Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure that new school buildings are designed so as to enable students with (a) physical disabilities, (b) mental disabilities and (c) autism spectrum conditions to be included in the (i) curriculum and (ii) life of the school; and what steps her Department has taken to assist schools to adapt existing buildings.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s ambition is for all children and young people, no matter what their special educational needs and disabilities are, to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
All school building projects that are delivered by the department must meet the requirements set out in the department’s school building specification. The department publishes a range of guidance specifically for the construction of special schools, which support the provision of inclusive learning environments including access, acoustics and specialist Special Educational Needs provision. These are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/school-design-and-construction.
More generally, all new school buildings must meet the requirements of the Building Regulation’s Approved Document: M, which sets out the details on access to and use of buildings. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-and-use-of-buildings-approved-document-m.
The department does not publish specific guidance on how to adapt existing schools. Under the Equality Act 2010, schools must make reasonable adjustments to prevent pupils with special educational needs and disabilities being put at a substantial disadvantage. Additionally, under the Children and Families Act 2014, mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person who has special educational needs and disabilities, including those who are autistic, get the special educational provision they need.
To support the adaptation of existing buildings, the department has allocated over £1.5 billion of High Needs Provision Capital for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years. This funding forms part of the department’s transformational investment of £2.6 billion in new high needs provision between 2022 and 2025. Local authorities can use this funding to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department provides support for rail fares for school trips.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
All children under 16 receive 50 per cent off most adult fares and, in 2019, we introduced the 16-17 Saver railcard extending this to 16 and 17 year-olds, meaning that a 50 per cent discount is available to children throughout their period of compulsory education and training. Some operators also have dedicated discounts for group travel with some offering substantial savings for groups of 10 or more people.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations in the Education Report 2023, published by the National Autistic Society on 30 May 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is aware of the recommendations outlined in the National Autistic Society’s (NAS) Education Report. The department regularly engages with the NAS, for instance testing the reforms set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan.
The department’s ambition is for all children and young people, no matter what their SEND, to receive the right support to succeed in their education, and as they move into adult life. The department wants them to achieve well in their early years, at school and in further education, to find employment, lead happy and fulfilled lives, and to experience choice and control.
In the SEND and AP Improvement Plan, the department set out its vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support. This will give parents confidence and clarity on how their child’s needs will be met.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing guidance on how to adapt school environments to support the needs of autistic students.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s ambition is for all children and young people, no matter what their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are, to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department aims for children to achieve well throughout their education, to find employment, to lead happy and fulfilled lives and to experience choice and control.
Under the Equality Act 2010, schools must make reasonable adjustments to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage. Additionally, under the Children and Families Act 2014, mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person who has Special Educational Needs, including those who are autistic, gets the special educational provision they need. The SEND Code of Practice is clear that teachers are expected to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
In the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department sets out its vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for the early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support. This will give parents confidence and clarity on how their child’s needs will be met.
As part of this, the department has committed to developing practitioner standards, which were known as practice guides in the Improvement Plan, to provide advice to education professionals. These will set out evidence-based best practice in identifying and meeting individual needs. The department will publish three practitioner standards by the end of 2025, one of which will be focused on autism. The department will begin building on existing best practice and will include guidance on how an education environment may be adapted to better support the needs of autistic pupils.
Additionally, the department’s Universal Services contract brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development and support for the school and further education workforce to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those who are autistic, through one programme, which aims to reach 70% of schools and colleges in England per year.
The contract offers autism awareness training and resources. Over 100,000 professionals have undertaken autism awareness training since the Universal Services programme commenced in May 2022.
There is no specific guidance for adapting physical school environments to support autistic students. However, the department does publish a range of guidance documents, including Building Bulletins, which support the provision of inclusive learning environments. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-requirements-part-b-generic-design-brief.
The Building Bulletins which have particular relevance to designing inclusive environments for children and young people with SEND, including those who are autistic, are the following:
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish pass rates for level 1 functional skills qualifications in (a) English and (b) maths among people aged 19 and over; and if she will provide a breakdown of those figures by (i) previous qualifications in (A) English and (B) maths and (ii) socio-economic background.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Qualification achievement rates for individual functional skills qualifications are published in the Further education and skills statistics publication and are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-and-skills/2022-23.
The latest adult (19+) figures covering qualifications ending in the 2021/22 hybrid end year (the latter of the achievement, planned, actual, or reporting year) are available via the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/01301c62-9206-496a-5d02-08dc227985c9.
The department does not hold further breakdowns of these figures by previous English or mathematics qualification held, or socio-economic background.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish pass rates for level 2 functional skills qualifications in (a) English and (b) maths among people aged 19 and over; and if she will provide a breakdown of those figures by (i) previous qualifications in (A) English and (B) maths and (ii) socio-economic background.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Qualification achievement rates for individual functional skills qualifications are published in the Further education and skills statistics publication and are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-and-skills/2022-23.
The latest adult (19+) figures covering qualifications ending in the 2021/22 hybrid end year (the latter of the achievement, planned, actual, or reporting year) are available via the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/01301c62-9206-496a-5d02-08dc227985c9.
The department does not hold further breakdowns of these figures by previous English or mathematics qualification held, or socio-economic background.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies on education for autistic children and young people of the recommendations of the report by Ambitious about Autism entitled Written off?, published in November 2022.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is aware of the recommendations outlined in Ambitious about Autism’s ‘Written Off?’ report and engages with Ambitious about Autism regularly, including testing the reforms set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan with them and other key autism stakeholders.
The department’s ambition is for all children and young people with SEND to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. They should achieve well in their early years, at school and in further education to find employment, to lead happy and fulfilled lives, and to experience choice and control.
In the SEND and AP Improvement Plan, the department sets out a vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for the early and accurate identification of need and for timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support. This will give parents confidence and clarity on how their child’s needs will be met.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children with autism receive a good standard of education.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department aim is for all children and young people, including those who are autistic, to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department wants all children to achieve well throughout their education, to find employment, to lead happy and fulfilled lives and to experience choice and control.
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department set out a vision to improve mainstream education by setting standards for the early and accurate identification of need and the timely provision of access to support. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support. This will give parents confidence and clarity on how their child’s needs will be met.
As part of this, the department has committed to developing practitioner standards, which were known as practice guides in the Improvement Plan, to provide advice to education professionals. The three practitioner standards will be published by the end of 2025, one of which will be focused on autism. The department will build on existing best practice and will include guidance on how an education environment may be adapted to better support the needs of autistic pupils.
The department’s Universal Services contract brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development and support for the school and further education workforce to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those who are autistic.
The contract offers autism awareness training and resources delivered by the Autism Education Trust (AET). Over 100,000 education professionals have undertaken autism awareness training as part of AET's ‘train the trainer’ model since the Universal Services programme commenced in May 2022.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to help support (a) children with (i) a vision impairment and (ii) dyslexia and (b) other children to access the (A) RNIB bookshare service and (B) other book sharing services.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department aims for all children and young people, to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life, including those with visual impairments, dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions. The department is creating a new single national Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) system which will focus on how needs are identified and met across Education, Health and Care. This new single national system will set standards on what support should be made available in mainstream settings, including for children with visual impairments, and when specialist provision, including AP, is most appropriate for meeting a child or young person’s needs.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. The department already has numerous measures to help teachers do this, including the Phonics Screening Check and statutory assessments at the ends of key stage 1 and 2. The department has also introduced a package of measures to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the launch of the English Hubs programme; the publication of the Reading Framework; and an updated list of high-quality phonics programmes for schools.
The department is committed to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual impairments in both specialist and mainstream settings. To teach a class of pupils with visual impairments, a teacher is required to hold the relevant mandatory qualification in sensory impairment (MQSI). There are currently six providers of the MQSI, with a seventh from September 2024. In addition, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is developing a new occupational standard for teachers of sensory impairment, expected to launch in 2025.
On 11 July 2023, the department published an updated version of the Reading Framework. The Reading Framework includes guidance on teaching reading to pupils with moderate to severe SEND and complex needs. It is primarily aimed at mainstream schools where, with the right support, the vast majority of pupils will be able to make expected progress.
It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Many head teachers recognise the important role school libraries play in improving literacy and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure and ensure that suitable library facilities are provided.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure SEND support funding is accessible to children of armed forces personnel.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department wants all children to be able to reach their full potential and receive the right support to succeed in their education and in their move into adult life.
The department allocates Special Educational Needs and Disability support funding to English local authorities and schools. This funding is accessible to children of armed forces personnel in the same way as it is to other children.
Pupils aged 5 to 16 in state-funded education in England attract Service Pupil Premium (SPP) funding to the schools they attend if they have been recorded as having Service child status in any school census within the last six years. The SPP is currently worth £335 per eligible pupil annually and is intended to help schools support the wellbeing, and if appropriate the academic progress, of Service children.