Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of demand for school places in specialist settings.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
Demand for specialist school placements has grown in recent years, with over 50,000 more pupils placed in special schools compared to 2017.
We have responded to this by developing new specialist provision. We are investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to deliver new specialist places in mainstream and special schools. Our Free Schools programme has opened 77 special and 50 alternative provision free schools across the country since 2010, with 67 similar projects in the pipeline.
The recent Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan will give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local setting.
For those children and young people with SEND who do require an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and specialist provision, we will ensure they get prompt access to the support they need, and that parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities are able to guarantee an adequate education for home-schooled children.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Parents have a duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure that a child of compulsory school age receives an efficient and full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and any special education needs - either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. ‘Otherwise’ includes education at home. Local councils have a duty under section 436A of the 1996 Act to identify so far as possible children who may not be receiving a suitable full-time education. This allows them to make informal enquiries of parents about the education provided. If a local authority is not satisfied that the education is suitable, it can begin a process of formal notice, asking the parents to satisfy them. If the local council remains dissatisfied it can issue a school attendance order which can result in prosecution if the parent does not comply.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were in the care of the local authority in (a) Warwickshire and (b) Rugby constituency in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15 and (iii) 2015-16.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There were 1,010 children looked after by Warwickshire local authority during the year ending 31 March 2014, and 995 during the year ending 31 March 2015. This information is published in table LAB1 of the statistical release, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2014-to-2015. Information on the numbers of children looked after on the 31 March of each year is published in table LAA1 of the same release. There were 695 children looked after in Warwickshire on 31 March 2014 and 690 on 31 March 2015. Figures for the year ending 31 March 2016 will be published on 29 September 2016.
Numbers of looked after children are not available at a constituency level.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children who are home schooled receive a comparable level of education to that received in a school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Responsibility for providing a suitable full-time education for children of compulsory school age who are educated at home rests with the parents. Although local authorities do not have a power to monitor such provision on a routine basis, they are under a duty to identify children who are not receiving a suitable full-time education. As part of that process, they will take appropriate steps to ensure that if a child is not being properly educated at home to serve a school attendance order. The department publishes guidance to local authorities on this matter, which is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288135/guidelines_for_las_on_elective_home_educationsecondrevisev2_0.pdf
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in each local authority area (a) are being home-schooled and (b) were being home-schooled in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Edward Timpson
This data is not collected centrally. Although some local authorities operate voluntary registration schemes, there is no legal obligation for the registration of home educated children.