Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of support offered to (a) primary and (b) secondary school students whose parents have serious health issues.

The government is committed to supporting children and young people whose parents have serious health issues - to improve their own health and wellbeing, and to protect them from excessive or inappropriate caring responsibilities that can impact on their education.

The Department for Education provides schools with £2.4 billion each year in additional funding through the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils; each eligible pupil attracts £1,320 to primary schools and £935 to secondary schools. Eligibility for the pupil premium is based largely on children receiving or having previously received free school meals, where parents with serious health issues or disabilities may receive qualifying income-related benefits: some research with young carers aged 14-16 suggests that around 60% already attracted the pupil premium through their eligibility for free school meals.

We expect schools to make effective use of their pupil premium budgets and do not tell them how to use the pupil premium; schools know their pupils best and will spend the grant according to meet pupil needs, which includes where needs are based on a parent’s health issues or disability. Schools are held to account for their use of the pupil premium through school inspection and information in performance tables. Most schools are required to publish details online about the use and impact of the funding.

Beyond this, a wider programme of cross-government action to support those with caring responsibilities is set out in the ‘Carers Action Plan’, a two-year programme of tailored work to support unpaid carers of all ages: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carers-action-plan-2018-to-2020. Chapter three sets out the government’s action specifically to support young carers and includes plans to improve: identification of young carers; educational opportunities and outcomes; access to support and services; and transition for young adult carers.

In assessing the situation facing young carers, in January 2017 the Department for Education published the omnibus survey report 'The Lives of Young Carers in England’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-lives-of-young-carers-in-england. This was a significant piece of research carried out by the department in partnership with Loughborough University looking to improve understanding of the numbers and needs of young carers and their families.