Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a review of the maintained nursery school supplementary funding formula.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Additional supplementary funding is provided to local authorities for maintained nursery schools (MNS) in their areas. In the 2025/26 financial year, the initial budget for MNS supplementary funding is £92.6 million, subject to final budget update. The national average hourly rate for MNS supplementary funding in financial year 2025/26 is £5.90, the minimum supplementary funding rate is £5.27 and the cap on the hourly rate is £10.
Changes to the MNS supplementary funding formula were made in the 2023/24 financial year including an additional £10 million investment and an introduction of a minimum hourly funding rate to distribute funding evenly across all local authorities with MNS. At present, there are no plans to review the formula beyond this.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of safeguarding leads in schools being violence against women and girls accredited.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children’s wellbeing and safety, including reducing violence against women and girls, is a key priority for this government. A robust safeguarding framework is in place that schools and colleges must have regard to in the form of keeping children safe in education (KCSIE).
This guidance is clear that every school must have a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) who should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. Annex C of the guidance sets out the role and expectations placed on DSLs.
The department does not prescribe the training and accreditation that DSLs should receive. However, DSLs are required to undergo the training needed to provide them with the knowledge and skills required to carry out their role effectively within their school and community context. This includes how to identify, understand and respond to the specific needs that increase the vulnerability of children, as well as the many specific harms that put children at risk, which includes violence against women and girls.
Education can be a significant protective factor for children who are vulnerable, either as victims and/or perpetrators of violence against women and girls. KCSIE requires schools to implement whole-school behaviour policies to reduce incidents of violence, put pastoral support in place to support both victims and perpetrators of violence, and to ensure that all school staff understand their role within their local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements in escalating concerns about children to local authority services.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make (a) schools and (b) education providers statutory safeguarding partners.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The involvement of education and childcare agencies is fundamental at all levels of safeguarding arrangements. The department knows that teachers and educators are often the first to spot warning signs of abuse and neglect and are the largest referrer of cases into children’s social care, after the police.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which the government introduced into the House of Commons in December of last year, will place a duty on safeguarding partners to automatically include education and childcare settings in their safeguarding arrangements. The duty on safeguarding partners will ensure education is consistently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements across England. It will include include all education and childcare agencies, at both operational and strategic levels of their safeguarding arrangements, so they have a clear role in safeguarding locally.
These measures include all education settings, covering early years and childcare settings through to schools, colleges and alternative provision, so that opportunities to keep children safe are not missed.
This legislation enables the voice of education to influence the decisions of safeguarding partners and recognises the key role that education plays in keeping children safe.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing the notion of reasonable chastisement.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Violence towards children and abuse of children are never acceptable. There are laws in place to protect children against this.
Wales is in the process of reviewing the impact of removing the defence of reasonable chastisement and the UK Government expects that the Welsh Government will publish their findings by the end of this year. Ministers in the department will want to consider this evidence, with other government ministers, ahead of deciding whether a change to the law is required.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing a unique ID for every child to (a) facilitate data sharing between public bodies and (b) identify children not in school or any form of education.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Implementing a unique ID for every child has been regularly cited as a potential solution to bring together data on children’s interactions with different services. The government’s manifesto for the 2024 election included a commitment to this end (on page 81) and the government is committed to improving data sharing across services, with a single unique identifier, to better support children and families.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently before Parliament, introduces a legal provision for a consistent identifier to be specified and the organisations required to use it, to be determined later through regulations. Alongside this, the department will initiate a pilot to establish how a consistent identifier can be effectively implemented.
The Bill also includes provisions for compulsory ‘Children Not in School’ registers in each local authority area in England. While the introduction of these registers does not depend on a consistent identifier, it may enhance data linking, which the department will explore through future piloting.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the level of support provided to Ukrainian refugees in applying to UK universities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government remains committed to giving all Ukrainians in the UK the same access to education as enjoyed by UK citizens.
Persons granted leave under one of the Ukraine Schemes, including the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, have access to higher education (HE) student support and home fee status on the same basis as those within other protection-based categories, such as refugees.
Support on applying to HE courses can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/higher-education-courses-find-and-apply, where students can explore a range of resources to help them apply to UK HE providers.
Organisations such as the UK Council for International Student Affairs also provide extensive information and support for Ukrainian students wishing to study in the UK, including a student advice line.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to create a pathway for Ukrainian refugees to apply to UK universities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government remains committed to giving all Ukrainians in the UK the same access to education as enjoyed by UK citizens.
Persons granted leave under one of the Ukraine Schemes, including the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, have access to higher education (HE) student support and home fee status on the same basis as those within other protection-based categories, such as refugees.
Support on applying to HE courses can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/higher-education-courses-find-and-apply, where students can explore a range of resources to help them apply to UK HE providers.
Organisations such as the UK Council for International Student Affairs also provide extensive information and support for Ukrainian students wishing to study in the UK, including a student advice line.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will pause the defunding of applied general qualifications scheduled for 2025 and 2026.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In July 2024, my Right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a short pause to the defunding of qualifications to enable a review of post-16 qualification reforms at level 3 and below. This was followed by a Written Ministerial Statement by my noble Friend, the Minister for Skills, on 25 July. This statement is available here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-07-25/hlws20.
The department is now working to review the defunding due to take place in 2025 and it will set out the position before Christmas.
The department has not announced any defunding for 2026.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available for teachers who are unable to work as a result of workplace injury.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Workplace absences that are the result of a workplace injury would usually be subject to normal sick pay arrangements.
The department has no jurisdiction over arrangements for dealing with workplace injuries or matters relating to sick pay, as these are covered by the Conditions of Service for School Teachers in England and Wales, 2000, which is known as the Burgundy Book. This is a national, non-statutory agreement between trade unions and teacher employers. This government was not party to its development and cannot influence its content. Sick leave or sick pay entitlements are therefore currently the responsibility of employers, which, in a school setting, is normally the local authority or Academy Trust. Schools, like all employers, are also subject to any relevant employment legislation.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the adequacy of SEND support in West Sussex.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is continuing to support and challenge West Sussex to improve the delivery of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.
The last local area SEND inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for West Sussex was in November 2023, which found that there are inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
The areas for improvement identified by inspectors are:
(I) To identify and address ‘waiting well’ arrangements and gaps in service provision to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.
(I) To ensure children identified as at high risk for aspiration are fully assessed and have access to video-fluoroscopy.
(II) To develop a strategy to improve the processes, quality and the timeliness of education, health and care plans.
(III) To implement oversight and commissioning arrangements of suitable specialist school places and alternative provision.
(IV) And to strengthen their strategic approach to preparation for adulthood.
The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against the areas for improvement and the progress made by children and young people with SEND, with a formal review of progress against the areas for improvement to take place in October 2024. West Sussex County Council are committed to working closely with the department to improve services.
West Sussex is taking part in the Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND Programme. The DBV in SEND Programme was established under the previous government with the aim of helping local authorities provide more effective SEND services by meeting the needs of children and young people at an early stage and with the right level of support.