Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children starting primary school had literacy skills below the expected school-ready level in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This information is in the public domain as the Department publishes statistics on attainment in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) for children at the end of reception year.
The percentage of children achieving at least the expected level across all the learning goals in the Literacy area of learning, for years 2013 to 2017, is published within table 2b of the ‘Early years foundation stage profile results: 2016 to 2017’ statistical first release.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2016-to-2017.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of nurseries which have employed (a) one and (b) more than one Early Years Teacher in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Early Years Teacher Status was introduced in 2013. Therefore, we do not hold information dating back to 2010.
The Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers England (2013) did not collect data on Early Years Teachers, but did record the overall number of practitioners qualified to level 6 (degree level) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/355075/SFR33_2014_Main_report.pdf.
The next wave of the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers England conducted in 2016 included a new question to collect information on those holding Early Years Teacher Status (Figure 4.6) https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2016.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish its proposals on increasing the number of early years teachers in disadvantaged areas.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We are considering a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years workforce, including in disadvantaged areas and their feasibility. This work is still underway.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to allocate funding for the training of educational psychologists after 2020.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The educational psychologist workforce is critical to identifying special educational needs and their contribution is a mandatory requirement in the assessment process of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Educational psychologists also provide essential wider support to schools including in relation to mental health, personal, health and social education, and major incident support for children in their communities.
Funding levels for training for Educational Psychologists for 2020-21 and beyond will be decided as part of future Spending Reviews.
The Minister of State for Children and Families would welcome the opportunity to meet with Association of Educational Psychologists in due course.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to meet representatives of the Association of Educational Psychologists.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The educational psychologist workforce is critical to identifying special educational needs and their contribution is a mandatory requirement in the assessment process of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Educational psychologists also provide essential wider support to schools including in relation to mental health, personal, health and social education, and major incident support for children in their communities.
Funding levels for training for Educational Psychologists for 2020-21 and beyond will be decided as part of future Spending Reviews.
The Minister of State for Children and Families would welcome the opportunity to meet with Association of Educational Psychologists in due course.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make Personal, Social, Health and Economic education part of the statutory curricula.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has conducted a thorough and wide-ranging engagement process, including a call for evidence that closed on 12 February, on the scope and content of Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education, and on the future status of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education.
The Department is currently considering the responses to the call for evidence and representations through the engagement process.
The Department will announce its plans in due course.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of university students who have accessed university counselling and well-being services (a) in total and (b) at each university in each year for which figures are available.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for higher education institutions (HEIs) to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.
Government does not hold information on the number of students accessing university counselling and wellbeing services.
An independent research report in this area was published on 4 September 2017 by the Institute for Public Policy Research, ‘Not by Degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK's universities’ (https://ippr.org/research/publications/not-by-degrees).
This report states that: “Our survey reveals that HEIs have – over the past five years – experienced significant increases in demand for (overall) student services… 94 per cent report an increase in demand for counselling services, while 61 per cent report an increase of over 25 per cent”.
The department is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) on their ongoing programme of work on mental health in higher education. As part of this, UUK launched their Step Change programme on 4 September 2017, which encourages higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic imperative and implement a whole institution approach.
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper published on 4 December 2017 outlines government’s plans to set up a new national strategic partnership focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds. This partnership will support and build on the work of UUK and consider the Green Paper’s proposed initiatives to improve the mental wellbeing of students in higher education.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2018 to Question 125058, how many educational psychologists were employed in each local authority in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The attached table provides the number of educational psychologists (EPs) that were reported as being directly employed by each local authority in November 2010 to November 2016. The list excludes local authorities where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities. It would also be open to academies and free schools to obtain their own provision.
The figures may also undercount the actual number of EPs in England and do not provide a comparable national year-on-year series because it is based on a varying percentage of local authorities returns in each year (between 91 and 95 per cent).
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many educational psychologists were employed in all local authorities in 2017.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Figures for educational psychologists in service in all local authorities in 2017 are not available until Summer 2018.
The attached table provides the number of Educational Psychologists (EPs) that were reported as being directly employed by each local authority in November 2016. The list excludes local authorities where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities. It would also be open to academies and free schools to obtain their own provision.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in reference to the staying put initiative launched in 2013, whether his Department plans to raise the payment for HS236 foster carers who are looking after adults in their care.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Staying Put arrangements play a vital role in supporting some of the most vulnerable young people in society, allowing them to enjoy continuity in their care arrangements, and adopt a more gradual transition to adulthood and independence. It is therefore right that foster carers receive the support that they need, including financial support, to help them meet the needs of those that they care for. In Staying Put arrangements, the amount paid to foster carers is determined locally, by the carer’s local authority or fostering agency.