Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had discussions with the (a) University of Kent and (b) University of Greenwich on the potential impact of the formation of the London and South East University Group on courses available to students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department sees collaboration of this type as a positive pathway towards building greater resilience in the sector, especially where this will bring positive benefits to students.
Universities are autonomous and independent from government. As such, they must make their own decisions about their business model and sustainability, and this partnership has been led by the universities themselves. However, the department will continue to work with both universities on any regulatory barriers to the proposed changes.
Collaboration, if done effectively, can improve financial sustainability. This means providers may be better positioned to remain open, invest in their course provision, campus facilities and student support services, ultimately enhancing the overall student experience.
When undertaking significant transformative activity, it is essential that providers consider the potential impact on students and staff. We would expect providers to clearly and proactively communicate any changes, ensuring transparency and minimising uncertainty during periods of transition.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had discussions with the (a) University of Kent and (b) University of Greenwich on potential redundancies of (i) teaching and (ii) other staff following the formation of the London and South East University Group.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department sees collaboration of this type as a positive pathway towards building greater resilience in the sector, especially where this will bring positive benefits to students.
This partnership has been led by the universities themselves. However, the department will continue to work with both universities on any regulatory barriers to the proposed changes.
As independent institutions, universities are responsible for decisions around staffing. Nevertheless, we expect all universities to engage constructively with their workforce when making decisions which may affect them.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the placement of children with new foster parents does not have a disruptive impact on their education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the importance of continuity and stability throughout a looked-after child’s life.
Under the care planning, placement and case review guidance and regulations, and Section 22c of the Children Act 1989, social workers, with the support of the local authority’s virtual school head, must minimise disruption to a child’s education. School changes should be minimised, and necessary transitions carefully planned and supported. Where change is unavoidable, their Personal Education Plan should outline arrangements to minimise disruption to education, especially during exam periods.
The department is supporting local authorities to recruit foster carers and committed an additional £25 million, on top of a previously announced £15 million, to support further recruitment. We also recognise the need to support foster carers properly, in order to retain the carers we already have. Ensuring foster carer sufficiency is vital to enabling local authorities to provide local fostering homes, and keep children close to their school and community.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed removal of funding for the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme on the ability to (a) promote and (b) increase apprenticeship engagement among (i) students and (ii) teachers.
Answered by Janet Daby
Promoting apprenticeships and technical education routes remains a key part of this government’s education policy. The decision to not continue the Apprenticeships Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme was based on the following:
Schools and colleges seeking support to raise awareness of apprenticeships and technical education can access a range of online and in-person initiatives, including:
Around 2,000 volunteers, comprising of employers and apprentices, have formed the Apprenticeship ambassador network (AAN), a department-supported network. The AAN visit institutions sharing compelling experiences about apprenticeships. The AAN covers 70% schools and colleges in England and aims to align an ambassador to every secondary school and further education college by March 2026.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme for raising awareness of (a) apprenticeships, (b) traineeships and (c) T Levels in (i) Kent and (ii) England.
Answered by Janet Daby
The Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme has played an important role in promoting apprenticeships and other technical education routes over the last nine academic years. Over this period there has been a significant increase in the interest and understanding of apprenticeships and technical education pathways which has been influenced by the ASK programme and other government initiatives to raise awareness of these routes.
The Careers and Enterprise Company’s Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ) shows that in 2023/24, 88% of year 13 and 80% of year 11 were aware of and understood apprenticeship related options after their education in England. FSQ also shows that students are over twice as likely to report awareness of apprenticeships between year 7 and year 11 (from 38% to 80%, almost on a par with A levels). In Kent, 77% of year 11 students reported understanding apprenticeships compared to 79% awareness of A Levels.
FSQ data also show that since the T Level programme was launched in 2020, awareness and understanding of the T Levels has increased from 37% in 2021/22 to 47% in 2023/24.
Data from the Parent, Pupil and Learner Panel Survey also shows that awareness of T Levels is growing rapidly. 50% of students in years 9 to 11 knew about a T Level in 2023, up from 14% two years earlier.
The Traineeship programme was closed on 31 July 2023 under the previous government.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) regional adoption agencies and (b) local authorities meet with representatives of parents affected by adoption (a) disruption and (b) breakdown to help prevent further cases.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department does not collect information centrally on the number of adoptions that have been disrupted or adoptions that breakdown. We only publish information on whether children starting to be looked after in any given year were known to have been previously adopted. This information is in table C1 of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92f77d0d-7e95-45a1-f1db-08dd5cc661f7.
The department is providing funding of £3 million in this financial year to Adoption England to improve adoption support services in Regional Adoption Agencies. This includes developing more multi-disciplinary teams across the country to provide specialist and therapeutic support to families, and the development of national standards for adoption support. It also includes a new framework for an early support core offer, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first twelve to eighteen months of placement, and an Adoption Support Plan to guide assessments of a family’s support needs. All are designed to improve support and reduce the risk of an adoption breakdown.
Adoption England are also planning work to develop a national protocol on how children’s services, front door services and adoption support teams work together to better support families at risk of adoption disruption.
Adoption England and Regional Adoption Agencies work closely with adopters on all of their projects to improve adoption support services. This includes considering the latest evidence of why adoption disruptions have occurred in their agencies and across the country.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department hold on the number of cases of adoption (a) disruption and (b) breakdown for each of the last five years; and if she will publish that data.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department does not collect information centrally on the number of adoptions that have been disrupted or adoptions that breakdown. We only publish information on whether children starting to be looked after in any given year were known to have been previously adopted. This information is in table C1 of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92f77d0d-7e95-45a1-f1db-08dd5cc661f7.
The department is providing funding of £3 million in this financial year to Adoption England to improve adoption support services in Regional Adoption Agencies. This includes developing more multi-disciplinary teams across the country to provide specialist and therapeutic support to families, and the development of national standards for adoption support. It also includes a new framework for an early support core offer, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first twelve to eighteen months of placement, and an Adoption Support Plan to guide assessments of a family’s support needs. All are designed to improve support and reduce the risk of an adoption breakdown.
Adoption England are also planning work to develop a national protocol on how children’s services, front door services and adoption support teams work together to better support families at risk of adoption disruption.
Adoption England and Regional Adoption Agencies work closely with adopters on all of their projects to improve adoption support services. This includes considering the latest evidence of why adoption disruptions have occurred in their agencies and across the country.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) teachers and (b) other teaching staff participating in mandatory autism awareness and sensitivity training.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
As set out in the cross-government autism strategy (2021 to 2026), the government wants to improve understanding and acceptance of autism and for public sector services to become more autism-inclusive.
Under the Equality Act 2010, public sector organisations, including schools, are required to make changes in their approach or provision to ensure that services are accessible to disabled people as well as to everybody else.
There is work underway in the department to improve autism awareness. High quality, evidence-based teaching is critical in ensuring that the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are met effectively.
The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND. The department funds the £12 million Universal Services Programme, which helps the school and further education workforce to identify the needs of pupils with SEND earlier and more effectively. The programme includes autism training, delivered by Autism Education Trust training partners, to over 200,000 education professionals so far.
Also, following the recent review, the initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF), which was published in January 2024, contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
The department is committing to a full review of the delivery of the early career teacher (ECT) entitlement, including the content of the ITTECF, in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support for ECTs based on the most up-to date-evidence. This review will focus on increasing support for mentors, as well as for teaching pupils with SEND.
In education settings, school staff can access a range of training as appropriate to their career stage. Training to support pupils with autism should include information on how to access health and social care as necessary.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 including lessons on death and bereavement in the National Curriculum.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department wants to support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe, and to equip them for adult life so they achieve and thrive.
The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance makes clear that teachers should be aware of common adverse childhood experiences, including bereavement, and understand when and how these may be affecting of their pupils. This will help teachers to tailor their lessons accordingly, taking decisions on appropriate resources and support to enable them to teach the curriculum effectively. Teachers are free to draw on the support and expertise of subject associations and other providers of curriculum support.
The RSHE statutory guidance, which sets out the specific topics pupils should be taught, is currently under review. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children's wellbeing will be the government's priority, in light of which the department is looking carefully at the responses from the period of public consultation which ended on 11 July, engage with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps. As part of this process, the department will explore whether any more or amended content is required, including on death and bereavement.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support children diagnosed with dyslexia in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There is already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the Reading Framework and an updated list of high quality phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
Ashford’s local English Hub is Kingsnorth. Further information is available here: https://www.kingsnorth.kent.sch.uk/english-hub.