Asked by: Simon Wright (Liberal Democrat - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on making defibrillators available to all schools at a reduced price.
Answered by David Laws
I am pleased to confirm that the Department for Education announced new arrangements to allow schools to purchase automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at a competitive price on 26 November 2014. They are the result of a unique agreement between the Department for Education and the Department of Health, enabling NHS Supply Chain to purchase devices in batches from approved framework suppliers via a reverse auction process. The discount achieved on each batch is then passed on to schools through a reduced unit price.
To help schools in considering whether to purchase a defibrillator, the Department for Education has also published advice on installing and maintaining AEDs on school premises. This has been developed drawing on the expertise of NHS ambulance services and voluntary and community sector organisations.
By encouraging schools across the country to acquire these potentially life-saving devices, the Department hopes to make a vital contribution to ensuring that pupils and school staff who suffer cardiac arrests whilst at school have the best possible chance of survival. I hope that as many schools as possible will take advantage of the new arrangements.
Asked by: Simon Wright (Liberal Democrat - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the pay and employment conditions of supply teachers employed by supply teacher agencies; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by David Laws
The Department does not collect data on pay and employment conditions for supply teachers employed by agencies as these fall within private commercial arrangements.
Asked by: Simon Wright (Liberal Democrat - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support young carers in school.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Recent research shows that young carers have significantly lower educational attainment at GCSE level than their peers, equivalent to nine grades lower overall. That’s the difference between nine Bs and nine Cs.
That shows why it is so important that schools are able to identify and support pupils who are young carers. However a legislative approach compelling them to do so is not in keeping with our drive to reduce burdens on schools. It is important that headteachers and governors have the freedoms they need to meet their responsibilities for the welfare of their pupils in the way they consider is most appropriate.
I am very grateful for the support of the National Governors’ Association in raising awareness about the needs of young carers and sharing resources with governing bodies. Whilst there is a lot of good practice in schools, there remains much to do to make this more widely available.
That is why I welcome two exciting new developments led by the voluntary sector. The Big Lottery Fund are financing The Children’s Society’s “Young Carers in Focus” programme to launch a national award scheme that allows schools to be recognised for the quality of support for their young carers. The Queen’s Trust too are funding Carers Trust to develop and test best practice on young carer support in schools. Both of these initiatives will build on the work my Department has been doing with The Children’s Society and Carers Trust since 2011 to share existing tools and good practice. This includes development of an e-learning module for school staff to increase awareness in schools of young carers’ needs. We are planning to update this soon to reflect the new legislation but the current version is available on The Children’s Society’s website: http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/Young-Carers-Web-Pub-v13/player.html
The Department of Health are also training school nurses to be champions for young carers. They will speak up on their behalf and help headteachers and governors decide how best to support them at school.
At present we do not plan to extend the pupil premium eligibility criteria to cover young carers (or any other group). Our policy is to allocate pupil premium funding to those pupils who have experienced financial disadvantage but there is a significant cross-over between young carers and the current pupil premium target population. Research indicates that as many as 60 per cent of young carers could be eligible for free school meals, so already attract the pupil premium.
We will continue to encourage schools to use the resources that are already freely available to them and to make links to their local young carers support group.