Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to ensure that private firms do not profit from out of area looked after children's residential care placements.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. Though the department wants to reduce out of area placements, they will always be part of the care landscape. Sometimes circumstances make it the right decision for a child to be placed elsewhere, for example when they are at risk from domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, trafficking or gang violence.
Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of children’s services are required to sign off each such decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.
The department is clear that profiteering from vulnerable children in care is absolutely unacceptable, irrespective of whether a child is placed in or out of area, and the department is committed to stamping out profiteering where it occurs in the children’s social care placement market.
On 18 November 2024, the department published its policy paper ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, which set out ambitious reforms across children’s social care. As part of these, the department is taking forward a package of measures, including through legislation, to rebalance the children’s social care placement market. These measures will improve competition, regulation and commissioning of placements and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying and the profits providers are making. If the department does not see a reduction in profiteering it will not hesitate to take action to cap providers’ profits.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 introducing a new protocol to ensure that (a) local authorities and (b) public bodies inform children who have recently been bereaved about the (i) local, (ii) national and (iii) online support services available to them.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to improving the support available to all children and young people, including those struggling with bereavement. This is why we are prioritising improving mental health support for all children and young people, which includes providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. In addition, the department provides a list of resources for schools on supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, which may include supporting children dealing with loss and bereavement.
As I set out at a Westminster Hall Debate on childhood bereavement on 2 December, the cross-government bereavement working group, chaired within the Department of Health and Social Care, will continue to look at options for improving support for bereaved children and young people across government, including the potential to improve data collection.
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 help children with Down's syndrome attend mainstream schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) 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. This includes strengthening accountability for inclusivity, including through Ofsted, and encouraging schools to set up Resourced Provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.
High-quality teaching is central to ensuring that all pupils, including those with Down’s Syndrome or other types of SEND, are given the best possible opportunity to achieve. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.
On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level qualification for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). The qualification will play a key role in improving outcomes for pupils with SEND, including Down’s Syndrome, by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high-quality, evidence-based training on how best to support children with SEND.
This government is also providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.
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 support teachers of pupils with Down's syndrome in mainstream schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) 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. This includes strengthening accountability for inclusivity, including through Ofsted, and encouraging schools to set up Resourced Provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.
High-quality teaching is central to ensuring that all pupils, including those with Down’s Syndrome or other types of SEND, are given the best possible opportunity to achieve. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.
On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level qualification for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). The qualification will play a key role in improving outcomes for pupils with SEND, including Down’s Syndrome, by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high-quality, evidence-based training on how best to support children with SEND.
This government is also providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential (a) implications for her policies of trends in the level of unauthorised term time absences and (b) impact of unauthorised absence rules on families who are unable to find suitable times for holidays outside of (i) school term times and (ii) work schedules.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new government has inherited a crisis in school attendance. Thanks to the hard work of schools, local authorities and system leaders there is evidence of slight progress but we must go much further to get children back to school. This government is acting decisively to tackle absence via a new approach rooted in responsibility, partnership and belonging. This includes supporting schools and recognising they have important responsibilities by creating a welcoming, engaging and inclusive environment for children, but that it is also a parent’s legal responsibility to send their children to school every day that they can.
Taking children out of school during term time can damage their education. If children are taken out of school for a one week holiday every year and have an average number of days off for sickness and medical appointments, then by the time they finish year 11 at age 16, they will have missed the equivalent of two entire terms of their schooling. This also causes unnecessary disruption for teachers, making it more difficult for them to plan lessons and cover the curriculum, which is then disruptive for the other pupils in the class. The school year gives families various opportunities to enjoy holidays together.
The department is working with the sector to bring breakfast clubs to all primary schools so that every child is in on time and ready to learn. We are introducing new annual Ofsted reviews of safeguarding, attendance and off-rolling, as well as tackling mental ill-health among young people by providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. Where pupils are not regularly attending school, the ‘Working together to improve school attendance' statutory guidance emphasises that schools and local authorities should be working with them and their family to provide support and remove any barriers to attendance.
We publish regular school attendance data, which shows rates of absence, including unauthorised absence, on an ongoing basis. This is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.
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.