Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England are off-rolled; how many of those children (a) have an EHIC plan and (b) are diagnosed SEND; and what the average length of time is that they have been off-rolled.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held by the Department and cannot be derived from current data sources.
The Government is clear that off-rolling is unacceptable in any form. We will continue to work with Ofsted to define and tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and the revised framework in September 2019 strengthened this focus. Where inspectors find off-rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report, and where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.
A pupil’s name can lawfully be deleted from the admission register on the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8, as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National School Breakfast Programme, what selection process his Department plans to implement in the event that all of the schools that qualified for funding apply.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Up to £24 million will be available to extend our support for school breakfast clubs until 2023, to make sure thousands of children in disadvantaged areas have a healthy start to the day.
Our new breakfast clubs programme will target schools which are eligible through our criteria for disadvantage, prioritising schools in Opportunity Areas. For the new programme, we are aiming to provide funding to around 2,500 schools as a minimum.
This approach to eligibility is per the current programme, which is supporting up to 2,450 schools. We have worked with the current supplier to recruit these schools, and not all schools eligible for breakfast provision have signed up to receive support.
It is unlikely that all eligible schools will sign up, because many already have breakfast clubs in place that are funded through other sources, and some choose not to offer a breakfast club.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation on the renewal of Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2021, how many responses supported the extension.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The public consultation to seek views on extending and amending the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 received 212 responses.
Analysis showed that the majority of respondents agreed with the proposals to extend existing flexibilities in relation to virtual visits, medical reports (for fostering and adoption) and the minimum frequency of Ofsted inspections.
The table below sets out the number of respondents on each flexibility:
Flexibility | Number of respondents in agreement to extend existing flexibilities |
Medical Reports | 202 |
Virtual Visits | 193 |
Ofsted inspection cycle | 176 |
The government’s response to the consultation has been published and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-adoption-and-children-coronavirus-amendment-no-2-regulations-2020.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding he plans to allocate to school breakfast provision in each of the next three years; whether the sugar tax levy will be used to fund that programme; how many schools that programme will provide for; and what the eligibility criteria will be for that funding.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Up to £24 million will be available to extend our support for school breakfast clubs until 2023. For the financial year 2021-22, £9 million has been allocated (two school terms). For the financial year 2022-23 (three school terms), we currently estimate that the contract would require £11 million. For 2023-24 (one term), we estimate that £3-4 million will be required.
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy, announced in 2016, provides funds for investment in a number of children’s health initiatives including the National Schools Breakfast Programme from March 2018.
We are aiming to provide funding to around 2500 schools. The department has put out an invitation to tender for the delivery of the future programme, which can be accessed here under ‘View Opportunities’: https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Children's Social Care Review, how many applications were made to join the Experts by Experience Group; what criteria were used to assess those applicants; who decided which applications were accepted and rejected; which of those accepted applicants are employed or in receipt of contracts or financial awards from the Department of Education.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Experts by Experience Group is one of the ways in which the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care will be giving anyone who has had a social worker (either themselves or a child in their care) a voice in the review. The group will be responsible for helping the review to capture the views, experiences and opinions of care experienced children, young people, adults and families. The group will also be responsible for allowing us to test and refine emerging findings with children, young people, adults and families throughout the review and guiding the review on how best to engage and hear the voices of other children, young people and families that have experience of the care system.
Following an open expression of interest process the review has now established an Experts by Experience Board.
The review received 1,011 applications to join the board. The panel, chaired by the Lead Reviewer, Josh McAlistair, assessed every application and have appointed a small number of individuals that met the criteria detailed in the Expression of Interest application:
The criteria was as follows:
1. Have lived experienced of the children’s social care system, whether current or previous, through:
2. Are comfortable contributing respectfully alongside people who may have had very different experiences to their own.
3. Have the ability to communicate views about children’s social care clearly and concisely, and also the views of others with experience of children’s social care.
Board members have been asked to declare any conflicts of interest, which will be checked and recorded at the Board’s first meeting. The names of all the Experience by Expert Board members are available on the website:https://childrenssocialcare.independent-review.uk/experts/.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's press release, Unregulated accommodation banned for vulnerable children under 16, published on 19 February 2021, who made the decision to change policy on unregulated care; which organisations contributed to the consultation ahead of that policy change; which organisations consulted were (a) in favour and (b) against the change; and how many of those organisations that were in favour of the change are in receipt of contracts or financial awards from his Department.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Every child in the care system deserves to live-in a high-quality setting that meets their needs and keeps them safe. Anything less is unacceptable. Local authorities have statutory duties to meet the needs of children whom they look after and to ensure that there is sufficient provision.
We are clear that independent and semi-independent provision has an important role to play in the care system, where it is high quality and meets the needs of older children. However, we know that reform is needed to improve the quality of this provision and to ensure that placement practice is appropriate. That is why, following our consultation last year – through which we received views from over 230 respondents and 160 care experienced young people – we will be proceeding with ambitious measures to do just this.
These settings cannot meet the needs of children under the age of 16. These children are too young to be placed in independent and semi-independent provision and should be placed in foster care or children’s homes – that is why we are banning the practice from September 2021. Over three quarters of respondents to our consultation supported this ban.
The government will also introduce national standards for unregulated settings that are accommodating 16 and 17 year old children in care and care leavers, to raise the bar for the quality of this provision and ensure consistency across the country. The department will shortly launch a consultation on these new national standards which will ensure that, as more older children come into the care system, a high-quality option is available where they can receive the support they need to prepare for adult life. Over three quarters of respondents to our consultation were positive about the introduction of national standards.
The government will also be moving forward with plans for legislating to give Ofsted new powers to take enforcement action against illegal unregistered providers. This will enable Ofsted to take quicker action to register or close down these homes, building on their existing powers to prosecute providers operating without the correct registration and strengthening the options available to them. 85% of respondents to our consultation supported this proposal.
Alongside our response to the consultation, the department published an analysis of the responses we received to the consultation: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/962725/Unregulated_childcare_provision_-_Analytical_Report_Final1.pdf.This breaks down support for the proposals by type of organisation.
We have provided a list attached to this response of the organisations who responded to the consultation. There are 180 organisations on this list. This list does not tally with the total number of responses received to the consultation as some responses were made by individuals and some organisations responded multiple times from different positions within the organisation. 66 of the organisations named in the list provided currently hold an active grant or contract with the Department for Education.
We have considered your request to provide a breakdown of how each individual organisation responded to each policy proposal in the consultation, and whether those in favour of the measures are in receipt of a grant or contract. This breakdown of information is not readily available and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2021 to Question 148802 on Children's Social Care Independent Review, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the process of recruiting the others, as referred to in that Answer, will be transparent; whether that process will follow the requirements for public appointments; how those appointments will be remunerated; and whether there is an agreed budget for those additional appointments.
Answered by Vicky Ford
All recruitment to the review team is carried out in line with the department’s processes for appointing and remunerating staff and contractors. All pro bono work will be recorded in the department’s registers in the usual way. The department publishes details of contracts and grants as part of transparency returns. The department will work with the lead reviewer to ensure there are sufficient resources available to undertake the review.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2021 to Question 138450 on Children's Social Care Independent Review, whether the chair of the review is working with a review team; and how and by whom will members of that team be selected.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The review of children’s social care will be bold, broad and independently led, taking a fundamental look at what is needed to make a real difference to the needs, experiences and outcomes of the children supported by children’s social care.
The review launched on 15 January, and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has asked Josh MacAlister, the founder and Chief Executive of Frontline, to lead the review. The review will also make use of a wide range of expertise to inform its work. This includes an experts by experience group, who will advise the reviewer on how to bring the voices of people with experience of children’s social care into the review.
The reviewer will be independent of the government, with freedom to make ambitious recommendations based on his findings. The reviewer will report his findings to ministers, and the government will respond to the review recommendations. The reviewer will be supported by a secretariat team, which will operate independently. In line with comparable reviews, the majority of the team will be made up of civil servants from a range of backgrounds and disciplines, and others will be recruited by the reviewer as needed to support his work.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2020 to Question 115686 on Children in Care, when his Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations (2020) to make explicit reference to the importance of children living in care having contact with all their siblings.
Answered by Vicky Ford
I am pleased to have the opportunity to reaffirm the government’s commitment to updating the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 as we set out during the passage of the Children and Social Work Bill in 2017.
Due to the circumstances over the past year, where our priority has been to keep children, young people, and those who work with them safe during the COVID-19 outbreak, we have been unable to identify an appropriate opportunity to consult on this amendment so far. However, I would like to reassure you that this remains an important action and we will seek to complete it as soon as possible.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money from the public purse has been provided to schools for the provision of free school meals but has not been used.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Maintained schools, academies and free schools are required to provide benefits-related free school meals (FSM) under section 512ZB of the Education Act 1996.
Schools fund FSM from their core budget. For the academic year 2020/21, a factor value of £450 was included in the national funding formula for each FSM pupil. However, both local authorities and schools can apply their own local formulae. Schools must meet their statutory requirements to provide meals free of charge to eligible pupils, but they can decide how much of their budget to allocate to this.
During the current school opening restrictions, we have asked schools to continue providing support to free school meal pupils who are eligible for benefits-related FSM, and who are learning at home. We will provide £3.50 in top-up funding per eligible child per week for schools providing lunch parcels and £15 per eligible child for vouchers. This is in addition to the usual funding schools receive.