 billion to provide places needed from 2015 to 2022 and our investment in the Free Schools programme. School capacity published data estimates that, as at May 2019, local authorities in Yorkshire and Humber still needed to provide a further 8,644 places by September 2021. Funding is allocated at local authority level. The local authorities within Yorkshire and Humber have been allocated £1 billion to provide new school places between 2011 and 2023.
In addition to this funding, we are investing £300 million in 2021-22 for new places for children with SEND or who require alternative provision. This funding is on top of £365 million allocated to local authorities through the Special Provision Capital Fund across 2018-19 to 2020-21, with local authorities across Yorkshire and the Humber receiving nearly £22 million through this fund. Funding for future years will be determined as part of the next Spending Review.
The majority of children with special educational needs[1] (SEN) are educated in mainstream settings[2]. Of those identified in state-funded education[3] as either requiring SEN Support (983,559) or who have an education, health and care plan (269,022), 1,125,476 are currently educated in mainstream settings in England. This trend is replicated in the Yorkshire and Humber region, where 116,079 of 126,703 children requiring SEN support or have an education, health and care plan are in mainstream settings.
Under the SEND Code of Practice 2015, all mainstream schools are under a duty to use their best endeavours to support children with SEN (whether or not the child has an education, health and care plan). The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to keep the provision for children and young people with SEND under review (including its sufficiency), working with parents, young people, and providers.
[1] We collect data on pupils with a special educational need (SEN). This does not cover all disabilities and pupils may have a disability without a special educational need.
[2] Mainstream refers to state-funded primary and secondary schools only.
[3] State-funded refers to state-funded primary, secondary and special schools only.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of access to (a) first steps and (b) community learning on disadvantaged adults in South Yorkshire; and what recent steps his Department has taken to support those people.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Community learning, funded through the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and Adult Education Budget (AEB), provides a way of progressing to further learning, training or employment, particularly for disadvantaged learners.
The ESFA community learning objectives require providers to prioritise disadvantaged learners. It is an important stepping stone, particularly for these learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, learners with low basic skills, learners with mental health issues, and learners facing financial hardship.
Community learning is funded through the AEB which aims to engage adults and provide the skills and learning they need to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. Colleges and training providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their community learning, to determine how best to meet their learners' needs.
Currently, approximately half of the AEB has been devolved to seven Combined Mayoral Authorities (CMAs) and the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority (GLA). Devolution of the AEB gives CMAs and the GLA direct control over adult education provision for their residents and provides local areas the opportunity to better meet local needs. The ESFA is responsible for funding AEB learners resident in non-devolved areas including South Yorkshire currently.
Sheffield City Region is due to take on adult education functions from the 2021/22 academic year. We will continue to work with Sheffield City Region to support their preparations for devolution.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) schools, (b) further education providers and (c) universities recording and publishing the number of sexual abuse cases experienced by students for the safety of female students.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Any form of harassment, violence or sexual assault is abhorrent and unacceptable anywhere in society, including in our schools, colleges and universities, which should be safe and inclusive environments.
There is already a strong and clear framework in place for schools and colleges, which sets out what they should be doing in terms of recording and reporting (to the police and children's social care, as required) in sexual abuse cases.
This is set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), which is the statutory guidance to which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2. It sets out a framework for information recording, collection and sharing. This includes, amongst other things, that all concerns, discussions and decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions, should be recorded in writing and that staff should speak to their Designated Safeguarding Lead if they have any doubts about this requirement.
To further support schools and colleges, we have published departmental advice on what sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges looks like, how to prevent it, how to respond to reports of it, and on how to support victims. This information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sexual-violence-and-sexual-harassment-between-children-in-schools-and-colleges.
We regularly consult on KCSIE to see where we might be able to strengthen it. Our latest consultation was launched on 10 December 2020 and closed on 4 March 2021. At the same time, we also sought views on revisions to the stand-alone advice on sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges. We are now analysing those responses and revised guidance is expected to come into force in September 2021.
Higher Education (HE) providers are autonomous, and have clear responsibilities, including under the Equality Act 2010, and should have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, and to investigate and swiftly address reports of sexual misconduct.
The government already urges university leaders to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to all harassment and sexual misconduct and improve the systems for reporting incidents. The government also urges HE providers to collect comprehensive accurate data on harassment incidents, and continue to break down barriers to reporting, in spite of the potential for this to lead to initial spikes in reported instances.
The Universities UK ‘Changing the Culture' framework 2016 report made a number of recommendations on tackling harassment and hate crime on campus, including on improving reporting rates and mechanisms for disclosure in HE providers. These included that relevant internal and external support should be signposted, and that reporting procedures should be centralised, accessible, and allow for anonymity if preferred, as well as enabling accurate data to be captured to determine the scale of a problem and track year on-year trends. The report can be found here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2016/changing-the-culture.pdf.
The Office for Students has recently made a statement on next steps for tackling harassment and hate crime in higher education, including plans for publication of its statement of expectations on harassment and hate crime. This is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-wellbeing-and-protection/prevent-and-address-harassment-and-sexual-misconduct/statement-of-expectations/.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the quality of teaching and learning at Northern College in Barnsley.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central directly and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to include education on gender-based violence in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is supporting all young people to be happy, healthy, safe, equipped for adult life, able to understand the world they are growing up in, and able to make a positive contribution to society.
Relationship Education is now compulsory for all primary school pupils, Relationships and Sex Education compulsory for all secondary school pupils, and Health Education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. The new subjects are being taught from the start of this academic year, and the latest statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
High quality teaching of these subjects will ensure that children understand what positive, healthy, and respectful relationships look like and help to prevent abuse and gender- based violence. The starting principle when teaching these subjects must be the applicable law. The Department wants pupils to develop a clear understanding of their rights, including how to recognise unhealthy or abusive relationships. We also want schools to support pupils who have experienced unsafe or abusive relationships and approach these subjects with sensitivity.
To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence we have produced Relationship, Sex and Health Education teacher training modules. Each module covers safeguarding to make sure teachers, pastoral staff and the designated safeguarding leads are equipped to deal with sensitive discussions and potential disclosures. Additionally, to help schools implement a whole school approach to promoting healthy relationships and tackling gender-based violence, the Department has developed a ‘Respectful Schools Tool’. The tool is designed to help schools deliver on a range of existing equalities, behaviour, bullying and safeguarding duties.