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 implications for his policies of the findings of Mind’s report entitled, Not making the grade: why our approach to mental health at secondary school is failing young people, published on 30 June 2021.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is grateful to Mind and Young Minds for their report about mental health in secondary schools. We recognise the difficulties that a significant number of young people are facing with their mental health and wellbeing, and that this can be linked to experiences of racism, trauma and abuse. We also know that the COVID-19 outbreak has had a particular impact on the mental health and wellbeing of young people. Mental health and wellbeing are a priority for the government, and we are working closely with schools and colleges to support pupils to return in a way that supports their mental wellbeing.
We recently announced more than £17 million to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges. This includes funding to train a senior mental health lead in 7,800 schools and colleges in England this academic year. Senior leads will learn about the range of mental health issues likely to be encountered in schools and colleges, the risk factors associated with specific groups, including pupils who have suffered from trauma and vulnerable groups and how to put in place whole school approaches that embed that knowledge into wider staff training and school processes, including behaviour and attendance policies.
This is in addition to the £79 million we announced in March to boost children and young people’s mental health support. This funding will increase Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to cover around 35% of pupils in England by 2023. MHSTs work with groups of schools and colleges to identify specialist needs of pupils in their areas.
We understand that mental health difficulties can lead to challenging behaviour, and we know some students require additional support to behave well. Our Behaviour Hubs programme equips schools and multi-academy trusts to create and sustain positive behaviour cultures. The programme includes specialist training modules on managing challenging behaviour and inclusive practices and policies.
However, we will always support headteachers to use exclusion when required as part of creating calm and disciplined classrooms – and our guidance sets out how headteachers can make these difficult decisions in a way which is lawful and fair. At times, it may also be necessary to use reasonable force to restrain a pupil – for example, to break up a fight to protect teachers and other pupils. We trust schools to use their judgement in recording incidents involving force and, when serious incidents occur, we would expect schools to record the incident and let the parents know.
Furthermore, recently the department carried out a call for evidence as part of a fundamental review of both the behaviour and discipline and suspensions and permanent exclusions guidance. For this we gathered views on behaviour management which included interventions that support pupils with particular vulnerabilities. This will help us understand how schools have appropriate provision to support any mental health needs, special educational needs or disability that a pupil may have.
Racism has no place in schools, or in society. We expect headteachers to put effective behaviour policies in place to tackle this, including actions to prevent bullying, and have put in place support. Our Respectful School Communities tool can support schools to develop an approach which promotes respect and discipline, in order to combat bullying, harassment and abuse of any kind. We are also currently running a procurement exercise to fund anti-bullying organisations in 2021-22, to make sure that schools have the right support in place to prevent bullying of all pupils, including those with protected characteristics. This builds upon the changes we have made to make relationships education compulsory in all schools, which covers teaching pupils the knowledge they need to foster respect for other people and for difference. Where bullying and racist incidents do occur, schools should develop their own approaches for monitoring these and exercise their own judgement as to what will work best for their circumstances.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he plans to consult young people in addition to teachers and parents in the current call for evidence on behaviour in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department will consult with young people as part of the consultation regarding the revisions to the Behaviour and Discipline Guidance and the Suspensions and Permanent Exclusions guidance later this year.
The call for evidence on behaviour management, in-school units and managed moves closed on 10 August 2021 and the Department has received responses directly from young people and from organisations who represent their interests.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers are waiting for covid-19 (a) tests and (b) test results in (i) Sheffield, (ii) Yorkshire and (iii) England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This data is not collected by the Department for Education. The Department collects data on daily suspected COVID-19 related absences, as well as data on the number of schools that have indicated they have sent children home due to COVID-19 containment measures. However, this does not include information on the number of teachers or pupils currently awaiting tests or test results.
Testing capacity is the highest it has ever been and hundreds of thousands of people are being tested every day, but we are currently seeing a significant demand for tests. The Government are scaling up testing capacity even further to 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional resources he is providing schools to respond to guidance on covid-19.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 2 July we published guidance to help schools prepare for all pupils, in all year groups, to return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Schools have been able to claim additional funding for exceptional costs incurred due to COVID-19, between March and July 2020, such as additional cleaning required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases and increased premises costs to keep schools open for priority groups during the Easter and summer half term holidays. Schools have also continued to receive their core funding allocations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20.
As stated in our guidance, schools should use their existing resources when making arrangements to welcome all children back for the autumn. There are no plans at present to reimburse additional costs incurred as part of that process.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in (a) Sheffield, (b) Yorkshire and (c) England have (i) students and (ii) staff who are self-isolating due to covid-19 in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Keeping close track of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in schools is a priority for the Government. The Department is currently collecting data from schools on a daily basis, as well as gathering information from local areas and following up with individual settings to confirm that procedures for requiring pupils to isolate are well understood and that necessary decisions are made on the basis of public health advice.
We collect data on the number of schools that have indicated they have sent children home due to COVID-19 containment measures and have attendance data for schools that have done so. The Department’s published data on school openings and attendance, shows that 94% of state-funded schools were fully open on 17 September. For responding schools which were not fully open on 17 September, 4% said they were not fully open due to suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. Approximately 87% of pupils on roll in state-funded schools were in attendance on 17 September. Attendance estimates include pupils absent for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related reasons. Equivalent estimates have not been made at lower levels of locality. More information is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
From the autumn term, pupils in all year groups have now returned to school full-time. Our latest guidance on full opening sets out the public health advice schools should follow and how we expect schools to operate in the autumn term. The Department’s guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Public Health England (PHE) leads in holding data on infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall. PHE have published data on COVID-19 incidents by institution, including educational settings. This data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-covid-19-surveillance-reports (page 16).
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to support (a) schools and (b) local councils where incidents of covid-19 occur.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 2 July we published guidance to help schools prepare for all pupils, in all year groups, to return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. The guidance can be viewed at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
The above includes guidance for how schools should manage confirmed cases of COVID-19 amongst the school community, and contain any outbreak. Schools must take swift action when they become aware that someone who has attended has tested positive for COVID-19 and should contact the local health protection team. This team will also contact schools directly if they become aware that someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 attended the school – as identified by NHS Test and Trace.
The health protection team will carry out a rapid risk assessment to confirm who has been in close contact with the person during the period that they were infectious, and ensure they are asked to self-isolate.
The health protection team will work with schools in this situation to guide them through the actions they need to take. Based on the advice from the health protection team, schools must send home those people who have been in close contact with the person who has tested positive, advising them to self-isolate for 14 days since they were last in close contact with that person when they were infectious. The health protection team will provide definitive advice on who must be sent home. For individuals or groups of self-isolating pupils, remote education plans should be in place.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure students can continue to access student finance during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Student Loans Company will continue to make scheduled tuition payments to providers for the remainder of the current, 2019/20, academic year.
Students will also continue to receive scheduled payments of loans towards their living costs for 2019/20. Both tuition and living costs payments will continue irrespective of closures or whether learning has moved online.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support will be available to parents whose nurseries continue to charge them while the nursery is closed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We are working hard to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on all parts of our society, including individuals and business. Childcare providers have individual agreements with parents and therefore we urge all childcare providers to be reasonable and balanced in their dealings with parents, given the great uncertainty they will be facing too.
We have announced that we will continue to pay funding to local authorities for the early years entitlements for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds, and private nurseries are eligible for a business rates holiday for one year from 1 April. Childcare providers will also be eligible for wider support measures announced by the government.
Guidance for early years settings can be found at the following links:
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to review sex and relationships education in schools and academies to ensure it includes age-appropriate guidance on online pornography.
Answered by Nick Gibb
From September 2020, relationships education will become compulsory for all primary-aged pupils, relationships and sex education (RSE) compulsory for all secondary-aged pupils, and health education compulsory for all pupils in state-funded schools. These subjects are designed to ensure pupils are taught the knowledge and life skills they will need to stay safe, build confidence and resilience, and develop healthy and supportive relationships.
In relationships education and RSE, teachers need to address online safety and appropriate behaviour in a way that is relevant to pupils’ lives. Teachers should include content on how information and data is shared and used in all contexts, including online. This should include, for example, how specifically sexually explicit material such as pornography presents a distorted picture of sexual behaviours, can damage the way people see themselves in relation to others and negatively affect how they behave towards sexual partners. Teaching should also cover relevant aspects of the law so that pupils understand that sharing and viewing indecent images of children (including those created by children) is a criminal offence which carries severe penalties, including custodial sentences.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure (a) schools and (b) families are reimbursed for school trips cancelled as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 12 March 2020, the Government advised all schools and other education settings in England against undertaking any overseas trips for children under 18. More recently, on 16 March, the Government advised against anyone making non-essential domestic trips. All travel guidance is available on GOV.UK and all educational settings in England have been alerted to the existence of, and directed to, this advice via the daily Covid-19 education sector update they receive directly from the Department for Education.
With regard to insurance matters, all schools should check with their travel providers and credit card companies regarding securing refunds in the first instance. If unable to recoup their full costs, those academies signed up to the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) for schools should then submit their claims as per the RPA membership pack and other affected schools should contact their individual insurance providers.
Government Covid-19 travel guidance for the education sector can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/covid-19-travel-guidance-for-the-education-sector.
FCO Covid-19 travel guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.