Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to enable children brought to the UK by the UNHCR to be reunited with their parents.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Keeping families together as part of the resettlement process is a priority. Children resettled through the UK Resettlement Scheme will usually arrive in the UK with their parents or carers.
As part of UNHCR’s assessment, UNHCR will first seek to reunify unaccompanied children with parents or family members within the host region or wherever their family members may be. For unaccompanied children, UNHCR will refer a child to the UK or another participating State should they consider that it would be in the child’s best interest to be resettled.
The government provides a safe and legal route to bring families together through its refugee family reunion policy. This allows individuals with protection status in the UK to sponsor their partner or children to reunite with them, provided they formed part of the family unit before their sponsor fled the country of their habitual residence in order to seek protection. We will seek to ensure that this route works effectively.
Sep. 24 2024
Source Page: Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare: Phase 4 ReportFound: Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare: Phase 4 Report
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to expand childcare to 30 hours per week for all eligible families with children aged between nine months and three years from September 2025.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Expanding access to affordable and high quality childcare is key to breaking down barriers to opportunity and is one of the driving missions of this government.
From 2 September 2024, hundreds of thousands of eligible working parents of children from nine months old have begun to access 15 hours of government-funded early education per week.
The department is looking ahead to delivering the expansion to 30 funded hours from next September. Eligible working parents of children aged nine months and above will be able to access 30 hours (over 38 weeks a year) from the term following their child turning nine months to when they start school.
The department is already taking action to help deliver the additional places needed for the next phase and to deliver the remainder of the promised 3,000 school-based nurseries from 2026 onwards, with a greater focus on more disadvantaged families.
Sep. 12 2024
Source Page: School uniform and clothing guidance: Information for Parents and CarersFound: School uniform and clothing guidance: Information for Parents and Carers
Correspondence
Inquiry: Early Learning and Childcare 1140 hours progress inquiryFound: Early Learning and Childcare P1 deferrals Responses from local authorities regarding information available
Correspondence May. 28 2024
Committee: Social Justice and Social Security CommitteeFound: Improving financial security Our survey found that 2 in 3 parents in families that recei ved the SCP
Aug. 27 2024
Source Page: Improvement notice issued to Suffolk County Council: May 2024Found: , developing effective communications systems, and acting to address parents’ and carers’ concerns at
Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that three in 10 parents in Scotland believe that the COVID-19 pandemic showed that it is not necessary for their children to attend school every day, and how it plans to address this.
Answered by Gilruth, Jenny - Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
The Scottish Government wants all children and young people to get the support that they need to reach their full learning potential and to do so it is important that pupils not only attend school but that they engage in their learning.
The Scottish Government is clear that parents and carers have a role to play in supporting young people to attend school. We recognise that parents have a legal duty to ensure that their child attends school. Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1, our national guidance on attendance, encourages education authorities and schools to engage with children, young people and families to support improved attendance and reduce absence. We know engagement with children, young people and families to understand and address barriers to regular attendance is the most effective way of addressing this issue.
The Scottish Government has been working intensely to address concerns about the impact of the pandemic on attendance. Education Scotland are working to deliver enhanced support for schools and local authorities in monitoring and tracking absence, to develop policy at school and local authority level to support improvements in attendance, and to provide practical support for local authorities who need it. The Scottish Government has also strengthened our understanding of the issue, through increased analysis of attendance data, such as the data on persistent absence published in March 2024. The Interim Chief Inspector has been tasked with ensuring persistent absence is addressed in every school inspection, and identifying successful approaches which can be shared more widely.
We are considering the findings on attendance within the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research and Education Scotland’s report ‘Improving Attendance: Understanding the Issues,” as part of the joint Scottish Government and COSLA action plan on relationships and behaviour, which published on 15 August.
Written Evidence May. 21 2024
Inquiry: Preterm BirthFound: to new parents, and potential parents, in the interpregnancy period, regardless of their socioeconomic
Written Evidence May. 24 2024
Inquiry: Food, Diet and ObesityFound: FDO0111 - Food, Diet and Obesity National Children’s Bureau Written Evidence