Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of resourcing of services for developmental language disorder.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government is committed to ensuring that children and young people with speech, language and communication needs get the support they need. The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice makes clear that local authorities, educational institutions, and relevant others must appropriately identify the needs of their local area and ensure that appropriate support is available to meet those needs.
We have given £391 million to local areas to support implementation of the 2014 SEND reforms. Nationally, funding for children and young people has risen by £1 billion since 2013 to just under £6 billion this year. In Sheffield, the local authority will receive £54 million in high needs funding for 2018-19.
We are aware of the concerns of local authorities about high needs cost pressures. We are monitoring the drivers of these pressures, and looking at what can be done to help local authorities manage them.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of services for children with developmental language disorder.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government is committed to ensuring that children and young people with speech, language and communication needs get the support they need. The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice makes clear that local authorities, educational institutions, and relevant others must appropriately identify the needs of their local area and ensure that appropriate support is available to meet those needs.
We have given £391 million to local areas to support implementation of the 2014 SEND reforms. Nationally, funding for children and young people has risen by £1 billion since 2013 to just under £6 billion this year. In Sheffield, the local authority will receive £54 million in high needs funding for 2018-19.
We are aware of the concerns of local authorities about high needs cost pressures. We are monitoring the drivers of these pressures, and looking at what can be done to help local authorities manage them.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017 on Toxicology, HCWS265, how many local authorities the Department has identified as having commissioned tests from Trimega.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department wrote to all local authorities in England asking them to review whether they had commissioned forensic tests from Trimega Laboratories Limited between January 2010 and April 2014. 131 local authorities have confirmed that they used the services of Trimega Laboratories Limited during this period.
It is unlikely that decisions about the welfare of children will have been taken solely on the basis of toxicology test results, as this would only form part of the evidence that local authorities consider when making decisions about vulnerable children. The department does not have oversight of individual decisions made in local authority areas but have asked local authorities to consider whether any additional action is necessary in order to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2017, HCWS 265, Toxicology, how many toxicology tests commissioned by local authorities resulted in erroneous results which altered a child protection decision.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department wrote to all local authorities in England asking them to review whether they had commissioned forensic tests from Trimega Laboratories Limited between January 2010 and April 2014. 131 local authorities have confirmed that they used the services of Trimega Laboratories Limited during this period.
It is unlikely that decisions about the welfare of children will have been taken solely on the basis of toxicology test results, as this would only form part of the evidence that local authorities consider when making decisions about vulnerable children. The department does not have oversight of individual decisions made in local authority areas but have asked local authorities to consider whether any additional action is necessary in order to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of Sure Start programmes on reducing levels of youth violence.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department has not made an assessment of the effect of Sure Start children’s centres on reducing levels of youth violence specifically.
The Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England: Value for Money study, commissioned by the department, considered associations between the use of different services and reductions in youth crime more generally. Findings from this research were published in July 2016 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-centres-in-england-value-for-money.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2018 to Question 122066 on Teachers: Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people affected by the policy not to retrospectively apply the amendment to those who (a) have retired and (b) left the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, before the regulations were changed.
Answered by Nick Gibb
No specific assessment has been made of the number of people who could have benefitted had amendments to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme been introduced in 2007, to provide that pensions for surviving spouses or civil partners would be paid for life, been implemented with retrospective effect. Similarly, the costs associated with that have not been assessed.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January to Question 122066 on Teachers: Pensions, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost of applying retrospectively the amendment to people that have (a) retired, and (b) left the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, before the regulations were changed.
Answered by Nick Gibb
No specific assessment has been made of the number of people who could have benefitted had amendments to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme been introduced in 2007, to provide that pensions for surviving spouses or civil partners would be paid for life, been implemented with retrospective effect. Similarly, the costs associated with that have not been assessed.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of the 20 February 2018 to Question 127866, which local authorities have informed his Department that they have commissioned hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
A number of local authorities have informed the department that they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014. We continue to work with local authorities to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January to Question 123732, if he will list (a) those local authorities that have informed his Department that they have commissioned hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega and (b) the reasons why each local authority commissioned such tests.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Local authorities commission hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use for a number of different reasons, as part of their work to safeguard children. A number of local authorities have informed the department that they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014. We continue to work with local authorities to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of the 18 December 2017 to Question 118871, whether any local authorities have informed his Department that they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
A number of local authorities have informed the department that they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014. We continue to work with local authorities to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.