Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase pay in the further education sector.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE). This remains the responsibility of individual colleges who are free to implement pay arrangements in line with their local needs.
The government recognises the vital role that FE teachers play in developing the skills needed to drive our missions to improve opportunity and economic growth. That is why the department is investing around £600 million in FE across the financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26. This includes extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. The department also continues to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas and with support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through our Taking Teaching Further programme.
My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced a Budget on 30 October, to be followed by a multi-year Spending Review in the spring of next year. Decisions about future post-16 funding and capital programmes will be subject to the outcomes of these fiscal events.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide additional funding to equalise allowances between foster and kinship families.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises the valuable and important role that kinship carers play and appreciates that they often take on this role at a time in their lives when they are least expecting to raise a family.
Statutory guidance issued to local authorities makes it clear that children and young people should receive the support that they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare.
Local authorities have the powers to provide a range of services, including financial support, to support children and families. As local authorities know their carers best, they have the power to decide what financial support should be provided to carers and their children and any payments should be made in accordance with their model for assessing support needs. The government does not set a maximum or minimum allowance for local authorities to administer. While the government recognises the financial constraints on local authorities, guidance makes it clear that children and young people should receive the support that they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare.
The government is committed to work with local government to support children in care, including through kinship, foster care, and adoption, as well as strengthening regulation of the children’s social care sector.
This government is considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system to deliver better outcomes for children and families, including how best to support kinship families.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide the same access to (a) health and (b) therapeutic support for children in kinship care as those in formal care settings.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises the importance of health and therapeutic support services for all children, including those in kinship care. Ensuring every child receives the support they need is a key priority.
The department recently renamed the Adoption Support Fund, the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, to increase awareness among families in kinship arrangements who are eligible for therapeutic support through the fund.
We are committed to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship arrangements. We are considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system to deliver better outcomes for children and families, including how best to support kinship children and families.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a recent comparative assessment of the educational needs of (a) children in kinship care and (b) other children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children in Special Guardianship and Child Arrangement Orders have higher attainment than children in local authority care but perform worse compared to all children.
In 2022/23 the average Attainment 8 score for children who left care on a Special Guardianship Order or Child Arrangement Order was 28. By comparison, the average attainment for children in care at March 31 was 18, while for the overall pupil population it was 46.
This department is determined to give every child the opportunities they deserve. We know that many children who receive care from relatives and friends need extra support, including in school. We are working to ensure their needs are met, and that they have the best possible opportunity to succeed.
In September 2024, the role of virtual school heads was expanded to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care, to ensure they receive the help they need to thrive at school.
This government is considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system to deliver better outcomes for children and families, including how best to support kinship children and families.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to provide the same level of access to (a) training and (b) support to (i) kinship and (ii) foster carers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve. It is also necessary to achieve financial stability for local authorities.
This government is committed to helping children thrive, and we want the best for every child and family. We want to build on the foundations laid by local authorities to create a care system that works for everyone.
This government recognises the valuable and important role that kinship and foster carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. Our manifesto committed to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship and fostering arrangements.
The government is extending the delivery of over 140 peer support groups across England, available for all kinship carers to access, where they can come together to share stories, exchange advice and support each other. The department is also delivering a package of training and support that all kinship carers across England can access.
It is important that foster carers receive the support they need to fulfil this role and to meet the needs of the children in their care. The department is investing over £36 million this spending review to deliver 10 local authority regional fostering recruitment and retention hubs, covering 64% of local authorities in England. The majority of hubs launched this summer and include rollout of the Mockingbird programme in all local authorities, which offers peer-support to foster carers and the children in their care.
The department is also funding Fosterlink, a new support service for local authority fostering services not in the regional programme. This identifies areas for improvement and creates a national network to share best practice.
The department also encourages fostering service providers to adhere to the Foster Carer Charter. The Charter sets out clear principles for how foster carers should be treated and recognises their invaluable work. This was refreshed in February 2022 and sets out the responsibilities of foster carers, fostering services and the corporate parent. It aims to deliver best practice in fostering for all involved, including carers and children.
The Charter can be accessed here: https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns/foster-carers-charter-0.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on implementing the national kinship care strategy in schools
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This department is determined to give every child the opportunities they deserve, and kinship carers play a crucial role in delivering this. We know that many children who receive care from relatives and friends need extra support, including in school. The department is working to ensure their needs are met, and that they have the best possible opportunity to succeed.
In September 2024, the role of virtual school heads was expanded to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care, to ensure they receive the help they need to thrive at school.
All children in kinship arrangements, regardless of legal status, will benefit from the adaptation of the strategic virtual school head role. This will be a systemwide approach, bringing greater focus and visibility to the distinct needs of children in kinship care.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the failure to agree a deal to build a gigafactory in Cambois on (a) the Gen Zero Campus in Ashington and (b) Energy Central Campus in Blyth.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Ashington campus of Northumberland College is one of the 16 large scale transformational projects that are being delivered by the department in partnership with colleges, as part of the £1.5 billion Further Education Capital Transformation Programme. The 16 colleges in this phase of the programme have some of the worst condition sites in England. The new campus in Ashington is a Gen-Zero development, designed to be ultra-low carbon in both construction and operation, and will provide exciting career pathways for learners across Northumberland and the wider region. The department is funding this project in order to improve the condition of the further education college estate and its investment is not linked to the gigafactory.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities state that the case for the Energy Central Campus in Blyth was based on an assessment of existing net zero skills requirements across the North-East of England. Progress on construction of Phase 1, the Energy Central Learning Hub, is progressing well, with the Hub on course to open in autumn 2024.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete have had remedial work completed in the last 12 months.
Answered by Damian Hinds
A list of education settings with confirmed RAAC and the funding route to remove RAAC was published on 8 February. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The government is funding the removal of RAAC either through grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP). The longer-term requirements of each school or college will vary depending on the extent of the issue and nature and design of the buildings. Permanently removing RAAC may involve refurbishment of existing buildings or rebuilding affected buildings.
Schools joining the SRP will be prioritised for delivery according to the condition need of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The department will also take into account the suitability and longevity of the temporary accommodation they are using. The department has committed to responsible bodies that it will confirm when works are expected to start by the end of the summer term.
For schools and colleges receiving grants, the department is working with responsible bodies to support them to agree the scope of works they are procuring. In some cases, this may involve undertaking technical assessments to inform the design of building works and in other cases the removal of RAAC is already underway and will be completed in the coming months.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are being home schooled due to a lack of SEND provision in (a) Wansbeck constituency, (b) Northumberland and (c) England as of 14 December 2023.
Answered by David Johnston
The department publishes data on the number of children in the ‘Elective home education’ (EHE) publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education. This includes data at a local authority, regional and national level. Data is collected from local authorities and is not available for parliamentary constituencies.
Data on the primary reason for EHE is collected and is available for Northumberland local authority and England at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ff8aac35-11d4-4d11-af9c-08dbfa4e7cea.
Lack of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities provision is not one of the specific reasons collected.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in (a) Wansbeck constituency and (b) Northumberland require essential maintenance work as of 14 December 2023; and what estimate her Department has made of the total cost of that work.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided (VA) bodies. The department supports them by providing access to annual capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes, and offering guidance and support.
Responsible bodies in England, depending on their size and type, are either eligible to receive annual School Condition Allocation (SCA) funding to use on improving the condition of their schools, or are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) each year for specific capital projects. Schools in England also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities or contribute to larger projects through an annual Devolved Formula Capital allocation (DFC). Details on SCA, CIF, and DFC can be found on GOV.UK.
In the 2023/24 financial year, Northumberland County Council, which includes Wansbeck constituency, has been allocated £3,901,192 of SCA funding. It is for Northumberland to allocate this funding across its maintained schools based on local knowledge of condition need, prioritising keeping schools safe and operational. Academies and VA schools in Northumberland will have either received SCA funding through their trust or VA group or will instead have been invited to bid into the CIF for their condition need. Outcomes for CIF for 2023/24 are published on GOV.UK.
Local authority schools in Northumberland have also been allocated a total of £594,962 in Devolved Formula Capital in 2023/24 to spend on their own capital priorities. SCA and DFC allocations for 2023/24 are published on GOV.UK.
In addition to condition capital funding, the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) will transform buildings at 500 schools in Engand over the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition and with evidence of potential safety issues. The department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022. The programme includes Ringway Primary School in the Wansbeck constituency.