Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - 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 (a) recruitment and (b) retention of school support staff in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
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 a survey conducted by the department in 2023, titled ‘Use of teaching assistants in schools’, 75% of school leaders found it either 'fairly’ or ‘extremely’ difficult to recruit teaching assistants. The survey also showed that retention was less of a concern but still 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) as a measure in the Employment Rights Bill, which was introduced on 10 October 2024.
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 to ensure every child has the best life chances.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school students receive free school meals in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The most recently published figures on free school meals (FSM) eligibility are from the January 2024 school census, which were published in June 2024 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics
Where statistics were published prior to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for schools and pupils statistics.
The constituency of Runcorn and Helsby is made up of elements of five old constituencies: Weaver Vale, Halton, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Eddisbury, and City of Chester. The attached Excel table gives FSM rates as of January 2024 for schools in those constituencies.
The ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication linked above includes data at school level. This can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS) to identify parliamentary constituency, which can be accessed here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. GIAS reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes. Updates to geographical data in GIAS are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of capping the costs of residential care for looked after children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that local authorities are facing rising costs to place children in care, with some private providers making excessive profits.
This is unacceptable. The department is taking a range of actions to rebalance the market and eliminate profiteering, including strengthening regulation and working with local government to make sure every child has a safe, loving home.
The department will be bringing forward measures in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to achieve this and to return children’s social care to delivering high quality outcomes for looked after children at a sustainable cost to the taxpayer. The department will be announcing further detail in due course.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with (a) Halton Council and (b) Cheshire West and Cheshire Council on the adequacy of SEND provision.
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.
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.
Halton Council has received just under £5.5 million in capital funding through this route between 2022 and 2025. Cheshire West and Chester Council has received £11.6 million.
In summer 2023, the department began collecting annual data from local authorities on available capacity in special schools, SEND units and resourced provision. This data will help the department to more effectively support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to provide sufficient specialist places.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of wraparound care provision for children with SEND in (a) England, (b) Cheshire West and Chester Council area and (c) Halton borough.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department knows know that parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) need childcare provision that meets their needs. The department has funded the national wraparound programme to support working families and improve the availability of before and after school childcare to ensure that parents have the flexibility they need to care for their children.
The programme is being delivered through local authorities, given their existing sufficiency duty. The Childcare Act 2006 places a legal duty on local authorities to make sure that there are enough childcare places within its locality for working parents or parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0 to 14, or up to 18 for disabled children. All local authorities should be able to demonstrate how they have discharged this duty and should include specific reference to how they are ensuring there is sufficient childcare to meet the needs of children with SEND, as per the statutory guidance. This should be available from the local authority.
The wraparound programme is helping local authorities discharge this duty by distributing funding on the basis of anticipated need. Local authorities across England can decide how best to use the funding to set up or expand wraparound childcare in their area to meet the needs of their local community, including children with SEND. To date, the department has paid £926,235.79 to Cheshire West and Chester Council, and £876,187.28 to the Borough of Halton.
The government is also committed to making quick progress to deliver on its commitment to offer breakfast clubs in every primary school. The department’s officials are working closely with schools and sector experts to develop a programme that meets the needs of all children, including those with SEND.
On 23 September, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that up to 750 state funded schools with primary aged pupils will begin delivering free breakfast clubs from April 2025. Funding will allow these schools to run free breakfast clubs for their pupils in the summer term (April-July 2025) as part of a test and learn phase to inform delivery of a national rollout.
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - 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 (Independent - 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 (Independent - 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.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of children who are (a) eligible and (b) not registered for free school meals.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department publishes statistics annually which detail the number of pupils registered to receive free meals. The latest data shows that over 2 million pupils are registered for benefits-based free school meals (FSM), which is 23.8% of all pupils. Close to 1.3 million additional pupils benefit from universal infant free school meals. Taken together, over one third of pupils receive free school meals.
The department does not collect data on the proportion of pupils that may be entitled to FSM but do not make a claim. Therefore, the department has not made a recent estimate on the number of children not registered for free school meals.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of measures available to school governing bodies to investigate complaints.
Answered by Damian Hinds
In academy trusts, trust boards must ensure there is a procedure to deal with complaints from parents and carers and other individuals to meet their legal duties. In maintained schools, governing bodies must establish procedures to deal with all complaints about the school and any community facilities or services it provides, unless alternate statutory procedures apply as outlined in Section 29(1) of the Education Act 2002.