Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria was used to assess the eligibility of schools for the Schools Rebuilding Progamme; and how many schools in Wilshire have been included since 2020. .
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools have been prioritised because they met one or more of the following criteria:
More information about how the department prioritised schools can be found in the published methodology notes, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The number of schools in Wiltshire that have been included in the School Rebuilding Programme is 3.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department takes to monitor the effectiveness of (a) respite and (b) support services for young carers in Wiltshire; and what recent assessment she has made of that effectiveness.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not have data on the proportion of young carers in Wiltshire who have received an assessment of their needs in the last 12 months. However, being a young carer was identified as a factor at end of assessment in 253 episodes of need in Wiltshire in the year ending 31 March 2024.
Services for young carers are monitored through the inspection of local authorities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including those relating to young carers. CQC has published their assessment of Wiltshire Council, rating them Good. It reports that there were no delays in wait times for young unpaid carers needs assessments and that the young unpaid carers offer was well established with robust oversight from senior leaders. Further, Ofsted’s inspection of Wiltshire’s Children’s Services in September 2023 found the overall service to be Outstanding.
The department is aiming to publish national key stage 2 and key stage 4 data for young carers for the first time later this year. Subject to data quality, this will allow comparison of young carers progress and attainment with their peers at local authority level.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a comparative assessment of the (a) educational attainment and (b) progression of young carers with their peers in Wiltshire.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not have data on the proportion of young carers in Wiltshire who have received an assessment of their needs in the last 12 months. However, being a young carer was identified as a factor at end of assessment in 253 episodes of need in Wiltshire in the year ending 31 March 2024.
Services for young carers are monitored through the inspection of local authorities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including those relating to young carers. CQC has published their assessment of Wiltshire Council, rating them Good. It reports that there were no delays in wait times for young unpaid carers needs assessments and that the young unpaid carers offer was well established with robust oversight from senior leaders. Further, Ofsted’s inspection of Wiltshire’s Children’s Services in September 2023 found the overall service to be Outstanding.
The department is aiming to publish national key stage 2 and key stage 4 data for young carers for the first time later this year. Subject to data quality, this will allow comparison of young carers progress and attainment with their peers at local authority level.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of young carers in Wiltshire have received a formal assessment of their needs in the last 12 months.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not have data on the proportion of young carers in Wiltshire who have received an assessment of their needs in the last 12 months. However, being a young carer was identified as a factor at end of assessment in 253 episodes of need in Wiltshire in the year ending 31 March 2024.
Services for young carers are monitored through the inspection of local authorities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including those relating to young carers. CQC has published their assessment of Wiltshire Council, rating them Good. It reports that there were no delays in wait times for young unpaid carers needs assessments and that the young unpaid carers offer was well established with robust oversight from senior leaders. Further, Ofsted’s inspection of Wiltshire’s Children’s Services in September 2023 found the overall service to be Outstanding.
The department is aiming to publish national key stage 2 and key stage 4 data for young carers for the first time later this year. Subject to data quality, this will allow comparison of young carers progress and attainment with their peers at local authority level.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
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 bringing forward legislative proposals to regularly review the Government’s statutory guidance from 2017 in relation to supporting pupils with allergies at school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.The department will keep the statutory guidance under review as we take forward our commitment to delivering an inclusive mainstream system.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with an EHCP in Wiltshire are currently placed in educational provision outside of the local authority area.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes local authority level information on cross border movement, which is where pupils attend school in a different local authority to the one where they live, in the following annual accredited official statistics publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2023-24.
As of January 2024, there were 245 pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan living in Wiltshire and attending a primary, secondary or special school outside the local authority. This information does not include cases where the pupil attends an independent, general hospital school or non-maintained special school.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of schools in Wiltshire that stock spare adrenaline auto-injectors for emergency use.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The department has alerted schools to external resources from trusted allergy organisations. This includes the Schools Allergy Code, developed by The Allergy Team, Independent Schools’ Bursars Association and the Benedict Blythe Foundation, and Allergy School created by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.
In 2017, the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance confirming that schools can purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. The department does not hold information on the number of schools which stock spare AAIs.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to support the implementation of the Benedict Blythe Foundation's allergy safety recommendations in schools in England.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The department has alerted schools to external resources from trusted allergy organisations. This includes the Schools Allergy Code, developed by The Allergy Team, Independent Schools’ Bursars Association and the Benedict Blythe Foundation, and Allergy School created by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.
In 2017, the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance confirming that schools can purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. The department does not hold information on the number of schools which stock spare AAIs.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Pension Sharing Orders administered by Teachers’ Pensions are processed within stated timeframes.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Pension scheme administrators have four months to implement pension sharing orders (PSOs), however the department is aware that for some members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, this timescale has been affected by the transitional protection remedy.
In some cases, there has been outstanding guidance whereby the scheme administrator could not progress PSOs until this was received, and other cases require responses from the member before they can be implemented.
The department is in regular discussion with the scheme administrator to consider the issues which have prevented some PSOs being issued to the normal timescales and will continue to closely monitor performance.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to funding for Level 7 apprenticeships from the Growth and Skills Levy on the availability of talent in professions such as architecture.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth with the support of a strong skills system.
This government had a dire fiscal inheritance which has made tough choices necessary to fix the foundations of our economy and prioritise in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund Level 7 apprenticeships, outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.
The department will take advice from Skills England, who have been engaging with employers on this, and expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships in the new year.
Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion.