Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that care proceedings are concluded within 26 weeks.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reducing unnecessary delays in family courts is a priority for this government. The Family Justice Board (FJB) meets quarterly to set direction and oversee performance in the family justice system. This includes progress in meeting the 26-week Public Law Outline.
The department is investing £10 million over 2024/25 to implement and test new solutions to address the causes of the longest delays in care proceedings. This work consists of the following three pilots.
The department is working closely with local authorities in five designated family judge ‘trailblazer’ areas to complete deep dive analysis as well as to develop and test targeted solutions to address the biggest local drivers of delays.
The department is piloting an initiative to bring the child’s Cafcass Guardian and Local Authority Social Worker together before the first case management hearing, to reduce delays caused at the earliest stage of proceedings.
Finally, the department is piloting the use of a new service for suspected inflicted injury in children within the NHS, to address delays caused by the lack of independent medical experts engaging in family court work.
These pilots are due to conclude at the end of March 2025, after which the department will receive an independent evaluation, which will help inform future decisions around reducing family court delays.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that there is adequate training for physics teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The within-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high quality teaching. We want to ensure all teachers have access to and stay up-to-date with best practice in continuing professional development at every stage of their career, giving them the expertise and support needed to deliver high quality teaching.
Through the revised initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF), new teachers now benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across initial teacher training (ITT) and into their induction. The department has also launched a new and updated suite of national professional qualifications for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts.
For the 2025 teacher trainee recruitment cycle, the department awarded the Institute of Physics (IOP) a grant agreement worth around £200,000 as part of the two-year ITT Scholarship Programme. This enables the IOP to offer 175 scholarships to talented individuals with a passion for physics and the potential to become inspirational teachers. Between 2022 and 2024, the IOP has recruited 256 scholars who received a bursary uplift, currently £2,000, on top of the standard £29,000 ITT bursary for physics.
The department also supports physics recruitment through ‘Engineers teach physics’, an established national ITT course. The department continues to work closely with sector experts, representative bodies and academic institutions, such as the IOP, Engineering UK, the University of Birmingham and the Gatsby Foundation, to ensure that this course reflects best practice and includes the most up-to-date industry knowledge.
The subject knowledge for physics teaching programme supports non-specialist teachers of physics to enhance their subject knowledge and confidence through a series of blended learning courses covering the key stage 3 and key stage 4 physics curriculum.
This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, especially in physics, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. We are committed to resetting the relationship with the sector and restoring teaching’s status as a valued and respected profession, one that new graduates want to join and existing staff wish to remain in and thrive.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of outdoor education for (a) children’s access to outdoor learning opportunities and (b) the development of skills; and the (i) adequacy and (ii) sustainability of the funding for outdoor education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All children and young people should have the opportunity to learn about and connect with nature.
Spending time in, and connecting with, nature has been linked with improved mental and physical health outcomes for children and young people. The most consistent findings point to improved resilience, decreased stress, increased levels of physical activity, and lower levels of obesity. Outdoor education specifically is also linked to improved motivation, social capital, and sense of belonging in school.
The department is supporting a 12-month project (running from July 2024 to June 2025) led by researchers at the University of Oxford. The project will assess the evidence of nature-based programmes for mental health and wellbeing in young people, delivered through schools. Evidence will help the department understand the value of nature for mental health in the school environment. We expect to receive outputs, including a peer reviewed paper and policy brief, in summer 2025. More information about the project can be found here: https://www.agile-initiative.ox.ac.uk/sprints/is-nature-a-policy-solution-to-mental-health-in-schools/.
Through the National Education Nature Park initiative, children and young people have exciting opportunities to participate in low or no cost outdoor education within the boundaries of their education setting.
Participating children and young people will also develop their scientific, analytical and digital mapping skills. This will allow them to build careers and access jobs that require a knowledge of sustainability and climate change to support the transition to net zero and nature’s recovery.
The department announced £15 million of capital funding over the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years as part of the roll out of the National Education Nature Park. This funding is available to support settings and young people that need the most help in accessing nature.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to reduce the cost to local authorities of home-to-school transport.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the route is unsafe. There are extended rights to free home-to-school travel for children from low-income families, aimed at helping them exercise school choice.
The department knows that local authorities’ spending on home-to-school travel has increased sharply in recent years, particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities. This is largely due to increases in the number of children with education, health and care plans and the number of those children who have to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs.
The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. This will reduce home-to-school travel costs for local authorities over time.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential (a) funding and (b) capital investment implications for her policies of trends in the number of 16-year olds entering further education in Southampton Itchen constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Funding for the number of 16 year olds entering further education in Southampton Itchen constituency is part of the 16 to 19 funding allocations, which uses student numbers from the previous year as a basis for the calculation. To support providers that have exceptional increases in the number of students, compared to their allocation, the department announced in year growth funding ahead of the GCSE results on 22 August. Details of the funding are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025.
Capital investment to support the demographic increase in 16 to 19 learners has been available through the Post-16 Capacity Fund, which provides funding to schools and colleges. This includes projects by Itchen Sixth Form College to ensure enough capital capacity in schools and colleges to accommodate the additional learners. It has made available £238 million in capital funding since 2021.
All future funding commitments are subject to the Spending Review.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to reduce pay differentials between (a) school teachers and (b) college lecturers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE). This remains the responsibility of individual colleges who are free to implement pay arrangements in line with their local needs.
The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers play in developing the skills needed to drive our missions to improve opportunity and economic growth. That is why we are investing around £600 million in FE across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, including extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. The department also continues to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and provides support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through the Taking Teaching Further programme.
My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a Budget on 30 October to be followed by a multi-year Spending Review in the spring of next year. Decisions about future post-16 funding and capital programmes will be subject to the outcomes of these fiscal events.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to help improve the outcomes for care-experienced children and young people in Southampton.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving all our children and young people the start in life they deserve. The government is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care across all settings, and to improve outcomes for care leavers.
The King’s Speech set out the government’s plans to introduce a Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will help raise standards for children in care and ensure that every child can thrive in a safe, loving home as part of the government’s commitment to deliver high and rising standards in education for children and young people in England. The Bill is expected to be introduced within the first session of Parliament and will be a crucial step in breaking down barriers to opportunity for children and young people.