Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of commissioning unregistered alternative provision places through all referral routes.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not hold any information about the annual cost of commissioning unregistered alternative provision places. These commissioning arrangements are managed directly by schools and local authorities who require the provision, and they do not report their expenditure at that level of detail.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children of compulsory school age who missed 50 per cent or more of possible sessions in the autumn term of the 2023-24 academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the number of children who missed 50% or more of possible sessions in the 2022/23 autumn term will be published in May 2023. The data will be published at the following link, which currently includes data for previous autumn terms: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps he is taking to support children with special educational needs.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
To help ensure those with special educational needs get the right support we have, for example:
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of students in (a) single-sex and (b) mixed schools who study STEM subjects after GCSE were (i) male and (ii) female in (A) Portsmouth South constituency, (B) the South of England and (C) the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information is not available in the requested format.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will ask Ofsted to inspect local authority specialist education services for children with sensory impairments.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Ofsted does not currently inspect local area provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
It is consulting on a framework for inspecting such provision, in particular, how local areas supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disability, in light of the provisions of the Children and Families Act 2014. Provision for all children and young people with SEN and disabilities irrespective of their type of need would be included within local inspections.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to Ofsted of inspecting local area provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities in the last three years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Ofsted does not currently inspect local area provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
It is consulting on a framework for inspecting such provision, in particular, how local areas supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disability, in light of the provisions of the Children and Families Act 2014. Provision for all children and young people with SEN and disabilities irrespective of their type of need would be included within local inspections.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the effectiveness of Teachers of the Deaf and the quality of support they provide to deaf children and their families.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education does not hold this information.
Ofsted, through its inspection of individual schools, considers the extent to which education provided meets the needs of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. Inspectors will consider the quality of teaching provided to improve learning for pupils, including those with hearing impairments.
Teachers of classes of children with sensory impairments must hold a relevant mandatory post-graduate qualification, currently provided by six approved training providers.