Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, what recent steps the Government has taken to support the (a) inclusive education of disabled children and young people and (b) progressive removal of barriers to education and participation in mainstream education.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government’s commitment to inclusive education of disabled children and young people and the progressive removal of barriers to learning and participation in mainstream education is at the heart of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. We have made substantial reforms to strengthen the SEND system in recent years, to improve the identification and meeting of the needs of children and young people and to improve families’ experiences of the system. As part of this, the Children and Families Act (2014) secured the general presumption in law of mainstream education in relation to decisions about where children and young people with SEND should be educated, complementing the protections in the Equality Act (2010) against disability discrimination.
Recent steps we have taken to help disabled children and young people reach their full potential in mainstream education include the fact that we have been closely monitoring the pressures on high needs budgets and have provided additional high needs funding for local authorities, alongside their 2019-20 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocations: a further £125 million in 2018-19 and £125 million of high needs funding for 2019-20.
We are investing £365 million in the Special Provision Capital Fund from 2018 to 2021, helping local authorities create new school places and improve existing facilities for children and young people with SEND. This capital funding is not ring-fenced and local authorities can use it as they see fit to improve special provision in their local areas. The funding can be invested in a range of settings, including mainstream and special schools or academies. We have required local authorities to publish their plans on how they use this funding, and these show that many local authorities intend to expand their specialist provision in mainstream schools.
We recognise the importance of staff in mainstream schools having the skills to identify and meet the needs of pupils with SEND. This is why, for example, we have awarded a 2 year, £3.4 million contract to the Whole School SEND Consortium, led by Nasen, to deliver a programme of work to drive education institutions to prioritise SEND and equip schools to identify and meet the relevant training needs of their workforce. We have also funded the Autism Education Trust since 2011 to deliver autism awareness training to education staff in early years, schools and further education settings. This training has so far reached more than 195,000 people - not just teachers and teaching assistants, but also support staff such as receptionists, dining hall staff and caretakers, encouraging a ‘whole school’ approach to supporting pupils with autism. We are also reviewing the current SEND content in the Initial Teacher Training provision (ITT) and building on our existing SEND specialist qualifications to develop a continuum of learning from ITT, through teachers’ early careers and into specialist and leadership roles in support of the upcoming Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's obligations under Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the free school programme; and how many special schools have opened under that programme.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Our ambition for children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities is exactly the same as it is for all children – we want them to be able to do their best in school and reach their potential, including in free schools.
As part of our commitments under the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we are committed to inclusive education of disabled children and the progressive removal of barriers to learning and participation in mainstream education. The Children and Families Act 2014 secures the general presumption in law of mainstream education in relation to decisions about where children with SEN should be educated; and the Equality Act 2010 provides protection from disability discrimination. The SEN system rightly places considerable weight on the views of parents as to where a child with complex needs should be educated. While many parents of disabled children choose mainstream education, others will want a specialist setting. Some children have complex SEN that mean that the best educational experience for them is in a school that specialises in meeting those needs. For them, a special school is a positive choice.
We have opened new special schools through the free schools programme: as of 1 January 2019, there are 34 open special free schools, and a further 55 special free schools have been approved to open in the future.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many infrastructure contracts overseen by his Department have been let with the stipulation that a Project Bank Account must be applied in the last year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has not mandated the use of Project Bank Accounts on any of its infrastructure contracts in the last year. The Department has considered the use of Project Bank Accounts on infrastructure contracts, but due to the specific nature and size of procurements and contracts, there are compelling reasons not to mandate its use.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) children and (b) children eligible for free schools meals reached a Good Level of Development at age five in Bury North in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The requested data is shown in the attached table.
Results for academic year 2017/18 are due to be published on Thursday 29 November.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations he has received from bodies in the education sector on the potential effect of the ending of supplementary funding in 2019-20 on the number of maintained nursery schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Maintained Nursery Schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. In the last three months, there have been nine representations led by MNS, one by an education trade union and two by education charities.
Representations made include the case for future funding and the sharing of research findings.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations he has received on the treatment of (a) widowers and (b) widows under the Teachers' Pension scheme since the changes were made to that scheme in April 2018.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Changes were introduced to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in April 2018 to allow for the equalisation of survivor benefits for widows. This Scheme followed the Supreme Court’s determination in the case of Walker v Innospec Limited in 2017.
Since then, the Department has received two representations from scheme members, regarding equalisation for widowers of opposite sex marriages.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of ending the supplementary funding to maintained nursery schools in 2019-20 on the ability of those schools to support children with SEND needs.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, including those with special needs and disability (SEND). Many of them also provide specialist SEND support to other providers.
In recognition of the costs that MNS experience over and above other providers, we are providing supplementary funding – additional to funding received under the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF) – of around £60 million a year. This will enable local authorities to protect MNS pre-EYNFF funding levels until at least 2019-20.
In deciding what should happen after 2019-20, we want to ensure that decisions about the future of MNS are based on evidence. Therefore, we have commissioned new research on the value offered by MNS, which will be published over the winter.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are home-schooled in (a) Bury North constituency, (b) Bury and (c) Greater Manchester.
Answered by Anne Milton
The information requested is not held centrally.