Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will implement a strategy to ensure that School Food Standards are met.
Answered by Will Quince
We already have a robust set of regulations in place around food standards in schools, established by The Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014. These regulations apply to all food provided in schools making compliance mandatory for all maintained schools including academies and free schools.
School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the headteacher and the senior leadership team to ensure the school is meeting its obligations.
Should parents that feel the standards are not being met at their child’s school may make a complaint using the school’s own complaints procedure.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place for the NHS to collect clinical data and record injuries and deaths of children resulting from the ingestion of button batteries in the UK.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The NHS England commissioned National Child Mortality Database Programme collects information on all live-born children resident in England who die before their 18th birthday, which includes information on deaths resulting from the ingestion of button batteries.
For injuries caused by ingestion of button batteries, the Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS) includes relevant codes that enable us to identify where children have attended accident and emergency having ingested button batteries. However, the ECDS is a new data set therefore NHS Digital would require an assessment and validation of these codes.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the reasons why young people have accessed Discretionary Housing Payment.
Answered by Will Quince
We have made no specific assessment of the reasons why young people have accessed Discretionary Housing Payments.
Discretionary Housing Payments can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who require further financial assistance towards housing costs is required.
Local authorities administer the Discretionary Housing Payments scheme as they are best placed to make informed judgements about relative priorities and needs in their area to ensure that the most vulnerable are supported and the funds are targeted effectively.
There are no prescribed resources tests; local authorities simply have to be satisfied that the person concerned is in need of further financial assistance towards housing costs.
There is no limit to the length of time over which a Discretionary Housing Payment award may be made. It may be awarded for a short period to give a claimant time to deal with their financial circumstances or for an indefinite period until their circumstances change. The start and end dates of an award are decided by local authorities on a case-by-case basis.
Since 2011, the government has provided over £1 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities to help support vulnerable people affected by welfare reforms.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he plans to take to help ensure that blind and partially sighted people can vote independently in 2022.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to ensuring that elections are accessible for all those eligible to vote.
To that end, the Government has introduced a number of measures to support the accessibility of elections in the recently introduced Elections Bill, such as removing restrictions on who can act as a companion to support voters with disabilities and placing a broader requirement for Returning Officers to consider the needs of all disabled voters when providing equipment for polling stations.
Specifically on issues related to sight loss, we were pleased to be able to carry out some testing of accessible voting solutions for blind and partially sighted electors with the RNIB and Broadland District Council at the recent elections in May, and we are currently considering our next steps. We will continue to work with the RNIB and other interested groups in taking this forward and have already talked with RNIB about looking at the postal vote system to see how and where that can be improved to support engagement.
We also continue to work with the members of the Accessibly of Elections Working Group, including the Electoral Commission, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Association of Electoral Administrators. The Association of Electoral Administrators provides training and guidance for Returning Officers and their teams to further improve the support provided to enable disabled electors to participate in future elections.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what training his Department (a) makes available and (b) plans to make available for Returning Officers on how to support visually impaired voters.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to ensuring that elections are accessible for all those eligible to vote.
To that end, the Government has introduced a number of measures to support the accessibility of elections in the recently introduced Elections Bill, such as removing restrictions on who can act as a companion to support voters with disabilities and placing a broader requirement for Returning Officers to consider the needs of all disabled voters when providing equipment for polling stations.
Specifically on issues related to sight loss, we were pleased to be able to carry out some testing of accessible voting solutions for blind and partially sighted electors with the RNIB and Broadland District Council at the recent elections in May, and we are currently considering our next steps. We will continue to work with the RNIB and other interested groups in taking this forward and have already talked with RNIB about looking at the postal vote system to see how and where that can be improved to support engagement.
We also continue to work with the members of the Accessibly of Elections Working Group, including the Electoral Commission, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Association of Electoral Administrators. The Association of Electoral Administrators provides training and guidance for Returning Officers and their teams to further improve the support provided to enable disabled electors to participate in future elections.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Move On fund; and what plans his Department has for the future of that fund.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The 2016 Budget announced £100 million of grant for a new Move-On Fund, which will provide homes for former rough sleepers moving on from hostels and victims of domestic abuse moving on from refuge. The Fund is split equally between the Greater London Authority (GLA) in London and Homes England who are administering the fund outside of London.
The Move-On Fund is an ambitious attempt to build or adapt accommodation for former rough sleepers and households fleeing domestic abuse. This in turn will free-up emergency hostel space. The scheme structure is a new one and reliant on potential developers and providers bringing bids forward within a competitive property market. Together with our delivery partners at the GLA and Homes England we refined our approach and the delivery model utilising valuable learning from market tests in the first year. As a result, the scheme was slower to mobilise than anticipated, but since the model has been refined, we are seeing strong bids emerge to a combined value of £61.5 million.
We are in now in the final year of this funding, which is due to end by March 2022. Both organisations are continuing to invite bids for the remaining funding from prospective providers.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department is taking to support take-up of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
From 1 April the government is supporting any adult who does not have A levels or equivalent to access almost 400 fully funded level 3 courses as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
We are investing £95 million over the current Spending Review period, which includes a funding uplift to give providers the support they need, to scale-up provision and meet the needs of adult learners as we build back better from the COVID-19 outbreak. We have been working closely with local areas and providers to support delivery of the Free Courses for Jobs offer from 1 April.
We have also worked with the National Careers Service to ensure Careers Advisers can provide information about the training available to customers and we will publicise the offer, including through social media and stakeholder channels, to ensure we reach adults that can take advantage of this offer.
There are a number of shorter courses that can help adults progress in the labour market, so they can pick a course that fits their life. We are continuing to work with the sector and potential learners to understand barriers to learning and how we can support adults to take up this offer.
Furthermore, we have introduced Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving adults aged 19 and over the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. Skills Bootcamps are employer-led initiatives which aim to meet local demand.
Wave 1 Skills Bootcamps have been oversubscribed due to high demand. So far, nearly 2,800 adults started courses on over 80 different Skills Bootcamps across the 6 areas where we rolled out the trailblazers.
We are investing £43 million as part of the National Skills Fund to expand the digital and technical Skills Bootcamps across all regions of England. With this funding, we can assist employers across England to fill their vacancies.
Following a competitive application process, successful bids for the second wave of Skills Bootcamps will be announced in due course and we are anticipating that this second wave of Skills Bootcamps will train approximately 20,000 individuals across England.
Local areas are working closely with Skills Bootcamps to advertise them and encourage learners to take up this opportunity. This includes encouraging learners from underrepresented groups to ensure a diverse cohort, reflective of the local population.
We have worked with Department for Work and Pensions to align the employment and skills support offer. Later this month, the Department for Work and Pensions’ Train and Progress campaign will be further enhanced by an increase in the amount of time Universal Credit claimants can take part in full-time training to 12 weeks, up from the current 8 weeks, helping them gain the skills and qualifications needed for good jobs.
The change will ensure Universal Credit claimants can access sector-specific training provided as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, including Skills Bootcamps and some of the free level 3 qualifications while receiving the financial support they need.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of resources available to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England to support enterprise and entrepreneurship education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Entrepreneurship education is an important component of high quality careers provision. The careers statutory guidance, updated in 2018, requires secondary schools in England to provide opportunities for pupils to develop entrepreneurial knowledge relevant for self-employment.
The Department provides resources and support to secondary schools through the Careers & Enterprise Company’s Enterprise Adviser Network, Careers Hubs and online resources, to make links to employers and increase young people’s exposure to the world of work. The Department also funds training for Careers Leaders to develop the knowledge they need to embed and deliver a successful careers programme in their secondary school.
There are now more than 4,000 schools and colleges in the Careers & Enterprise Company’s Enterprise Adviser Network working with business volunteers to strengthen employer links. Careers Hubs now include 45% of all state-funded schools and colleges across England and funding has been provided for 1,950 Careers Leaders training bursaries.
The result is that 3.3 million young people now have regular encounters with employers, including entrepreneurs and 84% of secondary schools and colleges are satisfied with the support they receive from their Enterprise Adviser. 92% of Careers Leaders state they have become more effective as a result of the training. The Department will continue national roll-out of this support as announced in the Skills for Jobs White Paper published in January 2021: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/sites/default/files/uploaded/1244_careers_ed_2020_report18_0.pdf.
Over the last 18 months, the Department has focused on testing what works at a primary level. In partnership with the Careers & Enterprise Company, the Department has developed and launched an online Primary Careers Resources platform which includes free to use tools and resources from 15 organisations, including Primary Futures.
Financial capability is a key component of successful entrepreneurship and in 2014 financial literacy was made statutory within the Citizenship National Curriculum. Pupils are taught the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and the need to understand financial risk. The computing curriculum prepares pupils to apply existing digital technologies confidently and effectively but will also provide them with the fundamental knowledge needed to create new digital technology products and to create their own tech start-ups.
Schools can also cover enterprise and entrepreneurship within their personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. Teachers have the freedom to design lessons and resources in PSHE that meet their pupils’ needs, and they are encouraged to develop their practice with the support of specialist organisations, such as the PSHE Association.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
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 making the enterprise and financial education aspect of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education a mandatory requirement of the curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Financial education is part of the mathematics and citizenship curriculum where pupils are taught the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and the need to understand financial risk. The mathematics curriculum ensures pupils are taught the necessary knowledge and the need to make financial decisions. The computing curriculum should prepare pupils to apply existing digital technologies confidently and effectively, whilst also providing them with the fundamental knowledge needed to create new digital technology products.
The Department will continue to work closely with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) and other stakeholders, such as Her Majesty’s Treasury, to consider what can be gained from other sector initiatives and whether there is scope to provide further support for the teaching of financial education in schools.
Asked by: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of investing the Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues for the coming year 2021-22 in healthy eating initiatives in schools.
Answered by Vicky Ford
In 2016, the government announced investment in several children’s health initiatives alongside the introduction of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, including doubling the primary PE and sports premium to £320 million a year from September 2017, and introducing the National Schools Breakfast Programme from March 2018.
The Spending Review 2020 confirmed the department’s overall budget for the 2021/22 financial year. We are committed to funding breakfast clubs and have extended the programme until July 2021. We are considering options for breakfast provision beyond this date and expect to say more shortly. The Healthy School Rating Scheme will also continue during the 2021/22 financial year.