Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to identify early adopter areas for Young Future Hubs; and what her planned timetable is for launching these.
Answered by Janet Daby
Officials and Ministers from seven government departments (Department for Education, Home Office, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Department for Health and Social Care) have been working together, using evidence of what works, to start to shape Young Futures Hubs.
To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. This will inform the longer term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located. The government will set out more details on timelines and locations in due course.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she is having with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the role of Young Futures Hubs in the prevention of serious youth violence.
Answered by Janet Daby
Officials and Ministers from seven government departments (Department for Education, Home Office, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Department for Health and Social Care) have been working together, using evidence of what works, to start to shape Young Futures Hubs.
To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. This will inform the longer term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located. The government will set out more details on timelines and locations in due course.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to confirm the future of the Support for Families with Disabilities grant scheme for future financial years.
Answered by Janet Daby
Each year, the Support for Families with Disabled Children programme provides individual grants to approximately 60,000 low-income families raising a disabled or seriously ill child. The department is currently running a business planning exercise which will conclude with funding for programmes announced shortly.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for launching the kinship allowance trial scheme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children.
In October 2024, we announced a £40 million package to trial a kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities. The pilot will provide a weekly financial allowance to kinship carers to support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on the parental responsibility of a child.
The kinship allowance pilot will begin in autumn 2025, with assessment of immediate impact and options for national rollout informed by an independent evaluation. The department will confirm the eligible cohort for the pilot, as well as the participating local authorities, in due course.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authority areas have been selected to take part in the kinship allowance trial scheme.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children.
In October 2024, we announced a £40 million package to trial a kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities. The pilot will provide a weekly financial allowance to kinship carers to support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on the parental responsibility of a child.
The kinship allowance pilot will begin in autumn 2025, with assessment of immediate impact and options for national rollout informed by an independent evaluation. The department will confirm the eligible cohort for the pilot, as well as the participating local authorities, in due course.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department plans to assess the outcomes of the kinship allowance trial scheme.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children.
In October 2024, we announced a £40 million package to trial a kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities. The pilot will provide a weekly financial allowance to kinship carers to support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on the parental responsibility of a child.
The kinship allowance pilot will begin in autumn 2025, with assessment of immediate impact and options for national rollout informed by an independent evaluation. The department will confirm the eligible cohort for the pilot, as well as the participating local authorities, in due course.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Future of Work Cabinet Committee on (a) employment support and (b) paid employment leave for kinship carers.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department recognises the challenge that many kinship carers face in continuing to work alongside the pressures of taking in and raising a child.
‘Kinship Carers in the Workplace: Guidance for Employers’ sets out best practice for supporting kinship carers at work, including how to adapt internal policies, signpost existing entitlements and create a culture of support to best meet the needs of kinship carers. The department encourages all organisations to review their guidance and explore what changes can be made.
The department employs more than 7,500 public sector workers and has recently joined a small number of private sector employers, including Card Factory, Tesco and John Lewis, in offering a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers.
This government has also committed, in the Plan to Make Work Pay, to review the system of parental leave to ensure that it better supports working families.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place at Cabinet and its committees is not normally made public.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision to withdraw funding for non-specialist disabled students' allowance software.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA. Full details of the policy change are available at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/2070/ssin-spelling-and-grammar-software.pdf.
The department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision, which is attached to this response.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons her Department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist disabled students' allowance software.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA. Full details of the policy change are available at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/2070/ssin-spelling-and-grammar-software.pdf.
The department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision, which is attached to this response.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of families unable to access the Support for Families with Disabilities grant scheme due to oversubscription in 2024-25.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government’s ambition is that all families with children and young people with disabilities receive the right support, regardless of socio-economic background. The Supporting Families with Disabled Children programme provides individual grants to around 60,000 low-income families raising a disabled or seriously ill child to support with the additional costs that families can face.
Where families experience challenges, the department signposts available support from the family’s local Information, Advice and Support Service. This is independent of the local authority and can provide impartial advice about local special educational needs and disabilities arrangements and support for children’s needs.
In addition, the department also signposts families to Contact, a national charity for families with disabled children, which provides information, advice and support, and brings families together to support each other.