Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether British national (overseas) status holders and their dependants will be subject to (a) international or (b) home student fees for higher education if they study in the UK.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
To qualify for home fee status in England, a person must have settled status or a recognised connection to the UK. This includes persons who are covered by EU law, have long residence in this country or who have been granted international protection by the Home Office. There are also requirements associated with ordinary residence in the UK.
Subject to meeting the normal eligibility requirements, British Nationals (Overseas) status holders will be able to qualify for home fee status once they have acquired settled status in the UK. The same applies to the dependents of such persons.
Higher Education Providers have discretion to charge a student who is not eligible for home fee status whatever fee they deem appropriate, including the same fee as they charge students who have home fee status.
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 potential effect of the (a) Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulation 2020 and (b) relaxation of regulations in respect of children in residential care on child victims of trafficking and children at risk of exploitation.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The safety of vulnerable children remains paramount for the government during the COVID-19 outbreak which is why the vast majority of statutory duties remain unchanged. The Regulations allow some temporary and limited flexibility to be used when absolutely necessary, with oversight by senior management, and must be consistent with the overarching safeguarding and welfare duties that remain in place.
The amendments do not reduce or remove any responsibility that local authorities have towards children, nor should they be at the expense of the rights and protection of children in care. The duties on local authorities and providers to report their decision-making remains the same.
Ofsted inspections continue where there are safeguarding concerns, and new regional education and children’s teams are working around the country to improve our understanding about the risks facing children and local authority and wider multiagency partners’ response to those risks. We continue to work with the Home Office to protect children at risk of exploitation or trafficking.
The Regulations will expire on 25 September unless extended and we are committed to continuously reviewing them, with feedback from stakeholders, so they will remain in place only as long as they are needed.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will issue national guidance on payments to (a) exam invigilators and (b) other school ancillary staff employed on zero hour contracts who have not been offered any work hours during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is for schools and local authorities to make appropriate decisions to protect the interests of their staff and workers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Government’s Procurement Policy Notice 02/20 sets out information and guidance for contracting authorities, including schools, to consider before making individual decisions regarding payment of their suppliers. The guidance sets out that, under certain circumstances, public bodies can make payments of 80% of previously agreed rates to suppliers and contingent workers.
The Department is not involved in arrangements between suppliers and schools. We encourage schools to follow the guidance, but the guidance is advisory and does not mandate or prescribe what schools should do in individual circumstances.
This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0220-supplier-relief-due-to-covid-19
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report published in March 2020 by the Menstrual Health Coalition entitled Heavy Menstrual Bleeding – breaking silence and stigma, what steps his Department is taking to ensure effective and comprehensive relationships and sex education in schools in England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants to support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe. We want to equip them for adult life and to make a positive contribution to society. From September, we are making relationships education compulsory for all primary pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for all secondary pupils, and health education compulsory for all pupils in state-funded schools.
To support schools in their preparations, the Department is investing in a central support package to help all schools to increase the confidence and quality of their teaching practice. We are currently developing a new online service featuring innovative training materials, case studies and support to access resources. This will be available from April 2020 with additional content added through the summer term, covering all of the teaching requirements in the statutory guidance. The implementation guide will also be provided to all schools as part of this service, and training offers will be available for schools that need additional support.
The statutory guidance sets out that as part of health education, primary and secondary pupils should be taught about menstrual wellbeing including key facts about the menstrual cycle. This should include the implications for emotional and physical health. The statutory guidance can be accessed via the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805781/Relationships_Education__Relationships_and_Sex_Education__RSE__and_Health_Education.pdf.
Schools also have the flexibility to design the content of their curriculum in an age appropriate way to support their cohort of pupils. To help schools design their curriculum, we have signposted them to expert advice from Public Health England on reproductive health.
We are also funding access to free period products in state-funded primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the new relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education guidance requires schools to teach pupils (a) what constitutes domestic abuse and (b) how that abuse might manifest in their own (i) LGBT+ and (ii) other relationships.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are committed to supporting all schools in their preparations to introduce relationships education (primary school pupils), relationships and sex education (secondary school pupils), and health education (state-funded school pupils) to a high standard from September 2020.
Through relationships education and relationships and sex education, schools will teach pupils the knowledge they need to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse in an age and developmentally appropriate way.
In primary schools, this will be delivered through focusing on boundaries and privacy in relationships with peers and family, including online. Pupils will also be taught how to report concerns or abuse.
At secondary school, content such as grooming, sexual exploitation and domestic abuse, should also be addressed sensitively and clearly. Pupils should know the concepts of the law relating to sexual consent, exploitation, domestic abuse, rape, honour-based violence and Female Genital Mutilation, and how these can affect current and future relationships and where to access support if they are at risk.
All pupils should receive teaching on LGBT relationships during their school years. The guidance recommends that LGBT specific content, when taught, is fully integrated in schools’ programme of study for this area of the curriculum.
Relationships education, relationships and sex education, and health education will also support the statutory ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ guidance for schools, which they must consider when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
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 increase funding for schools that experience high levels of in-flowing, mobile pupils throughout the academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on developing a national method for funding mobility as part of the national funding formula for schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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 potential effect on schools hosting Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children of proposed reforms to the mobility factor of the national funding formula.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to report entitled Improving agency data on child sexual abuse: A pilot study of the child sexual abuse, published by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse in July 2019, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of local authorities reportable data in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The department welcomes the publication of the report ‘Improving agency data on child sexual abuse’ by the Centre of Expertise and will take into consideration its valuable recommendations. A small amount of the data, on child sexual abuse and exploitation in scope of the report, is reported centrally to the department. These are additional factors collected at the end of a child protection assessment, identified and recorded in the Children in Need census. They are published in Table C3 of the statistical release, ‘Characteristics of children in need tables: 2018’. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018.
Factors identified at the end of the assessment were collected and reported for the first time in the year in 2013 to 2014. Initially, data was only published at a national level due to some concerns about its quality: this is common when new data items are introduced to collections and consistency in local reporting needs to be established. The quality has improved as the data item has ‘bedded in’, and the data is now published at national and local authority level. More than one factor can be identified for each episode of need and as there are 39 factors we publish additional guidance to aid local authorities in submitting this data.
We continue to work with local authorities on the data quality as we are aware of the interest in the contextual information provided by this data item, especially in areas such as child exploitation and sexual abuse.
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 effectiveness of pupil premium criteria for meeting the needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The pupil premium is additional funding, worth over £2.4 billion in the current financial year, to help schools improve the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils. Allocations to schools are based on the number of pupils on roll at the time of the January school census who are currently registered for benefits-based free school meals (FSM) or who have been registered at any point in the last 6 years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’); or who are currently looked after, or have left local authority care in England or Wales through adoption or other specified routes. In 2019-20, 27.3% of all pupils in state-funded education in England attract pupil premium funding to the schools they attend.
The department knows that a significant proportion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage (GRT) pupils qualify for the pupil premium. In 2017-18, 41.1% of GRT pupils at the end of key stage 2 and 33.7% at the end of key stage 4 were registered for FSM.
Nonetheless, the department is aware that there are concerns that some GRT pupils from financially disadvantaged family circumstances do not attract pupil premium funding to the schools they attend, because their parents choose not to apply for those benefits that would qualify their children for FSM. We encourage those parents who are eligible for qualifying benefits to take up the offer of support, so that all available resources can be brought to bear in improving the futures of all our young people.
It should also be noted that the pupil premium is not ring-fenced funding and schools have flexibility over how they use their allocations to address the needs of their pupils. This can include the implementation of whole school approaches that will improve the progress and attainment of all pupils, as well as being particularly beneficial for those pupils who are formally classed as disadvantaged and attract pupil premium funding. We actively encourage schools to adopt evidence-based approaches to their pupil premium spending, and to look at the pupil premium guide recently produced by the Education Endowment Foundation on how to maximise the impact of the funding. This information can be found at the following link: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/pupil-premium-guide/.