Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the roll out of the Championing Kinship Care strategy; and what her planned timetable is for deploying it nationally.
Answered by David Johnston
In December 2023, the department published 'Championing Kinship Care', which is the first ever national kinship care strategy. The department is investing £20 million of funding in the 2024/25 financial year for Championing Kinship Care to help move towards a children’s social care system with kinship at its heart.
Since the publication of Championing Kinship Care, the department has:
The department will provide an update on the financial allowance pathfinder programme in the coming months.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the policies in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, CP 800, published on 31 March 2023.
Answered by David Johnston
Backed by over £10.5 billion in 2024/25, which is an increase in the high needs budget of 60% over five years, the department’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan will ensure children and young people across England with SEND or in AP get high-quality, early support wherever they live in the country.
The department has a clear plan to ensure children and young people enjoy their childhood and achieve good outcomes. The department is delivering on this plan. The department has completed the following:
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
On 2 March 2023, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper. This outlines our approach to creating a sustainable system that is better for children with SEND and easier for their families to navigate.
The department will establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND, so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment. We will also give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local setting.
For those children and young people with SEND who do require an Education Health Care (EHC) plans and specialist provision, the department will ensure they get prompt access to the support they need, and that parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this. We will strengthen accountability across the system so that everyone is held to account for supporting children and young people with SEND.
The department will test the key reforms by creating up to nine Regional Expert Partnerships through our £70 million Change Programme. Oversight of reform will be driven by a new national SEND and AP Implementation Board, jointly chaired by myself and my hon. Friend, the Minister for Mental Health and Women’s Health Strategy.
The department recognises that these reforms will take time to implement and continue to support the system in the immediate term to support children with SEND, which is why we are investing £2.6 billion between now and 2025 to fund new SEND and AP places and improve existing provision.
High needs revenue funding for children and young people with complex needs will be rising to £10.1 billion in this financial year 2023/24, which is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. This extra funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department are taking to reduce incidences of bullying in schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The government has sent a clear message to schools that bullying, including cyberbullying, for whatever reason, is unacceptable. It can have a devastating effect on children, harm their education, and have serious and lasting consequences for their mental health.
All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. The policy should set out the behaviour expected of pupils, the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour, and recognition for good behaviour. This should be communicated to all pupils, school staff, and parents. The department issues guidance to schools on how to prevent and respond to bullying as part of their overall behaviour policy. This was last updated in July 2017 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.
The department is providing over £2 million of funding between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024 to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups, such as those who are victims of hate related bullying.
The department is also ensuring that all children in England will learn about respectful relationships, in person and online, as part of mandatory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). The curriculum has a strong focus on equality, respect, the harmful impact of stereotyping, as well as the importance of valuing difference. Guidance on teaching RSHE is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to help increase the number of work experience opportunities targeted at people with a disability.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The government is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and to develop the skills needed to get good jobs.
The department knows that with the right preparation and support, the overwhelming majority of young people with SEND are capable of sustained, paid employment. All professionals working with them should share that presumption and should provide the career advice and support that help young people to develop the skills and experience, and achieve the qualifications, that they need to succeed in their careers.
The government is committed to supporting pathways to employment for learners with SEND, including strengthening the Supported Internship programme, which is a structured, work-based study programme for 16 to 24-year-olds with SEND, who have an education, health, and care plan. The core aim of the programme is a substantial work placement, facilitated by the support of an expert job coach. To support this, the department is investing up to £18 million over the next three years, aiming to double the capacity of the programme.
The careers statutory guidance makes it clear that schools should offer work placements, work experience, and other employer-based activities as part of their careers strategy for year 8-13 pupils and that secondary schools should offer every young person at least seven encounters with employers during their education.
All schools and colleges are expected to work towards the Gatsby Benchmarks of good careers guidance. This includes experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience and ensuring opportunities for advice and support are tailored to the needs of each pupil.
The Careers & Enterprise Company is supporting schools and colleges to make links with employers and increase the opportunities for all young people to engage with the world of work.
The department have also introduced T Levels, high-quality technical qualifications for 16–19-year-olds that include a meaningful 9-week industry placement. We have introduced flexibilities to help as many SEND students as possible to access T Level industry placements, including allowing up to 105 hours of their placement to take place on the provider’s site, for example, an on-site restaurant. This will enable students to prepare for their placement with an external employer, alongside pastoral support.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 1 April 2022 to Question 148351 on Schools: Agency Workers, if he will publish the (a) terms of reference and (b) timescale for the review of the teaching agency supply deal.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department is currently undergoing a re-procurement process in conjunction with Crown Commercial Services for the agency supply deal which is due to expire in August 2022. The re-procurement process will establish a list of suppliers for the next version of the agency supply deal. The review of the teaching agency supply deal will be released in due course. Once released, the expected initial duration of the framework will be three years with the option to extend for up to one year.
Further information about the framework, including the contract and timescale for the review of the teaching agency supply deal can be found here:
https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6238.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of creating a universal model pathway for children and young people with visual impairments who are seeking support.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is firmly committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with visual impairments, receive the support they need to achieve in their early years, at school and college.
We recognise that children with visual impairments have specific needs and, therefore, it is a legal requirement for qualified teachers of classes of pupils who have sensory impairments, to hold the relevant mandatory qualification (MQSI). Providers must be approved by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, to offer these qualifications.
The department intends to develop a new approval process to determine providers of MQSIs from the start of academic year 2023/24. Our aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing, and multi-sensory impairment, in both specialist and mainstream settings.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce (a) pupil and (b) staff absences in special needs schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
Our priority is to maintain high quality face-to-face education for all children and young people, including those in specialist settings. We recognise that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has caused challenges for all schools. Whilst Plan B was in place, we took steps to make sure that children and young people in special schools continued to receive the support they needed to engage in education. Our operational guidance for special schools and other specialist providers made clear that specialists, therapists and other health professionals who support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) should provide interventions as usual.
All schools, including special schools, benefit from the full range of measures the government has put in place to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission, minimise disruption to education and limit absences. These include regular testing and continuing the booster rollout for adults and vaccinations for secondary age pupils. Special schools were also able to apply for our funded air cleaning units earlier than other settings, with the first 1,000 units reserved for SEND and alternative provision (AP) settings, enabling them to reduce airborne contaminants in poorly ventilated spaces where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.
We know that special schools and AP settings are often more impacted by staff absences, and less able to manage these absences using their existing staff and resource. The department has set a lower threshold for these settings to access the COVID-19 workforce fund, which provides financial support to eligible schools and colleges where needed. This fund has been extended until spring half term to cover the cost of term-time staff absences experienced between 22 November 2021 and 18 February 2022. The fund can be used by schools to employ supply staff to manage absences, increase the hours of part-time teaching or education support staff, or make amendments to support staff terms and conditions so they can take on additional responsibilities. Any changes should be discussed with the employee first, and schools should consider workload and wellbeing.
Finally, the department has a developed a comprehensive attendance strategy that has been implemented since the beginning of this academic year. The department has also recently appointed a team of expert attendance advisers who will work closely with local authorities and multi-academy trusts to improve their attendance levels and reduce persistent absence.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a form of formal certification to recognise the skills gained from practical work that Business and Enterprise Colleges and other specialist schools provide.
Answered by Robin Walker
There are no plans for introducing any new accreditations for the practical work undertaken by Business and Enterprise Colleges. However, many schools, including University Technical Colleges (UTCs) and some mainstream schools, already specialise in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and vocational subjects, with a focus on practice and skills-based education. Schools with a strong specialism, especially where backed with strong employer support, can provide effective pathways for the skills needed in the labour market. The Engineering UTC Northern Lincolnshire in Scunthorpe is an excellent example of how strong UTCs can equip young people with important knowledge and skills. This school is rated Good by Ofsted and the latest destinations data from the 2019/20 academic year indicates that 86% of pupils from this school moved into sustained education, employment, or an apprenticeship after Key Stage 4.
Ofsted’s inspection framework recognises the unique curriculum approach of different schools, whether knowledge or skills-based, and provides a fair judgment of their effectiveness.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what resources are available for education institutions to engage with local businesses and employers in their community.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
We want to create quality interactions between schools, colleges, and businesses. The Careers and Enterprise Company supports schools and colleges to make links with local employers. Over 3,500 volunteer business professionals are now working with schools and colleges through the Enterprise Adviser Network to help open young people’s eyes to a range of different career possibilities, challenge stereotypes and help prepare them for the workplace. We also have over 300 major employers, known as cornerstone employers, driving the delivery of encounters for young people in opportunity areas and careers hubs across England.
As part of the Skills for Jobs white paper, a £65 million Strategic Development Fund is being piloted in several areas across the country to test a new collaborative approach to skills planning and delivery. Some of the pilots are establishing college business centres to work with local employers to develop a joint understanding of the skills and technology needed to drive innovation and productivity, and to develop a more targeted response.