Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on delivering a mental health support lead within primary and secondary schools.
Answered by David Johnston
The department has offered all state-funded schools and colleges in England a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. The department continues to deliver on the commitments that it made in the government’s 2018 response to the consultation on 'Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: a green paper' and to deliver on next steps. The government’s response to the consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision-a-green-paper.
As at 30 November 2023, 15,100 schools and colleges had taken up this offer and claimed a grant, which represents 63% of the total number of settings that are eligible to apply. Breakdowns of the data, including by setting type, can be found in the department’s transparency data release which has been updated annually since the programme started and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision.
A list of schools and colleges receiving a senior mental health lead training grant is also published and updated throughout the year, which can be found here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F65b0cb50160765001118f741%2FSenior_mental_health_lead_training_January_2024_Update.ods&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide training to teaching assistants on (a) autism and (b) other neuro-diverse conditions.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The government values and appreciates the dedication, professionalism and hard work of teaching assistants (TAs), and the department knows the valuable contribution they make to pupils’ education alongside excellent teachers, particularly when supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Reaching over 70% of schools and further education (FE) colleges, the Universal Services programme will help the school and FE workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, earlier and more effectively.
The department’s Universal Services contract brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development (CPD) and support for the school and FE workforce to improve outcomes for children and young people. The contract offers autism awareness training and resources delivered by the Autism Education Trust (AET). Over 135,000 education professionals have undertaken autism awareness training as part of AET's ‘train the trainer’ model since the Universal Services programme commenced in May 2022.
School and college staff have completed over 7,000 online SEND CPD units to support them in delivering an inclusive experience for every learner. The Universal Services contract will run until spring 2025, with a budget of nearly £12 million.
On 22 November 2023, the department announced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme. This new programme, backed by £13 million of investment, will bring together integrated care boards, local authorities, and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children.
The programme will deploy specialists from both health and education workforces to upskill school staff including TAs in around 1,680 (10%) mainstream primary schools and build their capacity to identify and meet the needs of children with autism and other neurodiverse needs.
Ultimately, schools are best placed to make decisions on the CPD that best meets the needs of their support staff, as they do for teachers' CPD.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of early intervention mental health support in schools for children and young people.
Answered by David Johnston
The mental health of children is a priority for this government, and the department understands that early intervention in schools can play a vital role. The department is committed to ensuring schools and colleges are safe, calm and supportive environments which promote and support mental wellbeing.
The department knows that school-based provision such as counselling works best in schools that take a whole-school approach, with all staff clear about how mental health is supported. That is why the department is offering senior mental health lead training grants to all state schools by 2025, with over 14,400 settings claiming a grant so far.
The department is also extending NHS Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to cover at least 50% of pupils in schools and learners in further education by spring 2025. These teams deliver direct interventions for mild to moderate mental health needs, support education staff with their whole-school approach, and liaise with external specialists to help children and young people get the right support. The MHSTs programme received early independent evaluation, available at: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/brace/projects/children-and-young-people%27s-mental-health-trailblazer-programme.aspx. An independent impact evaluation of both MHSTs and the senior mental health lead training programme is expected in 2026.
Bodies such as the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) have also produced reports reviewing the effectiveness of a variety of mental health interventions. A 2021 report from the EIF is available at: https://www.eif.org.uk/report/adolescent-mental-health-a-systematic-review-on-the-effectiveness-of-school-based-interventions.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children and young people with SEND are able to access appropriate support.
Answered by David Johnston
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March, the department outlined its commitment for children and young people with SEND (or attending alternative provision) to enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes and feel well prepared for adulthood and employment.
The department will give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local setting and strengthened accountability across the system so that everyone is held to account for supporting children and young people with SEND. For those children and young people with SEND who do require an Education, Health and Care plan and specialist provision, the department will ensure they get access to the support they need, and that parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this.
High needs revenue funding will rise to £10.5 billion in 2024-25, a 60% increase on 2019/20 allocations. An additional £2.6 billion of funding will support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream, special schools and alternative provision and to improve the suitability of existing buildings. Through the £70 million Change Programme, the department is testing and refining the Improvement Plan reforms to improve outcomes and experiences for children and young people with SEND and their families.
The department is committed to improving the supply, training and deployment of key workforces, to make the best use of professional expertise, at whatever age or stage it is needed, and prevent needs from escalating. This includes training up to 7,000 early years specialists and investing a further £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists.
To ensure teachers have the knowledge and skills to deliver high-quality teaching for pupils with SEND, the department is implementing a ‘golden thread’ of evidence-based teacher training reforms from initial teacher training through to an early career framework based induction and on to National Professional Qualifications (NPQ) for more experienced teachers. This support includes the introduction of a new leadership level NPQ for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators that will begin teaching in autumn 2024.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department provided to Hertfordshire County Council for the delivery of their statutory responsibilities to (a) SEND children and (b) their families in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by David Johnston
High needs funding for the provision of education for children and young people with complex Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is increasing by 60% from the 2019/20 allocations to over £10.5 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. The department has announced provisional 2024/25 high needs allocations for local authorities. Hertfordshire County Council’s allocation is £187 million, which is £8.4 million more than the Council will receive this year, a cumulative increase of 29% per head over the three years from 2021/22.
Funding for other services for children with SEND and their families is provided to local authorities through the local government finance settlement from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage students to take up STEM subjects.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels to ensure people have access to high quality teaching and can access career opportunities in STEM related sectors. The Department is working with other Government Departments through the UK Science & Technology Framework to deliver talent and skills for critical technologies.
The Department funds several programmes to encourage young people into STEM, including:
The Department also supports the STEM ambassadors programme, which inspires young people from underrepresented backgrounds to engage with STEM subjects. Secondary schools are also expected to provide pupils with at least one meaningful interaction with employers per pupil per year, with a focus on STEM employers.
The Department is harnessing expertise through the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce to increase the number of people taking digital and computing qualifications and to attract a diverse range of individuals into digital jobs. The Department is also investing over £100 million in the National Centre for Computing Education to improve the teaching of computing and to increase participation in computer science at GCSE and A level.
The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Maths works with a network of 40 maths hubs to help local schools improve the quality of their teaching. In April, the Prime Minister announced that every young person will study some form of mathematics up to the age of 18, and that the Department will expand and extend the work of maths hubs.
The Prime Minister also recently announced plans to develop a new baccalaureate-style qualification called the Advanced British Standard (ABS) for 16 to 19 year-olds, which will bring together the best of A levels and T Levels into a single qualification, and ensure students continue with some form of mathematics and English study until they are 18.
The Department is making a £600 million downpayment for the ABS, focused on recruiting and retaining teachers in key STEM and technical shortage subjects, ensuring better attainment in mathematics and English, and providing better resources for teachers and pupils. As part of this, it is investing around £100 million a year to give early career STEM teachers, working in disadvantaged schools and all further education colleges up to £6,000 tax free annually on top of their pay, and an additional £60 million over two years to improve mathematics education. This will help to ensure our young people receive high quality specialist teaching to equip them with the mathematics and science skills the UK needs.
The Department also funds the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme which delivers high quality teacher professional development as well as focused support and enrichment for students and institutions to improve participation and provision in level 3 mathematics.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage people to become mathematics teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest FTE of teachers since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The Department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects, including mathematics. This is why the Department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax free, to encourage talented trainees to teach mathematics, as well as physics, chemistry and computing. The initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to train teachers on (a) autism and (b) other neuro-diverse conditions.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The department has transformed the support and training available to support teachers and leaders at every stage of their career to deliver improved outcomes for young people across the country.
The golden thread of professional development begins with Initial Teacher Training (ITT) followed by a new two-year induction programme based on the Early Career Framework (ECF), which are designed to support trainees and newly qualified teachers to meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes the requirement in Standard 5, that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils including, where appropriate, those identified as being neurodivergent or as having other special educational needs.
We have publicly committed to reviewing the ITT core content framework and ECF alongside each other into more closely combined frameworks. We will explore how to better support new teachers to meet the needs of pupils with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
For experienced teachers and leaders, a range of specialist and leadership National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) are available. NPQs are designed to support professionals to hone and develop their existing skills, helping them to become more effective inside and outside the classroom, and ensure they support all pupils to succeed in both mainstream and specialist settings.
In March 2023, as part of the Improvement Plan for SEND and Alternative Provision, the department announced plans to introduce a new leadership NPQ for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs). This new NPQ will equip SENCOs with the knowledge, practical skills, and leadership expertise to shape their school’s approach to supporting children with SEND.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the nutritional value of meals served in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The standards for school food are set out in the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014. These regulations are designed to ensure that schools provide pupils with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that pupils have the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day.
The Department believes the current standards provide a robust yet flexible framework to ensure that pupils in England continue to receive high quality and nutritious food, that builds healthy eating habits for life. The standards remain under review.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what educational support is in place for visually impaired students in (a) Watford and (b) England.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
I refer my hon. Friend, the member for Watford to the answer I gave on 13 February 2023 to Question 140375.