Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the kinship allowance trial; how many kinship carers will be able to join the trial; what date she plans to launch the trial; and whether the findings of the trial be published.
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 to test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting the child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. The pilot will begin in 2025.
This government’s ambition is that all kinship carers will get the support they need to care for their children. It is important that we first build the evidence base to find out how best to deliver financial support for kinship families, therefore we will be evaluating this pilot. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
The department will share further details on the process for selecting local authorities in due course.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to (a) support foster placements and (b) develop regional recruitment hubs in the East Midlands.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to working in partnership with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This currently includes delivering 10 regional fostering recruitment and retention hubs, covering 64% of local authorities in England. The hubs will transform the way people who are interested in fostering are supported, and rollout of a retention programme which offers peer-support to foster carers and the children in their care. An additional £15 million was announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 to move towards national roll out in the 2025/26 financial year.
Foster For East Midlands Recruitment Hub launched in March 2024 and comprises of four neighbouring local authorities, Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, and Derby City Council. The department would welcome discussions with other local authorities in the East Midlands region about national roll out plans.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the challenges of (a) recruiting and (b) retaining educational psychologists to ensure the effective processing of education, health and care plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This department’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
Educational psychologists play a critical role in supporting children and young people, providing statutory input into education, health and care assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND.
As the employers of educational psychology services, it is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that their services are adequately staffed. The department is taking measures to support local authorities by investing in building the pipeline.
The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
To support retention, following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this requirement has increased to three years.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of educational psychologists.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This department’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
Educational psychologists play a critical role in supporting children and young people, providing statutory input into education, health and care assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND.
As the employers of educational psychology services, it is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that their services are adequately staffed. The department is taking measures to support local authorities by investing in building the pipeline.
The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
To support retention, following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this requirement has increased to three years.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of retention of teaching assistants; and what steps her Department is taking to support recruitment of teaching assistants.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and the smooth running of schools. They are crucial to ensuring children are given the best possible life chances.
In the survey ‘Use of teaching assistants in schools’, carried out by the department in 2023, 75% of school leaders reported they found it either 'fairly’ or ‘extremely’ difficult to recruit teaching assistants. The survey found that retention was difficult for 29% of leaders.
The department values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce and will address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB).
The SSSNB will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training, career progression routes and fair pay rates for support staff. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education and drive high and rising standards, so that every child has the best life chances.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) increasing levels of pay and (b) reviewing conditions for teaching assistants.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and the smooth running of schools. They are crucial to ensuring children are given the best possible life chances.
In the survey ‘Use of teaching assistants in schools’, carried out by the department in 2023, 75% of school leaders reported they found it either 'fairly’ or ‘extremely’ difficult to recruit teaching assistants. The survey found that retention was difficult for 29% of leaders.
The department values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce and will address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB).
The SSSNB will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training, career progression routes and fair pay rates for support staff. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education and drive high and rising standards, so that every child has the best life chances.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of charging VAT on independent school fees on local authority costings to support displaced former private school children with special education needs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ending the VAT exemption that private schools enjoy and will confirm the introduction of these changes at the Budget on 30 October. The Office for Budget Responsibility will also certify the government’s costings for these measures at that time. The right time to discuss any funding for state funded schools is at the Spending Review.
Children with Education, Health and Care plans that provide a necessary local authority funded place at a private school will not be impacted by this policy. This is because local authorities can reclaim VAT on service expenditure through existing routes.
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) assumes a net gain to the public finances of £1.3 to 1.5 billion per year in the medium to long run as a result of removing tax exemptions from private schools. This would allow for about a 2% increase in state school spending in England. This analysis can be found here: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/tax-private-school-fees-and-state-school-spending.
The IFS report also projects that transfers from the private to the state-sector will be low at equivalent to less than 1% of state funded places.
The department regularly speaks to local authorities about all local pupil place planning pressures.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with local educational authorities on the potential costs of supporting displaced former private school children with special educational needs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ending the VAT exemption that private schools enjoy and will confirm the introduction of these changes at the Budget on 30 October. The Office for Budget Responsibility will also certify the government’s costings for these measures at that time. The right time to discuss any funding for state funded schools is at the Spending Review.
Children with Education, Health and Care plans that provide a necessary local authority funded place at a private school will not be impacted by this policy. This is because local authorities can reclaim VAT on service expenditure through existing routes.
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) assumes a net gain to the public finances of £1.3 to 1.5 billion per year in the medium to long run as a result of removing tax exemptions from private schools. This would allow for about a 2% increase in state school spending in England. This analysis can be found here: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/tax-private-school-fees-and-state-school-spending.
The IFS report also projects that transfers from the private to the state-sector will be low at equivalent to less than 1% of state funded places.
The department regularly speaks to local authorities about all local pupil place planning pressures.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage more people to consider a career as a (a) SEND teacher and (b) member of support staff in a SEND school.
Answered by David Johnston
High-quality, well-supported teaching is the single most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for children, and it is particularly important for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). That is why, on top of last years’ teacher pay award of 6.5%, which was the highest in over thirty years, the department ensures that an additional SEND allowance of up to £5,009 per year must be paid to teachers in a SEND post that requires a mandatory special educational needs qualification and involves teaching pupils with SEND.
The department is further encouraging people to consider becoming teachers, including teachers of SEND, through its Get into Teaching service and marketing campaign. The campaign provides inspiration and support to explore a career in teaching and directs people to the Get into Teaching service’s website.
Through the website, prospective trainees can access support and advice through expert one-to-one Teacher Training Advisers, a contact centre, and a national programme of events. The long-standing campaign has established a strong brand identity for teaching over time and continues to do so across the teacher lifecycle, supporting initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment whilst aiming to raise the status and improve perceptions of the profession over time.
The department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. The ITT financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
The department is also offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
The department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. Similarly, it has convened a workload reduction taskforce to explore how the department can go further to support trust and school leaders to minimise workload for teachers and leaders.
The government values and appreciates the dedication, professionalism and hard work of support staff, and knows that they play a key role in supporting children and young people with SEND. The department’s education reforms gave schools the freedom to make their own decisions about recruitment, pay, conditions, and use of support staff. Schools should have this freedom as they are best placed to understand their pupils’ needs. To support schools recruit and train teaching assistants, schools can access up to £7,000 in levy funding through the recently revised Level 3 Teaching Assistant apprenticeship.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will hold discussions with (a) local authorities and (b) academy trusts on increasing the level of pay above the statutory minimum wage for non-teaching staff in schools.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The government has given schools the freedom to set pay and conditions for support staff according to their own circumstances.
Local government employees, including school support staff, are covered by the National Joint Council terms and conditions, known as the Green Book. Most schools, including academies, use the local government pay scales in conjunction with the Green Book.
The pay scales are set through negotiations between the Local Government Association, which represents the employer, and local government trade unions (UNISON, Unite, and the GMB), which represent the employee. Central government does not have any formal role in these matters.
For the lowest pay scale, there has been an increase of 22% over the two years since April 2021, to £11.59 an hour. This is above the current national living wage of £10.42 an hour.