Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the quality of specialist education in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Receiving the support to succeed is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and to give every child the best start in life, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.
The government is committed to improving the school inspection system, including inspections of specialist settings. This will include moving away from the single headline grade to a richer system through a report card.
School report cards will be implemented for all state-funded schools, including those in the specialist sector. As part of our engagement and consultation process, we will explore whether, and how, these report cards need to be tailored to meet the unique needs of different types of state-funded schools.
Our new regional improvement teams will work with teachers and leaders in struggling schools to quickly and directly address areas of weakness and empower sustained improvement.
To drive up standards, all state-funded schools, including special schools, can draw on new regional improvement teams for help in accessing and understanding the array of available improvement programmes and training proven to make a real impact. These teams will encourage and foster a self-improving system where schools and trusts support each other, learning from peers, and sharing best practice.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the statutory guidance entitled Cost of school uniforms, published on 19 November 2021, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending that guidance to reduce the number of branded items required.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has committed to legislate through the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to limit the number of items of branded uniform and PE kit that schools can require. This proposed legislation will go further than the current statutory guidance, which only requires schools to keep branded uniform items to a minimum.
The existing statutory guidance will be updated once the new legislation has received Royal Assent. This will ensure that both work together to ensure that schools will need to justify every piece of branded uniform they include in their uniform policy. This will put an end to schools still requiring large numbers of branded items.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of SEND provision in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) sits with local authorities.
The department supports local authorities to meet this duty by providing annual capital funding. In March 2024, local authorities were notified of £850 million of investment in places for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision (AP).
Local authorities can use this funding to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
Cheshire West and Chester Council has received £11.6 million in capital funding through this route between 2022 and 2025. Halton Borough Council has received just under £5.5 million.
In summer 2023, the department also began collecting data from local authorities on available capacity in special schools, SEND units and resourced provision, along with corresponding forecasts of demand for these places. This data will help the department to more effectively support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to provide sufficient specialist places.