Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
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 establishing a fund for local authorities to (a) set up and (b) expand existing supported lodgings schemes.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ implementation strategy, it is the department’s intention to increase provision and take-up of ‘supported lodgings’ models, where care leavers live in a family environment with support to develop independent living skills.
The current guidance, ‘Making a difference: Supported lodgings as a housing option for young people’, is available to all local authorities and aimed at advising on the planning and commissioning of supported lodgings. The guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79706aed915d04220686ea/makingadifference.pdf. The department will continue to encourage and support local authorities with the take-up of this provision and set out its plans for implementation of further support in due course.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2021 to Question 138427 on Schools: Discipline, what progress his Department has made on establishing the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the behaviour hubs programme; and if he will publish (a) those criteria and (b) the advice his Department received from the independent evaluator it procured to assess the effectiveness of that behaviour hubs programme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has procured an independent evaluator to assess the effectiveness of the behaviour hubs programme. The evaluator is in the process of developing an evaluation framework and set of indicators that will underpin the study. Key measures of success are likely to include improved school behaviour cultures and fewer incidents of disruption, truancy, and bullying. In the longer term, key measures of success are likely to include improved pupil attainment and outcomes, pupil and staff wellbeing, staff recruitment and retention.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the impact on children of different local authority policies on school age start dates; and what he plans he has to amend the school admissions code to enable summer-born children to start reception at age five where that is what their parents want.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities do not set policies on school age start dates. Compulsory school age is the start of the term following a child’s fifth birthday. Admission authorities must provide for the admission of children in the September following their fourth birthday, but it is for parents to decide whether to send their child to school before compulsory school age.
For summer born children this means that they do not need to start school until the September after their fifth birthday. It is then the decision of the admission authority whether to admit the child to Year 1 or, at the parents' request, to Reception.
In May, the Department published the results of our latest research surveys of local authorities and parents into the delayed admission of summer born children to school.
It remains our intention to legislate, when an opportunity becomes available, so that summer born children can automatically be admitted to a Reception class, where that is what their parents want, and remain with that cohort throughout their education.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to provide asymptomatic covid-19 testing to all Ofsted registered childminders.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Childminders currently have access to community testing and should continue to use local community testing programmes for regular asymptomatic testing until further notice. More information on where and how these can be accessed is found here: https://www.gov.uk/find-covid-19-lateral-flow-test-site. The Department is continuing to work closely with colleagues in local authorities and across Government to explore the most effective approach for testing childminders.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2021 to Question 147056, on Childminding: Coronavirus, how he plans to prioritise the steps outlined; and if he will set out a timetable for taking those steps.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Childminders currently have access to community testing and should continue to use local community testing programmes for regular asymptomatic testing until further notice. More information on where and how these can be accessed is found here: https://www.gov.uk/find-covid-19-lateral-flow-test-site. The Department is continuing to work closely with colleagues in local authorities and across Government to explore the most effective approach for testing childminders.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of wearing of face coverings on the learning of children with hearing loss; what guidance has been provided to schools and colleges on that matter; and whether he plans to make it his policy to ensure the availability of clear face coverings for pupils with hearing loss.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s guidance on face coverings can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-in-education/face-coverings-in-education.
As the guidance outlines, during national lockdown, in schools where Year 7 and above are educated, face coverings should be worn by adults, such as staff and visitors, pupils, and students. Face coverings should be worn when moving around indoors, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors, and in communal areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain.
Based on current evidence and the measures that schools are already putting in place, such as the system of controls and consistent bubbles, face coverings will not generally be necessary in the classroom.
Children in primary schools do not need to wear a face covering.
Some individuals are exempt from wearing face coverings. This includes people who cannot put on, wear, or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness, impairment, or disability, or if you are speaking to or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip reading, clear sound or facial expressions to communicate. The same legal exemptions that apply to the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport also apply in schools.
Face coverings can make it more difficult to communicate with pupils and students with additional needs or those who may rely on lip reading or facial expressions for understanding. We expect staff to be sensitive to these needs when teaching and interacting with pupils and students.
The Department continues to provide information to the sector on our guidance, and any changes to it, through regular departmental communications. The Department will also continue to work with Public Health England, as well as stakeholders across the sector, to monitor the latest scientific and medical advice and to understand the impact of the system of controls on staff, pupils and parents.