Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve support for children with cerebral palsy in education settings.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to strengthening the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system for all children and young people, including those with cerebral palsy, to ensure they receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
The department will be improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools and colleges, as well as ensuring special settings cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need. This includes strengthening accountability for inclusivity, including through Ofsted, and encouraging schools to set up resourced provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.
High-quality teaching in schools is central to ensuring that all pupils are given the best possible opportunity to achieve. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this Parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with cerebral palsy.
The department is providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND. The department has also announced £740 million of high needs capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year to invest in places for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision.
The department has also introduced a new mandatory leadership level qualification to enhance the training of special educational needs co-ordinators in mainstream schools.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the child poverty strategy will include specific measures to help tackle child poverty amongst (a) disabled and (b) other groups that are most affected.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is Co-Chair, is considering all children across the United Kingdom as it develops the child poverty strategy. We recognise different groups of children, including disabled children, have distinct challenges. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted, with solutions that go beyond government, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers in response.
The strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. The terms of reference for the Child Poverty Taskforce were published on 14 August 2024 and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-poverty-taskforce-terms-of-reference.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with local authorities to help support kinship carers in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) other areas.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children and the role of local authorities to support them.
The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance in up to ten local authorities to test whether paying an allowance to cover certain costs, such as supporting children to settle into a new home with relatives or for activities to support their wellbeing, can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. This trial will help us make decisions about future national rollout. The department will share further detail on the process for selecting the local authorities taking part in the programme in due course.
The government recently published updated guidance for local authorities, the Kinship Care statutory guidance. This guidance outlines the framework for the provision of support for kinship children and their carers.
The department also appointed the first National Kinship Care Ambassador, who will work alongside local authorities to help improve their kinship practice and local policies, and ensure they are following national guidance. As well as providing bespoke support to some local authority teams, they will share learning nationally so that more local authorities can benefit from evidence of best practice.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for the introduction of the trial kinship carer allowance.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children and the role of local authorities to support them.
The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance in up to ten local authorities to test whether paying an allowance to cover certain costs, such as supporting children to settle into a new home with relatives, or for activities to support their wellbeing, can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends.
The programme will begin in 2025 and decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation. The department will share further detail on the timetable and delivery of the programme in due course.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to increase the availability of peer support groups in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) other areas.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the department’s measures to champion kinship care, the government has extended 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.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve support for children with (a) autism and (b) SEND in mainstream settings in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For too long the education and care system has not met the needs of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve. This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
The department wants to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting children and young people with SEND through early identification, effective support, high quality teaching and effective allocation of resources, regardless of whether they have a diagnosis.
The department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings. We have recently commissioned evidence reviews from Newcastle University and University College London. These reviews will help to drive inclusive practices by highlighting what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people, aged 0 to 25, with different types of needs.
In November 2023, the department announced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme. PINS brings together Integrated Care Boards, local authorities and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children and their families and enable an inclusive school environment. PINS employs specialists from both health and education workforces into 10% of mainstream primary school settings, which equates to around 1680 schools. The programme is being evaluated and the learning will inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.
The department also holds and funds the Universal SEND Services contract, which brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development and support for the school and further education workforce. The programme aims to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those with autism. As part of the contract, the Autism Education Trust (AET) provide a range of training and support for staff on autism. Since the contract began in May 2022, over 185,000 professionals have received training from AET training partners.