Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing disabled children who are eligible for free school meals and (a) are unable to attend school due to a long-term medical condition and (b) cannot eat those meals as a result of (i) dietary requirements and (ii) sensory processing difficulties with a (A) direct payment or (B) voucher scheme instead.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Education Act 1996 places a duty on maintained schools and academies to provide free school meals (FSM) to pupils of all ages that meet the criteria for eligibility and who are attending school during term time. The Act makes clear that a child must be registered at a publicly funded school as a condition of claiming FSM.
Local Authorities are funded to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those who are unable to attend school on a long term basis. Parents are advised to liaise with Local Authorities to consider suitable alternatives in line with the guidance on long term illnesses, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/illness-child-education.
The Department is always considering how it can best support children with SEND and their parents. The Department will keep its guidance on FSM under review to ensure that it is meeting user needs.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the Centre for Financial Capability’s finding that one-fifth of primary school children have access to financial education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government wants all young people to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.
The Department works closely with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) and HM Treasury to consider the wide range of evidence for financial education, and to explore the opportunities to improve the availability to high quality financial education for all pupils. This evidence includes reports from the Centre for Financial Capability.
MaPS has a statutory duty to develop and coordinate a national strategy to improve people’s financial capabilities. Their ten year strategy, published in 2020, set out their national goal that two million more children and young people will receive a meaningful financial education by 2030. The strategy is supported by Delivery Plans for each nation of the UK. This can be found here: https://www.maps.org.uk/uk-strategy-for-financial-wellbeing/.
The Department has introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum which provides young people with the knowledge and financial capabilities to make important financial decisions. In the primary mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic that pupils should be taught. This knowledge is vital, as a strong grasp of mathematics will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some specific content regarding financial education, such as calculations with money. Primary schools can also choose to teach financial education content within their citizenship curriculum, using the non-statutory citizenship curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/citizenship-programmes-of-study-for-key-stages-1-and-2.
MaPS published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England, to support schools to enhance the financial education currently being taught. This guidance can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.
The Department and MaPS will deliver a series of joint financial education webinars this academic year, aimed at promoting the importance of financial education for all pupils, improving teacher confidence and knowledge.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps with local authorities to help reduce the number of moves made by children in the care system.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Department believes that every child should experience a stable loving home during their time in care. There are many factors that contribute to placement instability and we are now collecting data to help understand the reason for placement changes. The data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/53b32118-528e-4015-777b-08dab100bfc2.
It is important to note that some placement moves are necessary, particularly when part of a plan to find a longer term or permanent home for a child. Planned moves are often in the best interests of the child. A first placement may be organised at short notice due to an emergency and may not be a perfect fit, or a child may need a short-term placement for specialist care.
To improve placement stability, the department has invested in the Mockingbird Family Model, which is an innovative approach to strengthening the delivery of foster care and reducing placement breakdown. Since 2014, the department has provided over £8 million to help a total of 58 local authorities across the country embed the Mockingbird programme. £1.7 million of this was provided as part of the Covid Regional Recovery Fund.
Recognising the urgency of action in placement sufficiency, the department will prioritise working with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This will include pathfinder local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure those carers approved are the right match for children coming into care and children have access to the right placements at the right time.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to research by the charity Become on the number of children in the care system in England moved each day, what steps she is taking to improve the safety and stability of children in the care system.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Department believes that every child should experience a stable loving home during their time in care. There are many factors that contribute to placement instability and we are now collecting data to help understand the reason for placement changes. The data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/53b32118-528e-4015-777b-08dab100bfc2.
It is important to note that some placement moves are necessary, particularly when part of a plan to find a longer term or permanent home for a child. Planned moves are often in the best interests of the child. A first placement may be organised at short notice due to an emergency and may not be a perfect fit, or a child may need a short-term placement for specialist care.
To improve placement stability, the department has invested in the Mockingbird Family Model, which is an innovative approach to strengthening the delivery of foster care and reducing placement breakdown. Since 2014, the department has provided over £8 million to help a total of 58 local authorities across the country embed the Mockingbird programme. £1.7 million of this was provided as part of the Covid Regional Recovery Fund.
Recognising the urgency of action in placement sufficiency, the department will prioritise working with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This will include pathfinder local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure those carers approved are the right match for children coming into care and children have access to the right placements at the right time.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the level of demand for school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Birmingham, Selly Oak constituency.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), sits with local authorities.
To support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duties, the department is investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to help deliver new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision. This represents a significant investment in new high needs provision. It will support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and will also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
As part of this commitment, in March 2022 we announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations amounting to over £1.4 billion of new investment, focused on academic years 2023/24 and 2024/25. Birmingham received a total of just under £27.3 million through the allocations announced in March 2022. Birmingham also received over £6.5 million through previous allocations announced in April 2021, to deliver new places for academic year 2022/23.
From Summer 2023 the department will be collecting data from local authorities on the physical capacity of special schools and SEND provision in mainstream schools, as well as corresponding forecasts of demand for specialist places. We expect this to be an annual data collection, forming part of the existing School Capacity Survey.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November to Question 902446 on Students: Finance, when she plans to provide an update on an alternative student finance product for Muslim students.
Answered by Robert Halfon
I refer the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak to the answer given on the 25 July 2022 to Question 37600.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help homeless young people access vocational courses.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Students and young people participating in vocational education or training that are homeless may access a range of financial support to help them to participate.
Students aged 16-19, or aged up to 25 with an education, health and care (EHC) plan may be able to receive support from the 16-19 Bursary Fund. This supports financially disadvantaged students, helping them remain in education or training, and supports them in meeting costs associated with studying, such as travel, books, equipment, and trips. In the 2022/23 academic year the department allocated nearly £144 million for institutions to help these students. In addition, the department has made available Bursary Funds of over £21 million for vulnerable 16–19-year-old students (such as those who are in care, care leavers and those who are supporting themselves and claiming benefits). The department has also made over £31 million available for free meals in further education, as well as childcare and residential support where needed.
The department wants more young people to benefit from apprenticeships that offer high quality training and opportunities for progression. The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 and continuing to offer £1,000 payments to employers when they hire apprentices aged 16 to18, or those aged 19 to 24 who are care leavers or have an EHC plan.
The Adult Education Budget (AEB), worth £1.34 billion in the 2022/23 academic year, fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
The AEB includes funding to enable colleges and providers to help adult learners, including those who are homeless, to overcome barriers which prevent them from taking part in learning. This includes Learner Support for learners aged over 19 with a specific financial hardship, where providers have discretion to help learners meet the costs associated with studying. Learning Support also enables colleges and training providers to meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and meet the costs of reasonable adjustments as set out in the Equality Act 2010. Learning Support can cover a range of needs including an assessment for dyslexia, funding to pay for specialist equipment or helpers, and arranging signers or note takers.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Department is taking to improve the provision of education for children or young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
On 29 March, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) green paper, which sets out our plans to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and those who need AP, within a fairer and more financially sustainable system.
The consultation closed on 22 July. The department is currently reviewing the feedback received and using this, along with continued engagement with the system, to inform the next stage of delivering improvements for children, young people and their families.
The department is committed to publishing a full response to the green paper in an improvement plan early in early 2023.
The department will continue to support the system in the immediate term to deliver change and continue to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and those who need AP.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department taken to help West Midlands secondary schools provide extra support to dyslexic students.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is acting to improve early identification and intervention for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), such as dyslexia, through the reforms outlined in the Schools White Paper and the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper. These build on measures already in place to identify pupils who are facing challenges, including with literacy and reading, to help teachers understand how best to support them.
The department has introduced a new National Professional Qualification for Leading Literacy to drive up standards of literacy teaching and improve literacy and language outcomes for every child, including those who are struggling.
Next year, the department will publish the Reading framework Part 2, which will provide evidence based non-statutory guidance on teaching reading for later key stages, and supporting children who are struggling to read, including those with special educational needs.
This builds on the excellent support already available to primary school pupils in the West Midlands via two English Hubs, St John Bosco Catholic Primary School in Sandwell, and Little Sutton Primary School in Birmingham. English Hubs offer targeted support to local schools, academies and free schools to improve the teaching of phonics, early language and reading in Reception and Year 1.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve the (a) identification and(b) diagnosis of dyslexic school pupils at the earliest stage possible.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
I refer the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak to the answer given on 28 November 2022 to Question 92078.