Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government is working with representatives of local Violence Against Women and Girls sector organisations to implement relationship and sex education.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department has not engaged specifically with any local representatives of sector organisations focused on violence against women and girls in relation to the implementation of the new Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum, which came into force in September 2020. The department commissioned Ofsted to undertake a review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges and they published their report in June 2021. The government accepted the findings in full. The department is developing a new support package for teachers, and we plan to engage with a range of stakeholders, including organisations with expertise in sexual abuse and violence against women and girls to inform that.
We will publish non-statutory RSHE guidance covering specific topics mentioned by the Ofsted review and in response to the Violence against Women and Girls strategy.
To support teachers further, we also plan to host a national webinar on specific topics in RSHE for teachers and other interested professionals using subject sector experts from the field and run smaller RSHE regional events to support teachers to network and share best practice.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that children not in mainstream education receive relationship and sex education.
Answered by Robin Walker
Relationships education is compulsory for all primary school pupils, relationships and sex education is compulsory for all secondary school pupils, and health education is compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. This includes pupils in special schools and pupil referral units. In teaching the new curriculum, schools must have regard to the statutory guidance.
To support all teachers to deliver the curriculum, the department has developed a package of support which can be accessed via this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health. To further support teachers of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), we have delivered a national webinar as well as regional training events for primary and secondary schools:
https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/content/send-hub;
We have also developed a teacher training module specifically about teaching relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) to pupils with SEND: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health#pupils-with-send.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver RSHE, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of training for teachers delivering the new Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education curriculum.
Answered by Robin Walker
The consultation on the statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum revealed that many teachers and subject leads needed training and support to deliver the new content. The department invested in a package of support to develop teacher capability and competence to teach high quality RSHE. The package of support included a training and peer support programme, delivered by teaching schools and based on the department’s training modules which were developed with subject experts and tested with teachers. In the 2020/21 academic year, the programme reached 3,800 schools, and provisional data for the last wave, which ended in July, shows a further 1,000 schools have been supported. This is a cascade model of training whereby those trained are expected to share the training with other teachers in their school and wider school networks. Teaching schools have made their training materials and other resources freely available on their websites. The department’s training modules are also freely available for all schools to download via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.
The department is developing plans to monitor national implementation of RSHE over time, including new quantitative and qualitative research, which will seek to understand the quality of implementation, including teacher confidence in teaching the statutory requirements, and identifying training and support needs to inform future policy development.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the national set of standards for independent and semi-independent placements for children in social care.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government will be introducing national standards for independent and semi-independent settings for children in care and care leavers aged 16 and 17, to raise the bar for this provision. This was set in our response to the consultation on reforms to the use of unregulated provision: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/unregulated-provision-for-children-in-care-and-care-leavers.
The national standards will work towards ensuring that local authorities can be confident when making placements in this provision. They will also strengthen our ability to take action against poor providers. Most importantly, they will ensure that our children and young people are safe and have the best possible chances of success in life.
We know that this new regime will represent a major change for local authorities and providers. This is why we are committed to designing and implementing this regime in collaboration with the sector and with care-experienced children and young people. We are working closely with a range of partners across the sector to prepare a consultation on the content of the national standards and accompanying Ofsted regime.
We will publish this consultation shortly, which will include a draft version of the national standards.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to issue additional covid-19 guidance on restrictions on group education activities for home schooled children.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government recognises the important role group education activities play in providing enrichment opportunities which support the education of electively home educated children and young people. We also acknowledge the benefits they provide to the development of social skills and attitudes which promote their wellbeing and enhance their physical and mental health.
Any group activities undertaken by home educators should be carried out in line with government guidance.
From 8 March 2021, out-of-school settings (including tuition providers) have been able to open to all children for certain essential purposes. These essential purposes include where the provision is being used by vulnerable children and young people, and other children, where the provision is:
We have published updated guidance for providers, setting out the measures they should take to open for more children as safely as possible.
The Department will continue to review the guidance for out-of-school settings in line with the roadmap out of COVID-19 restrictions.
Further information is provided here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to extend funding to support teachers in delivering Relationship and Sex Education beyond April 2021 to account for the delay in making that education mandatory from September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The regulations for the new subjects of Relationships Education (for all primary school pupils), Relationships and Sex Education (for all secondary school pupils) and Health Education (for all pupils in state-funded schools) came into force in September 2020. Given the circumstances faced by schools during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department clarified that the statutory requirement allows some flexibility over when schools discharge their duty in teaching the new curriculum within the first year of compulsory teaching.
The Department invested up to £2 million in the financial year 2019-20 and is investing up to £4 million in the current financial year to fund a support programme of work to help schools in their delivery of the new curriculum.
The support programme includes grant funding to 21 lead Teaching Schools covering all eight regions to deliver a train the trainer and peer support programme to primary and secondary schools in their region. This programme has supported over 2,000 schools since May 2020, and we expect a further 1500 schools to be helped by spring 2021. The training materials and other resources developed for this programme by the lead Teaching Schools will be available for access by all schools from April 2021.
Furthermore, Oak National Academy provides free remote education video lessons and resources covering the new Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum. To support the hard work of schools in delivering remote education, Oak National Academy was very quickly brought together by over 40 teachers, their schools and other education organisations. The Department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20, and then for the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. Information about Oak National Academy and the resources available can be accessed via this link: https://www.thenational.academy.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to introduce mandatory Relationship education for primary schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The regulations for the new subjects of Relationships Education (for all primary school pupils), Relationships and Sex Education (for all secondary school pupils) and Health Education (for all pupils in state-funded schools) came into force in September 2020. Given the circumstances faced by schools during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department clarified that the statutory requirement allows some flexibility over when schools discharge their duty in teaching the new curriculum within the first year of compulsory teaching.
The Department invested up to £2 million in the financial year 2019-20 and is investing up to £4 million in the current financial year to fund a support programme of work to help schools in their delivery of the new curriculum.
The support programme includes grant funding to 21 lead Teaching Schools covering all eight regions to deliver a train the trainer and peer support programme to primary and secondary schools in their region. This programme has supported over 2,000 schools since May 2020, and we expect a further 1500 schools to be helped by spring 2021. The training materials and other resources developed for this programme by the lead Teaching Schools will be available for access by all schools from April 2021.
Furthermore, Oak National Academy provides free remote education video lessons and resources covering the new Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum. To support the hard work of schools in delivering remote education, Oak National Academy was very quickly brought together by over 40 teachers, their schools and other education organisations. The Department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20, and then for the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. Information about Oak National Academy and the resources available can be accessed via this link: https://www.thenational.academy.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve the external oversight of universities in the handling of cases of sexual misconduct.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Departmental officials are working closely with departments across government to tackle sexual misconduct in universities. The government continues to work closely with Universities UK (UUK) on implementing its Changing the Culture framework.
Underreporting of sexual harassment and sexual violence is common within society and it is important that providers break down barriers to reporting and that students feel safe and able to report incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence. The most recent UUK progress report, published in October 2019, showed that progress is being made, with 72% of responding institutions having developed or improved the recording of data on harassment and discrimination incidents with a more centralised approach.
The government expects providers to take their responsibilities to students seriously and to have in place appropriate policies and procedures to tackle sexual misconduct, report incidents and make complaints. The government also expects the provider to support the student in making a decision about the way forward, including whether to make a report to the police. Any student who feels that their complaint has not been dealt with appropriately or satisfactorily can escalate their complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA).
The Office of Students (OfS) has an extremely important role to play in ensuring there are appropriate mechanisms in place to safeguard students and it is clearly important that the OfS has the appropriate powers to address these issues effectively. The OfS has provided £4.7 million for safeguarding schemes.
The OfS has committed to going further to tackle harassment and sexual misconduct, announcing consultation proposals setting out expectations for all HE providers to prevent and address hate crime, harassment and sexual misconduct. The consultation is currently on hold due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The OfS are still accepting online submissions in relation to the consultation and are responding to queries. Further details are available on their webpage: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/consultation-on-harassment-and-sexual-misconduct/.
The government will continue to urge university leaders to prioritise a zero-tolerance culture to all harassment and sexual misconduct and improve the systems for reporting incidents.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to require universities with charitable status to (a) register with the Charity Commission and (b) file a serious incident report in the event that an adverse event, actual or alleged, occurs.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Most universities in England are exempt charities, which means they are exempt from registration with, and direct regulation by, the Charity Commission.
Exempt charities have a principal regulator appointed, whose duties include promoting compliance with charity law.
The Office for Students (OfS) is the higher education regulator in England, and in accordance with charity law, is the principal regulator for higher education exempt charities in England.
Universities registered with the OfS are subject to ongoing conditions of registration. The OfS may investigate any adverse event, actual or alleged, where a breach of these conditions may have occurred, and take action as necessary, in accordance with its role as the regulator of higher education, and principal regulator of higher education exempt charities of England.
This can include engaging with the Charity Commission on the possible use of its powers under charity law.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of whether early years provision based on school sites should remain open under January 2021 covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by Vicky Ford
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced on 4 January 2021 that early years settings remain open for all children during the national lockdown.
Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
Schools have been restricted because additional measures are needed to contain the spread of the virus. The wider significant restrictions in place as part of the national lockdown to contain the spread of the virus in the community enable us to continue prioritising keeping nurseries and childminders open, supporting parents and delivering the crucial care and education needed for our youngest children.
Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. Current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0 to 5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission. There is no evidence the new strain of the virus causes more serious illness in either children or adults and there is no evidence that the new variant of COVID-19 disproportionately affects young children.
PHE advice remains that the risk of transmission and infection is low if early years settings follow the system of controls, which reduce risks and create inherently safer environments. This report from PHE shows that, at present under 5s have the lowest confirmed case rate of all age groups: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports.
Early years settings have been open to all children since 1 June and there is no evidence that the early years sector has contributed to a rise in virus cases within the community. Early modelling evidence from SAGE evidenced in the report: Modelling and behavioural science responses to scenarios for relaxing school closures showed that early years provision had a smaller relative impact on transmission rate when modelled with both primary schools and secondary schools. The report is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886994/s0257-sage-sub-group-modelling-behavioural-science-relaxing-school-closures-sage30.pdf.
Early years childcare providers were one of the first sectors to have restrictions lifted last summer, in recognition of the key role they play in society. Childminders and nursery staff across the country have worked hard to keep settings open through the COVID-19 outbreak so that young children can be educated, and parents can work. The earliest years are the most crucial point of child development and attending early education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and supports children’s social and emotional development. We continue to prioritise keeping early years settings open in full because of the clear benefits to children’s education and wellbeing and to support working parents. Caring for the youngest age group is not something that can be done remotely.
These plans are being kept under review in the light of emerging scientific evidence. We are working with the scientific community to understand the properties and dynamics of the new variant VUI-202012/01 in relation to children and young people.