Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of family hubs on early (a) intervention and (b) support for families and children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In November 2023, the government published the ‘Evaluation of family hubs’ report, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-family-hubs. Five local authorities were involved in the project with all research activities delivered between January 2022 and January 2023. The evaluation paints a positive overall picture regarding outcomes.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued on the (a) criteria and (b) number of students needed for a school to have a dedicated Special Educational Needs Coordinator position.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All mainstream schools, including academies and free schools, must have a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO). The SENCO must be a qualified teacher, or the head teacher, working at the school.
SENCOs play a vital role in setting the direction for their school and leading on the day-to-day special educational needs and disabilities provision. SENCOs will be most effective in this role if they are part of the school’s leadership team.
On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The NPQ must be completed within three years of taking up a SENCO post. The NPQ ensures SENCOs receive high-quality, evidence-based training and equips them with the knowledge and skills to work with other leaders to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and they belong.
Schools should ensure that the SENCO has sufficient time and resources to carry out these functions. This should include providing SENCOs with sufficient administrative support and time away from teaching to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities in a similar way to other important strategic roles within a school.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 ensuring that every school has a dedicated Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All mainstream schools, including academies and free schools, must have a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO). The SENCO must be a qualified teacher, or the head teacher, working at the school.
SENCOs play a vital role in setting the direction for their school and leading on the day-to-day special educational needs and disabilities provision. SENCOs will be most effective in this role if they are part of the school’s leadership team.
On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The NPQ must be completed within three years of taking up a SENCO post. The NPQ ensures SENCOs receive high-quality, evidence-based training and equips them with the knowledge and skills to work with other leaders to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and they belong.
Schools should ensure that the SENCO has sufficient time and resources to carry out these functions. This should include providing SENCOs with sufficient administrative support and time away from teaching to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities in a similar way to other important strategic roles within a school.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including criteria for evaluating the inclusivity of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities provision in schools within Ofsted inspections.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Criteria for evaluating inclusivity in mainstream, special and alternative provision schools are a key part of the proposals set out in the consultation ‘Improving the way Ofsted inspects education’, which runs until 28 April 2025.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) diagnosis of and (b) training for foetal alcohol spectrum disorders in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
All teachers are teachers of pupils with SEND, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils receive excellent support from their teachers. To support all teachers, we are implementing a range of high-quality teacher development programmes, from initial teacher training and into early career teaching, through to the reformed suite of leadership and specialist national professional qualifications, to ensure that teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed.
The revised Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework, which all new entrants to the profession from September 2025 will benefit from, has been designed around how to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND. Alongside this, the department funds SEND-specific continuing professional development, which provides resources to promote high-quality teaching for pupils with SEND.
Pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education. In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance intended to help governing bodies meet their legal responsibilities. This guidance sets out the arrangements they will be expected to make, based on good practice. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and should have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed.
The government recognises that foetal alcohol spectrum disorder can have a significant impact on the early years development of children and on their life chances. As a result, schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person gets the special educational provision they need, this includes monitoring the progress of pupils regularly and putting support in place where needed, including arranging diagnostic tests where appropriate.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the level of demand for SEND provision in schools to help support the transition of pupils with special educational needs from primary to secondary school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Successful transitions must be well-planned. Poor support for and around transitions was a clear theme in the issues raised when the previous government consulted on the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision Green Paper of March 2022.
All local authorities must set out the support available to help children and young people with SEND prepare for and transition to adulthood as part of their local offer. This includes support to help children and young people move between phases of education, for example from early years to school, and from primary to secondary.
As set out in the SEND code of practice, for pupils with an education, health and care plan, the plan must be reviewed and amended in sufficient time prior to a child or young person moving between key phases of education, to allow for planning for and, where necessary, commissioning of support and provision at the new institution.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that special guardianship and kinship carers receive adequate financial support.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. Kinship carers often take on this role at a time when they were least expecting to raise a family and we recognise the challenges they face, including financial.
In the Autumn Budget 2024, we announced £40 million to trial a new kinship allowance in some local authorities in England. The department will test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of caring for a child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. We will share further details and the process for selecting local authorities in due course.
This is the single biggest investment made by government in kinship care to date. This investment could transform the lives of vulnerable children who can no longer live at home by allowing children to grow up within their families and communities, reducing disruption to their early years so that they can focus on schooling and building friendships.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's statistical release entitled Children looked after in England including adoptions, last updated 14 November 2024, how many children that were looked after in (a) relative and (b) friend foster placements on 31 March 2024 had also been in (i) an unrelated foster placement, (ii) another relative or friend placement, (iii) a children's home and (iv) other provisions for looked-after children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest figures on children looked after who were cared for in a relative or friend foster placement by age, gender and ethnicity and at local authority level are shown in the attached tables. The department does not hold the data broken down separately into a) relative and b) friend foster placements, so we cannot provide this more detailed breakdown. Data has been provided for children looked after as at 31 March 2024.
Full information on the former placement arrangements of children looked after who are in a relative or friend foster placement is not held in the form requested. Due to the way in which the data is held, analysts in the department would not be able to provide the information requested without exceeding the cost threshold applicable to central government.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's statistical release entitled Children looked after in England including adoptions, last updated 14 November 2024, how many children were looked after in (a) relative and (b) friend foster placements broken down by (i) age, (ii) gender and (iii) ethnicity on 31 March 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest figures on children looked after who were cared for in a relative or friend foster placement by age, gender and ethnicity and at local authority level are shown in the attached tables. The department does not hold the data broken down separately into a) relative and b) friend foster placements, so we cannot provide this more detailed breakdown. Data has been provided for children looked after as at 31 March 2024.
Full information on the former placement arrangements of children looked after who are in a relative or friend foster placement is not held in the form requested. Due to the way in which the data is held, analysts in the department would not be able to provide the information requested without exceeding the cost threshold applicable to central government.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's statistical release entitled Children looked after in England including adoptions, last updated 14 November 2024, how many children were looked after in a (a) relative and (b) friend foster placements per local authority area on 31 March 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest figures on children looked after who were cared for in a relative or friend foster placement by age, gender and ethnicity and at local authority level are shown in the attached tables. The department does not hold the data broken down separately into a) relative and b) friend foster placements, so we cannot provide this more detailed breakdown. Data has been provided for children looked after as at 31 March 2024.
Full information on the former placement arrangements of children looked after who are in a relative or friend foster placement is not held in the form requested. Due to the way in which the data is held, analysts in the department would not be able to provide the information requested without exceeding the cost threshold applicable to central government.